Sushi Groove

…I was wondering why the name and menu looked so familiar last night! Duh. I’ve already eaten at Sushi Groove South in Soma.
Well that was a blond moment, but I can see why I didn’t see the resemblance. The atmosphere was much more simple and casual at this location. However, the surrounding neighborhood is MUCH better than my old Soma hood.
The service was A-​OK. The music was random– old high school r&b jams, gotta love it. The food was good, with the exception of «Pete’s Roll», which was great. The prices are average, some of the rolls being very inexpensive, which is nice as well.
The miso soup was luke warm, boo.
Will I return? Probably considering my love for the neighborhood and my addiction to sushi.

Sushi Groove North — Fail.
We’re locals in the neighborhood, and we had take-​out last Tuesday night (²⁄₂₁). We typically eat at Sushi Groove, but decided on take-​out.
As we were checking out, I asked the hostess for some low sodium soy sauce. However, she said only regular was available in to-​go packets. No problem.
All their counter tops are stocked with low sodium bottles, so I asked for a to-​go container. She then said, «Those aren’t really low sodium bottles. We just refill those with regular.» WOW.
In addition, they charge a 10% automatic tip on to-​go orders. Nice. It will be long time before we hit this joint again.

If you are a very patient person who doesn’t care if you get waited on or not let alone be served mediocre food… then this is the perfect spot for you.
After making a 9:30pm reservation, we arrived around 9pm to see if we could catch the table early. There were empty seats at the bar and some tables open so we were seated promptly. After 30 mins of waiting for someone to come, someone to acknowledge us, I finally got fed up. I looked over at the sushi bar and the sushi chefs were just standing around. Not making sushi. So obviously they weren’t busy. I called over the hostess and asked her if we could sit at the sushi bar and if service would be faster there because no one has greeted us to take our order. She apologized and grabbed our server. Finally miraculously a server appeared, the only server in the restaurant nonetheless, brought us water and disappeared. OK. We were ready to order since we were sitting there waiting for 30 minutes but okay. 10 minutes pass and we get our waters, put in our orders and wait anxiously for our food. The food finally came out, and my bf had mentioned to the server that his combo should come with miso soup and salad. She then went back to get it. We had ordered a large beer, in which was forgotten, and then was brought out. After pouring a glass for my bf, waitress turns and looks at me and asks if I wanted a glass too. Um, duh? Anyway, food was not even good. I’ve had better sushi from a hole in the wall sushi place across from my house. The rice of the nigiri sushi was thick and too much. The rolls were okay. Decent. Nothing special. Small in comparison to other sushi restaurants. If I’m going to wait an hour to be fed, I want my food tasting as if it came down from the gods. But unfortunately, it did not.
I’ve been here a few times in the past but never chose to review it until now. That being said, I will never come back here ever again. To the owners who thought it would be a smart idea to have one waitress working in the restaurant that night… what were you thinking?
Extremely disappointed. Service was horrible. Food was edible but not good. The wait to have water brought and order taken was laugh out loud ridic. There are far more better sushi restaurants out there that can use my business.
Sushi Groove, no thank you.

***Good***
Fresh. Good Service. Good Sushi. Good Miso. Simple menu.
***Bad***
Very small. Probably only 25 seats in the entire restaurant.
Parking very limited. Arrive early.

The fish is below average in taste, not much flavor. What’s worse is that the rice is hard, almost undercooked. Plus I feel they pack a little too much rice under the fish. We had a couple of rolls, Wayne’s World and Spicy Hamachi, and both were just forgettable. There’s no sauce, no special treatment to them.
Service is friendly, HOWEVER, very inattentive. The waitresses were busy gossiping and discussing what they had to drink the night before with the sushi chef.
I left utterly disappointed.

On a Saturday night, this place was practically deserted. That should’ve been our first indicator.
We ordered the Wayne’s World, the Pete’s Crunch, and a roll from the daily specials, which was wholly unmemorable. The Wayne’s World was edible, even OK — but the Pete’s Crunch was just terrible. I’m not quite sure why this was the one roll that was called out by Unilocalers! I expect better, Unilocalers!
I guess it’s my fault for having gone to the sushi restaurant that Unilocal listed as #92 of all sushi places in SF…
Regardless — don’t recommend. Not a fan.
Sidenote: Service was fine — and space is fine. It’s the sushi that’s not up to snuff. Rounding down from 2.5.

