Mt. Fuji — Restaurant in Town of Ramapo

Content Warning: What you’re about to read may change your mind about hibachi dining forever.

I love hibachi. And when I say that, I mean it. I’ve eaten over 250 hibachi meals. I used to host a hibachi fried rice eating contest at our local hibachi restaurant when high school would let out at 2pm. I clearly have a hibachi problem. But I thought I had exhausted the best hibachi meals the hibachi world had to offer. I firmly believed that nothing could possibly excite or surprise me at this point in my hibachi career.

I was wrong.

Mt. Fuji is by far the best hibachi meal I’ve ever encountered. It is a meal I’ll be thinking about for weeks to come

Let’s start from the beginning…

When you arrive at Mt. Fuji, you are greeted by large red Japanese arches. You then ascend a magical drive of twists and turns amid trees and wildlife. Finally, you reach the top of a mountain—aptly called Mt. Fuji.

From the summit, you look out over the surrounding landscape of New York, including an expressway and rolling yellowish hills. There’s valet parking. It’s non-negotiable.

Once inside, you are greeted with modernity. Everything is backlit with soft neon light and surrounded by wood. It’s as if the villain in an action movie got away with it, invested all his money in learning about interior design, and then decided to open a swanky hibachi joint.

After walking down the wood-lined hallway to the front desk, you’re given a buzzer and directed to the right, where you’ll find the bar and lounge. The design here emphasizes velvet and tranquility. The lounge area also offers an even better view of the expressway and rolling hills.

After ordering cocktails—classics with a hint of a Japanese twist—we were guided into the main dining room, which gave me onsen vibes, reminiscent of a Japanese bathhouse known for its beauty and elegance. The room was filled with sculpted wood, side-hibachi grills, and full-grill hibachi stations. I recommend the full grill for maximizing fun.

We placed our orders. I got the filet mignon and shrimp; my girlfriend ordered hibachi shrimp. We started with a sushi appetizer that was fresh and inventive.

Then Chef Modi appeared. He was whimsical yet precise. He opened with a classic spatula-and-fork routine, dancing on the grill. This transitioned into hot oil on the grill, setting up the flaming onion volcano. He perfected this well, lighting the onion on fire, and then he lit his hands on fire and showed the audience. He repeated this four times. We were all aghast. From there, Mr. Modi surprised us with a variation on the “egg roll” joke by making three eggs appear intact under a steel lid on the grill. He then let me fire shrimp tails into his hat, played a math mind game with me, and at one point scared me to death by pretending to throw a knife into a lemon right in front of me. I was on the edge of my seat and in stitches from laughter the entire time.

Throughout the meal, Mr. Modi demonstrated quick thinking and incredible timing. He would gauge the table’s mood and adjust his jokes or songs accordingly. I have never witnessed a hibachi chef who could think so quickly and come up with jokes on the spot. It was nothing short of an incredible feat of artistry.

An example of this was when someone at the table asked for extra butter on their steak. Someone else made the same request, and as a joke, I asked for more even though my steak was already plated: Modi: “Too late for that.”
Me: “It’s too late? Can you say sorry?”
(Mr. Modi looked at me, grinned wildly, and began to sing.)
Modi (in song): “It is tooo late to say sorry!”

This was just one moment of Mr. Modi’s theatrical genius. And if this entertainment isn’t enough to win you over, all the food was perfectly cooked and seasoned well.

There is nobody who can hold a candle—or a flame—to Mr. Modi. He is by far the best hibachi chef I have ever encountered. If I ever return to Mt. Fuji (and I suspect I will), I will ask for him by name—or refuse to...

I have been going to Mount Fuji for years, and I’ve never had an experience like this one. I’m not one to write reviews, but this was just awful.

When we placed our order, we asked the waitress how much it would be for extra shrimp. She told us $4. We then asked how many pieces come in an order of shrimp, and she said four. So we thought, “Okay, we’re going to split the shrimp,” and I said, “Okay, three orders.” She clarified, “Three shrimp?” and I said, “Yes, three orders of shrimp.”

The rest of the night was great—the chef was sweet and nice, and the waitress was nice otherwise. We had a great experience other than what happened at the end.

When the chef gave us our shrimp, at first, we were confused because we received the same amount of shrimp as everyone else in the appetizer. But we thought, “Okay, maybe the extra shrimp is coming with the dinner.” When we asked, the chef said yes, so we moved on.

When our food arrived, we received three pieces of shrimp cut in half, which confused us. We thought, “Okay, we’ll just ask about it when we get the check.”

