Fugu

We walked in and were greeted promptly by a hostess who took us to our table and gave us the menus to peruse. There are a lot of options including your typical American Chinese like Mongolian Beef or Orange Chicken as well as more exotic dishes like tripe, ox-​tail, kidney, or intestine. When our waitress returned we ordered sake as well as ‘Steamed White Meat Chicken with Chili Oil Sauce’, ‘Three Threads Salad’, ‘Sliced Lamb with Black Pepper’, and ‘Sauteed Baby Octopus with Pickled Pepper’.
The chicken is an appetizer and appetizer priced, but you get a lot of chicken. It is served cold and has the skin on. It was our favorite dish. Both spicy and sweet, very tender, I absolutely loved this and will order it every time I go back. Like a lot of Chinese food it is practically floating in oil, but it was so good.
The Three Thread Salad is also an appetizer, also a good deal, and also delicious. It includes seaweed, bean noodle, and radish. Spicy and incredible. The flavors and textures were spot on and I would highly recommend this dish.
The lamb with black pepper was not what we were expecting. It was floating in a lot of oil. It contained blackened chopped spicy red peppers and there were dozens (hundreds?) of them. The flavor of the lamb and the sauce was incredible. I think it also had cilantro in it. However, the spicy blackened peppers were everywhere and although I love spicy food I could not eat them, so I had to pick out the beef which was a challenge with that many chopped peppers. Great flavor, but I would not order this dish again as it was just too much work.
The baby octopus dish was also delicious. Hot and spicy, with some vegetables I did not recognize. Some of the octopus were not as tender as I might like, but this was another very tasty dish.
We really enjoyed the flavors and textures of all the dishes we tried. The peppers made the lamb challenging to eat. Next time we go, we’ll probably just do appetizers since they are nearly the same size as the entrees but only ½ the price.
I definitely recommend Fugu!

Okay. I’m torn. Mostly because this seems like a beloved restaurant by the humble (and very midwesternly polite) citizens of Madison.
Let me just start at the beginning.
The initial greet was polite and nice. I told them I was waiting for a friend and was sat right away, given menus and water. So let’s begin with the menus. One set of menus was a standard Asian menu. The wine list had suggested food pairings — this was great! I mean, the pairings didn’t make a lot of sense; some were paired with appetizers, some with entrées. The second menu, although bound in leather, was handwritten. In different colored magic markers. Any misspellings were crossed out and then corrected — in magic marker. Needless to say, it was hard to decipher and that menu was tossed aside very quickly. The title of said menu was «Winter Specials». It’s June. My friend joined me shortly after. We both ordered wine, The server seemed very confused and had to come back and have my friend point to the exact wine she wanted. She ended up bringing the correct wines and they were delecious. The food came, and the presentation was fantastic. Lots of food (we should have shared). A few minutes after we got our entrees, the server dropped off the check. We weren’t planning on leaving right away and this wasn’t exactly what we were expecting. My friend asked for another glass of wine. Apparently no one has ever done that here before because both severs looked extremely confused. After a few minutes one of them came back and very abruptly said to my friend, «no more wine!» and just walked away. No offer for a differnce varietal, or something else to drink (a soft drink perhaps, saki, whatever). I mean, come on. We were begging to spend money. We weren’t being loud or obnoxious, so I don’t think we were cut off. But who knows at this point. While we were there, they seemed to have many many deliveries, so business must be booming. Perhaps that is the way to go.

Fugu generally has pretty authentic food, and despite changing management a couple times, they’ve maintained the quality of their food. I ordered the spicy string beans, the garlic chicken, and cumin beef. The meats in my meal were cooked really tender, which was really nice. The flavors are really full too, and the sauces are abundant. Enough to flavor the foods AND the rice. The rice is a bit too soft and fluffy for my taste, but that doesn’t affect my review. However, BE WARNED: if you come in during busy hours, you might have to wait 30 minutes before you get your food …

Went tonight for my birthday dinner.
We ordered the Sichuan Cucumbers, the Fish with Golden Peppers, and the Fried Chicken stir-​fried with dried chilis. We had a Mango, and a Pineapple smoothie to drink.
Absolutely phenomenal! Everything was delicious.
We will definitely return.

Asian Fusion at it’s best! It was amazing! I wish the menu and or Unilocal had more pictures to see what the dishes looked like! Too hard to decide when you don’t know the dishes! Service was great!

Walked in at 9.10 pm on a Sunday, probably a little late for Madison but we were with an infant so couldn’t get out earlier than that. Trekked the 5 – 6 blocks in the cold only to be told that the place wouldn’t accept any new customers. Maybe they should mention that upfront instead of saying that the restaurant is open till 10 pm. There were about 5 – 6 tables and people seemed to be waiting for orders but we were not accommodated. Staff from the kitchen were out on one of the tables having their own dinner.
Waste of time and effort.

Best beef lo mein in Madison! It’s also affordable.
The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because they have a $ 15 card minimum, which is inconvenient. The waiter did not tell us about the minimum when we sat down, and we didn’t see the small sign until we were at the register paying. Next time I will remember to bring cash!

