Kuma Sushi + Sake — Restaurant in San Francisco

Update in Aug 2021: Still as good as pre pandemic! Definitely get the yellow tail collar - it's a really good deal and just as high quality as the sushi here.

Great spot for date night or a quick lunch.

Older review: We were here around 12pm on a Saturday, and we've been here for dinner several times in the past. I applaud Kuma for their fresh, high quality, and delicious sushi that makes you smile on your first, second, and last bite. Quite simply, this place has had the best sushi I've had in SF, everytime I've been here. To top it off, there wasn't a wait for lunch which makes me feel smug at all the other yuppies who are waiting 1 hour+ for mediocre brunch places nearby.

The four of us got seated quickly and had to hold back from ordering everything on the menu. The restaurant is quite small so I wouldn't recommend coming with a group bigger than 4.

The miso soup and seaweed salad was a great start. The soup was light and had just the right amount of saltiness. The seaweed salad was juicy and refreshing, with a nice tangy aftertaste.

From there, we ordered the chirashi bowl and kuma poke bowl, which is only available for lunch. Both were fantastic! In particular, the kuma poke was more interesting than typical poke and didn't rely on heavy sauces for flavor.

For the main course, we received the great balls of fire, california roll, rainbow roll, tango roll, and shrimp tempera roll. Great Balls of Fire got mixed reviews from our table. I thought the battered, warm texture was a great contrast to the rest of the sauces & toppings. It was my favorite for the day. Others thought it was the weakest link. The California Roll and Rainbow Roll are the best I've had in San Francisco. They use real crab instead of imitation crab, and that makes a HUGE difference. The Tango roll perfectly balanced the strong flavors of mango, tuna, and chili. Given the strong flavors, I wouldn't get this roll just for myself, but it was a fantastic roll to share in a group. We actually ordered the shrimp tempera on accident. We typically don't love shrimp but alas, a miscommunication landed us with a surprisingly delicious and upscaled version of the typical shrimp tempera you'd expect from a sushi place. They somehow made fried tempura feel healthy and refreshing by adding a light, crunchy lettuce and a...

I'm not exactly a poet, but I am patient. I've waited more than a year to write this review. I wanted to make sure this place was real before I properly endorsed it.

Kuma Sushi +Saki is like a wet dream wrapped in the best orgasm you've ever had that rides in on a unicorn. I don't know how else to describe it.

Why did I wait so long to write this? San Francisco can be a tough place to make a living. I've tried to scrape, I've tried to save money (it's not that expensive to eat here) to visit Kuma Sushi + Saki again, but instead I just went for it. My landlord is going to be pissed. I'm sitting at the sushi bar now and I'm compelled to gush prose under the spell of Kuma Sushi + Saki.

When I thought the food and ambience couldn't be better, a delicate apparition wearing all white, black boots and dangling silver earrings sat down next to me. She ordered a chardonnay and Uni. That's right, she single handedly transformed white wine and the gooey yummy stuff into something that will replace apple juice, Vienna sauges and saltine crackers as school snacks someday.

Back to Kuma Sushi + Saki. This place and food are magical. If you live in San Francisco or are visiting our beautiful city this is date night. This is relaxed romance and beautiful amazing food prepared by unassuming...

I normally don’t go on here and write reviews even though I should since I always dine in but I had to come here and share my 10 minute experience. My partner & I arrived with a baby and we automatically felt how unwanted our presence was for them. They didn’t let us sit in the waiting area, they made us go outside, and then after telling us to go outside, he told us we should go somewhere else since it’s bigger. We saw people instantly leave the sushi bar area and I asked him if we could sit there and with such firmness he said SEATS TAKEN. (NO ONE ELSE WAS ON THE WAITLIST) He saw a black light skin man and a Hispanic women who don’t seem like sushi eaters but let me tell you this, I work for a 5 star sushi restaurant called Kabooki in Orlando Florida. I know all my cuts of fish and so does my partner. All we do is EAT SUSHI. But I do want to say thank you to your recommendation after basically telling us we aren’t wanted at your establishment. We ate at NAMA SUSHI, we enjoyed a bottle of red wine, a hamachi truffle, Kanpachi carpaccio, tuna, hand rolls, nigiri. It was amazing. Don’t judge a book by its cover.. best tip you’ll ever receive. P.S we never tip...