Zaoh

...Beginning of update... The amount of food they serve has decreased to a noticeable extent. What's worse: the service has really gone downhill: with the restaurant being half empty, I was refused a seat even in a 2-person table. I had to wait for a space at the bar. After much consideration, I left the restaurant. Service is really essential to a dining experience. ...End of update... I must admit that I found it difficult to review this restaurant. This is because I have never spent so little money (less than $20, pre-tip) and felt so full at a Japanese restaurant: the amount they gave was truly surprising. Yet, Japanese restaurants are quite different from, say, Chinese restaurants, in that Japanese restaurants typically serve minute amounts of food, that which is highly delicate (sometimes it's the taste of the food, and sometimes it's the arrangement of the foods, and sometimes it's both, such as kaiseki, a traditional Japanse multi-course dinner). Therefore, if I were to judge the food they serve by the standard of being delicate, I would have to deduct a star or two, as the food here have no connection to either meaning of delicate, as aforementioned. With that said, I do think this place gives good, or even great, value if you don't judge its food by how delicate the food is. As is evident from my photo, although the salmon was on the smaller side, the amount of tempura was ample, as was the amount of salad and rice on the side. I don't want to reiterate, but I was truly astonished to barely being able to finish my plate. In all due fairness, it is possible that their sushi or sashimi are delicate, but as I didn't order any, I can't comment on those. Speaking of which, they offer combination plates known as A+A, A+B, and B+B, where A is some cooked item, and B is some raw item, and the more B there is, the more expensive the combination plate is. Although the place is quite small, and I don't like the divider at the entrance, service was good and prompt. What I like the most about the service, however, is how the waitress chose to look away while I was signing the credit card charge slip, and deciding how much to tip. At some restaurants, the servers literally stare at you and react based on how much you are tipping. I know how some servers depend on tips to make a living wage, but I really appreciate that this waitress wasn't giving me any pressure to tip: because I felt so comfortable, I tipped even more than I usually would.

My favorite Japanese restaurant in San Francisco! The quality is really good, I would advise to go during the happy hour, before 8pm, they have very good deals!

Great little hole in the wall place.