Tekka Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in San Francisco

TL;DR: Quantity, not quality. Caste system for customers: if you're not a regular, you can't order anything regulars get and you get pushed to the back of the line (or can't get in). Sashimi and eel you could purchase yourself. Rice that was sour (too much vinegar) and mushy (overcooked). NOT worth the wait and NEVER going back.

My friend and I arrived at 7:20pm on a Friday night. We asked if there would be second seating and Yoshimi said yes, either at 8:30 or 9pm. The wait was fine because it was expected. A couple showed up a bit later and said they didn't make the first seating (even though they got there at 4:30pm) because people in front of them were saving extra spaces and some regulars made a 6 person reservation.

NOTE: You cannot make reservations unless you are a regular.

Around 8:30pm, a man showed up, waved Yoshimi over, and whispered something to her. He then proceeded to tell us every detail of what happens at Tekka, attempted to school us on sushi, and told us that you won't find ANY experience like Tekka. We soon understood why he said that.

Yoshimi came to do the door around 9pm, called him and his THREE friends in to sit at "reserved" seats. Then she came around to take our orders. I asked if there was omakase and she said no. My friend and I ordered the sashimi combo for two, negi hama roll, and two eel nigiri. The only other things on the menu were two other rolls, tuna, salmon, albacore, scallop, and mackerel nigiri.

Then that regular and his friends were served two off menu appetizers. If there's no omakase, where did that come from?

NOTE: You cannot order food off menu unless you are regular.

The sashimi platter finally made its way out after ~15 minutes. The portions were massive - 4 pieces each of tuna, salmon, albacore, and yellowtail, 2 pieces each of octopus, mackerel, and scallop PER PERSON - and each piece was huge. The fish quality was mediocre. By the time my friend and I were about half way done, we didn't want to see sashimi for weeks. It was a disgusting amount of food, but we finished it all.

The eel nigiri came out - I don't know how a previous reviewer could say it was "orgasmic" - and the skin was super chewy, they hadn't cut or cooked it properly and I'm pretty sure it was just a frozen packet. Ugh. And the rice was mushy and sour, Nobu couldn't even take the time to wrap the seaweed all the way around the nigiri! And the negi hama was horrible. Loosely wrapped, falling apart, even lower quality yellowtail than the sashimi, with frail, old green onions.

By this time, the other party had another two appetizers off menu as well as whatever sashimi they ordered. Then Nobu said "KAMPAI!" and cheers... JUST THE PARTY OF FOUR REGULARS. He ignored the rest of us.

NOTE: You will be treated as second class customers unless you are a regular.

When the other party of two asked Yoshimi what the regulars were eating, she said, "oh, something special," and when they asked Yoshimi if they could order that, Yoshimi said, "oh, no, because we already know what they like." Uhhh, okay.

When my friend and I got up to leave, Nobu finally acknowledged us and said all cheerily, "ARIGATO GOZAIMASU! GOODNIGHT!" Too late. We're never going back. Why spend a bunch of money on mediocre fish, when you could just go buy your own and make higher quality rice yourself?

More on that regular: when we walked inside he cheerily said, "Oh! You made it in!" Ok yeah buddy, no thanks to you and cutting in front of us with your three guests - don't patronize us. He talked loudly about his friend working on big budget movies - we don't care dude. It was obvious he likes Tekka because he wants to feel special. And if this is the type of person that Nobu and Yoshimi cater to, well, that definitely makes me never...

2.5 year old review, but...

This place has amaaazing nigiri and sashimi. Expect to spend about two hours waiting outside its closed doors to save your spot for the 7pm seating. Tekka only seats up to 11 people and if you're the 12th person to arrive, better start thinking of an alternative dinner because that front door locks the moment its filled and it won't open again until 9:30pm. It seems so exclusive but it's one of those rare, rare places that are worth the wait and this is the first time I've ever said that.

