Pie Reviews the Westside’s Fuji Sushi in Jacksonville, FL

Fuji Sushi

4495 Roosevelt Blvd

Jacksonville, FL 32210

(904) 381-1777

In another blog post I made recently I said that Jacksonville, Florida had more sandwich shops than cars. Sarcasm was the intent there. But I do think that there may very well be more sushi places in Jacksonville than cars. Okay, only kidding. But it seems there are 2 of them in every shopping center. Seriously I think there are. On US 17 (otherwise known as Roosevelt Blvd) near the Naval Air Station is the site of Fuji Sushi. Fuji has been in the same location for a few years now. Within the last year they expanded from the tiny four table and sushi bar cafe into a full fledged restaurant. They now have a full dining room as well as a private room for 10 or 12 people. They have 3 HD televisions showing CNN, ESPN and movies and an open sushi bar that is available for seating. The atmosphere is dark with a cherry wood. All tables are booths with the only chair seating at the sushi bar. 

The server sat Rhonette and me in the front dining area. Interested in a particular football game that was on (and the fact that there was no one else seated in the area we were in). I requested to have the channel changed. This became a grueling task. When I realized the challenge that the young ladies were having I told them it was really okay. But they worked diligently to get the game on. For probably another 10 minutes they slaved over the fact that I had a game to watch. Really it was not that big deal. In the long run, they gave up which was a relief to me, because just watching them was exhausting me.

The waitresses shared the servicing duties of our table. The youngest of the 2 brought us a deep fried salmon skin in cucumbers. It looked really good; however, I have an allergy to cucumbers and Rhonette has allergies to flour and dislikes fried items. The appetizer sat there and the waitress eventually grabbed it and asked it there was a problem. As we tried to explain, we could tell there was a language barrier or she just did not care. It was kind of comical actually.

One thing I must confess is that I do not love sushi. Most sushi restaurants have now become more aware that they need to offer other Asian dishes. On occasion I get adventurous and order an item I am not familiar with. This was one of those visits. On the lunch menu that offers chicken katsu, tempura, sushi and teriyaki. I decided to try the Oyako Don. This item was a bowl of rice that is topped with chicken cooked in egg and onions. If I were to guess the manner of the cooking process is almost like a poached process. The chicken seemed boiled and the egg was very soft. The onions were strong and overbearing to me. This seemed to be a very popular item to the workers of Fuji. This was not an item that would ever order again. The rice in the dish was wonderful. I must admit that Rhonette ate the ‘topping’ of my meal, while I just scooped it off to enjoy the rice.

The servers were very kind and went out of their way to make sure we were happy. Rhonette enjoyed her sushi and part of my meal. When it comes down to it, I cannot fault a restaurant for an item that I experimented with and did not like. My plans are to visit Fuji again, but to be more conservative with my order. I do give my complete approval of Fuji Sushi and look forward to my next visit. Fuji is opened 7 days a week. They do offer an extensive lunch menu with specials, but they are not available on Sundays. The hours of Fuji are M-Thr 11 am till 10:30 and on Fri and Sat 11 am till 11 pm, Sun noon till 10. They have to-go menus, business cards and oh yeah, they also offer spearmints on the way out.

Review by Pie, email:  Pie@piesplate.com