PITTSTON — Fuji is in a new location, but its service and food remain the same.
After being located at 47 N. Main St., the Japanese and Sushi restaurant packed up and moved down the street to its home at 107 S. Main St.
Owner Dora Ding, who’s owned the restaurant for three years, said the move was all about making the restaurant bigger and better.
“It’s a better location,” she said. “There’s more parking in the front. It’s a brand new building, with a brand new kitchen; everything is brand new.”
The current location has a New York City-style feel with wooden ceilings, brick walls, a wooden bar, and marble table tops.
“The landlord helped me to design it,” Ding said. “That’s his style. I just told him I needed the natural lights and he gave me bigger windows.”
The restaurant seats 80 people with a bar, tables, booths, and chairs. Certain events and parties, Ding said, will have a part of the restaurant sectioned off for, depending on the event and how many people there attend it
Ding said customers can bring in their own alcoholic beverages for now, but she is working on obtaining a liquor license which she hopes to have in a few months.
Food items are mostly the same, including vegetable rolls, sushi, hibachi, and soup.
All food, Ding said, is fresh.
“We get fish three times a week and Chinese delivered from New York two times a week,” she said. “Keeping fish fresh is most important.”
Ding said more items will be added to the menu, including sushi pizza, and she will promote weekly specials. She said upgrades to the kitchen have allowed for the menu additions.
“Everything is brand new,” she said.
Ding said the process to begin moving started over a year ago, and moving to a new location caused the business to close for two months.
The restaurant reopened April 3 and, Ding said, it was like it never closed.
“It’s picking up a lot,” Ding said of reopening. “People say it’s beautiful and it’s gorgeous — they like it. The design, everything. They like it.”
Because the restaurant is bigger, Ding is hiring more servers and said interested candidates can call the restaurant or contact her on Facebook.
Because of the new location, Ding said people are noticing the restaurant more than they did when it was at its North Main Street location.
“That old location people hardly see because of the traffic light there,” Ding said. “They just concentrate on the traffic, but here they can see our sign. We were open there for 2 1/2 years, but a lot of people didn’t know. They thought we were a new sushi place and didn’t know we were open.”
With Fuji’s new location and its business booming, Ding said she’s excited to continue to contribute to Pittston’s growth.
“People want to stay in Pittston rather than go to Wilkes-Barre or Scranton for sushi,” she said. “They can eat sushi locally.”
