Sawaii Sushi

I have both eaten here and ordered take out. Of course, take out’s never as good as dining in; the spicy garlic miso ramen and the shoyu ramen my girlfriend and I got was not that hot and seemed bland. Maybe they were having an off night? Just dine in and your soup is hot and flavorful.
Their sushi is not fresh nor flavorful. It’s all about the ramen here. Their soft boiled egg and their Cha shu are cooked perfectly. I recommend ordering extra egg and Cha shu in the shoyu ramen. Not too crazy about their noodles, which are probably straight out of Top Ramen packaging.
It can get a little busy here during lunch and dinner rushes so be prepared to wait a bit since the restaurant is tiny. The service is okay. The elder waitress though was really sweet and made sure that we were okay throughout our meal.

CLOSED.
After the year-​end holidays, found this place empty with a lock on the door. No more super cheap sushi for lunch :[

Carrot cake? Meh. Chocolate? Meh. Upside down? Meh. Bundt, Jon, Bundt?! Meh. Okay, how about… Kamaboko Udon sprinkled with Togarishi (hat tip to Miriam W for this insight!) for $ 4.50 for lunch? Kamaboko, indeed. Fish cake. Ah, now we’re talking my kind of cake. I wouldn’t stick around in the sparse space to eat, but I’ll take it to go — and I like that this place has stuck around for so long — it looks like it’s been here since ’05 or before. A compelling, warming winter-​weather (bka year ’round) lunch option that’s under $ 5? The sandwich stands can’t compete with this Cake Lunch option.

Had the $ 6.95 bento today complete with: miso soup, salad, rice, chicken karaage (fried chicken) and white rice. I remember eating their bento box a looong time ago and wasn’t impressed because everything was drenched in mayo and felt really rich. This time, I was pleasantly surprised that they changed for the better …
Improved miso soup — it’s instant packaged miso soup, what could go wrong?
The dipping sauce for the chicken was yummy. It was a light soy sauce mixed with ginger and sesame seeds. I’m used to eating my fried chicken with tonkotsu sauce, so this was a refreshing change.
They also switched to a tangy and light dressing for the salad.
It was also a delight to see that they no longer drench their california rolls in mayo. The avocado was creamy enough with the imitation crab meat.
Overall: 4 stars — both for the price and quality of the food.

Did I mention before that I am a (big) fan? Excellent service and delicious sushi brings me back here almost every week (sometimes more than once a week) for lunch. I recommend:
— California roll with unagi
— Dragon roll
— Unagi special
— Tuna avacado roll
— Salmon avacado roll
— Sushi combo
— Sashimi combo
And their bento box is a good deal. My favorite item is saba miso!

Lunch fidi work employee review:
I ordered the sushi combo for $ 10 which came with CA roll, and some nigiri sushi. It was just OK. The fish, of course coming from fidi, was not fresh. Had a weird taste to it and made my stomach growl a bit. Probably will not come back.

This place has been around for years and unlike others, their prices remain the same and one of my favorite lunch spot.
This is a family owned type of set-​up with nothing fancy. You are better off going to Miyabi sushi if you need to grab and go but if you have a few mins, I prefer their freshly made rolls. Two item lunch combo runs $ 6.95 and most 6pcs maki roll runs around $ 3.50. Also, where do you find a bowl of udon for less than $ 5?

This teatered on two stars in my opinion. Your money goes far with the bento box but I’m one to always pick quality over quantity. The chicken teriyaki was bland, perhaps the most unappetizing chicken I’ve ever come across. They dump a thin sauce on after the fact, so the flavor just doesn’t stick. The salad actually included greens, it wasn’t just clumps of iceberg, and the miso was standard. I also opted for the California rolls. How can fake crab taste fishy? I wearily added an unagi nigiri to my ordered and was pleasantly surprised. I’m willing to explore the sushi more but I’m so over the bento boxes.

