Written by Chris O’Dell
If you are looking for a place to eat in Searcy, there are endless choices – as long as you eat before 10 o’clock. And with the opening of Fuji restaurant on Race Street, those options just got bigger and better.
Fuji’s, a Japanese seafood steak house and sushi bar, is the kind of restaurant Searcy has been lacking. Not only does the place provide great food, it also gives you entertainment while enjoying your dining experience. The only complaint you could have against Fuji’s is the expensive entrees. However, when you factor in the taste of the food with the experience you get, the price might not seem so bad.
Not only does Fuji’s have a sushi bar for any sushi lovers in town, it also uses hibachi grills to cook its food. In fact, you are seated around the grill, and the food is cooked to perfection right in front of you. However, do not expect a quiet evening out with some stranger cooking near your table. In fact, the cook will most likely be loud, entertaining and comical, and he will involve the customers in everything he does.
The experience starts when you are seated around a big hibachi grill, most likely with several strangers, unless you come with a big group. Then the waitress takes your order and brings out drinks, salad and soup. However, the salad is not your typical salad. In fact, it is more like lettuce covered in some secret dressing. Although that might not sound too appetizing, it actually is. Do not forget that this only serves as a quick appetizer to your main course.
After finishing the salad and onion soup, the main event begins. A cook comes out to your table with a cart full of uncooked rice and raw meats and begins an unusual but fun cooking display right before your eyes. This may include handy work with his cooking utensils, juggling an egg on a spatula and of course the sliced onion volcano. Also be aware of the giant flame that may come at the start of it all.
Although Fuji’s offers more than sushi and hibachi entrees, ordering from the hibachi grill is highly recommended. Along with the phenomenal fried rice that comes with your meal, you will get either one or two meats, depending on what you ordered. You may choose from chicken, steak, shrimp, scallops, salmon, lobster, filet mignon and even calamari. I would suggest trying the chicken, shrimp, scallops or lobster. Hibachi chicken is the least expensive at $15.50 while lobster is the most expensive at $26.50 per plate. Combinations such as shrimp and scallops or steak and shrimp will cost you $20.50.
At this point you might be thinking that seems a little out of your eating budget. However, just think of it as dinner and entertainment together in one night. It then might not cost any more than eating at Chili’s and seeing a movie would. Besides, Fuji’s isn’t a place you will find everywhere you go. It is a place with a unique and fun dining experience that is a must-try, in my opinion. Next time you are looking for something to do on a weekend night in Searcy, go to Fuji’s, and you might be surprised at the experience you will have.
