Fuki Steakhouse
In A Bite
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Click for Website Menu Ambiance: Music: Service: Food Style: Price: What to Order: Go Again?:
The Whole Plate
We’ve passed by Fuki a hundred times. It’s right on the corner of a round about off highway 41. I’m told it was the location of Mr. Cinders before Fuki took over. We finally found our way through the front doors on a bitter cold night in January when Lindsay’s sister had a craving for pad thai. Lindsay and I had to wait for them so we had a long time to repetitively tell the waitress we were not ready to order yet. Eventually we were joined by the rest of the family completing our party of five.
Atmosphere
When you walk in, greeted by a golden cat, for a split second you could think you’re on the top floor of a high rise in Singapore. It looks classy with the modern lighting and traditional garden designs on the decor.
Getting a closer look as we walked to our booth, it was a bit more used. The light shades were held together with zip ties, upholstery a bit worn, probably carried over from Mr. Cinders, and some of the menu’s were hand written and taped on. I’m not one too worried about any of these though as the food is what’s really important. So I was still hopeful.
Service
However, the service followed the decor. Our waitress was a little awkward and communication was mixed up at times. Like her asking, “Do you need a refill on your water?” Us responding, “We’re good.” Takes water. She seemed uneasy but she was giving it her best.
The kitchen sent out our entrees in stages which immediately promotes infighting at the table. The starving pack of humans pounced at the lone, innocent pad thai, myself included.
Food
The menu at Fuki is half the size of the library of Congress. You could surf on this thing. You could build an entire fleet of paper airplanes. There are so many choices it would give any millennial anxiety. I really hate overwhelming menus like this because it’s not helpful for anything. Customers take forever to decide and it’s tough for wait staff to efficiently learn.
If I had to describe all the food in one word: average. Everything about it just screamed generic Chinese stir fry restaurant despite the upscale interior.
Here’s what we all got:
- Shrimp dumplings – $5
- Chicken pad thai – $11
- American Dream roll – $13
- General Tso’s chicken bento box – $16
- Thai basil chicken – $14
When I imagine pan fried dumplings, I see the little half circle beauties with pinched edges. What came to us were little cubes of fried dough surrounding a mush recognizably tasting like shrimp. They tasted fine. The waitress informed us that the kitchen had sent a bag of the cubes home with her. We took this to mean they’re just frozen little guys that I could probably find online. If I was making these at home, great. We don’t really want to go out to be served something we could make at home.
The scavenged pad thai was by far the best thing at the table. Sadly I did not order it. The one bite I did manage to steal was quite tasty with a good balance of heat and peanut. IF we were to come back, it would be for this.
I chose the General Tso’s so I really shouldn’t have expected something special. The veggies were very al dante even for a stir fry. Crab rangoon was exactly that. Don’t get me wrong, I ate most of it. Mainly because I don’t like food to go to waste.
There’s not much else to say as it didn’t dazzle at all. If you’re dying for some Asian around lunch time, sure, they’ve got some specials. If you drink, maybe the food will seem better paired with their large alcohol listing. Maybe there is a culture gap here that I don’t understand yet. Maybe their steak is amazing. It is in their name. Maybe if they narrowed their menu down. Then we may return. But until we see that, you’ll find us elsewhere with our choosy budget.