Maru Sushi — Restaurant in San Francisco

I really want to give this place a higher rating as I think there may have been something off there when I visited. I stopped in just before the lunch hour as I was at the Fairmont attending a convention and wanted something different. I saw the reviews, walked over, and was seated immediately.

I ordered a mix-and-match bento box off their lunch menu (with 1 extra item) and selected Yakiniku, Tuna Sashimi, and Tempura as my options. All looked promising and I was quickly served some delicious Miso soup (4 stars). The bento box arrived looking mouth-wateringly good and I couldn't wait to dig in.

The tempura was amazing, nice light crispy batter and everything was piping hot and cooked just right (5 stars).

But my first piece of tuna was not good. The fish itself looked great but had kind of a gummy/paste like texture and not much taste. I've been eating sashimi all my life and this was really nothing like I've encountered before. I finished that piece, thought maybe it was a fluke and went for the next. Same thing. Just really off-putting. I thought about complaining but really just didn't want to bother at that point and went over to the beef. Eventually I nibbled at the last piece thinking it couldn't have been that bad. It was. So I left it there. Can't say I've ever done that with maguro but first time for everything (1 star).

I often get beef teriyaki as part of my bento boxes but that wasn't an option, so the Yakiniku was the closest to it. Is it supposed to have liver in it? I like liver and pretty sure there was liver in it. Either that or the beef was just as weird in texture as the tuna. Wasn't expecting it in the yakiniku and just verified that the menu describes it as "marinated sliced beef". Which technically includes liver I guess. The sauce was good but overall I can't say I loved it (2 stars)

The service was quick and efficient, not unfriendly, but not necessarily friendly either. The restaurant filled up quickly and there was a short line outside when I left. I would go back for the tempura alone and feel like the other food was just a fluke. But based on this one experience I have to give it 3 stars overall for now.

Edit: The tempura sauce was also amazing. Wanted to call that out because it deserves a mention. The soy sauce was also really good, not sure if they use some special brand, but it didn't seem like the regular kikkoman...

My wife and I were visiting from out of town and staying at. Nearby hotel when we found Maru sushi. We were both excited to eat because it was a long day of traveling. We each ordered an entree, I ordered the Chicken Katsu. Each entree comes with a small salad and miso soup which I ate. Then my chicken came out with a bowl of rice, immediately I smelled something off like there was rotten fish or something. I took and bite and it tasted very off. I had my wife try a sample and we agreed it was no good. We had the waiter come over and told her it was bad, so she said she would remove it from the bill. I didn’t order anything else because I was in a time crunch. When the bill arrives, the chicken itself is removed, but they were trying to charge me for the rice bowl I never touched, the salad and miso soup. Now I did have tue salad and miso soup, not knowing the chicken would be bad. We had the soft spoken waitress come back over, who got the manager for us. We asked the manager why charge for the rice bowl I never touched and the other items not knowing the chicken would be bad. We felt that on principle that the entire entree should have been removed because of the rotten chicken. She refused at first because she said that it was our opinion that the chicken was rotten. We argued back that serving us bad chicken was wrong and that the entire entree should have been taken off the bill. After some loud words, the manager does the right thing and removed the soup, salad and rice.

It’s the principle of the fact that if I had that chicken, I may have gotten deathly ill. For chicken to smell like that, it would have to be sitting at room temperature for over 24 hours. That’s not acceptable and it can cost someone’s...

Terribly slow service and everyone does not receive nearly the same level of service. This took away from the experience greatly! The food was actually good...once we got it.

We came here on a Sunday around 3pm; they weren’t too busy as far as traffic as only about half of the restaurant was occupied, maybe less. There were at least 3 other parties; 2 parties of 2, and a party of 1 that came after us that received quicker service. I’m talking about they had their full meals and were leaving by the time we received our entrees.

Our waitress did warn us that there was only one sushi chef working that day so the rolls would take a bit longer; understood. We ordered 1 sushi roll; just one! However, we watched people who had came in after us receive their rolls from the sushi bar and we were sitting right in front of the chef, so we knew when he called out each table number that was ready.

Our miso soup came 10 minutes apart from each other, so I watched my coworker finish hers and waited for mine. No kidding when I say we waited another 30 minutes just to get our salads! When we finally got our entrees a party of 4 had come in and sat next to us. We watched as they were checked on often and received their appetizers in a very timely manner. And would you believe they received 2 sushi rolls from the sushi bar and then our 1 roll came right after they received theirs and we finished our entrees!

They clearly did not think we were important enough to check on and receive our food according to a queue. I have my thoughts on why WE weren’t prioritized, but I’ve shared enough on our experience. My coworker and I won’t...