Umami

I had such high hopes for Umami, but they turned out to be quite disappointing… :(
Umami Sliders — One of the two better items I had. Kobe burgers with spicy aioli, crispy shallots and gingered pickles on steamed buns. Pretty delicious as an appetizer. Kobe meat was juicy.
Omakase (Sashimi) — Ordered the chef’s course which comes with one piece of mandarin snapper, barramuni bass, scallop, young barracuda, trevaly jack, blue fin tuna, golden eye snapper, japanese halibut, needle fish, and blue fin tuna belly. NOT FRESH AT ALL. Their menu stated that they get their shipment from Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market. Highly doubt it cause none of them tasted anywhere close to being fresh. Some of those fishes were lukewarm, bland, and chewy. The slices were not cut consistently. Really disappointing. :(
Wagyu Nigiri — The wagyu came out looking like spam. What is this?! It was so chewy. Didn’t even taste like wagyu. If you want to order wagyu nigiri, go to Amami in San Bruno. You will not be disappointed there.
Sea Salt & Caramel Cookie Dough Roll — Salted caramel ice cream, butterscotch, triple chocolate brownie dough, pistachio toffee and fleur de sel. Creating a cookie dough roll with ice cream as a dessert is pretty creative! Definitely the highlight of the night. Surprisingly, this dessert was not too sweet! A bit heavy tho so I definitely recommend sharing.

Love this place! This is my second time here and everything I’ve had so far has been delicious. The chicken teriyaki and fried rice are not your typical Japanese cuisine (white rice is substituted and there are brussel sprouts in the teriyaki!), but the flavor and the texture are fantastic nevertheless. The sushi rolls are also very good. I recommend the Bakudan roll.
Cocktails are pricey and just ok. Spend your money on the food and pair with beer instead.

Some of these lower stars reviews, it had to be a complete off day. I just can’t believe that Umami truly deserves it. My partner brought me here for my birthday dinner and it was absolutely amazing.
Drink — refreshing, spicy, with a delicious punch the Kara Mucha cocktail was exactly what I wanted. My partner ordered the Shisho Smash, which he liked but admitted that mine was better.
App — Seasonal Kakiage Tempura. Delicious! You know when the dish is so good and you’re literally fighting for the last bite. This totally happened. It was also a huge portion. Golden brown, salty, crispy on the outside — just amazing flavors with a nice dipping sauce. So good!
Sushi — I had the Hotsui Roll and honestly, it was some of the best sushi I’ve ever had. The kind of sushi that literally melts in your mouth. It had a ton of each kind of fish so every bite is definitely filled with intended flavors, especially the snow crab. My god, I’d come here for this roll alone!
Bae got the Shoyu Ramen Noodle Soup which he loved. I tried the broth and enjoyed it, too.
At the end of the night I was surprised with a birthday dessert — candle and all — of the apple caramel bread pudding. Absolutely delicious, unique, lots of amazing flavors with the toasted coconut crunchies.
This dinner was seriously memorable. Excellent service, great ambiance. It was crowded, trendy, sexy, AND with amazing food!

Sushi was delicious and their atmosphere is really nice as well! Spicy tuna roll was my husband’s favorite and he said it was the spiciest one he’s ever had. We tried the raw octopus nigiri, it was pretty chewy, but fun to try! Definitely recommend this place. The two of us had dinner and a drink for under $ 100, which I think is very affordable for SF

I was very disappointed with the food quality at this restaurant.
This place is definitely over rated and over priced.
The sushi we had were dry and not very fresh. Worst anago I ever had in my life, tasted like packaged/​processed, a cheap sushi takeaway would do better than this.
We also ordered a side called «kale sprout gomaae», and we were presented with a bowl of shreded over-​grilled stringy broccoli. This was just a kitchen disaster in my opinion.
Maybe we had a bad day with an unqualified chef at this place but frankly if you are looking for authentic sushi/​japanese food, avoid this place, there are plenty of great Japanese restaurants in SF. This is just another trendy over-​rated fushion restaurant.
The reason i gave two stars is because service was not bad, waiter was quite attentive.

