Fuji

As a local, this is one of my favorite restaurants in town! The teriyaki chicken is THE best in all of Big Bear. I also want to point out that it appears they use real, genuine wasabi here. The difference is remarkable (creamy, and not overpowering), and while I never touch it elsewhere, I can't get enough of it here! The gyoza is also potentially the best gyoza I've ever had - something about it hits just right with me. Last, but not least, the staff here is incredibly friendly and excellent at what they do! I can't imagine Big Bear without this place, it's fantastic.

My partner and I LOVE Japanese food, so expectations were high when we moved to Big Bear and found out that there weren't a lot of options - thankfully Fuji is wonderful and we stop by as often as we can justify, haha! I love noodles, and get the ramen or udon every time! The tempura is done properly, not just breaded with panko or whatever! The wasabi is always very fresh and flavorful, unlike a lot of the stuff you get other places that's clearly just very obviously "secretly" horseradish, haha! The portions are just right, and they have a wide selection of items on the menu! The staff are helpful and friendly, and the service has always been quick for what we order! We have genuinely enjoyed every meal that we have gotten from Fuji!

Outstanding Sushi. Stop looking and drive there. You'll be happy you did!

I have been coming here since I was a kid, they never disappoint! My favorite is the California hand roll and the samon 😍 always fresh and super yummy. They have half priced sushi starting at 5 I believe! The cook is super nice and the waitress is really sweet! Always will come back.

Always smiling staff - you are made to feel very comfortable as if you are on someone's home and not a Business. Food is always great - it was my choice for Mother's Day and we had a very nice, relaxed meal. Our oldest son treated us!

What a DELICIOUS and wonderful experience @ Fuji!!! We are lucky locals so we walked and had such a fabulous time celebrating my husband’s birthday, per always 🥳🍣🎉 Ivan was STELLAR - so kind, attentive and friendly!!! The fish was soooo fresh and literally melted in our mouths 😋🙏🏽 Ivan’s amazing customer service & the incredible quality of fish will keep us coming back! THANK YOU Suzy and Fuji family, we are so grateful 💖

Not bad at all, it's okay.. it's a lot better than what it might seem but still what you'd expect at a place like this.. if any of that makes sense.

Owners were very kind and helpful. Happy hour was from 5 - 7pm and was a great deal, half off select nigiri and some other deals. Owner came out and sang happy birthday to my girlfriend.

OMG, this was delicious and the staff, chef and owners were very nice and fun to talk with at the sushi bar. I'm from out of town and asked my hotel where a good steak or sushi restaurant was and Fuji was the only sushi they knew of. I was happily delighted by the service and quality of food!! I also happen to come in just after 5:00 p.m. when they opened and found that they had happy hour on an entire menu of things from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. I highly recommend you try it out if you love sushi and ate in then are the Big Bear area!! We had 7 orders of nigiri (14 prices), a sashimi platter, baked green muscles, salmon skin hand roller, a hot tea and a large hot sake for only $84.

My buddy and I were in search of a 9:15pm late night feast. Nothing in big bear was open at the time exceptttt Fuji! Kay our magnificent server ( and I suspect the owner) was so sweet and accommodating. Brought all our favs and kept em coming.

Decent amount of food for the price. Sodas come in individual cans. Service is decent. Food good quality. Definitely recommend. we came around noon so we didn't deal with a dinner rush.

Mind blown. Some of the best sushi I've ever had hands down. Grandma said she picked up the yellowtail in LA yesterday. It was beyond delicious. Like butta. Nigiri pieces are giant. This is the three colored Delight. If you don't try 1 you're stupid. I'm sorry but it's true. Hidden shrimp roll off the chart too. Put some Ponzu on that mutha Google Maps says they're open all day but they close around 2:30 till 5 I believe. We showed up at 2:20 and they were very accommodating and friendly still

It was a nice meal. Everything we ate (we were a party of 10), was really good. It’s worth the price. The only think they should improve, is make the place nicer and that’s it.

I'm happy to find this homey little spot. Will definitely be back to check out for of the Happy Hour menu. California roll was average. Nigiri was outstanding!!

Love this place! We get the albacore, salmon and uni usually here. Great beer + sake selection!

Fresh authentic sushi, from the spider roll to the stripped bass, it was delicious! I like that it came with a lot of ginger and wasabi. Definitely a revisit next time I'm in Big Bear!

