Fuzio Universal Bistro

Sad, Fuzio is closed for good in Davis. Lots of good memories, too bad.

this place is CLOSED permanently!!! since WHEN!!!
i tried too come here for happy hour and they were closed! –_​– and there was a tiny sign on the side door that said ‘closed permanently.’

Use to be affordable, but now it’s become pricey.
Still love:
–firecracker pork fusilli
–calamari linguini
–chicken marsala (had once)
Not too many places to eat in Davis, so I enjoyed this one.

I had never been to the original location of Fuzio, but after reading something in the Aggie about this place I decided to go with one of my friends to check out their happy hour. Finding the new location wasn’t too difficult, there’s parking located on the street and in a parking lot across the street; the entrance was a little confusing, it’s actually on the side of the building and their outdoor seating is around the front. Stepping inside the décor looked really welcoming, the walls and paintings were all really vibrantly colored.
So, we ordered a sausage and peppers pizza, pork lettuce wraps and calamari. The waiter was really nice in helping us make our decision as we explained that it was our first time there and he shared his personal favorites with us.
Anyway, the calamari and lettuce wraps arrived within ~5– 10 minutes, and for happy hour entrees, they were actually really generous in their portioning. The calamari tasted like pretty good; didn’t have the fishy frozen taste that any can get and their ailoli was actually more refreshing tasting than most. As for the pork lettuce wraps, I highly recommend it! Well portioned and the pork mix for the lettuce wraps were really flavorful; many times I’ve had a dish like this over-​seasoned where it overpowers the taste of the pork and the veggies, but in this case they were really balanced and it really brought out the different flavors of the vegetables and the meat.
The pizza came sometime as we were focused on the other two dishes and first impressions were that for ~$ 6 it was was a decent portion and had a decent amount of toppings. I’m not sure if they did this on purpose, but the pizza seemed a authentically tossed if not messily tossed since as a flat bread, I assumed it would have a good shape, but this one was oblong shaped. In any case, not a big deal, just confused us a bit. It was however, very delicious! It had a nice rich taste from the toppings and crisp crunch from the dough.
Overall I thought this visit was really interesting; and I have to say that I would definitely come back again to check out the rest of their menu. However, I can’t give this place full stars because on a college student’s budget it’s slightly out of the realm on reason to come here and expect to get full on 3 dishes of during happy hour with another person… atleast with the dishes I ordered.

The place is night. Cute date/​dinner place.
I think the prices are overpriced and the portions are kind of small.
I came here for happy hour for their discounted appetizers and it still didn’t feel like it was worth the price. Their calamari is pretty good though.
My favorite dish is the Firecracker Pork Fusilli! When I had it, the pork was tender and pasta was cooked just right, but the sauce made the pasta and pork way too salty for my liking. But because they added sour cream, it made it less salty and adds a nice creamy texture to the pasta.

I decided to try this place because my friends seem to like it, but I wasn’t quite sure what to expect since reviews of this restaurant are only so-​so. I ended up really enjoying my experience. There were many things to like, including prompt seating, our friendly and attentive server, and their delicious pasta. I ordered the Rigatoni Alfuzio upon recommendation of our server (thanks for the suggestion!) and my dining companion ordered their mac and cheese. Both dishes turned out to be very good. (Though wasn’t too impressed with their Strawberry Apple Crisp.) I would definitely return and order the same dishes but would feel confident about trying some other dishes as well.

We decided to try this place just because. I ordered one of their sandwiches, which turned out somewhat burnt, kind of bland, and not particularly filling. The fries were nice and crispy, but otherwise nothing special. The dish was not worth $ 10. Next time, I’m only going for happy hour!
The ambiance of the place was nice, and the service was good, contrary to some things I’ve heard about the waiters being racist or just slow in general. Maybe you should try one of their pasta dishes; apparently they’re pretty orgasmic based on the sounds the guy next to us was making as he ate his.

Come here for their Firecracker lettuce wraps during Happy Hour. Seriously, how can you beat $ 3 appetizers? Oh, I know. if they were $ 2.
Everything is average, but I must admit their lettuce wraps are pretty awesome. Their plain lemonade is subpar. I don’t know how you mess up lemonade, but they’ve mastered it! Their strawberry lemonade is delish, though!
I am giving this place 3 stars cause of the great service we got tonight. I don’t remember his name but most of their wait staff could use some training from him.

I love it !
Wednesdays = ½ off pasta after 4PM
Happy hour everyday 3 – 7 ($ 3 appetizers, and 3 dollars off drinks? I forget how it goes).
Be sure to try the shrimp scampi, or shrimp paella ! It’s delicious.
The lettuce wraps, calamari, macaroni and cheese, and fries are to die for!
This location always has ample seating and good customer service. However, staff is often slow at refilling drinks. The last time I went, he even brought the appetizers out at the same time as our entrees… you know, that doesn’t defeat the whole purpose or anything.

