I was staying downtown in the Union Square area which was great because the area is full of Japanese restaurants (unsurprising given that it's SF). I was exhausted from the day and ducked into this place not too far from my hotel. This seemed like it would be a good place judging from the crowdedness and homey feel to it. It had a similar waiting model to Ramen Parlor where you put your name on a list by the door and wait to get seated. Luckily, since I was only 1, so I got seated right away. I sat at the very small sushi "bar" - it was really just a ledge that had 3 small stools and it didn't face a sushi bar but the bustling kitchen instead. The menu is HUGE and had a bunch of Japanese comfort food like donburi, udon, soba, bento boxes, and of course sushi - they also had a lot of specials written on the walls as well. I wasn't starving so I wanted to get some sashimi and ended up getting the sashimi platter, which came with soup and salad.
The miso soup came with fried bit of tofu instead of the usual silken kind. While I know that almost all miso soup from a restaurant is usually made from a powder or mix - this kind of too real for me because it just looked too packaged. The salad was your standard salad except it wasn't a carrot ginger dressing but some other kind of vinaigrette which was totally fine. Then I waited for my sashimi...it was a bit weird to be sitting at a sushi bar and not see the fish they use for the sushi. The sashimi came out and it was quite a large portion. Similar to Yama in NYC, the cuts of fish were enormous - multi-bite pieces. They were definitely not your delicate fine cuts that you see in more traditional places or even like at Yuba. The salmon, tuna and yellowtail were all fine but my true test if the fish is really spot on is when I eat the mackerel or octopus. Unfortunately, neither of these cuts of fish were very good here - it's kind of what makes people not want to eat raw fish. The mackerel pieces were also huge and super super fishy tasting. It didn't taste like I was eating something that was made with care or high quality. I ate 1 piece and couldn't eat the 2nd one. Same with the octopus. I've had good octopus before and I could just tell from looking at it that it would be super chewy and not pleasant on the tongue. Again, I ate the 1st one but not the 2nd piece.
The guy next to me got a donburi dish that looked pretty good - so maybe this is the kind of place where you should stick to the non-sushi (or at least non-sashimi) stuff? The cuts of "normal" fish were totally edible and fine, if not, just cut too large. This place is totally passable if you are tired and in a pinch but I will review another sushi place not too far from it that was fucking out of this world in term of quality, presentation, authenticity and well, price too. Total bill: $30/pp with tax, tip and hot tea
Photo Credit: Yelp
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