I’ve been to this place three times. The premium prices for Sysco ingredients don’t match the quality, or the execution. Just about everything is overdone - not Japanese style at all - with way too many toppings, and the sushi tends to fall apart. The server constantly tried to upsell me (weirdly, more when I came alone), and even during posted happy hour times, I had to ask for a happy hour menu/prices.
I’d feel less inclined to leave a poor review if the prices better matched the quality of the ingredients and the execution. That said, happy hour and sticking to their simplest dishes with the fewest ingredients is your best bet, but I would not go out of my way to come here - there are better offerings, close by, for these prices, if not cheaper.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 2
Nowyouseeme
Really cute place with good skewers, fun drinks and a MASSIVE menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
jess
Great food and authentic personalities! What's not to love!
Food was Absolutely delicious! Seating was a bid tight especially for big person, but gotta make it work. Its worth waiting!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Combo 7 Skewers
Ael Leahy
This place is truly a gem. Innovative and so flipping delicious. We had a the long beans, kabocha squash, few sushi rolls, dumplings, shishito peppers, chicken heart yakitori and an ikura cabanara. WOW!!! Even the n/a pineapple beer was amazing. You can eat on the cheap or do it up! So much thought has been put into everything. They give you a compliantly potato salad and the signs and decor is hysterical (jokes everywhere) and charming. How special to go to a place like this. We were one of the last guests and got to meet Judy, one of the people behind the vision and the menu. What a delightful person and a true creative and entrepreneur. We can’t wait to come back! Thank you for an amazing dinner and experience Judy and team!!! ☺️
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ricky Yoo
Thank you, Judy! We were having a rough day after my girlfriend lost her purse before dinner, and you completely turned it around. You asked about the situation, showed real kindness, and even offered us a sweet treat. Your attitude and the excellent food made this restaurant stand out as a great example of service, quality, and hospitality. We’re excited to come back and recommend to friends!
EDIT: we found the purse 🤗
Joe Steinberger
Food was unusual and delicious. Great atmosphere and very eclectic music. Love this restaurant.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Hao Yin
One of the most overrated Izakaya restaurants in SF. The food is just okay — yet at this price point, you can easily find much better options. But what truly ruins the experience is the service — absolutely disastrous, and worse, they simply don’t care. You’ll understand why after reading this.
We were the first group when the restaurant opened at 5 PM, yet from the moment we sat down, everything felt rushed and pushy. The waitress was equally impatient with every table, as if she couldn’t wait to get off work.
Then came the worst part — our uni don had a piece of sea urchin that was clearly spoiled and smelled terrible, already turning watery. We flagged it to the waitress, who silently took the dish away without saying a word. A few minutes later she returned, claiming it “smells fine,” but said the owner was on her way.
When the owner arrived, instead of apologizing, she explained that all the uni came from the same batch and insisted it was fresh. She even blamed us for “not speaking up sooner,” as if we were trying to get a free dish. Ridiculous — we shared one rice bowl among four people, and the bad piece happened to be eaten last.
After all that, no offer to cancel or discount the dish until we asked a couple of times. Seriously, is your business going to collapse over one uni bowl, or do you think we’re that desperate to save a few bucks?
To make things even more absurd, the bill came with an automatic gratuity “for parties of 4 or more.” This is literally the first time we’ve ever seen a restaurant set the mandatory gratuity threshold that low — almost every other place does it for 6 or more guests. Now it all makes sense — they don’t bother improving their food or service because they’re guaranteed tips anyway. Maybe small groups get treated better?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Kexin Huang
It is my first time in my entire life leaving a review. Please runaway. The umi tastes really bad, for sure super low quality. I literally puked. The waitress is also super rude. More crazily, they put mandatory 20% tips for 4 people. Outrageous.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Shiyun Zhu
Terrible dining experience – WOULD NEVER COME BACK!!!
I rarely leave bad reviews, but this place absolutely deserves one. From the moment we sat down, our waitress was rude and rushed, making us feel like we were inconveniencing her just by ordering.
To make things worse, one of the uni pieces was clearly bad — it had a strong off smell and taste. We asked the waitress to take it away and said we didn’t want a replacement since we were full. No apology. We politely waited for the owner to come over, only to be told that “uni comes in batches and sometimes you just get a bad one.” No accountability — just excuses. She later offered dessert or replacement uni when it was far too late, and only agreed to take $20 off the bill when we asked.
On top of that, they force a 20% gratuity for parties of 4 or more, first restaurant I’ve ever run into in SF.
Between the bad food, the unprofessional service, and the dismissive management, this was one of the most disappointing dining experiences I’ve ever had. Save yourself the frustration and go anywhere else — there are plenty of restaurants that actually care about their food and their customers.
Pretty sure this has been the most frustrating dining experience I’ve ever had in my life😰
The uni smelled awful and tasted bitter — clearly not fresh. The manager offered no real resolution, which was really frustrating given how bad it was. On top of that, the waitress was rushed and rude throughout the meal. Then they tacked on a mandatory service fee for four people. Absolutely unacceptable to charge premium prices for bad food quality and poor service.
Save yourselves some time, money, and good vibes on a Sunday night.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Laura Gao
One of the most innovative restaurants I’ve been to in San Francisco! They refresh their menu constantly with the coolest Asian dishes. The servers are super nice and the food comes out quickly. Recommend the shiitake egg tofu, salted egg kabocha, and any of their carbonaras!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cam B
So yummy and a unique experience here in SF. I've been there twice and both times were delicious and an adventure.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Khoi Nguyen
Decent food. Nothing special or outstanding but nothing disappointing either. If you’re in the area and want this type of food then sure. If not, it’s not worth the effort to go here.