There isn’t anything special about Fuzio’s– except for their ½ pasta specials during the week. Honestly that’s what got me in the last time I went there.
It always seems busy– they get good business. It’s a really nice space that they’ve made, it’s comfortable inside, which could be the reason they always have some constant business.

I’m so sad that this Fuzio location has closed! I’ve only been here once when I was going to summer school at Davis but I’ve been waiting to come back!!! Their happy hours are so great, $ 3 appetizers! I love, love, love their calamari because it’s so crunchy, great batter, and amazing sauce! I could eat it all day! We ordered quite a few other appetizers and everything was good and definitely worth your three bucks. Now I’ll have to look up a different location… sad to hear they closed down =(

I must say, Fuzio has had a nice face lift. I found the ambiance in their old location to be very cramped and dark. Some might have referred to it as «intimate» but it was definitely just dark and cramped. This new location is much airier with large windows, that let in a lot of light. I like it a lot better. As for the food… much of the old Fuzio remains: salads, soup, panini (that is the plural, btw), pasta, and meat entrees.
I was here this evening with my mother and boyfriend for an earlyish dinner. The boyfriend got a bowl of the pasta soup. It was alright, nothing special, but decent. My mother got the Bleu Cheese Chicken salad and was disappointed with the level of bleu-​cheeseyness. She would have preferred a much bolder flavor (especially considering you are getting bleu cheese crumbles AND bleu cheese salad dressing!). I got the Grilled Chicken and Roasted Pepper panino and I was satisfied. The chicken was tender and the cheese perfectly melted. The peppers were a bit overcooked, I would have preferred a bit of crunch to them, but not bad. On the side, I got a small mixed greens salad which was your typical mix of greens in (a lot) of balsamic vinegar dressing.
Normally, I don’t go for dessert, but since I hadn’t eaten all day, I convinced the group to get a few. We all shared the Tiramisu and the Strawberry Apple Crisp. The crisp was delicious! Apple and strawberry slices topped with some lemon mascarpone and some crumbled amaretto cookies. The tiramisu was a bit on the sweet side, I’m used to a more rummy flavor when I make it at home, but still quite good.
The service felt rushed. I had just barely finished my panino when the waiter came and swooped my empty plate away. Similar happened with my boyfriend’s soup bowl. If it had been a crowded evening I could have understood, but it wasn’t very full at all. The waiter almost stole my mother’s salad away while she was telling us a story, but she was quick and grabbed the plate away. The one good thing about our speedy service was getting our food quickly and never having empty water glasses. I guess that’s two good things.
All in all, an enjoyable experience. We even enjoyed a laugh about the bathrooms. There are three doors, one marked men, one marked women, and between them, one marked for both. I’ve never seen that before, not that I’m unaware of unisex bathrooms.
So, yeah, I’d probably go again if I was in the mood. Though I’d say Bistro is a better bet for that genre of food.

Of all the restaurants in Davis, this is the place I could not wait to never go to again.
The pasta is so tasteless. It tastes as if it came out of a frozen bag or something. The sauce tastes microwaved. Everything is so bland. Nothing seems fresh. Yuck.
My girlfriend in college hated it too. We shared nothing in common, except for much we loathed this restaurant.
I miss a lot of things about Davis, especially various restaurants. This is definitely not one of them.

I kinda miss this place. well the only thing I actually miss is the happy hour from 4−6pm… appetizers are only $ 3 with a purchase of a drink… such a good deal since appetizers usually range from $ 4-​$ 10.
I would recommend the firecracker lettuce wraps and the crispy calamari…
I normally wouldn’t come here during regular hours. happy hour is the best!

Fuzio’s is good but not too out of the ordinary.
I’d say this is a typical contemporary fusion restaurant.
They have a good happy hour with good appetizers.
Find out what time it’s at and make your trip here.
I would come here again for the happy hour since it’s also located in a good place in downtown Davis.
I wouldn’t avoid this place but I wouldn’t choose to go here to eat.
Some of their entrees are spicy. Their signature platter is good but I forgot what it was called.
The service staff was good. I’m a fan.

Fuzio, oh how do i miss thee. …let me count the ways. All i can say is their calamari linguine is BOOOMMMB… i’m now allergic to calamari but shoot i’d eat this and risk the trip to the ER.

