Fuji's in Sherwood
16062 SW Tualatin Sherwood Rd
Sherwood OR
503-625-7849

Disclaimer: All reviews and original content Copyright © Mike Blackwell [remove "nospam." or it won't work] of Oregon Sushi -- All Rights Reserved.

Food Quality: A to B, depending on the dish and (apparently) the chef.
Portion Sizes: Typical
Overall value for the dollar: B+ on half-price night; B- at full price.

I ate here on a Thursday, when most of the a la carte sushi bar items are half price (half-price nights are Sunday through Thursday [No longer true: see below]). Thus, the Rainbow and Timmy's Special rolls, normally $8.00 each, were only $4.00 and were thus irresistable. I wound up getting $39 worth of sushi for $19.50 (less soup, tea, and tip).

In addition to sushi, Fuji's has several tables surrounding open teppanyaki grills. From behind the protection of a transparent shield, the chefs cook the food while you watch. From where I was seated (at the sushi bar), I couldn't easily see the grilling behind me, but at the request of some of the younger diners, one chef would occasionally squirt some sort of flammable liquid onto the grill, resulting in a brief whoosh of flame. [On later visits, I learned this was probably an Onion Volcano.] I didn't see any acrobatic knife work a la Benihana, but like I say, the action was behind me and my attention was mostly on the sushi.

My sushi chef appeared to be an apprentice, still learning his trade. While he was quite adept at applying wasabi to the nigiri, his maki-cutting skills seemed to need work. Normally, when cutting maki rolls into eighths, the chef starts in the center, then bisects the two halves, then bisects the resulting four quarters, so all eight pieces are of the same thickness. However, after my chef made the first central cut, he attempted to cut in from the ends, resulting in pieces of varying thicknesses. Also, on one of the rolls, he placed the end sections face down, so that the ingredients sticking out from the end were pushed through the back side, causing the rice to separate slightly. He only did this on one roll, so perhaps he was in a hurry. That would also explain the practice of using pre-formed rice balls for the nigiri, something I've only seen done at buffets. However, these stylistic decisions did not appear to affect the taste. [Note: as I began to review more and more restaurants, I noticed these practices are more commonplace than I thought.]

From the half-price sushi menu, I ordered the following items: (Note: They must get a good deal on tobiko: they seem to be in everything. Not that I mind, of course.)

Shrimp Boat (shrimp, tobiko, quail egg, onions, hot [Tabasco-brand] sauce). Served gunkan-style, the "hulls" of the boats were ebi, filled with tobiko, and topped with a quail egg yolk and green onions, with a small amount of Tabasco sauce on top. Not as spicy at the start as I was expecting, but when dipped in wasabi and soy sauce, the Tabasco and horseradish are a nice contrast. One thing that surprised me was that the ends of the nori (seaweed wrapper) were left sticking out about an inch, rather than being cut off or moistened to cover the outside. Was this a stylistic decision (e.g., to resemble a tail), or just a time-saver? It was slightly awkward to eat, but I have seen this approach elsewhere, so it must serve some purpose.

Caterpillar Roll (avocado, unagi, tobiko). Since I like unagi, this item was a must-have. Eel is a fairly spendy ingredient, so I wasn't surprised when there wasn't as much unagi in the roll as I was hoping.

Giant (shrimp, avocado, egg omelet, cucumber, crab, tobiko). Pretty much like it says; it came in five pieces, about 1-3/4" in diameter. Nice crunch from the cucumber.

Philadelphia (cream cheese, smoked salmon, cucumber, tobiko). Unlike most Philadelpha rolls I've had, the salmon actually outshone the cream cheese, which is usually laid on pretty thick due to its lower cost.

Rainbow (tuna, yellowtail, salmon, squid, octopus, mackerel). A rainbow roll starts with a California roll, but with additional ingredients laid on top of it like overlapping shingles on a roof. It's a good way to try a little of everything for not too much money, and if you pick the ingredients off the top before you eat the roll, it's like a sashimi sampler. [Though I've later learned that's kinda rude. :) ]

Timmy's Special (baked scallop, shrimp, crab, green onion, avocado, tobiko). This was pretty good, and was topped with "Timmy sauce." Not sure what's in it (besides chunks of scallop), but it's good. It sort of resembles Thousand Island dressing in color and texture.

The miso soup ($1) was okay, but not memorable. The green tea ($1) arrived in the form of a cup of hot water and a tea bag! I've never seen that before, especially at a place with a sushi bar. [I've seen it several times since this review.]

Overall, I was satisfied by the quality of my meal, though not overwhelmed, and I feel the half-price nights are a bargain. I will return on a different night when their head sushi chef is in charge, to give them a second chance. They have a $14.95 combo platter I haven't tried yet; I usually consider the preparation and presentation of such an item to be a good indicator of the overall restaurant quality. They also have some specialty rolls that aren't on the half-price menu, including the traditional spider roll (which uses an entire soft-shell crab, deep-fried whole--not just portions of it as I've seen elsewhere) and a deep-fried tempura roll another diner said was something she ordered on every visit. [It's called the Chef's Special roll, and it's really good.] And of course, I'll have to try the grill sometime, and I'll make sure to count my eyebrows if I ask for a fiery whoosh.

P.S. Since writing this review, I have returned several times, and tried nearly all the items on the half-price sushi menu, as well as the combo platter (which is regular price) on two separate occasions. All are good. I almost always get a Rainbow Roll, since at no other sushi bar can I get one for $4. I can also recommend the Chef's Special roll (shrimp, crab, smoked salmon, avocado and tobiko, deep-fried and covered with Timmy sauce, $6.95). I've had three or four of those. (No, not at one sitting: they're way too filling. :)

In January 2003, I dined with a friend and split the 2-for-one dinner special (with a coupon from the Oregonian's Friday A&E section). We ordered the two most expensive dinners and so for less than $25 we shared chicken, beef, calamari, shrimp, etc.: a great meal and a great bargain.

UPDATE: August 26, 2004

I've been digging through my old credit card receipts to see which reviews I need to add or update. Apparently, on August 26, 2004, I spent $64 here. Since I generally come here only on half-price nights, that figure most likely represents two meals. However, I have a strong recollection that, at least once, I did manage to spend over $50 here by myself on a half-price sushi night. Granted, that must have included at least one full-price specialty roll, but yowza!

UPDATE: Late 2005

Also, it's worth noting that on a Sunday in late 2005, a friend and I dropped by here for sushi and found a note on the door indicating that due to price increases, Sundays were no longer half-price nights. As of February 2006, their coupons in the Oregonian's A&E section confirm that sushi is half-price only from Monday through Thursday. Bummer. Still good stuff, though.