Ai Fuji Japanese Steakhouse

The most underrated Japanese restaurant in Durham! From the «biscuits» they serve you with your drinks, to their sushi and hibachi grill, it’s all exactly what you want in a restaurant.
I am truly amazed at the bad reviews. Their sushi has always been outstanding and the price is significantly lower than other Japanese restaurants close to it.
Don’t listen to the negative reviews, try it out for yourself. Here’s my favorite sushi/​entrees:
Volcano Roll, Rainbow Roll, Hibachi Chicken entrée, California Roll, Spicy Tuna. The list goes on, but you can at least start there :)

Worst experience ever. Discriminatory against the gay community!
While out with my lesbian/​looking friend, we were (understandably) mistaken as a couple.
*She was overlooked not once but, twice. The seating attendant assisted the people who came in after her/​us (standing behind us) before even speaking and acknowledging our presence.
*We waited for 10 minutes (no exaggeration) at the sushi bar for someone to even speak/​take our drink order… we were the only two patrons in this section.
*I was not 100% sure of the name of sushi roll, only the description («cone shaped» it turned out to be «hand roll.») According to the (extremely rude) waitress and the (extremely rude) sushi chef, they flat out, no questions asked, did not have it. The nicer of the two sushi chefs did eventually say that they did serve such a thing. According to the server and rude sushi chef, did not they serve anything tempura related (not true as I saw it on the menu.) We left without handing over our hard earned money. I have worked in the service industry before and completely understand the pressures. By no means were we rude… we were very patient and kind up until the end. We did we not ask for anything that was out of the ordinary, we/​I was just unsure of the name. Be cautious of going to Ai Fuji. Terrible experience. Put a damper on the evening.

We came here for relief from the snow day. I appreciate the dedication to being open! I live right near by and had never stopped in. It was move larger than I imagined with a booth area, bar, and hibachi grills. Much bigger than I imagined.
We opted for table service and while the server was perfectly fine, the food passed only as a last resort to the snow day. My vegetable tempora was crispy but could have used some more seasoning. I love miso soup and it was nice and hot on this cold day, however my alas was over dressed (these two were included with my meal).
I ordered tea to keep my warm, however it was only like warm and was not loose leaf like a nice Japanese restaurant but could have been purchased at the Food Lion next door.
Ai Fuji was convenient and dos the job on the snow day, but any other day I would choose elsewhere.

I finally dined in here and I was not overjoyed. The food was average. The restaurant is huge which is nice because there is plenty of seating. They also have private rooms which would be great if you were with a large party or for a private birthday dinner. They did have hibachi here as well so that’s always fun too. I didn’t sit at the hibachi table but maybe next time I would try that.
I ordered the hibachi chicken. For the price of it it’s a good deal because you get soup, salad, chicken with veggies, two shrimp, and fried rice. So it definitely is a lot of food and I even had a lot of chicken, veggies, and rice left over. The hibachi sauces were a good touch too. However, the taste of the food was okay. The salad was soaked in ginger dressing. The soup was tasty and hot. When my meal came, the hibachi chicken was not hot at all. This was disappointing because it didn’t taste fresh to me since it was cold. The fried rice was the best part of the meal. The shrimp was also better than the chicken. I also ordered tea which was perfect for a cold day. A lot of Chinese restaurants will sometimes keep refilling your tea, especially so it’s still hot, but they did not do this here.
I have also tried their sushi here in the past. It’s average as well. Good for the price of it since its BOGO, but definitely have eaten much better sushi in the area. The good deal is that they even do take out BOGO rolls and do it on the weekend which most places don’t. So it’s a great sushi price for take out, but by far not the greatest sushi you’ll eat.

It’s a shame. Went as a company outing, sat in the private room, our group was at either end of the «table» with 2 chef stations.
1. One chef came out and did an excellent job. (food, entertainment etc)
2. Second Chef came out 15 minutes later (other half of our group was almost done eating)
3. Food was not cooked well at all. He forgot to cook the vegetables, so after we were done our rice and meat, we were then served a plate of veggies.
Very much a disappointment :(:(:(

This place was unfortunately such a disappointment all around.
The sushi was terrible… better off getting sushi at the grocery store. The spicy tuna is normally my go to roll — the fish was dry and tasted stale and fishy. Couldn’t even finish the roll!
Hibachi is in my books usually a safe but, but was also equally disappointing. Shrimp had potential but was wayyyyy overcooked. Chicken was dry and flavorless, even with using all the sauces. Veggies were fresh and plentiful though!
I definitely had high blood pressure after leaving with the insane sodium load, but we didn’t even bother taking our leftovers.
Service was decent, ambiance fine.
Won’t be back, and will continue my hunt to find good sushi in the triangle area!

