Yoshi's Jazz House & Restaurant
San Francisco, CA 94115
Phone: (415) 655-5600
- Hours:
- Dining room: Mon-Wed 5:30pm-10:30pm, Thu-Sat 5:30pm-11pm, Sun 5pm-10pm
Editorial Review for Yoshi's Jazz House & Restaurant – by Daniel Liszt
The Scene
A tiny Zen garden sits beneath a winding staircase that connects the sprawling dining room and upper lounge. Sinuous, Asian-inspired decorations hanging from the high ceilings add kinetic elegance, while jazz grooves glide through inconspicuously. In the midst of it all, well-dressed birthday parties, music buffs and couples sip gourmet cocktails served by expertly trained staff.
The Food
Executive Chef Sho Kamio's extensive menu features meticulous creations he popularized at Ozumo. The kona kanpachi carpaccio, served with seaweed, avocado, shitake confit and a subtle chile ponzu, is refreshingly simple. Traditionally heavy kakiage (tempura pancakes) are given a lighter spin, with just enough batter to hug the meaty chunks of ebi shrimp and scallops. Inventive maki rolls are sliced thin, then bookended by hearty hand rolls. Exceptional entrees include charcoal-grilled black cod that flakes into a shitake broth and a decadent miyazaki filet mignon that practically dissolves on the tongue.
The Hits: Perimeter booths provide semi-privacy and sight lines that offer good views of the overall scene.
The Misses: Dining before a show is the only way to secure reserved seating, but it does not afford discounted admission.
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Insider Tips
ParkingValet ($12) costs approximately the same price as nearby garages.
When to GoDine before the late (10pm) show and you can reserve seats through your waiter.
Save MoneyThere are occasional shows that are discounted in the evenings. Call to find out when these gems are happening.
The ExtrasMusic from live shows is often piped into the dining room, and TVs near the entrance broadcast the video.
Know Before You GoA limited club menu is available in the concert space, at the restaurant bar and in the upstairs lounge (Mon-Sat 5pm-1am; Sun 5pm-12am).
User Reviews for Yoshi's Jazz House & Restaurant
04/30/2008 Posted by AngellaEllisha
The waiters at Yoshis need to be trained in basic customer service. For a place that appears to be upscale, it is surprising that the service is so ridiculous. Add that to the fact that the food is overpriced, and there really are no vegetarian options. As far as the food goes, if you're looking for Japanese cuisine, DON'T go to Yoshis. There are plenty of other options in the city. As far as seeing a show, the music is always great; however, even the staff selling the tickets is unhelpful and seem to know NOTHING about the shows. Best bet: GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Pros: Large lounge, good for groups, great live music.
Cons: Staff is negligent, food and drinks are overpriced, bartenders can't even make a proper bellini.
01/06/2008 Posted by sunrox
We had a friend in for the holidays and we wanted to treat her to a great time so we picked Yoshi's because we have had such good experiences in Oakland so we figured we would give the SF branch a go.I don't want to run down a long list of things that we felt was wrong but I'll give the short list.Being a Japanese restaurant you'd think they would serve some blend of Choya NOPE! You'd think being a Japanese restaurant they would have a good selection of SAKE, NOPE! For the folks that just can't handle chop sticks like our guest, the hired help gave the person dirty look when she asked for a fork, they almost refused to bring a fork to the table for our guest.There were 3 people in our party and the kitchen could not even get our meals sent to our table together. We are understanding about this but while 2 of us eat our main meal the other sat there for a tad more than 15 min. waiting.I think the chef thinks we all are on a diet or something or there is a food shortage in America, this is / was the ONLY restaurant I have ever been to that has large plates but puts a spec on them.The only good thing I can say is the food was good, well cooked and well prepared.If the chef would have put more on our plates I could have forgiven all the other issues we ran into.The desert list came and it was as lean as the plates of food we just almost enjoyed. I tried the key lime pie and I can tell you it was no key lime pie!I am from Florida and I know my key lime pie, I make it myself, what Yoshi's put on my plate was some twisted mess of lemon/lime.Our guest never has had key lime pie before so after that poor experience we went to a shop that sells wonderful key lime pie and indulged our quest there with a real desert!Anyway the bill came and it was a tad over $280 for three without a tip.We are not the type of folks to write reviews and we are pretty easy customers to satisfy but our bad experience at Yoshi's was just too much not to take action on.
Pros: Nice atmosphere
Cons: just about everthing else
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