Fuji — Restaurant in San Jose

I always preface my reviews like this - I'm no expert foodie, I don't know if I can tell exactly how fresh something is or if it was microwaved, but I do know bad vs good and my ratings are based on more than just the food, but also the service, cost, etc...

I've been to this place a couple times before and usually just eat nigiri, it's always been fine, tasted good. I'd always been eating with others, though, and never really noticed service (which is actually a good thing in my opinion, i mean if you don't notice them, typically means they are doing a good job).

Today, I was alone and I dropped by because I was in the mood for ramen. The staff were warm and friendly. I asked to sit outside. I was attended to quickly. I checked out the different soups and ordered the Spicy Ramen, but asked the server what her favorite ramen was and she said the spicy ramen, so I continued and added saba nigiri to my order.

Saba came out first, tasted great to me! I love me some saba, delicious salty fish. Soon after that the ramen came and it was super hot and looked great. As mentioned above, I'm not expert on food, but I have been to both Japan and S.Korea and ate my way around as much as possible so in my opinion I think the ramen at Fuji sushi is more like a Korean ramen. The broth was thick and spicy and the proteins were seafood. Rarely can I finish a bowl of ramen, but I got pretty darn close today.

The server kept my iced tea full, was quick with my check, and very friendly (I even got a compliment from one of the other servers on my adventure time wallet, thanks again, if you ever read this!)

Price is comparable to other places in the area and that is fine.

anyways I'll be...

It was an overall nice experience. Came in a group of 8. Restaurant are super small but located conveniently in downtown SJ near San Pedro square. They also validate for the parking lot in San Pedro square so that's a plus!

It was a birthday party so we wanted to do sake bomb. But they only sell sake and beer separately.

Buy 1 sake (for $4 I think), get 1 for a penny! That's a deal right there!

Food: Bento box was huge! Totally worth the price Sushi: on point. I had Lion King and 007 rolls. Lion King was definitely up to my standard.

Service: attentive, accommodating and our server girl was superrr cuteee ;)

Also, I want to compliment them on being very 'honorable'. We came in and there was a big table available for our group of 8. However, they said they have a reservation for another group (not shown yet) so they can't seat us. Usually restaurants just accommodate whoever come first because those reservations might not show up (exactly what happened). Even though we had to wait 15', I thought that was very professional, it shows that they keep...

I wandered in on a Wednesday evening with a colleague to have a quick dinner. We both had the bento boxes, both of which had salads with several bad leaves--the spinach leaves were wet and rotting, and half the lettuce was brown at the edges.

As for the rest of the bento items, my colleague had his with chicken katsu, gyoza, and tempura shrimp; he said his katsu and tempura were both good, while the gyoza was meh, with a crisp exterior but a fairly bland filling.

I opted for sashimi (extra $2), agedashi tofu, and unagi. The unagi and sashimi were both tasty (although the portions were very small, especially considering the added cost of the sashimi). The tofu, on the other hand, was completely inedible. Instead of being crisp, the battery was soft, oily, and rubbery--I couldn't even bite through it because it was so chewy.

Between the bad salad (which makes me wonder how fresh their other ingredients are) and the poorly prepared tofu, I don't think I'll be returning. The good katsu isn't worth a...