Sushi Groove South

Omar made the best vegetarian roll I ever had, and his service was Outstanding.
I also had miso soup, and seaweed salad, both very fresh.
friendly staff, and nice atmosphere.

We had passed this spot several times and always thought, hey, we need to check this spot out!
I wish we didn’t. The most godawful service i’ve ever had in all of San Francisco.
My boyfriend and I walked in and the restaurant wasn’t packed, and had 3 tables open. The DJ was in the front of the restaurant, never looked up or even smiled despite being a foot away.
The sushi chefs ignored us. Okay… I can understand that and can even expect that sometimes if they’re busy.
What I DO expect though, is to be approached by the hostess to be seated or told to wait.
Nope. We hovered at the sushi bar for a bit, unsure if we were to sit ourselves. A waitress/​hostess, Timineet, deigned to gaze upon us after a few awkward minutes but just gestured to us with a jerk of her head for us to find our own table! She didn’t even bother to maintain eye contact or even look at us to see if we understood, she was SO intent on staring at her screen.
We find a seat in the back and wait. And wait. And wait. 15 minutes it took for an order of DRINKS. No, i’m not even talking about water. It took another ten minutes for my boyfriend’s beer to appear and an additional 5 for my sake. No apology, no ackowledgement, we basically were meat bags sitting on a bench.
In fact, it felt like her face woudl shatter if she even tried to attempt a smile. Does she know how to smile?
Food arrived in a normal span of time, delivered by a busboy, but I had long finished my sake. Never once did she, or anyone for that matter, approach us for a refill or additional order.
Thankfully, the food was delicious. The Tuna poke was amazing and the rolls were tasty and nicely presented. However, the absolutely rank service soured an otherwise good meal.
We’ll never return. Way too many awesome sushi spots in SF that make good food and actually employ humans.

Very poor service– Upon walking in 3 employees looked at us, and didn’t smile or say anything. Finally, who I assume was the hostess walked by us and mumbled «sit anywhere»… our appetizer salad took 40+ minutes to come out…
Food overall was good– but I wouldn’t come back because of the poor service.

This was my favorite sushi place in the city. I was a regular a few years ago. It saddens me to see my old favorite hangout slide downhill like this.
Although it pains me, I have to agree with recent negative reviews, and hope this is a call to improvement by the owners. Sushi Grove South has really gone downhill. A few years ago the sushi was fantastic, the service friendly and efficient, and the ambiance great. Despite the trendy atmosphere I always felt completely at home. This was THE place to go for sushi!
During recent visits the sushi has been unremarkable. Not bad, but not good either. Worst of all, no uni, no aji, no toro… pretty much nothing interesting besides standard tuna and salmon. The bartender was good, but food service painfully slow and poor.
Come on Sushi Grove South, you can do better than this!

Unfortunately this establishment has not maintained it original quality standards that I had experienced years past.
On a recent visit Valentines evening, my wife and I visited Sushi Groove South expecting a solid sushi experience. Unfortunately, after the initial friendly greeting, things didn’t go quite as smoothly.
As soon as we were seated, I asked the waitress to turn down the spot light that was pointed directly in my eyes, which I despise, and i suspect others would as well. I also noticed that all the candle holders along the exposed concrete wall were no longer list… a somewhat minor detail, but i believe that feature of the restaurant help to created a cool atmosphere.
Next, we get our order in with the waitress, she brings our our drinks… 40 minutes elapse, and she comes back and explains that she didn’t get our order in with the kitchen, and that she can’t located what we had ordered. She asks us to reorder. I think she was the only waitress that evening too.
At this point, I’m not a happy camper, so we get up and leave.
Too bad. Fortunately, Basil Canteen, kitty corner to s.g.s., was able to salvage the evening for us!

