Saru Sushi Bar — Restaurant in San Francisco

There are 4 tiers of sushi restaurants: Tier 1 are your are your Michelin started, $100+, expense account, mostly omakase restaurant Think JuNi, Omakase, Kusakabe

Tier 2 are restaurants that cost half that but give you a phenomenal experience in sushi craft. They import their fish from Japan or curate from high end suppliers. They pay attention to the rice and have a decent sake menu. They damage you by a meal for 2 with sake by around $60+. This is where Saru Sushi shines, so does Hinata

Tier 3 are restaurants that are great for sushi night. You get average fish and the chefs aren’t terribly concerned with making the rice outstanding. Run of the mill. You spend under $30 per person. Think a place like Sakesan, We Be Sushi, etc.

Tier 4 is like playing Russian roulette. You can get a version of sushi at Costco, Trader Joe’s or a mall sushi fast food restaurant that also services udon and a lot of other Japanese inspired menu items.

Saru, although tier 2, isn’t terribly expensive. They care about their craft and maintaining high standards. The only downside for such a small restaurant is the unpredictable wait times, and parking can be a hit or miss on the busy 24th street.

Once you get a table, outside is better on a nice day. Order a nice carafe of sake ($12-15) to share. We also got miso soup that was complex with clean flavors, edamame that wasn’t from a frozen batch and genmaicha tea that is a great palette cleanser.

While they have lunch specials under $20, we prefer a la carte.

First up is the excellent Hamachi truffle: HAMACHI TRUFFLE seared yellowtail with truffle oil, ponzu, garlic chips & scallions (can be substitued with kanpachi) $15

The truffle oil is subtle and the ponzu with garlic chips and scallions make the beautiful hamachi sing a song in your palette. So soo good! Expect 6 pieces. Great to share.

Next up are some speciality rolls in order of preference:

SPICY DRAGON deep fried prawn & cucumber, topped w/ spicy tuna & sweet soy glaze $14

POPCORN TUNA panko crusted spicy tuna roll w/ masago, scallions, spicy mayo & sweet soy glaze $10

These 2 were tied. You cannot go wrong with a little bit of crunch to complement your roll.

The third roll was a bit of a disappointment, only because it was outshined by bolder stronger flavors.

WHITE OUT hamachi, avocado topped w/ seared escolar & garlic ponzu $14

I’d probably swap this next time with the NAKED SCALLOP snow crab, avocado, scallop & masago, wrapped w/ soy paper $12

With sushi sometimes you get a little greedy. So we decided to get what turned out to be one of the best decisions of the day. Drum roll UNAGI fresh water eel $7 With 2 pieces, this masterpiece is great to share.

The unagi is buttery, lightly grilled and melts in your mouth. The soy glaze transports you back to Tokyo and is guaranteed to satisfy even the most discerning palettes.

The damage for the entire meal for 2 with a carafe of KANBARA junmai ginjo fragrant, crisp, & pure, that was recommended by our server, as a sweet floral start and a savory finish, and described as a bright fox. Delicious. $120 including 20% tip for a memorable meal that I am craving after only 2 hours.

Saru is worth the wait. Park for $5 for 2 hours on 24 or for free for 2 hours on one of the side streets beyond 25 or 26th street. You will not regret this...

Something has happened to Saru.

I’ve been going here religiously for over 7-8 years and Saru has always been my favorite sushi in the Bay Area, one of the only place I found to be comparable to Japan. Unfortunately, our most recent visit was quite terrible in every way except for service. Service is always great at Saru, even now, so this review is not about the servers. Although I did notice there is an entirely different staff than the one we are used to, they did a fine job. Our waitress refilled our drinks frequently and cleared plates quickly.

Saru now automatically includes a 20% gratuity for even a party of two, which is brand new. I’m not sure when this policy was implemented, but I last ate here maybe 3-5 weeks ago and this was not the case. This would be fine if everything else were the same, however…

I order the same thing every time I come here, and the total is around $220 before tax and tip. Last night the total was over $280, but the quality of the food was significantly lowered. SIGNIFICANTLY lowered.

I love sushi and raw fish, sashimi, everything. We usually do one of every tasting spoon (these were fine, however the texture of the Halibut was very off from usual and chewy). Followed by a 10 pc omakase (this was insanely disappointing last night - one of the fish on omakase was a baby squid, which I have NEVER experienced at Saru in 7-8 years, and while that’s fine it is not what I expect on omakase. If this were the only thing, I would ignore it, but more than half of the fish in the omakase were a complete miss for us - many cuts tasted unusually fishy, and more than 75% of the board got an “ehhh” response.) Even the Negihama roll we had at the end, which is very simple, was wrong (the seaweed was so tough compared to usual, and hardly enough hamachi to even taste it.) The white out roll which is covered in sauce tasted similar to usual, but there was a lot more avocado inside compared to fish.

Overall, we usually spend about $300 WITH sake and last night we spent very close to that WITHOUT sake, for the same order at a drastically lowered quality and flavor profile.

Unfortunately, three strikes is out. I’m mourning the loss of my long time favorite sushi - nothing good...

I'm always on the hunt for good sushi and my search has led me to this place. It's a small intimate place that provides an amazing omakase. This place is ideal for parties of 4 or less because they do not have a lot of large tables, most of the tables are for two. It's easy to get to if you're relying on public transportation, the J line muni stops right by it so it's convenient.

Pro tip: ORDER THE ANAGO. IT'S SPECIAL.

I was impressed by their fresh fish selection, it was a pretty big list which means their omakase selection must be epic and it was. It was good variety of fishes that I've never had before so it was quite an experience. Each piece of sushi has been perfectly seasoned to highlight the fish so no need to reach for that soy sauce, just eat it as is. My favorite was the albacore belly, it was nice and fatty. I liked it so much that I decided to get the soy cured albacore belly and that was sooo good. My only disappointment (it's trivial) is that the are a bit conservative with the portion but they did serve amazing sushi and I was more than happy with what I got for the price I paid, I just have been lucky with large portions in other places. What makes Saru's omakase so great was their selection of fishes, the fact that they have so many choices guarantees a unique experience. I also got the tasting spoons and enjoyed that as well. I really liked the amberjack with truffle oil and garlic chips (kanpachi) it stood out for me. I wouldn't bother with getting rolls here because they have such a great selection of fish that you should enjoy that on it's own.

This place definitely lived up to its hype and worth the trip if you want quality fish. Just prepare to...