I’m a big fan of their lunch specials on the weekdays. Their hibachi lunch specials start at 7.99 which is a great deal as it comes with a soup, salad, rice, vegetables, your entrée and a show! I usually call ahead or go on OpenTable to make a reservation for hibachi because I only have an hour lunch break and sometimes it can get crowded or they may not have enough cooks. I also like the shrimp chips that they give out for free if you sit at the sushi bar. Their ginger dipping sauce that they give out with the white sauce for hibachi is great! I sometimes buy the sauce and take it home to put on other meats that I cook.

I ate here for the first time, only because Shiki Sushi (right across the road) had a 40 minute wait. I first asked the hostess if we (2 of us) could have dinner at the hibachi table. She sort of snarled at me and asked «only for 2?» As to insinuate you must have more people in your party to sit at the hibachi table. So, I replied yes. And she said well for 2 it’ll be a 20 minute wait; though there we seats available.
So we decided we would just take a side table in the restaurant and order sushi.
Our waitress seemed extremely overwhelmed with 3 tables. We had to wait for drink refills, had to ask for sauces to be brought to our table multiple times before she finally brought them. And the sushi: just okay. Nothing that sat them apart from other General Japanese Hibachi places. Go to Shiki.

Really great place to eat at, I’ve been here many times and the service and food has always been great. Should definitely try their Ai Fuji roll and their filet hibachi. The show is fantastic too as the chefs are very engaged and have a lot of fun with you.

The hibachi is good
Sushi is okay but it have 50% off so is a good deal
Overal i think is good place to eat

It’s a very nice place. They have a very good tasting sushi at 50% of the menu price, but I would not recommend sitting at the grill place, their cook pretty much burned all the veggies and it wasn’t tasty and price for that burned food was ridiculously high.

Don’t be lured in by 50% off sushi because although you pay half price, the rolls are half the size. Besides the size, the quality of the fish was dismal, and the rolls were packed tightly.
The ambiance will leave you thinking you’ve walked into a 1984 Miami Vice episode with the dark black walls and neon blue lights at the bar. To top off the level of service at the ‘steakhouse’ your drinks come served in beautiful tall plastic red Coca-​Cola cups just like at Pizza Hut. We’ll be looking elsewhere for sushi and can’t believe it received four stars.

Ai Fuji wasn’t any spectacular, but is not a restaurant to overlook. I went in there for lunch time so it wasn’t busy at all. However, I have heard that Ai Fuji does get quite busy during dinner times. The first thing I noticed was the darkness of the restaurant. It wasn’t, by any means, a restaurant requiring extreme formalities. But the atmosphere and aura of the restaurant set off that kind of tone when you initially walk in so it was somewhat intimidating. Besides that, the food and service were good. I got the Hibachi Chicken and my girlfriend got the Chicken Teriyaki, which we were both satisfied with. They overdo the ginger dressing on the salad, so I had to actually take some out before eating the appetizer. Also, the proportion of vegetables that they give compared to the actual meat was overwhelming (nearly twice the amount of vegetables compared to the chicken). Other than that, Ai Fuji was a good experience and a place that would be worth coming back to.

I had the filet with shrimp hibachi plus a super crunchy sushi roll to start. Filet was incredible — perfectly cooked and delicious. The shrimp was overcooked and not worth the extra money. Only got six shrimp for the combo meal, and everyone else already got 2 shrimp with the appetizer. So I basically paid and extra dollar per shrimp for the 4 extra.
The sushi roll was greasy and had no flavor. Maybe it would have been better if I got a non-​fried roll. Either way, I don’t plan on ordering sushi here again. Shiki across the street is better sushi.
The seafood sauce was a bit too sweet for my tastes, but still good. The fried rice was okay but had several hard grains still in the mix.
Service was good. The cook was entertaining, though pretty standard for a hibachi place. The creamy ginger dressing on the salad was a delightful surprise — very good.