Fugu has an awesome authentic atmosphere. On my visit their light was on when the rest of the street was dark, the bamboo blinds visible through the warmly lit window. Something about the scene just drew me in, and when I stepped inside I felt transported to another country.
I started with the fried dumplings and was blown away. They were the perfect mix of wok-​charred outside with a pillow soft taste. Five stars there.
I also ordered the stir fried udon noodles and the fried rice. Both satisfied my fix, but they were a little salty for my taste.
Service was excellent. Friendly and very on top of things.
If I came back I would order the fried dumplings again (maybe more than one!) and take the waiter’s suggestion on an entrée. I noticed almost every table besides mine had ordered one specific dish I’ve never seen before, which makes me think those in the know must know Fugu’s true specialty.

Very good spicy chicken. I always get the fried chicken with three peppers. Delivery call calls you as he’s Peking so beware tho. In my opinion, the best (authentic) Chinese deliver place in Madison.

Since I’m sitting here waiting on the waiter who has taken forever and who barely spoke any English, I’ll write a review. Basically the server avoided almost all communication with me including a greeting because he spoke maybe four words of English. My soup took forever to come out, then my entrée showed up right after… COLD! I asked them to heat it up in the microwave because I didn’t have time to wait on it to be made again. I’m writing this review because it’s my 2^nd night in a row having a pretty bad experience at a restaurant in Madison. Over it.

Conveniently located off of State Street, this is my favorite place to get authentic Chinese dishes like mapo tofu and garlic eggplants. The prices are pretty good but the service is not the best. There are not many «Chinese» restaurants that serve tea duck, and when they do, you know that it’s authentic.

Was sincerely underwhelmed with Fugu. The interior was actually much nicer than I expected due to the kind of crazy exterior and the location. I had heard rave reviews but my dish was just not very good unfortunately. Maybe I just ordered the wrong thing and need to give it another chance, but it’s hard to want to go back after I spent $ 15 and hardly ate any of my meal.

the food here is spicy Chinese food, quite traditional and the price is OK. me and my friend ordered tofu fish, cumin lamb, and pork («hui guo rou» in Chinese). The fish is not fresh, I can tell from the taste, the lamb is flavored so much that doesn’t taste like lamb, and the pork is weirdly sweet. The dishes are big and we two can only finish half of them. In total it is $ 45. If you are not so picky about taste as I do, it is still a good place where you can have a decent Chinese dinner with friends.

Hands down my favorite Asian restaurant in Madison:
Let me start by saying that I am not of Chinese decent, nor have I ever traveled to China, but I have a feeling that this is what authentic Chinese cuisine tastes like. Every time I walk in there, the place is PACKED with people chatting in Mandarin over big family-​style dishes. Furthermore, it is SO SO SO much better than any «Americanized» Chinese food I’ve ever had.
My favorite part about this place is definitely the sichuan pepper dishes. They are an extremely difficult ingredient to get your hands on if you don’t have access to an Asian foods market, but they’re absolutely delicious (and spicy to boot)! Favorites of mine include sichuan cucumber salad and sichuan eggplant, but the pickled pepper dishes look fabulous as well! Everything on the «regular» (not «American-​Style») menu here that is advertised as «spicy» is ACTUALLY spicy, which I love! The food is bursting with flavor and these dishes make it easy to understand why Chinese fare is typically served with WHITE (not fried) rice: the rice soaks up all of the delicious juices and becomes one of the most flavorful components of the meal.
Speaking of rice, the rice here is PHENOMENAL and is cooked to perfection (both white and fried). For all of you naysayers out there who think that rice can’t be done «wrong,» you’re mistaken. Fried rice lovers, take one bite of the fried rice at FUGU and you will understand that every other Chinese place you’ve ever been to has cooked their rice to a lower standard. Here, it is soft, fluffy, flavorful, and just slightly sticky. YUM. It’s the best fried rice I’ve ever had.
Like most Asian restaurants, the selection is huge and there are plenty of vegetarian and vegan options (vegan PRO TIP: try the garlic eggplant – out of this world! Just make sure to spread the spicy oils over your rice). I have yet to venture out and try some of the REALLY authentic dishes (tripe, ox tongue, etc), but some of the borderline-​authentic stuff has come up short for me (in particular, the pork dumplings with chili oil – I couldn’t stomach them). I’ve also gone in the opposite direction: the «American Style» menu is expansive, but FUGU does NOT do American Chinese food well (shame on them for being TOO authentic – lol). There is a consistent lack of spice and flavor with every dish I’ve tried on that menu (although the quality of products is still supreme). I think it best to stick with the «middle ground» of the menu here.
Overall, give FUGU a shot, and you won’t be disappointed (at least not for carry out; I’ve never dined in).

I have to say, the menu at Fugu looks pretty similar to the menu at Ichiban. My boyfriend and I ordered the garlic eggplant and the baby octopus with pickled peppers from the house specials. We both loved the octopus dish, which was savory and spicy. The garlic eggplant was a bit on the oily side, with a one-​dimensional flavor. We were also seated near an air vent, and it felt too hot the whole time we were there. 5 stars for the octopus, 2 stars for the eggplant, and 1 star for the heating situation.