Frequenting this place about 5 or 6 times last year, I’m surprised I still haven’t written a review yet! Slackin, I tell you. I live right by Umami in Cow Hollow and first heard about this place through a friend.
The place is awesome. Two levels of dining and bar tops, low lit lighting for date night and communal tables for larger parties. This place is super modern and really creates an upscale sushi joint. The service is usually spot on, I haven’t ever really experienced a bad service there. Over the course of a year, here’s some of the things I’ve had:
–Potstickers for $ 12 — pan-​fried, minced chicken & shiitake gyoza dumplings with rice vinegar-​red chile dipping sauce & spicy sesame-​kimchi. That was a mouthful but the dish is overall a success. Nicely pan friend potstickers and the filling is packed with flavor. On top of that, you have the dipping sauce which only enhances the dish.
–Salt and pepper ribs for $ 16 — peppercorn-​togarashi dusted baby back ribs with
pickled jalapenos & spicy karashi mustard. I really liked this dish. At first glance it looks like the ribs would be dry but trust me, it’s fall off the bone tender!
–Shoyu ramen noodle soup for $ 10 — Japanese noodles in a roasted chicken-​tonkotsu pork
broth with chashu pork belly, black garlic & quail egg. I’ve had this a few times because it’s super rich and packed with flavor. One would argue that this dish borders a miso broth, but whatever, it’s still delicious. I love that the egg is slow/​half cooked with a runnier than normal yolk. That’s on point!
–For classic roles, they range in price but the ones I’ve had were the spicy hamachi for $ 10, spicy tuna for $ 10, Alaska role for $ 9, salmon skin roll for $ 9 and spider roll for $ 16. They were good, nothing out of this world. I would order them again, however, the flavors are the same as other sushi joints I’ve had in the past.
–For Drinks, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Akashi ‘n Honey for $ 14. This cocktail comes with white oak akashi grain whisky, averna amaro, lemon & honey. It’s their take on an old fashioned type cocktail but so much better! Comes with one giant ice cube so you know it’s an upscale tavern!
Overall, this place is definitely on my top 5 favorite sushi joints in SF. I have a big win, since it’s a couple of blocks from my house. If you’re ever in the area, come check them out. You will not be disappointed!

Well the service was a bit slow and not very attentive. We waited about ten minutes before anyone came over. The waiter didn’t even get all the orders at the table before walking off and returning five minutes later. My sister received her beer, which she enjoyed, but they left my wife’s beer sit on a stand before delivering it to the table.
We ordered some fries. They were ok.

Not to confuse it with the burger place, this sushi spot is a great place to have dinner or happy hour. It usually gets busy so finding a place to sit can be tough, I would recommend going around happy hour and ordering off that menu. You get a lot more for your money and it’s not as hard to find a spot to sit. My absolutely favorite menu item is the dessert role. Make sure to save room!

The sushi was ok — nothing bad and a good selection — but just ok. Now, that said the ribs were the best thing I ever had and I eat a lot of ribs. We actually had to get another order of those things.
I had the full chef tasting. Good well cut sashimi but nothing spectacular.
We got there at 631 and the waiter told us we could order off the happy hour menu. Our 78 bottle of wine was half price for instance so that was cool.
I’ve had a lot of sushi on San Fran on trips there. This place is good and the service was great. But I kinda felt it was as good as a good east coast place. And when I’ve had great sushi in San Fran before i don’t thing that way.

Went to Umami with my boyfriend for my birthday dinner last Thursday. When we arrived, the hostess looked at me with a blank stare. No «hello» or «welcome» — she just stared at me. When I gave her the name for the reservation she said «Upstairs or downstairs», and I responded that I didn’t have a preference. She grabbed two menus and showed us to a table on the first level, and then walked away. Not exactly the warmest welcome.
We ordered the sashimi — Umami course for $ 65 which was definitely worth it because we were able to try a lot of fish we had never had before. The Rainbow Roll and Hotsui Roll were delicious, but I was not super into the the Spicy Tuna Roll. It was SO HOT, and I felt like my mouth was seriously on fire. I could only eat one piece of it.
The best part of the meal was the dessert. You absolutely have to order the cookie dough roll. I mean, HOLY MOLY. It is probably the best dessert I have ever had.
I thought the food was great, but the service was a bit cold and unwelcoming so I had to take a star off for that.