I’ve been to this place three times. The premium prices for Sysco ingredients don’t match the quality, or the execution. Just about everything is overdone - not Japanese style at all - with way too many toppings, and the sushi tends to fall apart. The server constantly tried to upsell me (weirdly, more when I came alone), and even during posted happy hour times, I had to ask for a happy hour menu/prices.
I’d feel less inclined to leave a poor review if the prices better matched the quality of the ingredients and the execution. That said, happy hour and sticking to their simplest dishes with the fewest ingredients is your best bet, but I would not go out of my way to come here - there are better offerings, close by, for these prices, if not cheaper.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 2
Really cute place with good skewers, fun drinks and a MASSIVE menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Great food and authentic personalities! What's not to love!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Yakitori, Sizzling Sashimi, Sushi
Food was Absolutely delicious! Seating was a bid tight especially for big person, but gotta make it work. Its worth waiting!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Combo 7 Skewers
This place is truly a gem. Innovative and so flipping delicious. We had a the long beans, kabocha squash, few sushi rolls, dumplings, shishito peppers, chicken heart yakitori and an ikura cabanara. WOW!!! Even the n/a pineapple beer was amazing. You can eat on the cheap or do it up! So much thought has been put into everything. They give you a compliantly potato salad and the signs and decor is hysterical (jokes everywhere) and charming. How special to go to a place like this. We were one of the last guests and got to meet Judy, one of the people behind the vision and the menu. What a delightful person and a true creative and entrepreneur. We can’t wait to come back! Thank you for an amazing dinner and experience Judy and team!!! ☺️
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Thank you, Judy! We were having a rough day after my girlfriend lost her purse before dinner, and you completely turned it around. You asked about the situation, showed real kindness, and even offered us a sweet treat. Your attitude and the excellent food made this restaurant stand out as a great example of service, quality, and hospitality. We’re excited to come back and recommend to friends!
EDIT: we found the purse 🤗
Food was unusual and delicious. Great atmosphere and very eclectic music. Love this restaurant.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
One of the most overrated Izakaya restaurants in SF. The food is just okay — yet at this price point, you can easily find much better options. But what truly ruins the experience is the service — absolutely disastrous, and worse, they simply don’t care. You’ll understand why after reading this.
We were the first group when the restaurant opened at 5 PM, yet from the moment we sat down, everything felt rushed and pushy. The waitress was equally impatient with every table, as if she couldn’t wait to get off work.
Then came the worst part — our uni don had a piece of sea urchin that was clearly spoiled and smelled terrible, already turning watery. We flagged it to the waitress, who silently took the dish away without saying a word. A few minutes later she returned, claiming it “smells fine,” but said the owner was on her way.
When the owner arrived, instead of apologizing, she explained that all the uni came from the same batch and insisted it was fresh. She even blamed us for “not speaking up sooner,” as if we were trying to get a free dish. Ridiculous — we shared one rice bowl among four people, and the bad piece happened to be eaten last.
After all that, no offer to cancel or discount the dish until we asked a couple of times. Seriously, is your business going to collapse over one uni bowl, or do you think we’re that desperate to save a few bucks?
To make things even more absurd, the bill came with an automatic gratuity “for parties of 4 or more.” This is literally the first time we’ve ever seen a restaurant set the mandatory gratuity threshold that low — almost every other place does it for 6 or more guests.
Now it all makes sense — they don’t bother improving their food or service because they’re guaranteed tips anyway. Maybe small groups get treated better?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
It is my first time in my entire life leaving a review. Please runaway. The umi tastes really bad, for sure super low quality. I literally puked. The waitress is also super rude. More crazily, they put mandatory 20% tips for 4 people. Outrageous.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Terrible dining experience – WOULD NEVER COME BACK!!!
I rarely leave bad reviews, but this place absolutely deserves one. From the moment we sat down, our waitress was rude and rushed, making us feel like we were inconveniencing her just by ordering.
To make things worse, one of the uni pieces was clearly bad — it had a strong off smell and taste. We asked the waitress to take it away and said we didn’t want a replacement since we were full. No apology. We politely waited for the owner to come over, only to be told that “uni comes in batches and sometimes you just get a bad one.” No accountability — just excuses. She later offered dessert or replacement uni when it was far too late, and only agreed to take $20 off the bill when we asked.
On top of that, they force a 20% gratuity for parties of 4 or more, first restaurant I’ve ever run into in SF.
Between the bad food, the unprofessional service, and the dismissive management, this was one of the most disappointing dining experiences I’ve ever had. Save yourself the frustration and go anywhere else — there are plenty of restaurants that actually care about their food and their customers.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 1
Restaurantji Recommends
Pretty sure this has been the most frustrating dining experience I’ve ever had in my life😰
The uni smelled awful and tasted bitter — clearly not fresh. The manager offered no real resolution, which was really frustrating given how bad it was. On top of that, the waitress was rushed and rude throughout the meal. Then they tacked on a mandatory service fee for four people. Absolutely unacceptable to charge premium prices for bad food quality and poor service.
Save yourselves some time, money, and good vibes on a Sunday night.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
One of the most innovative restaurants I’ve been to in San Francisco! They refresh their menu constantly with the coolest Asian dishes. The servers are super nice and the food comes out quickly. Recommend the shiitake egg tofu, salted egg kabocha, and any of their carbonaras!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
So yummy and a unique experience here in SF. I've been there twice and both times were delicious and an adventure.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Decent food. Nothing special or outstanding but nothing disappointing either. If you’re in the area and want this type of food then sure. If not, it’s not worth the effort to go here.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Owner is a chef and a saint.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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