My fiancé loves this place to death. I have tried about 10 dishes here in hopes of finding one that I will like enough to be happy when he wants to order Fugu instead of switching into clever-​ploys-​to-​do-​something-​other-​than-​Fugu mode.
I can’t put my finger on it, exactly, but everything seems to be too much or too little of too many things. Too spicy, too greasy, too bland, too many bones I have to pick out. It’s like that dish that you cook for yourself at home and when you go to taste it you think oh dang, this isn’t very good but I made it so I might as well eat it. But you don’t really want to feel that way about takeout that you get all the time, you know?

I came for a quick bite and just ordered from the appetizer menu.
Things I had:
Sweet Potato Pancakes: these were very interesting and not what I expected. They appear to be deep fried pouches of a sweet potato purée-​like filling. The balance between crunchy outside and gooey inside is a nice balance. These are only slightly sweet and I wish weren’t so oily.
Beef in Lettuce Cup: the plating was nice but not sure how they got «cups». I expected lettuce wraps but received beef with lettuce pieces. I could not scoop then into lettuce cups as the lettuce was chopped too much. Flavor wise this was DELICIOUS! I highly recommend this if you want a lighter low carb dinner, and it’s much cheaper than the entrees and the portion isn’t too much!
Ambiance: a little dark for my liking and I went during lunch time. I sat by the window which made it bearable, otherwise it was way too dark.

I have gone to Fugu several times in the past, and always enjoyed it. They have some very interesting menu choices. The atmosphere gives off good vibes and the service is cheerful. Fugu is a great place to go if you enjoy unique Asian cuisine.
However, my latest experience has prompted me to write my first Unilocal review. I ordered the Beef with Ginger and Scallion to have delivered for lunch, but when it arrived the portion size was substantially modest compared to what I was used to when I dine in. I could not believe they would post the same $ 14 item for take-​out and provide a paltry amount of food compared to dine-​in. I was looking forward to enjoying my lunch, but all I could taste was disappointment.

The location of Fugu is a huge bonus. Being located on State St right on campus, it’s definitely popular amongst students especially. They serve good Sze Chuan food, which means that the majority of the dishes will be cooked with spicy oil — making them spicy.
Their menu actually runs pretty parallel to that of Ichiban. I have written a review of that pretty recently and I order and recommend the same favorites as I do at Ichiban. Plus, there are many reviews of Fugu out here with good recommendations on what to get, so I will talk more about the experience and service here.
Went to lunch once for my post-​seminar celebration with my group. We had the lunch specials, which was a good deal coming to about $ 10. It has a set consisting of the main course, a soup and fruits to go with it. Most of their sets are served in bento boxes, which is a pretty cool concept. For dinner you just order off their menu.
Service wise, it’s a little off what I could call top-​notch. Which means that your main course dishes might come before or together with your appetizers. On some occasion especially when they are busy, you might have to remind them about parts of your order. But they are pretty good about reminders, and will get you what you want fast.
I would visit more often but Ichiban has equally good Sze Chuan delicacies with a much larger sitting area and ample parking. Between one or the other it all boils down to personal preference and convenience. If I live downtown and I do not have a car, Fugu will be the logical option. Otherwise, take your pick, either way you will get nice Sze Chuan dishes =)

Fugu is among the top two Chinese restaurants in Madison serving authentic, family-​style Chinese cuisine. A bit heavy handed with the salt and msg, but of course this means the food was good. I was delighted that one of their seasonal vegetable options was Water Spinach /​Ong Choy /​Kong Xin Cai. The stir-​fried thick rice noodles with chicken was also a good bet.
Like other Chinese/​Asian fusion restaurants in Madison, Fugu is undergoing an identity crisis. Rather than serving a cohesive selection of items, I imagine this place developed its concept by catering to the whim of its customers. I guess business is business.
Our waiter was charming and patient when trying to explain some of the difficult-​to-​translate menu items.
The price point is high for home-​cooked Chinese food, but I’m learning to expect this of State St. establishments.

Vorweg muss ich sagen, dass wir als Europäer sicher kein authentisch-​chinesisches Essen zu bewerten wissen. Allerdings haben wir einige Erfahrung mit scharfem thailändischen Essen, aber dieses hier hat uns absolut nicht geschmeckt. Die Gerichte waren sehr unterschiedlich, einige halbwegs lecker, andere einfach nur eintönig oder viel zu scharf. Die Bedienung war sehr unaufmerksam, hat die meisten Fragen nicht verstanden und die meisten Bestellungen beim Servieren nicht einer Person zuordnen können.
Leider ist auch die Atmosphäre des Restaurants eher Imbiss-​artig, so läuft zum Beispiel ein Fernseher und die Tische sind relativ klebrig.
Auf unserer Rechnung war schließlich auch noch das Gericht, welches ausverkauft war.
Insgesamt haben wir unseren Aufenthalt überhaupt nicht genossen und sind so schnell wie möglich wieder gegangen.