Prices are too steep for what you’re getting.
I don’t mind paying premium prices for food as long as I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth.
$ 10 – 17 for average rolls.
$ 20 for good teriyaki chicken, but extremely small portion.
$ 80 omakase definitely not worth.
Cookie dough roll. Pretty good. Get the salted caramel
Atmosphere is very loud. Very stuffy.
Long wait time for food.
Tiny portions.
On another note
No hassle to get orders fixed.

Nice Place! The atmosphere was good it’s a very welcoming restaurant.
The food was very good although it was fewer mistakes in our order. :/​
The reason that I gave 4 stars is because of the price!!! It’s way too much! Just for example we ordered the Wakame salad that cost 9 $ and it was soooo small I was shocked!
Anyway, it’s a great place to have a nice dinner but be ready to pay!

My new favorite sushi restaurant! Saw this place opened at 5:30 pm so we got there right at that time. There was already a long line out the door before it opened! It moves by quickly and there’s plenty of seating but I would recommend getting here a little before then to get seated earlier.
I love their happy hour. It’s seriously such a good deal! We got one of each appetizer on that menu which varies from around $ 6-​$ 9. My favorite was the Kobe beef sliders and vegetable tempura. Both were so unique. The beef sliders were savory and had such a soft bun with amazing sauce. The vegetable tempura is almost like a pancake. I really liked the corn inside. The edamame hummus was tasty and came with perfectly toasted garlicky flatbread. The potstickers were good but nothing special.
We got 3 sushi rolls since it was only $ 6 each on the happy hour menu. The BBQ eel was AMAZING. It just melts in your mouth. The salmon and butterfish rolls were super soft and fresh also.
Service was very attentive and nice. I absolutely would recommend this place to anyone especially if you can get happy hour prices.

It was time to try a new Japanese place in SF so last minute booking at 8:30pm (made at 8pm) got me luckily a table for 2 on a Wednesday night. Just off Webster, it stands alone and has a lovely wooden entrance. Spread over 2 floors, there is a bar on first floor.
We sat on the second floor which has more seating but ended up being much louder. Actually, a little too loud for my liking. Maybe some soundproofing would help.
They have seats by the chef (which i will try next time when I come back for the Omakase).
We ordered a la carte: Hanabi roll & Baja Roll which were all House Special rolls ($ 15) and then Market Special Nigiri: Hon Akami, Suzuki and Inada were all fabulous.
Beautifully presented, attentive staff.
Definitely will come back!

Great sushi, wine and beer selection, and service. Our server was very knowledgable and attentive. We took all of her recommendations, and we couldn’t have been happier.
The albacore tataki was the perfect appetizer. My husband was practically licking the skillet as it sizzled.
I really enjoyed the sliders. The beef was a perfect medium rare, and the sticky buns are the perfect compliment.
We also ordered the Baja roll, and a roll with scallops. They were both so fresh and flavorful. I’ll be day dreaming about our meal all week. Until next time Umami.

We loved the interior design and ambiance.
The rolls were all great.
The wine is amazing. Definitely come during happy hour for 50% off!
The wait staff is very nice and have good humors.
The pot stickers were delicious! Thanks!

Wish I came here during happy hour because these rolls were expensive!
I got a lychee and hello kitty drink, and it got ruined because a fruit fly went right in it, and was flying around my table, so I couldn’t really enjoy my food without seeing that fly around. (Don’t sit near the windows!)
For appetizers I got the edamame hummus (5stars!) I never tasted anything like it so I enjoyed that one a lot. ($ 10)
The Kobe beef sliders (5stars!) really delicious and filling. That orange sauce was AMAZING! $ 16
For the rolls I ordered the «Three Samurai Roll”($ 16) and classic dragon roll ($ 15).(3stars) fish quality was very average, I had better before. Didn’t think it was worth the price at all, so you’re better off going there for happy hour.
Last, we had the cookie dough classic roll for dessert. I give this three stars. The piece in general had more of a peanut butter taste than cookie dough, and I wish there was a chocolate dipping sauce that comes with it.

