A Big Buffet Day at Fuji

At Fuji, the plate can take several different directions before you have even made it past the first round. Start with a salad, move on to sushi, circle back for fried rice and orange chicken, then decide that a made-to-order stir-fry sounds good after all. It is a buffet designed for people who do not especially want to agree on one cuisine.

The range is broad: hot and cold foods, Chinese dishes, Japanese offerings, seafood, familiar American favorites, salads and sweets all share the room. That makes a meal here pleasantly self-directed. One person can build a lighter plate while another heads straight for shrimp, and children have familiar options in the mix rather than being asked to make peace with a single menu.

The dining room is light and inviting, with comfortable table seating and booths for a more settled-in meal. It works for a quick family dinner, but the separate dining rooms also give larger gatherings room to spread out.

A buffet meal tends to unfold in courses at Fuji. You can begin cold, sample a few hot dishes, take a break before the hibachi station, and still leave room for ice cream. Servers handle drinks and frequent refills, so the table stays comfortable while everyone makes their own trips through the selections.

The food stations are kept stocked with fresh batches of hot items arriving regularly. That steady replenishing matters at a large buffet, especially when a favorite dish has just drawn a small crowd.

The full salad bar gives the meal a sensible opening option, or simply a fresh counterpoint to richer dishes later on. Diners looking for healthy choices have room to assemble a plate that does not have to revolve around fried foods and sauces.

Vegetarian diners also have a notably large selection to work with. In a mixed family group, that practical flexibility can be more useful than a grand culinary theme: everybody can find a route through the buffet without turning dinner into a negotiation.

The sushi section adds a prepared, cold option to a meal that might otherwise be all steam trays and warming pans. Sushi platters, shrimp and other seafood combinations have been among the offerings, giving diners a reason to make a first pass before they commit to heavier entrées.

Attention to the rice is a small but telling detail in sushi, and Fuji's sushi rice has earned praise for its consistency. A couple of pieces can make a good starter, but sushi also works nicely as a late addition after a plate of hot food, when you want something cooler and cleaner.

The hibachi station changes the rhythm of the buffet. Instead of choosing only from prepared dishes, diners assemble a stir-fry with the ingredients they want and have it made for them.

That is useful for the person who wants a particular combination, and it gives the meal a little theater without requiring a separate hibachi reservation or a long sit-down order. You can keep the bowl simple or make it a full second course after sushi and salad.

Traditional Chinese buffet standards have plenty of company here. Fried rice, sweet-and-sour dishes, orange chicken and egg drop soup are among the familiar choices that make an easy plate when you want something recognizable and comforting.

Seafood is another reason many diners make the rounds more than once. Shrimp, crawfish and grilled selections have appeared among the buffet's highlights, with enough variety to keep a seafood-minded table occupied without leaving everyone else behind.

Snow crab legs have also been offered during special crab-focused evenings, and they have become a holiday-dining tradition for at least one returning family. Those specials are worth treating as occasion-specific rather than assuming they are on the buffet every day.

Dessert has its own corner of the meal: assorted sweets, cookies, ice cream, and chilled or packaged treats give everyone a final stop. It is an easy place for children to get excited, though a bowl of ice cream after a plate of hibachi is a perfectly respectable grown-up choice, too.

Because the meal is built around sampling, dessert does not need to be an all-or-nothing decision. A cookie now, a little ice cream later, and perhaps one more walk past the sushi before calling it a night is entirely in keeping with the format.

Fuji suits the familiar challenge of dining with several generations or several appetites at once. Salad-bar diners, sushi fans, seafood seekers, children drawn to familiar foods, vegetarians, and people who mainly want a hot stir-fry can all make their own dinner from the same outing.

The restaurant has a free parking lot with ample space, though crowded holiday meals and busy weekends can bring a line and a fuller lot. Reservations are generally not required, and the combination of tables, booths and separate rooms makes the setting workable for both a small party and a larger family gathering.