After passing by this place so many times I thought, hey let’s give our neighborhood sushi place a try.
FAIL!!! FAIL!!! FAIL!!! FAIL!!! FAIL!!! FAIL!!! FAIL!!!
There is a very good reason why there isn’t a line outside. The service is SLOW, VERY, VERY, VERY SLOW. While the staff was pleasant they acted like the restaurant was jam packed. My friend and I sat at the sushi bar with another couple — that’s it and it took 45 minutes to get our 5 rolls. It took 30 minutes to get our drinks and 20 minutes to acknowledge us and to take our order. Did they just open for business that they are so unorganized and overwhelmed? Come on people if you are going to starve me at least get me drunk! Maybe bar seating or small parties isn’t as important as groups sitting at the tables?
The sushi was good but nothing outstanding and a little over priced for the quality and service.
Sayonara…I’m never coming here again!

I went here a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time ago w/​my groupon and had invited a winemaker, Dan Tudor and his girlfriend here ‘Bow’. We all sat down and this guy waited on us that looked like he was homeless — he had an outrageously huge beard — so much so that you could barely see his face.
Turns out he gave us a great service and we enjoyed some excellent sushi and rolls. I think the place is outstanding — not the prettiest area to bring children or visiting familys, but just fine for us regular folk.

I was exited about going to this place because I’ve heard good things about it.
The environment was ok. The tables are way too small and wobbly– a terrible combo for somebody clumsy, like me. Luckily, I didn’t spill anything because I used the table next to us for extra space.
I like the live DJ set idea and all, but this guy was blasting techno that you would hear at the after, after, after party at 8:00 A.M. Honestly, I was surprised there wasn’t candy ravers with pacifiers and Elmo’s all around us. Asides the inappropriately loud and obnoxious music, the vibe was great. So, don’t expect to have great conversations in this restaurant.
The server was very attentive, nice, and cute. The only thing is that our appetizer was the last plate. And I hate when that happens!
The drinks were ok, I ordered a glass of nigori sake, which came in a huge martini glass. So, points for that.
The food wasn’t something out of this world.
The best thing to order is the cilantro roll. Its flavors and textures were balanced– the roll was spicy, crunchy from the Halibut tempura, and refreshing from the cilantro sauce.
The worst thing to order is the Jungle roll because it was kinda whack. The textures and favors did not go together The Yellowtail was sahimi style, which is slimy already. The papaya was ripe, which made the filling of the sushi double slimy. The spicy sauce that was supposed to give it a kick was no where to be tasted. Overall, this roll tasted like rice, sea weed, and big loogie in the middle.
The chicken yakitory was burnt, like charcoal. Big disappointment because I love yakitory.
All and all, the food no very good, not good for conversations or big groups.

This is a great place to meet up with a bunch of friends prior to starting your night off. Having some drinks and grabbing a bite to eat.
I wouldn’t say it’s the best sushi I’ve ever had and I wouldn’t necessarily go there for a late night dinner date. The music gets extremely loud and you won’t be able to hear each other once the music gets going. (it gets pretty loud)
But like I said, it’s a great way to start your night with a bunch of friends.

Hipster alert!!! This place reeks of «I’m such a hip restaurant you can’t even find me and we have no distinct sign outside the place!!»
But much to my surprise, I really enjoyed the look of the place and it had great ambiance. Call me a hipster, I guess…
Had a couple rolls called the Gee-​Spot and Dynamite and some small plates of yakitori, seaweed salad, fried calamari with fried jalapeño rings and some prosciutto wrapped asparagus. Everything was divine, especially the fried calamari with jalapeño rings.
Service was friendly and we never went without, prices are on par, and I would say I’d definitely come back.

The place has a good night-​out vibe, with the DJ and the dim lighting and modern décor. I’ve been many times, but only for take out. The sushi is fantastic, and you get good creative rolls. Time and time again, the sushi has been excellent. But, it’s definitely expensive, and the service can be really (really) slow since they’re so busy. I wish they delivered. But until they do, I may have to rely on Live Sushi as my mainstay for delivery, come in to Sushi Groove South for a fix of more innovative sushi, and dine at Sushi Bistro for good value and creative rolls!
sample: Tuna caliente, firecracker, sake nigiri and uni — $ 33.