CASH ONLY -- CASH ONLY -- CASH ONLY I cannot say this enough. We ordered a bit more than anticipated and was short $10 so I had to drive to an ATM while my friend had the awkward situation of waiting at the restaurant for my return of some cold hard cash.

I made it to Tekka around 5:30pm on a Tuesday and lucky me, there was a parking spot right in front. I was about ready to feed a dollar to the meter when I noticed my friend was 3rd in line. As he waited in line in the cold, I was in my parked car waiting for 6 o'clock to hit before joining him in line.

When we finally got to go inside, we were greeted with a warm, intimate seating arrangement (a bar that snugly sits 8 and a table that seats up to 3).

SASHIMI COMBO: Needless to say, everrrrybody ordered this. If you're coming to Tekka, you're getting sashimi, period. It's recommended to be shared between two people. It's a big plate with large slices of tuna, salmon, yellowtail, albacore tuna, scallop, octopus and seaweed salad. I'm tellin ya, it's the ocean on a plate! My favorites were the albacore and yellowtail ...and salmon and tuna and scallop... haha, refer to house rule #1: everything is good, everything is fresh. Everything IS good and everything IS fresh. The albacore darn-right melted in my mouth! Everything was soft and simply delicious.

HAMACHI KAMA (cooked yellowtail): Yummmmm! I've only had yellowtail in sashimi/nigiri form (and love it) and having it cooked this way is just as wonderful. It is subtly seasoned and jam-packed with flavor.

HAMACHI NIGIRI (yellowtail): Oh my goodness, it's huuuuuuge! My friend tried to pick it up with his chopsticks and it simply flipped over because it was top-heavy from the huge slab of yellowtail on there. You don't even see the rice! It was a beautifully-colored large, thick slice and it was delicious. Kudos to you if you could eat this with everything intact.

UNAGI NIGIRI (eel): Unagi is what (eventually) brought me into the world of sushi. This was very good unagi but I must admit, I enjoyed the hamachi more. I was able to eat this without it falling apart so yay! Haha

UNI (sea urchin): This tasted like the ocean, literally. I've only had uni once before and I enjoyed it so I figured, "Why not?" Then I tasted GOOD uni and realized I don't really like it... Hahah It tasted TOO much like ocean for me. Perhaps it's an acquired taste and maybe it'll grow on me in the future.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable dinner experience. I will definitely be back for more, especially since I'm the short one who got stuck with the bar wall and didn't get to see the...

Small place but definitely one of the must try dining experience. I came to wait on line around 5pm on a Thursday and there was already someone ahead of me and my friend. But the wait was a great experience as we manage to chat with everyone waiting on line :).

If you can get it you should always get the limited item. But you have to be first/ second in line since the quantity for limited item is limited to one per day. We manage to only grab the salmon collar, but the couple that was first in line who grabbed two of the limited dish was kind enough to let my friend and I try the salmon skin they ordered which is amazing! (Best couple ever!) The soft shell crab is great too. All the serving size is huge. I recommend getting sashimi platter for one to share with two people ( lots of groups of two ask for to go boxes because sashimi platter for two is just too much )and get the eel and scallop nigiri.

Overall, I can say that this is the best dining experience I have. It’s a small place and we end up striking conversations with everyone around the table. It feeling like we are eating dinner with a group of friends instead of random stranger in a store. The couple who owns the store really feels like they do this out of passion. They are so kind and put so much effort into the dishes. They don’t skim on the ingredient and charge such a low price that I was shock my meal only cost around 134 for two people. As someone who had omakase going for 200 dollar per person in nyc, this is so worth. Obviously this won’t be a store for the most skilled sashimi cut or nigiri. But I personally enjoy this atmosphere so much more than the fancy omakase out there. I really enjoy seeing the old man preparing the dishes because I can see he’s really there to share his love of his food and not just for cash grab.

Also don’t be afraid to ask for take out boxes if you...