Meiji Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Fayetteville

First, food: get the veggie tempura. You can thank me later.

Husband says sushi is amazing.

I'm impressed with their ramen.

Gyoza was good.

The vegetable fried rice is very nice, but it's different from what you typically get at restaurants. Maybe it's fresher? Uses actual seasonings chosen by a chef instead of a seasoning pack? Maybe it's the black sesame seeds on top? IDK, but it's good. Also, the broccoli is long-stemmed. Kind of surprised me first time I saw it, but I love broccoli, so the more the merrier!

So I've mentioned a few times in my reviews that I have severe dietary restrictions, which makes eating out especially hard. I typically have to quiz the snot out of a server before I order anything, and I still end up having reactions half the time, either because someone lied or didn't check ingredients.

So imagine my delight when I call Meiji to ask about ingredients in their ramen broth, and the hostess had the owner/head chef (can't remember which, sorry!) call me back to talk with me! He patiently answered all my questions and helped me find a broth I could eat.

Let me tell you - this place is awesome. In the post-apocalyptic world of covid-19, you can call in orders for carry-out. You just call the restaurant when you arrive for them to bring it out to you.

Now, the year before all this mess, I brought my husband here for our anniversary, and it was so nice. I couldn't figure out what was going on in one part of the restaurant, though. There's a section that looks like a little pergola, and right across from it on a wall (or sheet-like screen maybe? Been a while) a movie was playing. I don't recall any sound or subtitles, though. Not sure if that's a regular occurrence or if the people sitting in that area choose it or something. It didn't affect my experience - just gave my husband and I something to theorize about before...

We LOVE Meiji!! We’ve gone several times and the food is consistently good, the wait staff is so friendly and personable, and it’s got a beautiful and fun atmosphere! We love the gyoza, smoked cash, and green goddess so much we’ve gotten all of those several times now!

ONLY COMPLAINT: the reason we gave four stars is because this time eating there we sat at the sushi bar which was so fun until we saw the Owner, Darwin, making sushi. He didn’t use gloves, was rushing around haphazardly, and even picked things up off the ground. He definitely didn’t take as much time and care in making the sushi as the other sushi chefs (who were so kind and made a point to say hi). We saw him grab a handful of shrimp with his bare hands and use that same hand full of shrimp to move around receipts on the top of the cooler, touching the shrimp to an unsanitary spot. He was carrying two plates of sushi to the other counter and a piece of fish got stuck to the bottom of one plate, smooshed by the counter, so he picked the plate back up, took off that piece of fish and put it back on the other sushi roll. We saw that the rolls we got were made by him and every single piece was cut to a different size and fell apart as soon as we picked it up with chopsticks or a fork either one. Again, I want to emphasize that the food is still delicious, we love every single staff we’ve encountered, and we will definitely be returning. But if we see that Darwin is making sushi that night, we will be turning right around to leave. He doesn’t seem mean or rude but we know that giving this comment to any staff member would be uncomfortable since he’s the owner. We hope he reads this and takes more care in making sushi (with gloves like the rest of them) or leaves it to the...

Rollin' with Disappointment

When I walked into this place, I felt like I had stumbled into a trendy place. The decor was so cool with samurai armor! But alas, if only the food could match the vibes!

We dove into a few rolls that were highly recommended—maybe they were having an off night, or perhaps the employees are secretly in cahoots to beef up those positive reviews. Either way, the rolls were more “meh” than magical. It’s like they were trying to impress us with their fancy names but forgot to bring the flavor.

Now, let’s talk about the fried rice. It was the culinary equivalent of a lukewarm hug—nice in theory but ultimately unsatisfying. I think it might have been cooked with the tears of disappointed foodies.

On a positive note, Thomas at the bar was a gem! He was as helpful as a GPS in a corn maze, guiding us through the menu with enthusiasm. But the sushi rolls? Let’s just say they were slathered in enough mayonnaise to put a salad dressing factory to shame.

Unfortunately, the front desk staff could use a lesson in kindness. They greeted us with food in mouth with all the warmth of a cold sushi roll and didn’t quite match the helpfulness of Thomas.

In conclusion, if you’re looking for a feast for the eyes, this place has you covered. But if you’re after a culinary experience that lives up to the hype, you might want to keep rolling...