I came here this past weekend by chance. I went to see Beach blank babylon, and the show got out way earlier than I assumed, so my reservation for Frascati was 90 mins away. Instead of waiting, I ended up at Sushi Groove which was across the street.
This place had a more modern feel than your average sushi restaurant, and was more on the small side (only a couple tables).
Here’s what I ordered.
–Combination Sashimi (Chef’s choice). It came with the normal salmon, tuna, hamachi, and white tuna. The sashimi was presented nicely and was very fresh.
–Wayne’s World Roll. (yellowtail, salmon, spicy sauce, cucumbers, with tobiko and scallions) I actually didn’t try it since I sweat like a mo fo when I eat spicy food, but my lady friend said it was only Ok.
–Grilled Japanese Eggplant Nigiri. This thing was actually pretty good.
–Sake Toro. This was on a special daily menu and was very excited when I saw this. I like Salmon sashimi better than tuna, so if Tuna toro is friggin awesome, sake toro should give me a mouth-​gasm. Surprisingly, it wasn’t all that great. Tasted like a slab of fat…
–Lenny’s roll? (unagi, softshell crab). This was also on the special menu, and wasn’t bad. The oil the crab was cooked in felt like it overpowered the roll…
Food was pretty good so I’d give it 4 stars. I’m taking it down to 3 stars because after we ordered, the waitress told us their credit card machine was broken, and that there was an ATM next door. I hesitated a little, but said it was ok since I wanted that Sake Toro in my mouth! She then followed up by asking if we wanted any Miso soup. In my mind, I was thinking, «Oh cool, she’s giving us free soup because she’s making us pay an ATM fee. That’s pretty nice.» When the bill came, $ 2.25 per soup + a $ 2.50 ATM fee. Sad face…

They didn’t have uni the night I went, which was a major disappointment. The place is small, and nice enough, but pretty dead. There was only one other couple there. At least we had no problems getting a table.
We got 4 different rolls. They were all fine, but nothing that stood out from any other sushi joint with comparable prices. I’d eat here again but wouldn’t go out of my way.

My first time here was last night (Tuesday) at around 9:00 PM. The location is perfect. I love this part of Hyde St. There are so many options for food in the area and it’s close to my house. I go for sushi. The place isn’t too busy and I grab a seat at the bar. The hostess and waitress are very nice. The chef’s are working it behind the bar and are also very attentive. The place has a great vibe. There’s good music playing and the décor says, «date night.»
The standouts for me are the hamachi toro (very fresh) and the green lip mussels. My roomie loves the grilled mussels and orders them at every sushi spot we go. I have to say that these are the best ones yet.

It’s a coin toss for me between Sushi Groove and Okoze Sushi. Walked away from both dinners in awe and utterly amazed. Sushi Groove has fresh, great-​tasting sushi and is easy on the wallet (at least compared to many sushi joints). The rolls go down so smooth and just make your insides beam with happiness :-) Tried the Gari Saba Maki (mackerel and scallions), sashimi platter, a couple orders of Dynamite Rolls (spicy tuna, avocado and cucumbers), Rockin’ Blues (salmon, cream cheese), Pete’s Roll (spicy tuna with baked salmon) and the sea urchin. All were delightful!!!
Oh yeah and we delighted in a mega bottle of sake. Our waitress, who was absolutely fantastic, said she has never seen a group our size (3) finish the bottle. Our merry group just didn’t want to leave I guess — between the delicious sushi and cool servers. Our waitress decided to partake in a few shots of sake with us – what a wonderful SF evening!
Looking for great sushi and service at an affordable price, then this is the place to go :
«Let’s groove tonight… share the spice of life»…and the price is nice :-)

Sushi here is very fresh, pretty good, and very reasonably priced. We tried the Pete’s roll — AMAZING! Also had the tuna salad which came with a little raw quail egg — very nice, and a couple of other rolls which were good, but nothing really special (spicy tuna and another with cream cheese).
The décor is slightly lacking, the walls don’t have any art at all and the bench seating is vinyl, worn down and large tears in some places — came here also about a year ago and remember the same dilapidated seating was already noticeable.
Service is a little hit or miss, restaurant is small and takes reservations and walk ins. There is a little wine bar a couple doors up the street to wait and have a drink if a table isn’t available right away.

Horrible experience, thanks to the food and the service.
We get seated, and a few minutes later are asked to move to another table to accommodate a larger group. Oh well, not that big of deal, right? At our new table, we wait 10 – 15 minutes to be brought our water, at which time we are ready to order.
I do not recommend the shrimp tempura roll — looked like it was missing a few ingredients and I picked out most of the fried shrimp, which was gray in color. Gross.
Our waitress, instead of focusing on our table and the other ones, was sitting on her boyfriend’s lap most of the night, who was seated at a table in the back. PDA on the job? No thanks.
You couldn’t pay me to eat there again.

I thought that the location was great, and from the outside it caught my attention. The staff was unexperienced, but kind. The waiter spilled water on my boyfriend when trying to refill our drinks.
The Yellowtail Nigiri (a special that night), was SO FISHY!!! Not very good! I actually spit into my napkin!
The Salmon Nigiri was good, but not great.
I think that Sushi Groove needs to find a new place to order their fish from. Especially when we’re in SF, there is really no excuse!
The music was a lot of reggae, definitely the best part of this restaurant! I love listening to Bob Marley while eating sushi in SF!
I don’t think I will be making an effort coming back here again– there are plenty of other great places!

