gary

Yume-Ya has many things going for it:

Open until 11pm (which is the reason we ended up here in the first place) in an area where most restaurants close by 10pm at the latest.

A great selection of non-sushi dishes. While most Japanese restaurants offer the usual teriyaki and udon dishes, Yume-Ya has a large selection of interesting Japanese dishes that you don’t see normally in America.

Very friendly sushi chef. We came late in the evening when the restaurant wasn’t very busy. The chef (and the waiter for that mattter) was very nice to everyone and chatted with people sitting at the bar. He asked us how we liked the sushi and offered recommendations for rolls when we couldn’t decide which one we wanted.

All in all this is a surprisingly good restaurant in a random strip mall. The prices aren’t dirt cheap but they aren’t extravagant either. They don’t skimp on the portion sizes, the fish is fresh and tasty, and there’s a variety of dishes on the menu and on the specials board.

The restaurant is on a somewhat deserted stretch of Van Ness Avenue at the northern end of the Mission. Once inside though it feels like you’re in a restaurant straight out of Eastern Germany with some definite hipster stylings. The mostly bare walls are decorated with various posters in German.

Our waiter was great. He was friendly and explained all the different beers. Despite the mostly meat-based menu, this restaurant is actually great for vegetarians. The few vegetarian dishes are quite good. I can only imagine that the meat ones are even better. Of course, as with any German restaurant, part of the draw is the beer. Walzwerk doesn’t have a huge list, but it has enough. There’s about 5 different German beers on tap and the same number bottled. Plus they offer the typically-German mixed drinks like beer+coke, beer+7up, and coke+7up.

Yama Sushi is an amazing value tucked away on a non-descript side street of Ingleside (which itself is somewhat out of the way). They have a large selection of both nigiri and rolls. Despite the cheap prices ($1.50 for most nigiri, $4 for the usual rolls), the quality of the sushi was better than other places that are 2-3 times more expensive. They also have great specials like the sushi combo ($9 for 8 pieces of nigiri) and the bento box ($12 for your choice of 3 items, plus rice/noodles, miso soup, and salad).

At times it was difficult to get the server’s attention. Given that the whole place only has ~10 tables, it felt like they were intentionally avoiding looking in our direction. But when the server did come over, the service was good and the food came out quickly.

Also, despite being in a seemingly random location, it’s only a couple blocks away from the K Muni line and less than a mile from the Balboa Park BART stop.

As others have pointed out, despite being in the middle of Japantown the food at Bushi-Tei is more Japanese-inspired Californian than Japanese. So don’t come expecting sushi and you’ll walk away with an amazing meal.

When we arrived our table wasn’t ready because the party before us was taking their time paying the bill. So we got some drinks at a nearby bar and waited for the hostess to call us. This was slightly annoying but when we finally did get seated we were given complimentary sparkling rose wine and an amuse bouche to make up for the wait.

Our waiter, Mark, described all of the dishes in exquisite detail and gave great recommendations on the food and on wine pairings. Our salad appetizer was quite good. The grilled bigeye tuna was simply amazing (and this is coming from someone who doesn’t like seared tuna usually). For dessert I had the black sesame blancmange. The menu description doesn’t do it justice (especially since almost no one knows what a blancmange is). It’s a light custard-like dessert but made with black sesame cream. Very good and unique.

first the drinks: i had an “old havana” and a “dunlop”. both were rum drinks but very different. the old havana was slightly sweet and very smooth. the dunlop was much stronger and felt like something i’d want to drink next to a fireplace. both drinks were expertly mixed and well balanced. i also tried my friend’s “21 hayes”, which was a great gin drink despite the fact that i hate gin.

the food: portions are decently sized but by no means large. we sampled all of the oysters first, which were not that impressive. but my main dish and side were great. we also had a chocolate bread pudding and a soft cow’s cheese for dessert. the bread pudding was soft and yummy.

the place itself is great for food or drinks. we sat near the bar area, which gets pretty loud.

as pretty much everyone else says, if you’re a foodie you have to go to french laundry at least once. the food is amazing and the service is impeccable. just be prepared to spend a fortune.

we came here just for drinks, so i don’t know how the food is. the beer menu however is quite impressive. broken up by style of beer, it includes a large selection of belgian, german, and american bottled beers, along with beers from elsewhere (british, new zealand, canadian, etc.). they also have over 20 great beers on tap.

the place itself is not very big and gets cold from the constantly open door. but the tables are comfy if you can snag one and the service is good.

pseudo outdoor restaurant (you’re outside but under a huge tent/tarp). we went for brunch and the food was pretty good. there was also a guy playing live blues.

pluto’s basically does two things: made-to-order salads and made-to-order sandwiches. everything is fresh and the service is quick. there’s a good variety of ingredients, though i could see myself getting tired of the same things if i came here often.

Mamoun’s is great for 2 reasons: it’s cheap and it’s open till 5 am, which makes it perfect for a late-night, post-drinking snack. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the food is actually good. The pita sandwiches and plates are made the way you’d expect from any Middle Eastern fast food place (pita, some salad, tahini, etc.).

The restaurant is tiny with a narrow counter running along one wall and 3 tables along the other. There’s also usually a long line of people that completely fills up the place and snakes out the door. So you’ll find most people ordering to go or eating on the many stoops in the surrounding area.