Emily Resnick

What a DELICIOUS and wonderful experience @ Fuji!!! We are lucky locals so we walked and had such a fabulous time celebrating my husband’s birthday, per always 🥳🍣🎉 Ivan was STELLAR - so kind, attentive and friendly!!! The fish was soooo fresh and literally melted in our mouths 😋🙏🏽 Ivan’s amazing customer service & the incredible quality of fish will keep us coming back! THANK YOU Suzy and Fuji family, we are so grateful 💖

Im2Lost

Not bad at all, it's okay.. it's a lot better than what it might seem but still what you'd expect at a place like this.. if any of that makes sense.

Sean Moe

Owners were very kind and helpful. Happy hour was from 5 - 7pm and was a great deal, half off select nigiri and some other deals. Owner came out and sang happy birthday to my girlfriend.

Sparky

OMG, this was delicious and the staff, chef and owners were very nice and fun to talk with at the sushi bar. I'm from out of town and asked my hotel where a good steak or sushi restaurant was and Fuji was the only sushi they knew of. I was happily delighted by the service and quality of food!! I also happen to come in just after 5:00 p.m. when they opened and found that they had happy hour on an entire menu of things from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. I highly recommend you try it out if you love sushi and ate in then are the Big Bear area!! We had 7 orders of nigiri (14 prices), a sashimi platter, baked green muscles, salmon skin hand roller, a hot tea and a large hot sake for only $84.

Erik Adkins

My buddy and I were in search of a 9:15pm late night feast. Nothing in big bear was open at the time exceptttt Fuji! Kay our magnificent server ( and I suspect the owner) was so sweet and accommodating. Brought all our favs and kept em coming.

Zoe Evans (Chioro)

Decent amount of food for the price. Sodas come in individual cans. Service is decent. Food good quality. Definitely recommend. we came around noon so we didn't deal with a dinner rush.

Carlos Salas

Mind blown. Some of the best sushi I've ever had hands down. Grandma said she picked up the yellowtail in LA yesterday. It was beyond delicious. Like butta. Nigiri pieces are giant. This is the three colored Delight. If you don't try 1 you're stupid. I'm sorry but it's true. Hidden shrimp roll off the chart too. Put some Ponzu on that mutha Google Maps says they're open all day but they close around 2:30 till 5 I believe. We showed up at 2:20 and they were very accommodating and friendly still

Álvaro Valenzuela

It was a nice meal. Everything we ate (we were a party of 10), was really good. It’s worth the price. The only think they should improve, is make the place nicer and that’s it.

Michael Kriegsman

I'm happy to find this homey little spot. Will definitely be back to check out for of the Happy Hour menu. California roll was average. Nigiri was outstanding!!

Rachelle H.

Love this place! We get the albacore, salmon and uni usually here. Great beer + sake selection!

Wesley Temple

Fresh authentic sushi, from the spider roll to the stripped bass, it was delicious! I like that it came with a lot of ginger and wasabi. Definitely a revisit next time I'm in Big Bear!

5 STARS: As someone whose been to small, hole in the wall restaurants in Japan, I was instantly transported to a homestyle Japanese sushi restaurant. This place truly embodies a warm, familial environment. Expect the food and service to also feel like you stopped by at your grandparents home for a meal. Highly recommend this place if you're missing Japan like me.

LizB Rodriguez

5 STARS: As someone whose been to small, hole in the wall restaurants in Japan, I was instantly transported to a homestyle Japanese sushi restaurant. This place truly embodies a warm, familial environment. Expect the food and service to also feel like you stopped by at your grandparents home for a meal. Highly recommend this place if you're missing Japan like me.

Very good. Quiet...prepare yourself for a wait even after seated. But he food was really good.

I was hesitant as reading the reviews after ordering and waiting for our food 😬 But we were not disappointed at all. Order 3 sushi rolls, mexi, crunchy and caterpillar. Miso soups and rice... Everything was delicious 😋...My rating 4.4 stars

The chef seems to be very skilled. The waitress seemed to be working very hard. The food was really good. The atmosphere was ok (small town feel). The teppan grill was not in service while we were there. My Dynamite dish was really good

Jeff W.

The chef seems to be very skilled. The waitress seemed to be working very hard. The food was really good. The atmosphere was ok (small town feel). The teppan grill was not in service while we were there. My Dynamite dish was really good

Nice good good test, good portions too. Little different from the traditional Japanese food I am used too, but beef was really good. The only reason for me did not give a four stars its because take much longer time than I had excepted to get our food.

Wish service was a little happier to have you as a customer and not just hang out in the kitchen. Food was decent service just needs some motivation.

