Ozumo San Francisco — Restaurant in San Francisco

I went to Ozumo on a Monday night for a 7:30 reservation. We were visiting from the east coast and were super excited for some great sushi. We were sat at 7:30, no problem. Once we got to our table it was probably 10 minutes before someone even came over to give us water, let alone take our drink order. It was busy, for a Monday, so we understood that service might be a little slow, but this was unacceptable. Once we ordered drinks they didn’t come for over 15 minutes, with no communication from our server that things might be a little slow.

The drinks were good, nothing special, but they were good. We put in an order for shumai when we ordered our drinks and I had finished my first drink by the time the shumai arrived and I am a very slow drinker. I’m usually nursing a drink for the whole meal. We enjoyed our Shumai and then waited another 10 minutes for our server to come and take our food order. Our server was incredibly disinterested in our presence and barely made any eye contact, didn’t introduce herself, and rushed through every interaction. There were multiple times I tried to get her attention for like a water refill and she just brushed right past us.

Once we finally ordered our food at 8:15!!!!! (We sat at 7:30), we then waited another 30 minutes for 4 nigiri rolls which were just okay. Nothing was wrong with them, but for the price of this place, I expected something delicious. After that, we then waited another 30 minutes for our 2 sushi rolls which came out 10 minutes apart. The presentation was pathetic. My college dining hall had better sushi and I’m not exaggerating. It tasted 4/10, and was quite pricey. As somebody who has worked in the service industry, I understand that things can get busy and the kitchen and bar gets backed up and sometimes there are unexpectedly busy nights, but nobody came over and even acknowledged the fact that we had waited an hour for the most mediocre sushi of my life. That’s where the problem lies. And the spacing of the food was just bizarre. I was already hungry again every time some new food came because I had waited so long between the small portions.

Our server barely spoke to us all night and once she came over with the check she practically threw it on the table and walked away before I could give her my card. She then sharply asked if I wanted a receipt and as I said no she just turned and walked away. Very weird experience with our server and even worse experience paying $200 for 2 people, which I don’t mind paying for food that is worth it. I will never come back here or recommend it to anybody. Find a better restaurant with servers who will actually talk to you and food that will be...

Summary: lunch had very poor service, incompetent chef, fish wasn't fresh, and way over priced. I have little idea why this place is so highly rated. I went during their lunch shift, so I might have caught their B Team.

After being seated at the bar, my waiter approaches me and asks what I would like to drink. I reply "Ocha" (green tea), and he looks confused. I then say tea please. Afterwards he asks me what I would like to order and I state "Omakase" (up to the chef). He apologizes and says Omakase is only available for the dinner menu, which makes no sense as it literally just means whatever the chef wants to make. He says he can go ask, but upon looking at how extremely young the chef was, I changed my order to Chirashi (fish over rice).

Waiter went over the chef and whispered my order. Chef replied very loudly "CHIRASHI?" and looked very confused. After about 15 minutes, an older chef walked in, looked at what the younger chef was doing, then immediately took it away from him and started working on it himself. I was literally the first in the door and ended up being served after many people came later.

When they delivered my order, it was in two boxes, one for fish and one for rice. It kind of defeats the purpose of Chirashi when they are served separately. The fish tasted like yesterday's leftovers was recently defrosted, having an icy texture and some pieces were gag worthy. Tamago was very rubbery.

When bill came for $60, I realized that I paid double what it usually costs for the worst Chirashi I have ever had in my life. I have been sampling several places in SF financial district and have been to some mediocre places, but this is the only one that I would hate so much to actually write...

It was restaurant week here in San Francisco, and it's time to take advantage of some great deals from some of the top tier restaurants in the city. Ozumo is one of the great ones!

Working from the Two Embarcadero Center, Ozumo was a nice little walk away from the office. The SF Restaurant week included 2 courses. The first was a choice of Yasai (veggie) Gyoza or Karaage; and the second was Gyu (Beef) Bento or Mifune (sushi tray). I went with the Karaage and Bento, and it was amazing!

To start, the karaage (fried popcorn chicken) was crispy on the outside and the chicken was really moist and juicy. When the bento came, there were a few slices of medium rare steak, salad, tempura, rice, pickles and the portions were just right. The flavors were on point and it is totally worth coming back.

If there was a problem/complaint that I could bring up, is that the food took FOREVER. We were at the restaurant for almost 2 hours because of this. Also, it's not something that is too critical, but the people that ordered the Mifune, they got the sushi before the appetizer Gyoza. On top of that, they were waiting for the rest of the tables appetizers to come out. It felt poorly planed. It doesn't feel like the fault of the server either, as she would keep walking by with more water, and pouring out sake for the table and was wondering where the food was. Definitely a break in communications somewhere there.

All that being said, the restaurant is totally worth trying at least once. I plan on coming back in the future to share the flavors with friends and family that decide to come...