From warm towels to bold rolls: Why Fuji Sushi House stands out 

Located at 4416 Johnston St., Fuji Sushi House is a family-owned sushi restaurant known for its freshness and hospitality. They specialize in sushi, sashimi, noodles, teriyaki dinners and fried rice. 

Their menu offers a diverse selection of primarily sushi and sashimi. Customers have options to choose from a variety of rolls, including your classic options such as the California Roll or Philadelphia Roll and exceptional house special rolls. They also offer a variety of yakisoba and udon noodles, as well as sashimi options such as tuna, yellowtail and octopus. 

The menu offers over 100 house special rolls. Now, while I cannot name all one hundred of these, I would like to highlight a few of them. Some of those include the Alex Roll, Aloha Roll, Spicy Crab Roll, Stevie Roll, Happy Roll, Hot Lady Roll, Caterpillar Roll and Federal Roll. 

Opening in 2011, this restaurant has had time to gain some loyal customers and popularity. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the area has experienced a surge in business. In addition to their extensive menu, Fuji Sushi House prides itself on using only the freshest ingredients, ensuring that every single dish is of the highest quality. 

The atmosphere of this restaurant felt homey. With their small, quaint place off of Johnston St., the warm lighting and decor invited customers to relax and de-stress. The staff are some of the sweetest people I have ever met. They always greet you with a smile and make sure that you feel welcome. Since only two to three individuals are working here, it makes me appreciate the hard work of these people. 

My colleagues and I had the pleasure of visiting this small sushi establishment on Friday, Sept. 5. As we walked in, we were greeted by the hostess/owner and promptly seated at our table next to the window. We were then given hot towels to clean our hands and napkins were put in our laps. This is my first time at a sushi place like this, so I was surprised at the immaculate service. 

After we finished wiping our hands, we began to browse the menu. With such an extensive menu, it proved to be challenging to choose one thing. The appetizer section consisted of some of your classic sushi restaurant foods, such as edamame, crab rangoons, beef tataki and chicken tempura. 

For our appetizer, we decided on the crab rangoons. As soon as we ordered, we were given complementary miso soup by the owner. Now I am no expert in soup, but this was some of the best miso soup I have ever had. The broth was well-seasoned and had a great umami flavor. 

As soon as we finished our soup, we ordered our sushi. I opted for the Happy Roll, which features fried shrimp, snow crab, avocado and cream cheese, wrapped in sushi rice and seaweed, then deep-fried and topped with eel sauce and spicy mayo. 

One of my other colleagues ordered the Aloha Roll, which contained snow crab, grilled shrimp and cucumber. It was topped with kiwi, strawberry and orange, and accompanied by a spicy sweet & sour sauce. My second colleague decided to tell our waitress to surprise us with two of their most popular rolls. They ended up bringing us the Becker Roll and the Mount Fuji Roll. 

The Becker Roll consisted of snow crab, avocado, crunchies, asparagus, spicy tuna with soy paper topped with seared tuna, black pepper tuna, crabstick, eel sauce, spicy mayo and hot sauce. 

The Mount Fuji Roll included avocado, cucumber, crab stick, shrimp tempura, topped with snow crab, spicy tuna, eel sauce, spicy mayo, hot sauce and crunchies. 

When our food came out, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. We were impressed by the presentation of the food. The garnishes on the plate were shaped like flowers, and it looked like they put a lot of effort and thought into the presentation. In my roll (the Happy Roll), you could taste each ingredient; they blended very well. The soft cream cheese and crab on the inside complemented each other well with the crispy, crunchy outside. 

My colleagues had a similar experience with their rolls. The inside of the Becker Roll was soft and chewy, and the asparagus added an earthy flavor, while the outside was topped with seasoned and spicy seared tuna, giving the roll a little kick of spice that balanced out the inside. 

The Mount Fuji roll, similarly, was both soft and crunchy on the inside and was topped with additional crunch and spice. 

After we finished our meal, I decided to interview the owner, Pimtanis Worawontratana, also known as Ginger. “I’ve been the owner here for 14 years at this location. I’m from Thailand, and my wife, the chef, is from Laos. The busiest days are Friday and Saturday during dinnertime.” 

“We serve fresh, authentic, good food that we are proud of. We struggled badly until like COVID, and after that, we were busy busy. You always have to be honest with the customers, that’s why we hand out all the best. We handpick all of our fruit and vegetables from local stores. We don’t do competition with anyone; we never look for whatever other players are doing.” 

The culture of this place was evident throughout my entire stay. I enjoyed having a great conversation with the owner and the food was to die for. 

If you would like to visit this establishment, it is open on Tuesdays from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., and closed on Sundays and Mondays.