Minako
San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone: (415) 864-1888
- Price:
- $$$
- Cross Street:
- 17th Street
- Hours:
- Wed-Sun 5:30pm-9:15pm
Editorial Review for Minako – by Saida Benguerel
The Scene
Grubby chaos may rule the streets outside, but harmony and comfort await guests within. Judy, the daughter and front-of the-house half of the mother-daughter team that runs the establishment, works in the music industry, so expect to hear the latest cool tunes while eating her mom's creative, often organic, Japanese-Californian home cooking. The small dining area is tastefully decorated with bamboo accents.
The Food
Vegetarians and vegans often feel left out at restaurants--not so here. Eel-free vegan unagi is made of deep-fried potato swathed in a deliciously sweet barbecue-style sauce. Gyoza (Japanese pot stickers) are greaseless and accompanied by a perfectly balanced dipping sauce. The wonderfully spicy tuna salad is like a rich steak tartare, and the spinach salad is sublime. A traditional California roll is made with a very untraditional fried crab cake. Each beautifully presented dish is a work of art for the eye, as well as the palate.
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Insider Tips
Know Before You GoThe kaiseki dinner option combines five courses including meat, fish and organic vegatables and comes highly recommended.
What to DrinkAsk for the small, but impressive list of organic sakes.
User Reviews for Minako
06/10/2007 Posted by dgmw
Sorry to rain on the '5-star' parade going on around here, but for us, several reasons made Minako a definite "no-repeat" experience: 1.) While the lure of 'organic' does imply SOMEWHAT higher prices, the pricing is highly unreasonable for the quantity of food you actually get. We ordered wakame salads, which turned out to be tiny for $8.00 each. Plus, the flavor of these salads was very unappetizing. (As the appetizer prices are omitted from the menu, we only learned JUST how disappointed we were when the bill arrived.) The "appetizer" portion of the tofu teryaki was, for $12.00, woefully tiny. 2.) Very slow service. For a 2-person dinner, how long can 2 plates of teryaki take? Pretty damn long, we learned. The timing of the delivery was off as well, as one of us was served our entree 20 minutes before the other. In summary, our experience with the pricing and the mediocre quality of the dishes makes this place a very poor value for the money you spend.
Cons: Prices not listed in menu, slow service, overpriced for quantity and quality of food you get
11/16/2006 Posted by ashsf
This is the best restaurant in SF. Yoko and Judy make the experience feel like going to eat at your long lost japanese family's house. The food is fantastic, with tons of creative choices and artful presentations. The restaurant is so small that sometimes there's a long wait and that can be annoying. It is nice to see people complaining about the restaurant because if everyone had a positive experience there, I'd NEVER get a table! In fact, the owner deliberately discourages restaurant reviews in local papers because she doesn't want bigger crowds than she already has. They have a very loyal clientle who loves them as much as I do, so if you're not there for the whole experience and show up with a bad attitude, please go to one of the yuppie restaurants around the corner on Valencia instead.
Pros: Great food, good for vegans and people who want organic, wonderful owners, nice ambience once you're inside
Cons: parking, people who are in a hurry and rushing the waitstaff
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