Fukuda

This place is Class ! Who cares what people think ! If you love good food? What are you waiting for!

Fukuda is closed. It’s now Lomito, a South American restaurant. @lomitotruck
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I just saw the news on their website — it’s been a while since we’ve been in, due to other factors, but I sincerely hope that Fukuda will be back in full force soon, and especially so if they can continue on with the Izakaya theme rather than just straight up sushi. Yes, price point will also be important, but we really did enjoy the positive energy, conviction, and optimism that the staff served up with their dishes… Definitely keep that. Best of luck to you Fukuda-​ites!!! Mata-​né!

It isn’t enough to come in and call Fukuda my favorite restaurant in Pittsburgh, and it isn’t enough to say that I haven’t had such an experience of fresh sushi or perfectly paired small plates anywhere else – I’ve been going to Fukuda for months, and yet I always get stuck when thinking about what to write for a review.
I’ve never asked for anything at Fukuda. I’ve yet to order off the menu a la carte, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Buy a bottle of liquor or wine or a six pack of beer, walk in with a friend or two, and sit at the sushi bar for an omikase. Yes, it’s a bit expensive, but you’re eating out and it’s probably the best fish in the city. Pour your first glass and sit back and hang out.
You’ll refill your drink as your first course comes out, and savor the combination of introductory tastes. Refill your drink, eat some ginger, and let the rest of the meal fall into place.
Fukuda is a place to relax. It’s my favorite place to hang out. I don’t come in expecting to leave anytime soon, I don’t mind if it takes a moment for my food to get to me, and the staff is never apprehensive to have a nice conversation or refill my glass.
The fois gras sushi that ended a portion of my omikase was stupid good, not to downplay the savory mushroom custard, the wagyu beef with wasabi mashed potatoes, the various cuts of tuna, or even the unbelievable black sesame crème brûlée at the end of the meal.
This review is hardly enough. You should save up some funds and check out Fukuda; the place reviews itself.

— The sushi was incredibly fresh & top notch as agreed upon by everyone in our party– the best sushi we’ve ever had.
— The atmosphere/​décor leaves a lot to be desired– with how good the food is (& what their prices are), they could try a little harder (and put some cushions down on their hard benches– our tushes were not happy at the end of our meal!)
— We could tell our server was new & everyone has to learn so we gladly cut him some slack on not quite knowing what everything on the menu was.
— Our biggest qualm was that it took FOREVER for our food to come out and it was a Thursday early evening with not that many people in the restaurant so that was a little strange.
Overall, a good place to go if you want really good sushi but I think there’s still lot of room for improvement as an establishment as a whole.

Hands down, the best sushi in Pittsburgh, and actually the best sushi I have had period. TJ, the chef, is amazing and super passionate about the food. Do yourself a favor and sit at the bar and get the Omakase, where the chef just prepares for you based on whats fresh, you will leave totally stuffed and so satisfied. Not only is the food amazing, but the people that work there are great and tons of fun. Have a sense of humor and bring yourself plenty of wine and sake to go with your meal. Don’t miss the late night service on Fridays and Saturdays. I usually eat here at least once a week, sometimes, if Im lucky, two! Truly a hidden gem in Pittsburgh.

First off, let me say that I’m glad this place exists in bloomfield as the only other passable alternative to Umi, and that I will update this review after I’ve experienced it again.
Place is comfortable and small for a sushi place. I came here with a friend who isn’t very experienced so we decided to order rolls rather than straight fish, however I did get an order of Otoro, which was silghtly steep at $ 18 for two slices. Rolls were great, the spicy tuna was actually spicy which is a refreshing change. The Otoro wasn’t as buttery as I expected and the temperature of the fish was distracting– it was way too cold in the center and cool near the edges. When temperature is so important for just two pieces of fish like this, I would have expected it to be perfect.
Service was great up until the end of the meal. She was thorough in explaining the menu. We had ordered something that she suggested (one of the more expensive box rolls at the bottom of the menu) but it came out as a square of rice with a thin sliver of yellowtail on top. Neither my buddy nor I are particularly fond of yellowtail, especially on a huge hunking wad of rice, so we let her know. She proceeded to suggest that we «take the fish off and just eat everything else» which I was floored by. Did… she just tell me to eat rice balls? We didn’t eat any of it, and got no compensation back.
All things considered, this place is passable, but I will be back for the omakase which is offered in 3 tiers. $ 65 for 4 – 6 courses, $ 85 for 5 – 8 courses, and $ 100+ for «sit down and the chef throws fish at you until you say stop»

How could I not have written a review before now of one of my favorite sushi restaurants?
From the very minute you walk through the door you are transported to Japan – less anyone Japanese working behind the sushi bar.
You are greeted in a formal Japanese-​style when you walk through the door, the chefs are working away vigorously at various beautiful cuts of fish and other delicacies that I am not so sure I could even name. I had a great conversation about the importance of the various «sides» that go on the plate, and the fact that it’s so disappointing to the chef that many people choose not to eat them – they’re missing some of the great flavors!
The late-​night Okonomiyaki is what they’re probably most famous for and definitely something you shouldn’t miss if you can stay up that late. Best part is they’re open until I think 2 AM how can you go wrong with that? I highly recommend.

