Kitaro Japanese Restaurant

Good service, good food and good price. This is the place I go whenever I want Japanese food. The quality is consistent, been going to them even before they moved from across the street years ago. New workers and same good service. Good management.

Meh. This is a great spot if you’re looking for cheap sushi, but if you don’t care about the taste. The fish is chewy and the rice is thick, but the prices are extremely affordable ($ 4 — $ 6 for a roll).
If you’re looking to get a cheap sushi fix, check out Kitaro, but I’d stay clear of you’re actually looking for a good meal.

Kitaro holds a place near and dear to my heart. I’ve been coming here since high school and this place never disappoints. It’s been through cheap dates, girls night out, birthdays. you name it! Sure their sushi may not be the freshest, but for the price it is worth it. You HAVE to get the chicken karaage dinner and ask for extra spicy mayo sauce because you are gonna need more. Comes with a salad and miso soup for you to wash it all down. I also like their spicy udon, katsu don, FIRE CRACKER roll, and alaskan roll. There are many Japanese restaurants in San Francisco, but I always find myself coming back here– that’s saying something.
Tip: If you shop at the Safeway in Richmond, they always have coupons on the back of your receipt for 15% off :)

I used to go to Kitaro all the time, but then when we moved further away, it was harder to get to. So my recent trip to Kitaro brought back fond memories.
One of my favorite dishes there is the chicken teriyaki. Usually, I’d get it in a combination with another item such as the California roll or tempura. The chicken teriyaki is tender with the perfect amount of teriyaki sauce. It’s served with a generous amount of rice and a side salad. The shrimp and vegetable tempura are lightly covered in batter so that’s it’s soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.
The firecracker is also another favorite item. Salmon and mackerel with rice rolled in batter and fried. Then top with a spicy aioli drizzle.
A lot times you can find coupons for Kitaro in the mail or on the back of your Safeway receipts. Definitely a great way to save money on an already cheap meal

Aside from the cheap sushi, this place really doesn’t have much going for itself. But then again, the quality you get reflects the amount of money you pay for. And you really don’t pay for a lot here.
I’ve been here a few times already and I can’t really say what is ~good~ here. Last night, I had the dinner combination bento with chicken karaage and shrimp and vegetable tempura. The veggie tempura was probably the best part of the meal. Chicken karaage was waaay too deep fried to the point where I couldn’t even bite into it.
Also had a piece of the blue shrimp nigiri. Okay, in all fairness, that wasn’t bad. It was also like $ 3 for 2 pieces.
If it weren’t because my boyfriend loves cheap sushi, I would probably never come back. Also, hot tea is $ 0.49 … ….

3 Japanese restaurants in one block, had to check out all 3 and we stuck with this one because of the variety in their menu.
NOTE: the white take out looking menu’s on their door is the thing you want to look at since some rolls aren’t listed on their main menu.
The inside of the restaurant is pretty dark and we were instantly greeted by an older lady. I noticed they had an upper level that looked like a karaōke lounge, if you’re into that kind of stuff: o)
When I was flipping through their menu, font and pictures were exactly like Kiki’s in inner sunset! Under the same owner maybe but the atmosphere here was way off compared to Kiki’s. They even had the pink dragon roll like Kiki’s! Alright enough of the comparing, let’s get to the schematics.
SERVICE:
We had all 3 waiters come up to us at one point. First the older Asian lady, then the Asian man, then a younger Asian girl stopped by once. The older Asian lady rushed my boyfriend and I. We told her 2x that we needed more time but she came to our table after a minute anyways, she wasn’t rude but we felt she was a little too pushy. The older one and the man seemed everywhere, a little frazzled looking at times. So don’t expect to find excellent customer service here because you won’t find it.
FOOD:
Lunch special (tempura roll, rock n roll and California roll): eh.
Pink dragon roll: also eh. Roll fell apart easily.
Ebiyaki: the only thing I liked about our meal. Tasty, flavorful, yay!
So overall, this place is good if you’re on a budget and don’t care for quality. One thing I have to say is that I find it weird that you can’t see the people making your sushi. If this place is owned by the same people as Kiki’s, they should really consider remodeling this place so customers can at least see someone making it.