Umami is one of the restaurant I want to try in my book but it come out just ok to me !! When we seat down we have to wait awhile for our waitress come greeted us, we started with 2 beers to share with 4 of us and the waitress doesn’t sound like friendly or welcoming at all. That’s not a good started for us and we also need to wait for our water and drink than wait for her to take our order !! That’s a lot of wait at the beginning. After she took the order her attitude kinda change a little bit become a little bit friendlier. Maybe we are the only Asian over there and come out we ordered a lot of food ?
Also when my friend put the soy sauce on the plate there had a fly in the soy sauce still alive and swimming on the plate !! Is kinda weird for us to see this in this kind of restaurant!
For the food, the sashimi are so fresh. I really like the uni the wild caught salmon !! For the rest of the foods were just ok to me, nth special !! Overall It was a good try but don’t think I’ll come back

TLDR — quality sashimi/​sushi, amazing sliders, lively atmosphere
Reservations recommended! My friend and I came at 7:30pm on a Tuesday and the it was definitely pretty busy. Thank goodness we had reservations!
The restaurant is very lively since half of it is taken up by the bar and it’s full of energetic people in their 20s and early 30s. Definitely not your traditional sushi joint. It has a trendy, Asian fusion kind of vibe, but the quality of the sushi/​sashimi is definitely on par with a good Japanese sushi restaurant.
The sushi menu has a pretty big selection of sashimi and nigiri, simple classic rolls and unique house rolls (they even have some veggie rolls). I LOVE that most of the house rolls are «fresher» than rolls at other sushi joints in the sense that they aren’t drenched in overly sweet or creamy sauces/​aiolis, which overpower the taste of the actual sushi and defeats the purpose of eating sushi in my opinion.
There’s also a «hot kitchen» menu, which includes soups, salads, veggies, meat and seafood, all of which are more Asian fusion food rather than traditional Japanese cuisine. Everything looks more like appetizers or dishes to share rather than individual entrees, but that just means you get to try more things! The sliders are AMAZING. MUST GET. The table next to us ordered the salt n’ pepper ribs (I think), which smelled absolutely amazing as well. Definitely trying that next time. Honestly, pretty much everything on the hot menu sounded good.
They have a very extensive alcohol menu too (cocktails, sake, beer, wine) and some pretty interesting desserts. The cookie dough rolls were popular from what I could tell, but looked like a sugar overdose.
Service is good here. Nice and friendly, and very attentive given how busy the place was.
I normally don’t comment on the bathrooms at restaurants, but it’s quite an experience. They have some sort of program/​tape on that teaches you Japanese rather than music or just silence. Not sure if it’s sensor-​detected or not, but when I walked in, it started at the beginning of the lesson and the sudden voice definitely caught me off guard. Pretty amusing though!
— — — — — — –
-«THE ORIGINAL UMAMI» SLIDERS ($ 16) — ⁵⁄₅
[3 seasoned masami ranch kobe burgers with spicy aioli, crispy shallots & gingered pickles on steamed buns]
SO GOOD. Pretty much an explosion of flavors from the beef, aioli, shallots and pickled veggies. The kobe beef patties were tender and juicy and a nice medium rare, and the steamed buns were light and fluffy (so much better than the typical burger bun). As good as the sashimi is here, I would easily prefer to get 4 of these orders than the $ 65 sashimi omakase.
–HANABI ($ 15) — ⁴⁄₅
[salmon, avocado & cucumber/​ocean trout, lemon slivers, yuzu-​kosho & micro cilantro]
Buttery soft, melt-​in-​your-​mouth salmon! The roll overall was pretty creamy with the soft salmon and trout and the avocado, and the tiny lemon slivers gave it a touch of acidity, but I felt like it was still lacking something unique. There’s none of that sweet sauce/​aioli business here that I dislike at other sushi bars, which was a big plus.
–SASHIMI OMAKASE — UMAMI COURSE ($ 65) — ⁴⁄₅
[2 pieces each of the first seven items from the tsukiji menu]
My friend and I shared one order of the omakase since it came with 2 pieces of each sashimi. Our selection that night included blue fin tuna, Japanese sea bass, Japanese sillago, spear squid, bonito tuna, barracuda and Japanese sardine. Quality sashimi — everything was incredibly fresh and had amazing texture. My favorite was definitely the barracuda (seared with amazing flavor), followed by the bonito tuna (nice and smoky). The Japanese sardine had a strong flavor too that I liked, but my friend wasn’t really a fan. Everything else wasn’t too special.

