Kamekyo

Other than the miso soup, which, I’ll admit, was one of the better I’ve ever had, I was not completely sold on the rest of the meal. Part of this was because of the higher prices, certainly more than I’ve paid for the same quality of sushi I’ve had elsewhere.
The 49rs roll was our pick, along with the sashimi plate and seaweed salad. You really can’t go wrong with a good seaweed salad, and this one didn’t disappoint. Unfortunately, one of the selections on the sashimi plate was not good at all, and it left a bad taste in our mouths (pun intended).
Kamekyo has a decent atmosphere in a great location, tucked away in Cole Valley near several bars. Though the staff was friendly and attentive, I’d opt to go elsewhere for any future sushi cravings. Your wallet will thank you.

This place is tasty. Not the flash you’ll get at places like Sushi Bistro or Acr Wasabi, but who needs it?! The fish here is so fresh and delicious, the chefs are super nice and know what they’re doing, and anything ordered tastes so good.

Sushi quality has taken a sharp turn towards awful here. Some of the sashimi pieces were just downright inedible (bad fishy smell and rotten taste). Other pieces were tasteless at best. Staff is okay but fish quality is bad. Will not be coming back.

Probably one of the worst restaurant experiences you can have at a Japanese restaurant. You will have better service and food at a fast food restaurant, trust me. We walked in because my parents couldn’t wait any longer (1+ hour) for a table next door at Zazie’s. We sat down in an empty restaurant with only three other customers sitting at the sushi bar. We put in our appetizer order for our parents because they are older and needed something in their tummies quick. We ordered a plate of agedashi tofu and chicken karaage. We waited until the sever came back to take our next order. We placed our orders for our entrees and the appetizers still have not come yet. 35 minutes later… we get our appetizers. I don’t get why it took so long for our appetizers to come out considering that the rest of the restaurant was empty. Anyways, they used the wrong type of tofu for the dish. They used firm tofu instead of soft tofu. I’ve tried this dish way too many times and I’ve never had firm tofu used. The texture was not fitting for the dish. The chicken karaage was super dry and tasteless. It came with a dipping sauce that was overly sweet. Both appetizers were disappointing considering that it took over half an hour to make. Our entrees (sukiyaki beef with tempura, chicken teriyaki, beef teriyaki, tempura, rainbow roll, and chicken entrée) were all equally as disappointing. The chicken was dry, rubbery, and drenched in teriyaki sauce. The beef was chewy and drenched in teriyaki sauce. The sukiyaki was drenched in sweet sauce. As you can tell, the chef uses this tactic of drenching the food that s/​he cant cook in sauce for flavoring. The service was comparable to the food – slow and once you get it, you wished you never asked for it. So do yourself a favor and save yourself some money and time, do not go here!

I don’t want you to go here and get in my way, but that doesn’t mean I will lie. Best sushi ever hands down. Chef Byron’s choice every time.

Really good sushi, went with friends. We had the 49er’s roll, rainbow, and some with soft shell crab along with some tempura. The sushi had great texture and taste, very fresh. He takes time to make good presentation and carefully prepared it so that it’s perfect. Sat at the bar so we could see how he worked. Very worth visiting!

This is a fake Japanese cuisine restaurant. Everything they cook totally wrong.
I don’t know how much did they paid to get the good comments on the Internet, but if you don’t want to try the «fake Japanese» food better to stay away this restaurant. At first all of people in this restaurant are Korean, none of them is Japanese. My husband and me was so mad when we ordered Ramen noodle and they bring us two bowls of Japanese instant noodle. The one that you can easy get it in any Japanese market like Mitsuwa or Nijiya. And it’s even the most cheapest Ramen that that sale $ 3 something for 5 packs. The ramen eggs is totally wrong with just a half of boiling eggs and Chashu is wrong too. I ordered spicy Miso Ramen they don’t even know how to make the spicy taste for the Ramen. They just put red pepper on the top like topping, and the red pepper is not the Japanese red pepper too. It’s just the red pepper that people use to make Korean Kimchi. We’re from Japan. My husband is Japanese. How many Ramen that we ate from Hokkaido to Okinawa, how can this restaurant lies people in US like this. If you ever eat the real Japanese food you will instantly realize the wrong taste in the food of this restaurant. They also make the «wrong sushi» too. The sushi in this restaurant is Korean style not Japanese style, the sushi that they made like «Kimbap» (a Korean type of sushi) more than sushi. The lady next to me she almost didn’t eat anything in her Teriyaki Chicken rice plate because its taste wrong and bad. The way they treat customer so bad too. «People in this restaurant just want to get money from customers, they don’t care about anything when after you paid.» We after we done, to save the time for the next customers I paid the bill while I was waiting my husband go restroom. After I paid he still in the line of people waiting for the restroom. I can’t leave because we carry many bags (we’re travelers to San Francisco.) There are some waitresses come and ask me with really harsh voice to get out of the store for the next customers, but they didn’t know when they rushed to take our food away after we done they spilled out water on the chair (chair made by cloth) so no way it can dry right away. I write this comment not because I hate them, but because I don’t want people keep eat the fake food. This is the first time we visit this restaurant and for sure we will never go back it any more when we travel San Francisco. I think most of people visit this restaurant are travelers like us, so they just stop by or check online for the high rate restaurants. They’re better to put the sign Korean cuisine than using Japanese brand name to lies people in US like this. If your are Japanese, please go check and leave the comment online about this restaurant. Don’t let people think Japanese food taste bad like that. They’re destroying Japanese culture.