I am a creature of habit. I’ve only ever ordered the chicken karaage and california roll bento special. It’s a steal of a deal and it’s darn tasty.
There isn’t usually ever more than 2 – 3 people in line and the food comes fast. A must try for the FiDi/​Union Square lunch crowd.

i must’ve missed the boat, contrary to what a picture and a few reviews say for sawaii. THEY DO NOT SERVE RAMEN :(
aside from that, the food was meh at best.

Sushi means payday lunch! Except these lunch specials aren’t actually expensive, so… everyday lunch? Time will tell…
I like the a la carte options because I’m choosy, but the bento boxes look yum and the reviews tell me the ramen is tops too. Will have to come see for myself!

Oishi Fishi Fun — FiDi Style:
I would go far to sample good sashimi, but I cannot afford to fly to Tokyo, Japan just yet. For now, I have to settle for what I can find in San Francisco. I recently tried Sawaii Sushi. A friend found them in her work neighborhood in the Financial District and suggested we try it. We sampled the regular menu during a Tuesday.
My friend ordered the rainbow roll with a seaweed salad, and I had the sushi combo. The sushi combo comes with miso soup, 6 pieces of California roll and 6 pieces of nigiri sushi. The food was made after ordering by a sushi chef so it was not fast food. The food was worth the wait. The fish was oishi (delicious) and not pricey.
The little eatery has limited seating so you may want to order your sushi to go or aim for an earlier lunch time. Sawaii has 3 little tables that can seat 4 slim patrons each and a bar with room for 4 slim stools. The place seems to do a robust takeaway business.
If you should find yourself in the Financial District between 10:30am to 3:30pm and have a craving for sushi, I highly recommend you stop by Sawaii Sushi and sample their oishi fishi fun.

I’ve walked past this place for over 6 years and never went in. I don’t know what possessed me to go in but I finally went in today. I ordered the Chicken karage and Cali roll Bento box, it comes with salad, soup and a scoop of rice. It tasted pretty good for $ 6.95. That’s a bargain for San Francisco FiDi standards! This may end up being my default Japanese restaurant lunch fix place :)

Nice little whole in the wall quick fresh sushi.
I got the tuna and salmon bento box!!!
I spent $ 10 and enjoyed it very much.
The place has 3 tables and a sushi bar.
I would def come here for a quick bite for lunch.

I ordered hamachi and kappa maki. Kappa maki is difficult to mess up unless the rice isn’t right which in this case it was mediocre. My hamachi was also just OK. My order wasn’t too expensive and I didn’t hate it, but I won’t go back.

Amazing Ramen! Get it without MSG. I didn’t do that and got a terrible migraine this afternoon…

Somehow, even though I’ve worked in this area for a bit, I managed to not have sushi yet. So my BF and I end up here. It’s your standard lunch spot. I had the bento with tuna sashimi and salmon teriyaki. He had the chicken karage and California roll. Everything on my platter was good, you know, standard good stuff, but then my BF tells me I should try his roll.
I tasted it and it was so good that I had to ask him again what was it. Yeah, it was a California roll, possibly one of the most delicious ones both he and I have had.
Good spot overall, great price, fast service. And do not forget to try the California roll.

I came in for quick lunch to go order. Order the chicken don and the chicken was burnt to a crisp with a horrible burnt taste. They probably tried to cover this up with TON of sauce over the chicken.
The sushi wasnt much better. Very disappointed.

Its an ok sushi for the for FiDi, but not as great as other people say.
Against other Unilocaler’s suggestions, I decided to get the chicken teriyaki. Not as bad as they say, but it IS quite dry. Not great, but not disgusting either. Just… is.
California rolls were pretty good, and the lunch bento box is really cheap for the area. They bring out a miso soup that’s also ok. Their salad was just odd. It was like. coleslaw with watered down salad dressing.
The place is really small. 3 tables that seat 4, and 4 bar seats. Don’t expect to eat here if you can help it. Just a bad idea…

It’s hard to find good sushi in the FiDi that’s worth it, but Sawaii is not bad! Not dirt cheap, but cheap.
JONASAPPROVED!