When we got the check, we called the waitress over and told her we were confused about the shrimp because we only received a couple of pieces. She said, “Oh no, that’s right. Shrimp is $4 per piece.” Of course, we were in shock and confused because that was not what she originally told us. We tried to explain, and she agreed, apologized, and said there must have been a miscommunication. We completely understood and were still going to pay because we ate and enjoyed our food. Then she said, “I will take two of the three shrimp off.” That was great, and we were fine with that. We even apologized for the miscommunication.

Then the problem started.

The manager came over with our check, walked up to us, and immediately had a rude attitude, saying we were wrong and asking how we could even think that. We started to explain that when we asked the waitress, this is what she told us. The manager then said, “That’s impossible. You must not have any common sense.”

We stopped and said, “Excuse me?” because we had already established with the waitress that it was a misunderstanding—she simply didn’t understand our question in the beginning.

The manager continued, saying, “Why would you think shrimp only costs $4? One shrimp is obviously $4.” Then he doubled down and told us again, “You must have no common sense.”

Never have I been unnecessarily insulted like that. The manager never even tried to hear our explanation. We never asked for anything to be taken off our check—we would have paid the full amount even if it wasn’t. The waitress saw the mistake and offered.

Instead of handling the situation professionally, the manager came over ready to argue and immediately started insulting us, telling us we had no common sense and that it was stupid to think shrimp would be that price. After insulting us, he walked away. Luckily, our waitress was kind enough to apologize, and we apologized to her as well because we never meant for any of this to happen. Mistakes happen, and we originally just wanted clarity.

It wouldn’t have been a problem at all—our waitress was super apologetic and kind. However, the manager has completely ruined this place for me. I’ve lived five minutes away since I was a baby, always going once or twice a year. But after that treatment, I can’t recommend this place to anyone.

Never would I imagine being treated like that by an employee when all we did was ask a question about our check. Insulting customers unnecessarily is never okay, and I don’t know why that manager thought it was.

I’m terribly sorry to the waitress—we simply had a misunderstanding due to a language barrier. But being insulted by the manager...

Don't be ambushed by the Valet parking. At my recent visit, I was celebrating my anniversary and decided to come here as a surprise. It was my first time coming here. I loved the entire experience. Everything was wonderful right up until I had to leave.

First, you drive up this winding mountain path, and then you are greeted by valet parking which is not indicated ANYWHERE that I can find on the website. I looked for self-serve parking. Valet parking is your ONLY option as far as I am aware. No problem. I've been to restaurants with valet parking before, so I imagine this will be similar.

Upon leaving the restaurant, I examined my valet ticket and tried to look for a website, QR code, or something like that to see how to pay the valet. But there was none. In the past, this is how I've always paid for my parking. So I hand over my ticket, and the valet goes and gets my car, which was only parked like 50 feet away.

Befuddled and with nothing else I could do, I just said thank you and to have a great night. But as I am opening the door, this middle aged Hispanic valet (I didn't catch her name), who I assume was their manager, yells at me and says "SIR. The parking is free, but the valets WORK for TIPS. We don't get paid otherwise."

So I just told her "I'm sorry, but I didn't know there was valet parking, and I don't have any cash on me. If I knew ahead of time, I'd have brought some." So she's still giving me the stink eye and just repeats herself that the valets work for tips. So I again explain to her that nobody warned me about the valet-only parking, and there's no way for me to give the guy a tip, even though I would have happily done so. I finally tell her "This is my FIRST TIME HERE, and I didn't know. I will know for next time." So she scoffs and blows me off telling me to have a good night.

I'll be honest, that really pissed me off. I had a wonderful day all day, going here and there celebrating our anniversary, and capped it off with a wonderful meal in a beautiful restaurant, only for this lady to try and ruin it. I'm not a cheapskate. I already paid over $130 for food and drinks that night. I would have been willing to tip the valet if there was any non-cash-only way to do that, or I would have brought some if I knew before-hand. Am I expected to just keep cash on me at all times strictly for the off-chance I go to a restaurant that surprises me with valet-only parking that has no other ways to accept payment?

In fact, why should I ever consider tipping the valet parking after this experience? Because you drove my car 50 feet into a parking spot for me and gave me an attitude? What a joke.

This was a frustrating stain on an otherwise excellent night out. If anyone else is planning on going here as a first-time visit, I hope this review gives you ample warning. I truly hate giving this place a low score because it deserves full marks, but this is the only way I can think to hopefully get the management's attention to do something about this problem.

Either inform people to expect to tip the valet parking on your website, or provide them with some other way of accepting payment besides cash to avoid this awkward exchange. Especially when the valet staff are rude and spiteful to...