It was alright, nothing grand. Our group of 3 got the beef udon, a hot pot with chicken and tempura, and a bento with chicken teriyaki and veggie and shrimp tempura.
The tempura wasn’t bad. The hot pot had flavor but was not that exciting. The miso soup also lacked some flavor, and I’ve always judged a Japanese restaurant by their miso soup.
Over all, not worth coming back to.

Wayyyyy over priced and not good. 16 $ for 49er roll that is not even good. No thank you.

I went to this place on a Thursday night, there were only 2 customers in the restaurant. Because I didn’t really know to order, I asked some advices. The waitress was just useless and seemed very annoyed by my questions. It took them more than 30 minutes to prepare 2 sushi rolls and 1 chicken teriyaki… Since it’s not a cheap sushi place, at least they should better take care of their customers…

I love sushi and live close by — how do I not go here? Well after two times dining here I can easily answer. The sushi is pretty expensive and misses on the wow factor by a mile. I tried the chicken teriyaki on my second visit to give this place a chance and it was a chore to get down. I want to really like this restaurant, but if they don’t change some things up I am not sure I will come back.

A little pricey and not quick, but the udon was awesome along with the spider roll.
The staff was definitely friendly and it was dead quiet on a Sunday night.

Kameyko has made my children into sushi-​lovers! Very friendly staff, kid-​friendly atmosphere. A small, nice, neighborhood sushi place.

I have eaten here many times and it’s consistently excellent. This is a small narrow restaurant with 2 servers for 7 tables and a sushi chef if you sit at the bar for sashimi. It’s a good idea to make reservations. Two of us shared sizzling hot Gyoza house made vegetable stuffed pot stickers, our own generous hot miso soups, a refreshing spicy cucumber salad, which is very spice, spider roll, and a shrimp tempura roll. The portions are perfect for sharing. They do have green tea ice cream on the menu but I was too full this time. There is a $ 15.00 wine corkage but with the silly small wine glasses I’d recommend skipping wine and ordering Ozeki dry delicious chilled saki, or a beer.

It’s okay! Nothing to rave about though I did enjoy the cold ramen, which had great texture!

Overpriced and medium quality sushi while you get to dodge breeders’ screaming children running around the joint like they own it. The service is fine — the waitresses and chefs are pleasant, and some of the non sushi dishes are pretty tasty, such as the chicken teriyaki. Unfortunately it’s pretty easy to drop 50 bucks on a few rolls or nigiri, and walk away thinking you could’ve made it better yourself with Safeway fish. I’ve been randomly coming here for almost 8 years, and it’s been pretty much consistent average the entire time. Not a date spot at all, due to aforementioned screaming loin droppings. More like an act of desperation spot if you don’t feel like going to the next closest sushi places, Sushi Raw on Haight, or Ebisu/​KiKi near 9^th and Irving.

With Kamekyo, the biggest determinant of my three-​star review is value.
Aesthetically, Kamekyo is everything you’d expect from a neighborhood sushi joint: L-​shaped sushi bar, eight or so tables, and simple, muted décor. As other reviewers point out, the vibe is more family-​friendly than anything else. This is NOT a romantic date spot (well, not by my standards).
In my lifetime, I’ve eaten my body weight, possibly many times over, in sushi, so I like to think that I know good sushi. The fish at Kamekyo is simply mediocre. I’ve been pleasantly surprised a couple times with, what I felt was, very fresh fish. However, there’ve been an equal (or maybe greater) number of times where I’ve gotten a whiff of that dreadful, off-​putting fishy smell from their nigiri.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to the value, though. Something positive could be said for a sushi joint that may not necessarily embody Jiro’s dream of quality but can be had for a relative pittance. In Kamekyo’s case, I have a hard time spending less than $ 60 for dinner. WAY too much for this food.
All of this gets them 2.5 stars in my book, and I’ll round up for the Cole Valley convenience factor.

I’ve been coming here for almost a decade. I proposed to my wife here, and make regular visits — 2 or 3 times per month. I’ve been to hundreds of sushi restaurants around the world, and I am more comfortable here than anywhere else. Families love it here.
I’m disappointed to see all the whining and negative reviews… not merited. For dietary reasons, I only eat sashimi, so my review is based entirely on the quality of the fish — which I always enjoy. As far as the prices, where are people getting cheap sushi? It can’t possibly be any good, so get over the prices. If you want cheap food, then go to the McDonalds down at the corner of Haight and Stanyon.
I gladly support this local business run by a family man who has no airs about serving top quality sushi year round, year after year.

Wonderful neighborhood sushi bar where you can interact with the sushi chief so you can get what you want instead of what’s on the menu.

This place is really expensive for the quality of food.
12 piece sashimi appetizer was $ 26
Uni nigiri was $ 10 (not even fresh)
Amberjack nigiri $ 6
Kirin and a bowl of rice
I went over the menu 2−3x. Everything is way overpriced.
Final bill was $ 62 including tip. I won’t be coming back