Where do I begin? This is hands down. My favorite. Japanese restaurant. Ever. I discovered it last summer, thanks to Unilocal,and have definitely returned multiple times for both new and old food. No shame.
Space: Dark wood décor gives this place a more modern feel.
I really dig that in the bathrooms, there’s a recording of Japanese-​speaking lessons. And check out the sinks, too!
Service:
I love the waiters at Umami, because they’re always attentive and friendly, and so willing to explain every dish you ask about and every dish they bring to the table. I do wish that they weren’t so insistent on cleaning up the table constantly at the end of dinner, but throughout the meal they’re very pleasant and prompt.
Food:
The food, if you avoid the typical pitfalls, is amazing. Below are some of my favorites and not-​so-​favorites:
The meh:
— Kakiage Tempura: It’s more tempura than vegetables, obviously.
— Any basic roll from the Sumo Hour menu: You could spend one more dollar on that california roll on the normal menu. It’s just not worth it, unless you’re really craving a standard roll.
The amazing:
— Edamame Hummus: Warm garlic flatbread, too? Yes, you will be wiping down the serving bowl with your flatbread by the end of this, and you won’t even know it.
— Kobe Beef Sliders: You can ask to get them in a pair instead of trio, or ramp it up to 4 if you want (which yes, you will want to do.) The buns are your nice soft flour buns, and the patty itself is delicious enough to eat on its own. Whether you want a nice sit-​down dinner or a quick snack at the bar, you can’t go wrong with this.
— Octopus Carpaccio: The smokiness on the octopus is delicious – you’ll be attempting to pick it out of the carpaccio throughout dinner. A delight for your eyes and tastebuds.
— Albacore Tataki: It’s brought out it a stone pot, and when you hear the sesame oil crackle through the rice the moment the waiter pours it on. A delicious combination, and visually stunning.
— Salted Caramel Rolls: Just get them. You’ve seen the pictures. This one has more flavor, since there’s toffee, than the other rolls. But really, you can’t go wrong.
And avoid just getting dumplings or basic fare here, because it’s more worth it to splurge a bit on the hot kitchen menu items and enjoy your meal.
Also, if you’re ordering anything besides a cookie dough roll for dessert, I will judge you.
Tips:
If you don’t want to risk not getting a spot here, just make a reservation or walk on in once it opens. Sometimes, people will wait in line right before opening, so if you want to really make sure you get a good table or spot at the bar, just head there about 10 minutes ahead of time on a weekend.
Take advantage of the Sumo Hour menu, but don’t go nuts on the sushi, because it’s only $ 1 or $ 2 cheaper than it would usually be, and you’d be getting standard rolls. Save your money and use it to buy one crazier roll, or another side plate from the Sumo Hour menu!
Listen to the waiters, because they know what they’re recommending, and they know it’s good.
Favorite Japanese restaurant. It’s a bit on the pricier side but worth it.

I recently went here with friends during my trip to San Francisco. Many people recommended this place a must-​eat especially during their «Sumo Hour» aka happy hour. We arrived there before they opened for the night crowd and was surprised to see a line already forming. It didn’t take us long to get seats, order and receive our food. We ordered many things especially since the prices were amazing during the happy hour! We were NOT disappointed at all. Since it was so cheap we even added a bottle of wine to our meal.
If youre looking for a great sushi place in SF, I recommend going here!
Things I suggest you try: Umami sliders, edamame hummus and EVERYTHING from the SUMO menu! Its all good, you wont be disappointed.