This place is FRESH! The freshest fish around! I was here for a special Unilocal event and got to watch the chef fillet a fish that was delivered less than two hours prior. What a treat! I also got to sample tuna sushi and spicy tuna maki. Both were delicious. We were also served an arugula salad and edamame. Both on point! The edamame was lightly seasoned and the salad dressing was fresh and also very light.
I’d recommend this place to anyone looking for something a sushi place that is a little different. Although they prepare a lot of your typical rolls, this place is all about traditional sushi. This isn’t the place to go if you want specialty rolls drenched in tempura and sauces. This place wants you to taste the fish! and you should, because it’s so so good!
Prices are pretty typical. I’m used to paying around $ 6 for a spicy tuna and here they charged $ 7.5, but at the other places, I don’t know how fresh or good the tuna really is. At Fukuda, I know I’m getting top of the line fish, so the extra $ 1.5 is well spent.
The menu changes frequently and is based on what fish is available.

Never thought Bloomfield would have a destination-​worthy sushi joint but here we are. This sounds (and is!!) truly terrible but I get nervous anytime I see a non-​Japanese chef at a sushi counter. My fears were unfounded. Start to finish we seriously didn’t have one bite that was anything less than stellar. I loved their nigiri, thought the rice was phenomenal and enjoyed their willingness to have fun and explore untraditional tastes.
I will note that the pacing was terrible and it wasn’t even crowded. Can’t imagine what it must be like on a busy night. Maybe it should just be a counter for 8 people or something. But I’m willing to forgive when what they do put down in front of you is just that good.

Went here for my boyfriend’s birthday and it was a wonderful experience! i tweeted to them beforehand because I’m not a huge sushi fan and I was afraid I wasn’t going to find anything I like. They were reassuring and told me they’d alert the chef.
When we arrived, they had reserved a seat for us in front of the chef so he could guide me in my selections. He talked me through the kinds of fish I would like and wow, I loved everything he made for me. My boyfriend tried the ToroFest and said it was amazing. I don’t think Ive ever seen him so happy with his meal.
No, this is not the fastest place to eat. There is one man crafting your meal and the presentation is beautiful. But the place is small so the staff is easy to flag down to place another order. My water glass was never empty. Come here to enjoy the experience, enjoy your company and relax.

I went here for restaurant week. They had a 4 course special that included salad, sushi, fish, and dessert. Overall, the meal was amazing. Everything tasted great and was super fresh, but there wasn’t a whole lot there for $ 35 and that was the special pricing for restaurant week.
We also got a salmon avocado roll that what disappointing and took 52 MINUTES! EEEEK. We actually got our dessert 25 minutes before we got the sushi roll. For having 3 other tables and 4 people at the sushi bar, this was a little annoying! The roll itself was fresh but super tiny and overpriced.
The bathroom was nice when we first got there (remember we were there for almost 2 hours UGH), but when I went in right before I left it was DISGUSTING!!! ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew!
I might get takeout from here again, but I don’t think I will be dining in.

Condensed review: Everything I’ve had was well-​prepared, flavorful and delicious. I’ve had the ramen, barbecued stick chicken, grilled edamame and sushi rolls. The staff is very nice.
And now for the reason for just an A-​ok rating. The main problem is the price point of the items. I’ll pay for great food, but it’s not like this place is in Manhattan. The décor is eclectic, cool, but still don’t seem refined even for shabby chic. The other main problem is that the service can be sloooooow. I live within walking distance and they quoted me at 10 minutes. We didn’t get our food until a minimum of 20 minutes after we arrived (about 12 minutes later.) My gf thought we were forgotten, but that could not have been possible since there were only 6 diners in the place.
I love seeing new restaurants with great food coming into my neighborhood, But unless the price point decreases by around 20−25%, I can’t see it lasting more than a year. I will likely go check out other places instead of ordering here. But if they did change it, I could see it flourishing with line outside.

The sushi was yummy but expensive. But I would expect it would be for the quality of fish they serve. I really liked their ramen dish. I’m not sure if they had a variety of ramen dishes or just one? Anywho, I would go back for the ramen. Oishii! =)
BYOB and a good late night grub for sure.