We dined in during our stay on a weeknight. It's off peak season so it wasn't busy when we arrived. The service is great, you can tell from the dining room that the place has been here a long time. Unfortunately, when we visited, there must have been a water leak or a dead animal just removed that day, because the smell inside was almost unbearable. We had already ordered our food so I didn't want to be rude and just leave. I ordered a shrimp tempura roll which was meh. It was mostly rice and imitation crab. Also ordered tempura udon, that was good. The selection of vegetables alone made it a beautiful dish. I wish it was served in glass though as to not absorb a plastic taste. But you have to remember that you're in big bear and the typical demographic of customers is probably not noticing these things. I hope this place stays in business so they can do some updates and continue to offer a cuisine that's needed in this pizza & burger town.

The staff were amazing and attentive. Whenever i had a request, they fullfilled (though my requests were can i get a bottle of cold Sake, can i get a box and the check) The place was cozy, very old astetic. Someone mentioned 80s, yes i would agree. However the food was not the greatest. Questionable even. My california roll and two sushi, clam and salmon, seemed warm. The clam was not fresh. The albacor sushi was good. Very flavorful and cold as it should have been. I also ordered beef teriyaki and tempura. Beef had fatty parts that most likley should have been more cooked. Still the fatty bits were the most delicious. I know some people dislike those in their meat. But overall, the beef was nice and sweet. The tempura was ok. Only two shrimp. The other temoura was onion or a vegatable. I did mot care for those. The salad was not fresh. And not cold temp either. The miso soup was great! I had come around 4 or 5pm. It was empty which i liked but i wondered if it had to do with their reviews. 3 other other customers came in around 5-530. Funny thing was that one of the older women came from the kitchen for a break. She saw me and asked me if i knew how to fix it(she pointed at the rawfish fridge at the sushibar). I guess thats why some of the stuff wasnt cold. The whole restauraunt was kind of warm too. No ac. Also, somehow i paid 62 dollars. Oh well.

I understand this sushi restaurant is located far from the "big city", but the quality, texture, and flavor of the 4 rolls we ordered was below average. The shumai, gyoza, and chicken yakitori also fell in the same low range.

Burrito

The staff were amazing and attentive. Whenever i had a request, they fullfilled (though my requests were can i get a bottle of cold Sake, can i get a box and the check) The place was cozy, very old astetic. Someone mentioned 80s, yes i would agree. However the food was not the greatest. Questionable even. My california roll and two sushi, clam and salmon, seemed warm. The clam was not fresh. The albacor sushi was good. Very flavorful and cold as it should have been. I also ordered beef teriyaki and tempura. Beef had fatty parts that most likley should have been more cooked. Still the fatty bits were the most delicious. I know some people dislike those in their meat. But overall, the beef was nice and sweet. The tempura was ok. Only two shrimp. The other temoura was onion or a vegatable. I did mot care for those. The salad was not fresh. And not cold temp either. The miso soup was great! I had come around 4 or 5pm. It was empty which i liked but i wondered if it had to do with their reviews. 3 other other customers came in around 5-530. Funny thing was that one of the older women came from the kitchen for a break. She saw me and asked me if i knew how to fix it(she pointed at the rawfish fridge at the sushibar). I guess thats why some of the stuff wasnt cold. The whole restauraunt was kind of warm too. No ac. Also, somehow i paid 62 dollars. Oh well.

Clarissa J

We dined in during our stay on a weeknight. It's off peak season so it wasn't busy when we arrived. The service is great, you can tell from the dining room that the place has been here a long time. Unfortunately, when we visited, there must have been a water leak or a dead animal just removed that day, because the smell inside was almost unbearable. We had already ordered our food so I didn't want to be rude and just leave. I ordered a shrimp tempura roll which was meh. It was mostly rice and imitation crab. Also ordered tempura udon, that was good. The selection of vegetables alone made it a beautiful dish. I wish it was served in glass though as to not absorb a plastic taste. But you have to remember that you're in big bear and the typical demographic of customers is probably not noticing these things. I hope this place stays in business so they can do some updates and continue to offer a cuisine that's needed in this pizza & burger town.

Andrew

I understand this sushi restaurant is located far from the "big city", but the quality, texture, and flavor of the 4 rolls we ordered was below average. The shumai, gyoza, and chicken yakitori also fell in the same low range.

The only place on the mountain for sushi so we stopped by during their happy hour and tried their hand rolls, nigiri and cut rolls. The rice was off and not the right texture you would expect from sushi rice. Either slightly undercooked or old. Also the service was quite slow. It took us about 2 hours to eat here and the restaurant was not crowded.

