07/18/08

Best Sushi in town

by brooke_s_1218

EXCELLENT Sashimi! The place is casual (we sat at the sushi bar), unpretentious and the price was right. Service was good as well. We will be back for the Hamachi, Sake, Albacore, Tuna, and Waloo Sashimi. Wonderful!

• Pros: Fresh Sushi, casual atmosphere, good value

06/06/07

Avoid at lunch hour

by janehart21

When I visited San Francisco the one thing I told my boyfriend I wanted was good sushi. Now, being from Chicago we have some tasty sushi here, but I thought San Francisco would be even better. I have a feeling I'm right, but it was not proven at this restaurant.

We were walking around the neighborhood looking for a late lunch (it was 3 pm) and stumbled across this restaurant. They looked relatively empty, which we attributed to the time we visited. When we walked in they looked at us like they were close, even though the door was open and the open sign was there.

They informed us that they just started serving lunch a few days ago, and it was clear they were working out some kinks. The server gave us a very small menu without any of the interesting maki rolls on the regular menu. Our choices were pretty much California and Spicy Tuna. Since I was starving and craving sushi, I went ahead and ordered what they had. My boyfriend stuck with a chicken dish.

The server seemed a little new. When asked about a couple rolls on the menu he could not tell me what they were made of. When he brought out the miso soup he didn't give us anything to eat it with (spoons are helpful).

Overall I thought my food was, well, disgusting. The spicy tuna roll was bland and the california roll tasted like crab salad. The chicken my boyfriend had was far better than my food. For a moment I blamed it on myself for choosing sushi at that time of the day, but then I remembered my favorite restaurant in Chicago has AWESOME sushi from the minute they open at lunchtime.

From the other reviews it seems that the dinner hour is better than their new lunch hour. I would not recommend going there for lunch, or at least let them work out the kinks first.

• Pros: Nice location
• Cons: Limited menu at lunch, bad service

02/05/07

Good sushi, wonderful service, above-and-beyond effort from staff

by ginboy

Unlike other reviewers, I experienced fantastic service on my visit. My hotel (Ritz Carlton) concierge TOTALLY screwed up the reservation, booking my party in to the restaurant 10 minutes before they stop serving food, even though the restaurant told them this. When we arrived, Mike (our server) was very hospitable, bending over backwards to make sure we got our dinner order in, and that we didn't feel rushed. He even brought by a couple items on the house for us to try out. Throughout the entire experience I felt very well taken care of.

We sat at the bar, and avoided the kitchen entrance as suggested by another reviewer. :-) The sushi was OK. I'm from Seattle so we steered clear of the obviously-farmed salmon. The uni was OK-to-good: this was the first time I'd had it sans nori. Hamachi was OK: a little tough. We had Hawaiian butter fish and it was really good; a lovely preparation. Ama ebi was very good: this was the first restaurant where I've had it served with lime and it was REALLY tasty. The toro was very good, though a little stringy (as it can be). Mike's recommendations for sake were dead on.

We talked with the sushi chef (young but gregarious and helpful). He mentioned that he orders the fish from the wholesaler and takes what he's given. In the best sushi places I've been to the chef hand selects the fish, and that's what makes them the best. Even so, the preparations were good, the fish were OK, and the overall quality was good. I felt that I got my money's worth. We had about 12 orders of sushi, two carafes of sake and the order came to just over $100. Not outrageous compared to other places I've been.

Perhaps when the restaurant is busy the service suffers, but my experience was of a restaurant who didn't make a single mistake, yet doing their best to make up for a bad situation their customer was in. I appreciated it, and will definitely visit again on future trips to the Bay Area.

• Pros: Service for us was a highlight, lovely sake list, interesting chef
• Cons: Not the best fish I've had (though ok)