Not sure why this place is getting stellar reviews. We were first in for the night, and the place smelled like someone was just smoking inside.
Food: The fish quality is good, but its not better than Chaya in Squirrel Hill. The thing you can get here is really obscure fish, but if you’re no connoisseur, there’s no point to it. I do like that they had real wasabi, though.
Portions: So TINY. No warning. The $ 15 chef’s special is three thin slices. We went to taco bell afterward.
Service: Slow. Unsophisticated — makes us pass down the tea cups? At $ 30/​pp? Stacking plates as you leave? Also, their wireless router doesn’t work up front, so paying is a pain.
Aesthetic: Yeah, its a cute place. Why do the water pitchers have rocks in them? It only works when the whole mood matches.
Go if you’re into obscure fish and have a lot of time, personally, its not for me.

The second time around Fukuda was everything I had hoped for!
We arrived at about 6:30 on Saturday and the place was almost half full for the small space but we were seated at a four person table for two immediately.
We ordered:
Saba — marinated/​blistered mackerel, pickled apple purée and grilled cucumber foam– this is a special item on the menu so would recommend trying now over the more ‘staple’ items
Robatayaki — scallion, kampachi and shiitake
Chef’s Choice Sampler (small), highlights were the Opaka, Tuna and Roe (saltier than I’ve had)
The food was as I remembered delightfully tasty and light. No soy sauce needed on the nigiri and sashimi, which is how I like my sushi and a testament to Fukuda’s craft.
And the service was solid, such an upgrade from the prior experience. We were not forgotten this time.
Our bill came to ~$ 50 w/​o tax and tip, which is extremely reasonable to me given what high quality food comes out of Fukuda.

I’m not gonna lie, the food here, specifically the sushi is phenomenal. However, our experience with the service left a whole lot to be desired.
A few friends and I went here during Pittsburgh Restaurant Week and some of us decided to go with the tasting menu. I mean why not, you get to sample a little bit of everything.
As many others have mentioned, this place is small. So small that I felt bad for the wait staff that had to maneuver through cramped spaces to get to their customers. But all the wait staff we encountered were friendly although not necessarily attentive.
This is definitely not one of those places to go to when you need to eat and run. It’s more like you need to be at a dead stop with no where to go to even to begin to enjoy this place… and even that may not be enough to enjoy it, as was my experience.
I went with the tasting menu which was a selection of sashimi, followed by oysters and then your choice of one out of three entrees. I opted for the tofu… which I’ll later regret.
The sushi was incredible and came out in a timely manner. I haven’t tasted sushi this good since a trip to Nobu in NYC. Then it gets akward… there are 2 tables which came in after us, probably a good 20 minutes (or more) after we sat down. And yet they were served their food and finished… yes finished their entire meals before we got a glimpse of our oysters. What’s that you ask… maybe they didn’t order the tasting menu? YES they did! Our table was right next to them so we had to watch as they were given all the dishes off the tasting menu with no delay.
So after eating our sushi and adding 40 minutes, we finally got our oysters. We of course had to catch the attention of one of the wait staff to see what was going on. No explanation but within about 2 minutes we were served our oysters. After that the entrée came out in a timely manner.
While I had heard their ramen was great, I opted for the tofu b/​c most in the group were getting the ramen. Big mistake — do not get the tofu! While the seasoning sitting on top of the tofu was decent, the tofu itself was not good. I enjoy tofu but I like the firm tofu and it has to be cooked the right way. But this was the super soft tofu that had an unpleasant texture and nonexistent taste. I did not finish it.
That being said, I added an extra star b/​c I ordered the wrong thing. I really feel like this was a 2 star experience. There are two parts to the dining experience, food and the service. While the food (with the exception of the tofu) could have carried this place to a 4 – 5 star rating, the service was so lackluster that it really ruined the experience for me.
It felt like those that were dressed like hipsters got better service than our group… or I should say got service. Now maybe I’m being paranoid, but that’s just too weird for me NOT to notice. Next time, I’ll dress like a hipster and test my theory.
It’s byob so don’t forget your alcohol!