Lauryn. Lenny. Mary. Maxwell. — Classic soulful groves and decent sushi?! Amazing.
Everyone needs their corner Go-​To sushi spot, and if this is on your corner. You are ever so lucky! And if not, get ye arse to this corner! (actually its not on the corner, but you get the idea)
This place is perfect for small dining parties. A large party (over 4) may be tough with such an intimate location. The spot is modern, not too sketch, and decently priced.
— Pacquiao: That roll was on special, and in homage to the fight, and the mere fact that I never saw a Pacquiao fight. We ordered this. This roll was alright, with unagi and jalapenos. It wasn’t awful, just basic and nothing «special» — although on the «special» list. Stick to the regular list.
— Baked Spicy Mussels: Classic and delectable. Not too mayo based which is good, so the mussels stand on its own.
— Techno Roll: It’s basically a rainbow roll, but was quite delish and the fish was fresh.
— Kamikaze Roll: By far the best roll we had. The addition of the scallions brought a level of freshness that was a pleasant surprise.
All in all. Sushi Grove is decent sushi spot that isn’t sketch and pretty decent. With Lauryn cooing in the background… Holla at our girl on some old school R&B.

Excellent sushi for the price and location. Focus on hamachi I tell you, hamachi.
Get hamachi toro.

I’ve had a lot of crap sushi lately… you know, the overstuffed rolls filled with cream cheese, the slices of previously frozen fish masquerading as fresh, or lots of ponzu on top of everything. Sometimes I’m perfectly fine with this, but other times I crave simplicity. No deep fried, no crazy combos, and no sweet sauces. Just top quality, melt-​in-​your mouth, pulled out of the ocean yesterday seafood.
Found it here at Sushi Groove. There are definitely some less than traditional items on the menu, but the freshness of their fish seems to take precedence.
We had some sake, some special rolls, a ceviche… all were definitely better than crap sushi but not terribly amazing.
And then we had some nigiri, and then ordered some more nigiri and then some sashimi. WOW. And that was amazing. Try the Hawaiian walu, scallop, and whatever else you can find on the daily menu. Ask for recommendations and go from there.
Really nice people work here. Want a romantic date? Then take the cable car up (cause you won’t find parking anyway).

Woah! I haven’t tried the food yet but my first reaction was this place is tiny! Luckily we made reservation (same day) for a party of 8 for 8:30pm. We arrived half an hour early and they were kind to let us sit at the sushi bar. They warned us reservations were set for the area but there was a chance our table will be ready by then. I was happy we got our lil corner that accomadated all of us meaning no one had to sit in a weird angle.
Sushi was fresh. The rolls I did try was tasty. Definitely one of the better sushi places I’ve been in the past year.

This is a 3.5 (I’m not a fan, but it was okay)
After eating here and looking at the other reviews, I don’t know how to rate Sushi Groove. I mean the sushi was okay, the sevice so/​so. I think the only reason that would make me come back would be a groupon again.
Good things:
1. It’s nice and quiet. It seemed like a good place for a romantic date. The lights are a little dim and the music is relaxing.
2. The sushi was okay. It didn’t look rushed at all, on the contrary, the person who prepared it make it look artsy and cute. (My kappa makki rolls shaped into flower petals)
Things I didn’t like:
1. Although the staff was friendly, they sorta didn’t check in much with you. My waitress only came once in a while, only to refill water. If I needed something, I kinda had to try hard to get her attention… she seemed to be busier talking to the other waitresses.
BUT I do have to give her props for her knowledge of the sushi. We were a little unsure of what to get. We told her what we liked, and she gave really good suggestions.

Our favorite spot to eat sushi outside in SF.
That it’s on Russian Hill, is a bonus.

Inventive Hawaiian-​Japanese fusion, I had a great meal at Sushi Groove on Saturday night. My friend had made an 8:30pm reservation, so no problem with the seating. I was earlier so I had the yuzu cocktail while I waited — not only was it enormous, but delicious light yuzu flavor (somewhat more bitter than an orange Japanese citrus) with lime and a sugar-​rimmed glass (worth the $ 12).
We started with the ankimo appetizer — I happen to love the monkfish pâté, it is like a fishy foie gras, though not for everyone, included my dear friend. It was good, with ponzu, daikon and cucumber. We also decided to get salads. She had a seared ahi tuna which was quite good, and I had the California salad with iceberg lettuce, avocado, crab meat, and a creamy dressing that was unexpectedly enormous and yummy.
We ordered three rolls from their pretty non-​standard menu. The XXX-​caliente roll had some good heat and a wonderful walu topping — waitress told us that is Hawaiian butterfish, and it does indeed melt in your mouth (as the rest of it is on fire, a good simmering kind though). The Barack D House had great crunchy texture with (I think) shrimp tempura. The third was alternating white and red salmon — good but nothing crazy.
The staff was great, very friendly and helpful, and I like the atmosphere, though it can be a little loud when it’s full. Total meal including a relatively inexpensive bottle of wine and a small food baby was ~$ 65 per person. Very excited to go back again!