Fo Japanese Bistro — Restaurant in Virginia

Let me preface by saying that I love your sushi. Every time I have gotten it I’ve loved it every time. But there’s more to running a restaurant business than just the taste of the food. This has happened a few times before but this is the third time it has happened so I’d like to say that I give people the benefit of the doubt and understand we have our off days. Today is Valentine’s Day and my boyfriend and I wanted to stay in and have a romantic dinner with sushi, wine, lit candles, etc. i called at 6pm tonight, and was told that it would take an hour. I was fine with that and even showed up an hour and 15 after I called because I knew that the past few times I’ve ordered I’ve had to wait an immense amount of time after getting there. Not to mention it’s FREEZING and i don’t want to stand in the cold. When i arrive i go up to this insane contraption I’ve never seen anywhere with a window that barely works & no one is ever ready to answer. So pretty much I’m standing in freezing weather tapping on the glass and waiting for someone approach me. When i talk to the girl that works there after waiting for her to finally come to the window, she tells me that there’s 3 orders in front of us and to come back to the window in 10 so I’m like okay fine. She then approached my car with an order for a guy named Adam and asked me my name for the second time. After 15 minutes, my boyfriend goes to the window and asks for the order and she’s like ‘oh let me go check’ and it ends up being right behind her. So she knows my name because she’s asked twice and then knows there are people waiting in their cars so i guess she just wasn’t gonna tell us the order was ready? We waited for 1 hour and 45 minutes. It’s just insane to me too that you guys have to pay rent and you’re probably pissing a lot of customers off. When you have no customers how will you pay rent? I know it’s COVID and you want to be safe, but every restaurant has a set of guidelines to follow so you can stay open. Not to mention, if you know it’s gonna be busy because well it’s VALENTINES DAY, why are you so short staffed? Is one person making the sushi?Y’all are creating more harm than good and may end up shutting down for good if you continue to run your business so terribly. Sushi...

As gorgeous of a place this is and a staple for the Montclair community. The customer service has been lacking. Spontaneously was craving sushi and decided to order the Maki B for pickup. Had order notes for extra spicy mayo and eel sauce and was told during pickup it was extra charge which was not a problem at all. I even tipped on top of it. I get home and I have no eel sauce but instead double soy. I called to not making a big fuss and to just request a refund for just the eel sauce since I didn’t receive and was made out to be a liar cause the woman insisted she put the eel sauce in there and repeatedly told me it was in there and what it looked like even after I told her I tasted both sauces. She still didn’t believe me so I took my son out of bed and drove back to show her I wasn’t lying and requested a refund for all my sauces I paid for . She dug through my bag like it was magically going to appear and then gave me cash when I should have insisted a refund to my card since that’s what I paid by but I wasn’t going to press the issue for a few dollars . No apology was given by HER mistake . The experience put a bad taste in my mouth and honestly the sushi was terrible and I only ate 5 pieces before throwing the rest in the trash . I will definitely not be returning .

Update from restaurant response: False information. The issue was with the eel sauce not the spicy mayo . I received 2 spicy mayo and 2 soy sauce and 1 extra wasabi. I never received the eel sauce which was the issue . She only offered me eel sauce after she dug through my bag and didn’t find what she THOUGHT she put in there. I declined any additional sauce as that time so as not to be charged for it. Once again, no accountability . No apology . I stand...

Wow. What a great, unexpected addition to Montclair. I haven't had Japanese food this good since we were stationed in Atsugi. Fo gets it RIGHT, unlike so many other "Japanese" places on the I-95 corridor. The gyu-don bowl could be straight from the eateries on the Kanto plain, it is so authentically tasty. In fact, my family has gone there four times now, and we've yet to be disappointed with anything we've ordered. The food is incredible and has a nice mix of Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Thai, so you'll never get bored having to choose from the same food genre. The staff is friendly and attentive. The decor is authentic and is a nice fusion of Asian cultures. The owner is very personable and knowledgeable, working his way around the restaurant to greet each table and has made us feel welcome each time we walked in the door. The prices are very good and you get a lot of food. For example, for a 20.00 bento box, you get the usual sized bowl of misosoru, a medium sized bowl of salad with a great creamy ginger sauce, a handful of gyoza, some very tasty sesame green beans, a nice sized portion of rice and a very nice cut of meat served over some saucy caramelized onions (I had the salmon). Perfectly portioned, ever so tasty and worth every bite. Montclair has a dearth of really good eateries and Fo adds an incredible change of pace from the strip-mall Chinese takeouts and Italian places. I hope that Fo stays around for a long, long time, because we will be back often. And for the days that we can't make it, we'll order from the take-out menu. Once the liquor license arrives, it will make a great snack/drink stop on the way home from work to boot. ...