I really truly believe there’s no other place in the Burgh that matches what’s going on here. It’s incredibly unique and adventurous without being too scary for those who haven’t had this type of food before. Don’t worry, jump in, the waters warm:)
I also think this was the perfect time to visit, during restaurant week, because I was able to sample a lot of different things. I love me a good tasting menu (every restaurant should have one!). The tasting menu was $ 35 for sashimi, oysters, ramen and chocolate shiitake mushroom ice cream. Bummer, the ice cream ran out when we got there (we were there for 8:45pm reservations, so it was kinda sorta late). So they adjusted the price to $ 30 and I was happy to eat the rest of the choices!
I had heard the edamame was amazing, so we ordered that. It came out in a decent size bowl and was cooked with soy and sea salt. It was super tasty and we scarfed down the whole bowl. This is a no brainer when hitting this place up, so order up!
The 4 pieces of sashimi I slammed down were like butta. Seriously, fresh fish straight off the plane (literally, they get their fish flown in from Japan daily!). It was probably the freshest I’ve had other than Penn Ave Fish Co. The rice was fluffy but not too sticky. I’m gonna say straight up this was my fave part of the meal hands down.
The 2 oysters were inventive. It was mixed with thai chili and lemon. Call me an old fashion oyster shucker (okay, maybe not shucker), but I like them either straight up, with cocktail sauce or vinegar. I may at some point find another sauce I like with them, but I don’t think this was one of them.
The seafood ramen was good, but could have used a bit more flavor. It was very very fishy tasting. Don’t get me wrong, I love fish. But just a warning for those of you who say you like fish, in small doses, this is not your dish. I did love the whole shrimp served in it. I’m not saying it just had the tails attached. I’m saying it had the eyeballs still staring at me! It was kinda gross popping that poor guys head off, but… it sure was delicious and fresh. Sorry my seafood friend! There was also a good amount of fish packed into the dish as well as noodles. Maybe just a little more pizzaz with the broth and we’d be in business.
So here’s the hard facts. I came in fully prepared to fall in love. And while I did like it, and will most definitely come back for the sushi, the service was lacking. Everyone was extremely friendly, but I have an inkling our server forgot about our meals.
There were five of us and two ordered sushi only and the rest of us ordered the tasting menu. The sushi came out promptly for all. Then that’s where things fell apart. I think we waited almost 45 minutes for our oysters. I can understand if it was a cooked dish. I can understand if they were short staffed. But watching the tables around you receive all their courses before you even get your second, made us think we were forgotten. Once we reminded the server we received the oysters and then ramen shortly after.
I will say they brought us a tray of seared veggies and fish to make up for the botched service that were stellar. I’d actually recommend ordering that as an app if they have it on the menu when you visit. I’ve pretty much planned my menu for the next visit. Edamame, seared veggies and fish and sushi, sushi, sushi! Oh and don’t forgot your bottle of something, something. It’s BYOB!

To start you should know I had seriously high expectations for this place. You should know this because I think your expectations definitely can alter your experience of a place. Having only been in Pittsburgh for about 5 months, I’ve had some okay, sushi, but nothing to write home about. But in following the social media around Fukuda, and having recently watched Jiro dreams of sushi (it’s on netflix instant– watch it) I was really quite excited to try this place out. I knew it wasn’t going to be cheap. I also did not care if it was cheap. I wanted good sushi. (Jiro charges $ 300 a plate to start for his excellent sushi) I got out of Fukuda for only 48 bucks (total for 2) and it was a bargain. You should also know that my expectations were met and exceeded.
To start we had 2 skewers because they were out of the pork belly. (next time!) We didn’t even really want the skewers we just ordered them to augment the meal. So imagine our surprise when they were totally awesome! The shiitake mushroom was delightful, savory, meaty even, and the chicken was even better.
Then came our sushi rolls we ordered the salmon avocado, spicy tuna, and tuna avocado. Each roll was perfectly crafted-​6 pieces with a impressive amount of fresh fish in each. The avocados were dead ripe. (I abhor an unripe avocado) The spicy tuna was so good that it transcended my recognition of spicy tuna roll at any other sushi place. it was just… better? tastier? awesome-​er?
Lastly came our takoyaki. Now I should sidebar and explain that I just moved here from Philly and around the corner from where I lived in Philly for a few years was a place that just made takoyaki and Japanese pizza. My friend who was visiting and I used to go to have these japanese balls all the time so we had some pretty high standards. Their version does not disappoint. You only get 3 which is only sad because it makes sharing hard, but otherwise they were perfect. Savory, and delightful. We almost ordered a second batch they were so great.
At the end of the meal we were both full, delighted, and excited to return. It is safe to say that I will be back. Hopefully often. Just reliving this to write the review has made me want to go back (and I was only there last night…) Go try it I think you’ll feel similarly.
pro tip: they’re BYO so you should get in on that.

Love this mobile late night sushi concept. Tried it for the first time at a Tapped event and their herb concoction atop their tuna based signature roll had me hooked, if their mobile unit is at an event you better believe that’s what I’m getting and usually there’s fair amount of food truck competition.
UPDATE:
Their new brick and mortar location on Liberty is just perfect. Beautifully restored original molding and lighting and art by a local artist created a lovely cozy dining environment to come into out of the short but sweet snow last Thursday. Walking in we were offered some sake to warm us up and our tea came right now. We sat at the bar and ordered big chef’s choice sampler of the sashimi and nigiri, the Big Eye Tuna melted in my mouth but the yellowtail and salmon were just as great, flown in fresh daily from Japan. And to my delight they had quail eggs done right with roe, one of my favorite taste experiences. Really loved this place, for sure my new go-​to sushi spot. Will have to try the fish heads and ramen next time!