Sadly, I feel like this place has steadily gone downhill, and my guess is everyone else is catching on to that too. It’s way easier to get in now than in years & months past (I’ve been here many, many times). Sushi used to taste fresher, crowd & atmosphere used to be cooler, I don’t know — just seems like it has settled into an It’s-Not-Bad steady state of sushi equilibrium.
Our server was kind and put up w/​a couple of guys in my party that, well, have been more sober in their lives. (Sort of.) The food came out nicely-​paced. Was really excited about the Hamachi Toro, and it just came out blah; everything else we ordered was ok good, but seriously nothing was memorable. Nothing horrid either. Just ok.

I’ve been to SGS a couple times now. Most recently, we arrived about 10 minutes late for our reservation and had to sit at the bar instead, which was fine. As always, the place was busy, bumpin’ tunes playing and a busy bar.
The sushi is pretty tasty. They have fun and creative rolls (cilantro roll — yum!) and serve pretty thick slabs of fish even the sashimi. I really liked the beef tenderloin nigiri… I was in the mood for just a taste of meat and it was perfect. However, here’s where we were a tad disappointed. One of the plates arrived with smudges all over it It looked like it had been previously used for a plate of sushi… as in it was dirty, but had rice smear on it. Also there were fruit flies buzzing around — which I know happens — I’ve had them at home from an overripe banana, but they were darn annoying.
Our server was nice and the sushi chefs were friendly, but not chatty.
Overall, we had a pleasant experience, had fun and enjoyed the food, but it just wasn’t amazing or super memorable.

Friday night, 9:15pm, we walk into Sushi Groove and it was packed! A sushi bar along with tables the place had a dj spinning and a bar on the other side.
We bought a Groupon for here and after reading some reviews on Unilocal we were a bit scared of what our experience was like.
Overall, it wasn’t bad. We ordered the following items:
2 orders of walu (aka butterfish): lots of positive reviews on Unilocal but our nigiri was terrible. it did not taste fresh at all. where’s the quality control on this? luckily this was my only major complaint for our food.
spicy scallop-​good
veggie tempura-​huge portion, great choice of veggies-​butternut squash, yam, sweet potato, delicious and all for $ 7! great deal
firecracker roll-​good flavor, better than expected
one night stand-​cute name, came with a lot of pieces although on the smaller side
cilantro roll-​overpowered the shrimp tempura a bit and still tasted bland as a roll despite the cilantro.
Come for this place because you want a cool place to bring a date, maybe hang out with friends, the ambiance is nice, good vibe, but if you want real fresh quality sushi, this is not going to be the place.

We also used our groupon coupon to hit this place. Had been here before for a company function and liked it. Generally I do not like pseudo sushi with all the crazy rolls and such but it wa good but I gave it a three stars for a number of reasons.
We had
Amaebi
walu
kampachi
tuna jalopeno?
house salad
udon
mussells
soma roll
hotategai
Everything was good but thought the house salad at 7.75 was a bit pricy for a few pieces of lettuce, mandarin orange, tomatoes and pine nuts. I didnt know how much it would so just ordered it.
The actual nigiri skill of the sushi chef is questionable as you can notice a small difference in shape and size of nigiri from one to another! The one who made our sushi was the japanese lady, but perhaps she is not classically trained. I thikn sushi prices are reasonable– $ 5.50 for amaebi with fried head?
Overall I thikn if we didnt have the coupon this place would be way too over priced to come here alone and u would probably go home hungry. The BF ate sometihng before he came so otherwise it wouldnt hve been enough food!
Also please know that the service here SUCKS. All the waitresses and the hostesses act like they dont want to be there and reluctantly takes ur order. There just something really unappeasing about their presence. Its like they are too good to take ur order or is trying to pretend like they want to wait on u when they really don. t I hate going out to eat and having a fake ass server! We had to wait 30 minutes for a beer and reminded her 2x and then she ended up charging us for 2 beers! WTF. They are sort of snobby too which I dont like. OK you work in a lounge that is also a japanese restaurant, doesnt mean u need to have an attitude! If you were so great you wouldnt need to be waiting tables, dear. Thats why your ass got the 10% tip.

