This week’s dinner was a bit more lowkey than our more typical fine dining. This restaurant often appears on a lot of lists so we figured we’d try it again. We’ve eaten here once before for an impromptu dinner since we had been shopping at Rainbow Grocery and did a walk-in seating. I remember it being pretty cold since we were seated outside under heat lamps, but today we had counter reservations inside (although it would have been a great time to eat outside).

We had 5:30 reservations, but since the restaurant opened up at 5:00pm, most of the tables were already occupied. This explained a bit of why the initial service was a bit slow and the kitchen was in full swing, but once we started receiving our food, everything was served in a very timely manner.

We started with cocktails – the Yuzu cocktail was particularly refreshing on such a warm SF day. This was followed by a crab tamago (pretty much a crab omelette). Then came the sashimi dish – I particularly enjoyed the cured bluefin tuna. Then came a fishcake in dashi dish, minced chicken yakitori, and then a cheese stuffed chicken katsu (that’s Andrea’s kind of dish for sure).

Then came the Udon (fish, dashi) which was my kind of dish and the rice, pork, tofu don with miso, ginger, chili, mushroom, and pepper (Andrea’s kind of dish).

Lastly came the toasted green tea panna cotta with a hojicha syrup. I particularly liked the toast on the green tea which softened it a bit and gave it a nice flavor.

Overall, it was a great relaxed and moderately priced meal and I can see why so many others list this on a favorites list.