Restaurant Name: Mt. Fuji
Location: 700 Sagamore Pkwy S, Lafayette, IN (map it)
Phone: (765) 447-7373?
Cuisine: Japanese
Review: If you’ve read this site before, or you take a few minutes to read through it today, you will know that we are big fans of Asian food. Surprisingly, we had never been to Mt. Fuji restaurant though, so we opted tonight to go dine there and check it out. It’s a small, unassuming building at the southwest corner of Kossuth and Sagamore Parkway. It’s a small restaurant, with a long, row of hibachi seating around big griddles, and another section of seating for those choosing to dine on non-hibachi style dinners. We, of course, chose the hibachi dining.
Our hostess seated us and then left for a while, to return when it was time to place our orders. She wasn’t much for small talk, but that isn’t necessary for me. The menu included all the standard hibachi fare – teriyaki chicken, steak, shrimp, fried rice, and vegetables. They also have an extensive beer and wine menu as well as appetizers and desserts.
The first course was miso soup and salad. The miso soup was good, piping hot and served steaming. Of course, it’s miso soup and there’s not a lot to that. With that was a iceberg salad. Nothing too special about that until you count the dressing. I’ve never been given a salad dressing choice in a Japanese restaurant before, and they had two choices, Sesame and Ginger. I choose the Sesame and boy was it fantastic.
After a while, our chef came to the table and this is where it got great. You never know at these places if you are going to get a friendly chef or Mr. Stoic who won’t even crack a smile, but our guy, he was fantastic and apparently really liked joking with kids. Our kids were having egg rolls so he started in with egg roll jokes, asking them if their egg roll was too hot, he’d give them a cool egg roll. He carried on for a bit with the cool egg roll, then he took out the egg and rolled it on the grill. That one cracked up the 3 year old, who joked about egg rolls the rest of the time there.
Next he took the onions to build up the little volcano fire. The kids were a little afraid of that, so he quickly grabbed his spray bottle to put it out. The spray bottle was a bobble head guy, and you had to pull down his pants to spray, if you get what I mean. Let me tell you, there is NOTHING funnier to a 5 year old than a bobble head peeing on a fire. The children were in stitches. The jokes and camaraderie continued throughout the meal.
As for the food – it was good. I wouldn’t say it stands out above Asahi (except for the salad) and I think I’d even rate the rice a notch below. But the entertainment was excellent, our chef was so much fun. I’d definitely go back.
Kid friendly: Yes/No. Kids were welcome there, but there were no crayons or coloring books. The children’s menu is just a smaller portion of their regular fare. No chicken nuggets or french fries, so use your best judgment. My kids loved it!
Methods of payment: Cash or credit.
Price Range: It can get pricey. We went with friends and dinner for three adults and three kids was over $100.
(4.86 out of 5)
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Tried to go to Mt. Fuji on 4/11. We were seated right away at 7pm and there were 2 tables already seated and another 1 that the cook just showed up for. The waitress came and took our drink order right away and brought our drinks. It then took her another 20 minutes to come back and take our food order. At that point we noticed the 1 cook still at the first table, the other 2 tables with only the soup and salad, and us with just having our order taken. We asked her how many cooks they had working and she said 1. We then had to leave because it would’ve been over an hour before the cook even got to our table. VERY disappointed as we love japanese steakhouse-type food.
oops, we tried to go on Saturday 4/10, not 4/11
My wife and I eat here regularly. If you get a normal meal-not filet mignon and lobster-you can easily eat for what you would have spent at McDonalds. When we take our two boys we usually end up getting them a side of fried rice and share our food as they give you so much we always end up with take home. The staff is friendly and the atmosphere promotes you to talk with people you don’t know but are also at your grill. Anyone looking for a great place to eat would do well to try this place out. Yes the time can be a little lengthy if you go right at dinner time due to them only having 1 cook but I assure you its well worth the wait!