Wait, is this a hip Folsom Street lounge?
Yeah, kinda.
But sit at the sushi bar and the chef will delight with crazy skills that match the vibe.
We love this place.

Sushi LOVE.
This place is slightly gritty, sassy, rocking and delicious. Just like me. ;-) We popped in here with no reservation and were nicely accommodated. The stars pumped up when I was able to try something delicious that I had never eaten before.
Hawaiian Butterfish. Oh yes. Also a delicious halibut cilantro roll which I thought would be weird, but was utterly delectable. Nice sparkling wine paired with the sushi, chill environment and cool tunes made for a really pleasant dining experience.

Eh…
I never ventured to this part of town for obvious reasons. A sole dimly lit spot in an otherwise desolate area, it’s hard to tell what this place is from the outside. The sign, to the left of the entrance, couldn’t be bigger than a 10“X10″ bronze plaque. Even with a little peek, this restaurant could easily be mistaken for yet another SOMA bar /​lounge.
Once we stepped in, the first thing that we noticed was the smell of soya sauce, and upon a closer look, instead of bottles of liquor, the bar is stocked with blocks of raw fish. We almost did get the ambiance fool us.
The place has some seriously delicious sushi rolls, albeit not as big of a selection as, say, Sushi House in Alameda. First and foremost, we are not overwhelmed by the disproportionate amount of rice in the rolls. Second, the rest of the ingredients were of high quality and very, very tasty.
Only drawback was the service — slow, hard-​to-​flag waiter and almost empty lukewarm green tea cups at all time.
What gives?

I’ve been reflecting a lot recently on all of the stupid choices, bad decisions, and flat out blonde moves I’ve made with men. Once upon a time, a boy with an itty bitty dingle and a whole lot of control over me chanced to bring me here. Well that didn’t last, but my love affair with this place has.
What’s not to love? The ambiance is awesome, the food is great, the special froufrou cocktails are fun to taste and even more fun to get wasted on. Whether you like your fish raw or cooked or not present at all, they’ve got something to satisfy. The wakame is just right and I’ve even enjoyed things here on occasion that I wouldn’t normally venture to sample at other establishment pushing the same stuff.
Minus one star for the service. It’s a little too cool for the establishment. Like, «Lady– you work here. I’m not waiting on you. You’re waiting on me. Bring me my damn drink and get on with your bad self. And don’t scowl and shoot eye daggers at me while doing it.»
Service aside, I love this place. Hate tiny dingles. But love this place.

Toro’s Sushi Tip#601: When you see ‘Sake Bomb — yeah Baby!’ on the menu of a sushi bar, don’t over think the situation — just walk out.
I didn’t follow my own tip, so I ended up burning $ 60 at this bad sushi bar in SOMA. So, why did I go to a sushi bar with ‘Groove’ in the name? Well, around late 2005, Sushi Groove was very hot on Unilocal.Since then, I was curious about the rave, but didn’t have the courage, until I finally manned up and gave it a try in Aug 07.
BUILDING/​DECORE: I drive on Folsom all the time and never knew that this non-​descript building across the street from Public (
) was home to Sushi Groove. Their sign is so small that you wouldn’t see it from your car. The building looks almost looks like a club. Inside, décor was hip and modern. Without the sushi counter, you wouldn’t know it is a Japanese restaurant.
SUSHI: Rice is the heart and soul of sushi, so if rice is bad, you cannot make up for it with good fish or try to cover it up with spicy sauce. I must admit that reviewing sushi rice is half art as it is subtle and hard for regular amateurs like myself to rate. However, rice at Sushi Groove was clearly poorly prepared. It was unfortunate, because the one guy who makes nigiri did a pretty good job. You can see from my pic that it looks pretty good.
PRICE: Comparing sushi prices is difficult, but I felt that Sushi Groove was a bit pricy for what you were getting. Their specialty rolls were not very big. You’ll get a much better deal at Sushi Zone (
) in Castro.
WOULD I GO BACK? Never again — yeah Baby!