I came to Umami for their happy hour (Sumo Hour) with a good friend on a Friday night. We came here based on a recommendation and were pretty excited to have some good sushi.
The ambiance and crowd definitely shocked us, perhaps because we aren’t from SF. The shadowy, intimate atmosphere contributed to the trendy vibe. The crowd mostly consisted of young professionals in their late 20s/​early 30s.
The food definitely outweighed the drinks. I couldn’t help but order the «Hello Kitty» which was a sake-​based cocktail with watermelon and cucumber. I didn’t particularly like the sake just because I thought the flavors would have gone way better with a vodka base. However, they had some great microbrews on their menu and those turned out to be great.
As for the food, we ordered 3 sushi dishes: the Alaska, the Rock N Roll, and the Spicy Ahi Tuna. All the rolls were great, but my favorite was definitely the Rock N Roll. The bbq eel, avocado, cucumber, and eel sauce was pleasantly sweet. The salmon, cucumber, and avocado in Alaska roll tasted very fresh and was actually rolled perfectly. The spicy ahi tuna was exactly what I expected– vibrantly flavored with a spicy bite at the end.
Overall, I would definitely return especially since happy hour prices are very reasonable. The service was great– our waiter was very helpful when we asked about beer recommendations. The venue is versatile– you could easily get drinks here with a friend or have a date here.

Servicio, ambiente y alimentos de la mejor calidad.
Estando de vacaciones, siendo aficionados al sushi, buscamos un lugar en San Francisco que mereciera acudir
Umami es ese lugar, llegamos tarde, 21 hrs, y nos llevamos la sorpresa que ya no se podía pedir omakaze style, no importó, pedimos piezas de nigri salmón, atún, macarela, hueva de salmón y pez volador.
Totalmente frescos, tanto que los ingredientes brillan!!!
La mesera super atenta y nos mandaron unos nigri de cortesía.
El cookie dough Roll de postre wow!
Seguramente regresaría.

Delicious!
I haven’t gone out much lately (as you can tell from the lack of Unilocal reviews), but this place is a great neighborhood gem that’s both classy and ritzy, and also incredibly fun without being outrageously overpriced.
The best part about this place? Besides the beautiful décor that spans two floors and reminds me of a restaurant I went to in Roppongi, Tokyo — this place serves fish purchased from the Tsukiji fish market (also in Tokyo). Having had fish there at 5 am, it was amazing to find similar type of fish here, in SF, of all places! And I can eat it at a normal hour.
Our table had the Tsukiji nigiri omakase (I can’t remember all the fish, but my cousin and boyfriend loved the variety of fish, including the baby eel), the Japanese fried rice (not oily or cooked with hard rice, it was quite fluffy and pleasant on the palate), the seaweed salad (fresh, slightly oily, that part was a little much), and the ramen — mmm, perfectly spiced with clear broth that tastes very similar in meatiness and clarity as the broth we had at Chuka Soba Inoue in Japan (also near the Tsukiji fish market). I also had the hamachi (very fresh) sashimi.
Service was fast and friendly, great dinner place for guests from out of town or just for a fun night out.

Trendy, popular spot with good vibes for a night out but definitely pricey.
We ordered the highly regarded sliders to start and 4 special rolls to split. The rolls came out before the sliders and it turned out our waiter had forgotten about it altogether. He was pretty apologetic and offered to put it in and give us a dessert on the house. Fine.
The rolls were only decent but more than what I’m used to paying for special rolls. I honestly don’t remember the names of them except the buttercup roll, which was so, so tasty. Def order it!
The sliders finally came and were just ok. I did enjoy the fluffy bun and the meat was juicy and tender buttt there was so much sauce slathered on it, making it both overwhelming and messy to eat.
We decided to split the cookie dough roll for dessert. What a lovely little presentation it was! It was cookie dough wrapped around vanilla bean ice cream, drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauce. There was even some candied ginger and green whipped cream on the side. Cute. I enjoyed this.
Overall, decent meal. Their happy hour looks to be a good deal and the way to go though.