Stopped in for a quick bite. We were the only two people there. Took forever! Egg rolls were charred snd greasy. Gyoza totally greasy. Everything had way too much salt. Service is blah. I normally don’t post negative reviews but this place could do a whole lot better. Won’t be back. Two starts because the rolls were ok. Grocery store quality.

The sushi and food was OK. But the service was slow and inattentive. The "Happy Hour" wasn't really a happy hour... 25 cents off beer and sake?... The half off sushi was avocado, cucumber, California, and vegetable rolls. Everything else was regular price.

Unfortunately have to give this place 2 stars at best. Although our server seemed sweet she constantly kept leaving us and never taking our order. We only were able to order drinks. Then basically nothing was available, the server had to literally keep checking with each item we asked if it was available. Approximately 30 minutes went by before we decided to just leave. Still charged us for the tea and sake. I would have rather spent that money elsewhere where they actually had food.

I didn't get to taste how good the food is here. At 6:15p, still early. They were so grossly understaffed that I did not get to order until after 20 minutes of sitting at a table, and I walked up to the owner lady to place our order. After 20 minutes of waiting with no water, I checked on the status and they haven't even started and said it would be another 15 minutes. During that time, they had to turn away at least 20 people saying that there's an hour wait. I get it they're an old couple and they can only do so much, and it's a busy weekend, but I'm sure it's not their first rodeo.

While the staff was nice, their food needs improvement. My ramen tasted fine until I took a bite of slimy pork. I couldn't eat a bite more. The gyoza was sub-par as well. My husband got tempora and was happy with it so I think your experience will vary depending on what you order. The water also had floaters in it which started off our experience with a negative. We were also the only people in there at lunch time.

The food is not bad at all this place is really, really good and authentic as well. I loved it all, especially the miso soup. You can never go wrong with miso. There were just some things I saw I did not like and won't say. The experiences you have will be different from mine. I just think they need more help.

We are locals so have tried this place a few times. There are only two sushi places in Big Bear so not a lot of choices. The old lady that owns the place will not let the service waiter do their job and interferes. I can't count the number of people she has had just in the last few months. As a result expect wrong orders to be put on your table and then a few minutes later she will pick it up and give it to someone else. The last time we were there with friends (and the last for us!) we sat down rather quickly and the waiter gave us water. (She would not let him take our order.) After 10 minutes of waiting I got up and got menus for everyone. Another 15 minutes and still no one came by to take our order. I went into the kitchen (yep, that's right) and told her we had been waiting for 25 minutes. She came out 5 minutes later and we started to order a sushi boat. She then told us that that would take too long to prepare and to please select something else! This was two hours before their closing time. This is sushi- no cooking!!! Well, all six of us packed up and left to go up the street to Pongs. We walked in, they took our order within seconds of us arriving and the food was served within 10 minutes and it was great. This owner will be the death of this place.

Honestly it was more our fault for expecting anything out of a sushi restaurant in Big Bear. This just ain't the place for it. The shisho leaf, just like everything here, wasn't fresh. The gyoza was mediocre. The sashimi and the Hamachi roll were ultimately inedible. The photos honestly do a service to the food. The phone's auto editing qualities provide way more color and pop than is actually there. The food was pretty bland and grey. The service was rather confusing and messed up on what we had ordered. It turned out for the best since we ended up just wanting to leave as quickly as possible. All in all, our expectations were way too high, it's not a horrible sushi place if you keep in mind the setting.

The good, the owner is the happiest drunk I have ever met, he’s the guy sitting up front (missing teeth) sipping on miso mixed with Saki. The sushi is terrible, they are understaffed and take forever to make and serve sushi.

Montgomery Allans (Monty)

Honestly it was more our fault for expecting anything out of a sushi restaurant in Big Bear. This just ain't the place for it. The shisho leaf, just like everything here, wasn't fresh. The gyoza was mediocre. The sashimi and the Hamachi roll were ultimately inedible. The photos honestly do a service to the food. The phone's auto editing qualities provide way more color and pop than is actually there. The food was pretty bland and grey. The service was rather confusing and messed up on what we had ordered. It turned out for the best since we ended up just wanting to leave as quickly as possible. All in all, our expectations were way too high, it's not a horrible sushi place if you keep in mind the setting.

Marcus Mend

The good, the owner is the happiest drunk I have ever met, he’s the guy sitting up front (missing teeth) sipping on miso mixed with Saki. The sushi is terrible, they are understaffed and take forever to make and serve sushi.