Average is the word I was use to describe Ai Fuji. If this place was the only sushi in town I might be singing a different tune but sadly they are located across the street from Shiki Sushi which in my humble opinion does a better job at sushi. Ai Fuji has a large menu and some great drink specials. They offer Hibachi dinning with the cook top and show which Shiki does not so if that is what you are looking for then Ai Fuji is your place. I only dined at the sushi bar and was not super impressed. Service and the Sushi Chief were sweet and answered any questions we had. You can tell they try hard to please their customers. My friend and I ordered Martinis since they were $ 5 that night and they were average. We ordered the Dragon Roll, Superbowl Roll, Sexy Girl Roll, and the Tokyo Roll along with Nigiri Red Snapper and Smoked Salmon. The Nigiri which is also BOGO was large and fresh and while the sushi wasn’t bad it was just… average. With several drinks and our sushi our bill was only $ 62 which is on the cheap side. I think if you want Hibachi and/​or a cheaper sushi experience (you get what you pay for) I was suggest Ai Fuji but don’t expect to be wowed.
BOGO sushi every day all day to include Nigiri and Sashimi * Not valid on split checks
Drink Specials:
Sunday: ½ Price Cold Sake
Large Carafe/​Nigori Sake
Monday: ½ Draft & Bottle Beer
Tuesday: ½ Price Bottle of Wine
Wednesday: $ 4.95 Large Hot Sake
Thursday: $ 5.00 Martini & Margaritas
Friday: ½ Draft & Bottle Beers
Saturday: ½ Draft & Bottle Beers

Ai Fuji is a pretty average Japanese Steakhouse (haven’t tried the sushi so can’t comment). If you’ve been to another teppanyaki style steakhouse before this will likely meet your expectations but not exceed them.
I ordered the hibachi chicken & steak and my girlfriend ordered chicken & shrimp. We also ordered gyoza dumplings, since they had a date night special for a free appetizer. They were decent but nothing special. The meal started with onion/​miso soup and salads, which were both very standard. We asked for dressing on the side, but our salads were still covered in ranch. The waiter apologized but didn’t fix the mistake, which was slightly annoying.
The hibachi chef was fairly entertaining but didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, and he cooked the fried rice much before the vegetables and even longer before the meat. The different meats also came out at much different times, so we were given rice then veggies then steak then chicken then shrimp and forced to wait for our whole dish to be ready while the rest got cold or else eat the meal one item at a time. This also slightly annoyed me, simply because the chef was being very slow but providing little entertainment at the same time. The price was around $ 40 for two people which was reasonable, but I would probably not return unless really in the mood for hibachi.

New to the Durham area but lived in Raleigh my whole life. Raleigh has a few great sushi places so we’ve been trying to figure out where the Durham spot for sushi is. Shiki sushi is right across the street from ai fuji so we’ll try that in the future as well. But as for ai fuji, no frills and delicious. Not the best sushi I’ve ever had by a long shot, but with BOGO specialty rolls, I don’t care! Usually bogo places rub me the wrong way because I think, the best sushi places don’t have to discount. The rolls cost what they cost, and people will pay it because they’re worth it. However these were very fresh tasting and I couldn’t complain one bit about them.
We had also heard that their hibachi was worth a try so once we saw the prices of the sushi, we thought why not try that as well? Girlfriend ordered their filet mignon hibachi which came out tender, flavorful, and not overly salty/​saucy like a lot of other hibachi places. Very good.
All in all we got 4 specialty rolls, 2 basic rolls and a filet hibachi dinner for $ 65 bucks! The hibachi accounted for $ 18 of that total and the sushi we ordered was more than enough for the two of us. So really you can get a great sushi dinner for around $ 45 here! Knowing that, we will certainly be back.

We weren’t gonna come here if the 8– course prefixed sushi place took walk-​ins. Since we were on the area and hungry, we Unilocaled Jap food nearby, and this place showed up. Since it’s got 4 stars, we figured we’d give it a shot. Turned out it was a bad choice.
Food is mediocre… The hibachi area is just tacky. My company got stomach problem right after we ate. Won’t come back again.

I’ve been here once just for sushi and it was great! The buy one get one free sushi is such a great deal! They also had a beer special that night– all beer was ½ off. Pretty good deal for a Saturday night!
The sushi tasted very fresh and had great flavor. Our server was very friendly and helpful in answering questions we had about certain rolls. We’ll definitely be back!

Update: I returned a week ago for some hibachi and I was so disappointed!
The service was fine. They were not busy so my waiter had all the time in the world for our table.
The food is where they lost 3 stars. I wish I had taken a photo to show how bad it was. My salad with the ginger dressing was terrible, I could have had better at home. The lettuce was going bad and was forming that orange color on half of the lettuce. The «ginger dressing» did not look like the ginger dressings I’m accustomed to. It instead looked like watered down thousand island and tasted like watered down, fake ginger dressing. It was just bad.
On to the hibachi. The chef was a mediocre entertainer. The food was good, not bad not great.
Overall, I would probably not return for hibachi. I’d only return to give them a second chance, because maybe this experience was a fluke. I will never order a salad again unless they fix these problems.
Hopefully their sushi is still good, as I didn’t order any when I got hibachi.