Ok, the place may deserve more of a 4 or 4.5, but I want to get their business up enough to possibly entice Fuzio’s to open on the East Coast again.
Why? Because they all closed where I live before I discovered them, and I can only eat Fuzio’s when visiting California. My girlfriend is from nearby Vacaville, and makes a point of eating here pretty much every time we visit, and I’m perfectly ok with that. This is one of my favorite overall restaurants.
What makes it so damn good, you ask? Well, not so much the «Italian food», because A) this isn’t an Italian restaurant, it’s a pasta restaurant, and B) the «Italian» stuff is the boring, safe part of the menu for your Midwestern friends. No, you need to venture out onto the rest of the menu, specifically the Firecracker items.
And by «Firecracker items», I mean the Firecracker Pork Fusili with the Habanero Pesto. If you like spicy, I highly suggest ordering an extra side of the pesto, because it’s like habanero and cilantro flavored crack. Your mouth will burn like you’re eating with your Indian or Thai friend’s parents, and you’ll be just as thankful. This is the dish that we get every single time we’re there. If we’re not terribly hungry, but going down 80, we’ll pull in anyway and split a plane of the fusili.
Yes, the other food is good too, especially the Asian inspired dishes and anything with seafood. No, none of this is terribly authentic, to well, anywhere, but it’s a fusion restaurant, and a fun one at that.
The drinks are decent too, especially their flavored lemonades. I recommend the mango, but the others are great too. As for the alcohol, the couple martinis I’ve had were good if you like sweet drinks (I do, but only when rum is involved.. . I’m generally a purist on martinis) and the beer selection rarely lets me down. When you’re not sure about something on tap, the staff will let you try a bit before ordering a pint.
As for the happy hour that others have mentioned, it’s not the best, but when I was last there a couple months ago, what you could/couldn’t order was well listed. The waitress also made sure to note that some of the seafood items were not at the happy hour price. A shame, since their calamari is the bomb, but we worked around it quite nicely.
Prices are reasonable, especially since the ingredients seem to be on the good to great side of average. Seriously, this place has class and good food.. . it’s not the damn Olive Garden.
Anyway, on a final note, the atmosphere and service here are also outstanding. We tend to sit outside and view the little courtyard area, enjoying the California sunshine. I have sat inside before as well, and while I don’t enjoy it as much, it’s still just fine. The whole place, inside and out, has a bit of a bistro atmosphere that’s rather pleasant. The servers have always been very friendly and accommodating to just about any request we’ve had. They’re generally fairly helpful, and have never tried to upsell anything. Hell, about the only thing they could improve the service is to give a happy ending after your meal or something. Seriously, they’re that good.
Anyway, I honestly seek out Fuzio’s when traveling to California. That’s probably all that needs to be said. Well, that, and.. .
Please Fuzio’s, come back to DC. I promise I’ll eat there enough to keep you open if I know you’re there.

This is the funkiest restaurant ever. The food’s not bad, but I just find that it’s not worth the money (its cheap food for somewhat expensive prices. come on people, you’re not serving me something fancy, its just standard pastas and noodles).
The mix of foods on the menu is kind of weird too. They serve normal pastas… and also Asian foods like Pad Thai. So odd!
I’ve only been here once and thats because I actually won a $ 40 gift certificate in a raffle or something like that.
Anyway…decent food, nothing to be super excited about, prices are fair, not cheap but nothing splurge-​status… still, it’s not really my top dining choice in Davis.

So compared to all the meals I’ve had in Davis, this is by far the better one. I’ve never eaten at Fuzio before, not even in SF. So I was actually stoked to try it out.
Started with the calamari which was tiny bits of «calamari» if you could call it that. I call it fried batter pieces. I ordered the rigatoni with additional grilled chicken. It was served with fresh tomatoes and hickory bacon in a garlic cream sauce. ($ 9.25 with the addition of grilled chicken, $ 2.95) It came hot and pretty tasty. There were lots of bacon but I just didn’t like the grilled chicken. I thought it was chicken that you get with the gemelli at Pasta Pomodoro. You know, grill chicken strips, not pounded down chicken that doesn’t even look grilled.
I still need suggestions for when I come back to Davis! A girl like me need some REAL food!!!

I like several things about this restaurant:
1) location — Davis Commons, which has great people-​watching
2) food & drink — great pasta dishes and tasty beverages
3) service — prompt and courteous
But I must admit, I almost always order the same dish every time: firecracker pork fusilli. To quote their menu: «Corkscrew pasta with tender ginger-​braised pork, firecracker-​hot habanero pesto and sour cream – give it a stir to mingle heat and flavors together». I can’t get enough of this dish. It is spicy and satisfying
I like enjoying lunch on a beautiful Spring or Summer day on their patio with a tall cold raspberry or mango lemonade and watching the folks pour in and out of the Ben & Jerry’s next door. This is the small-​town ambience that makes Davis so special.