Went in for a to go order for happy hour. Ordered 4 rolls and chicken teriyaki. We wait an entire HOUR after placing the order over the phone for them to call us back to let us know it's ready(even though they told us it would be 20 minutes) but I digress. We were craving sushi and we were starving from a hike so we looked past that and arrived to what looks like a fast aging establishment. We go in to pick up our order and ask for extra teriyaki sauce the older lady says"everything is in there!" With an unnecessary attitude. We check the bag and it was FAR from what we expected. Lo and behold the extra teriyaki sauce was NOT in there. The rolls were in tiny seaweed wraps with very little fish. That would have been fine if the tuna was a recognizable color. It was GRAY and discolored. It honestly looked like vomit chunks. I was appalled they were trying to feed us this. We went back inside to ask for a refund and the owner(we find out later) was sitting by having a conversation with a couple who is asking him "why don't you eat your own food? You don't eat your own food?" That should be everything you need to know about this place. But we proceed to ask the old lady for a refund and the owner comes over (his breath HEAVY with sake) and yells at us that "I guess we'll throw it all away!! Give her a refund!!! This is 35 year old business you go to another restaurant AND NEVER COME BACK" I said you got it dude. This place needs a revamp with new mgmt and they seriously need to consider buying fresher fish. I would NOT listen to any good reviews on this business there is no way the people leaving the reviews know what a good sushi place is. DO NOT EAT HERE YOU WILL REGRET IT.

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. Knew better than to give this place a chance because of the immediate uncleanliness of the place, but against our better judgement my group ate here and regretted every minute of it. Our water cups were dirty and had white chunks of only God knows what floating through it. The sushi rolls tasted mildly sour and the fish was not fresh in the slightest. We ordered their version of a crunch roll which had stale rice crispies cereal fried onto the outside of the roll, it was so disgusting my friend immediately spit it out. The other rolls we ordered were tolerable enough but this roll tasted rancid and old, like the ingredients were sitting on the counter for several days with no refrigeration. When I tried to send the roll back to the kitchen, they got very frustrated with us and told us that we were in the wrong for doing so. I explained to her that we weren’t trying to insult them by sending it back but the taste was off and it tasted sour, and the server/one of the owners laughed in my face and told me I was wrong. She still made us pay for the roll, despite not eating it at all and argued with us asking “well how would YOU make this roll!? We know how to make sushi and you don’t!” We heard lots of yelling in the kitchen about us as well because they were mad that we didn’t want to pay for the item we didn’t eat. Against our better judgement we just paid the full amount of the bill, including the food that was rancid, and left. The server followed us out to our car and insisted that we didn’t pay for the full amount of the bill! She didn’t even count it! We argued with her immediately telling her to count it out and even helped her count it and no surprise, it was the correct amount! When she realized she was wrong we got no apology she just rolled her eyes and I’m a huff turned around and went back inside. ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS EXPERIENCE. Do not spend your money here, the staff is incredibly rude and inconsiderate! HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!

Went in to get miso soup and the old Asian guy at the sushi bar refused service and he said we are only serving sushi right now and the wait time is about an hour! with only 4 people at the restaurant a couple at a table and 2 guys at sushi bar.

Not a real Japanese food at all! The Yakitori didn’t made from row chicken. It made from the cooked chicken. The inside of the Yakitori chicken was cold. However, when I talked to the lady about this, she said, “ you’d better go to another restaurant next time.”

Grace Zhang

Not a real Japanese food at all! The Yakitori didn’t made from row chicken. It made from the cooked chicken. The inside of the Yakitori chicken was cold. However, when I talked to the lady about this, she said, “ you’d better go to another restaurant next time.”

Probably the worst meal I’ve ever had. The tuna came out brown, and they insisted that’s how fresh tuna looks—but it’s always supposed to be red. The avocado rolls were also brown, and the rice was hard and tasted old. The only redeeming parts of the meal were the sake and miso soup. They raised the prices from what was listed on the menu, a few items from this place ended up being $80. Had to go elsewhere to eat real food.

Arielle Fox

Probably the worst meal I’ve ever had. The tuna came out brown, and they insisted that’s how fresh tuna looks—but it’s always supposed to be red. The avocado rolls were also brown, and the rice was hard and tasted old. The only redeeming parts of the meal were the sake and miso soup. They raised the prices from what was listed on the menu, a few items from this place ended up being $80. Had to go elsewhere to eat real food.