Wako Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in San Francisco

A michelin star place coasting with minimal effort.

Summary: The experience was well below my expectations - from being surrounded by fake plastic plants in a quaint little space to having a sushi tasting menu where the care given in preparation was negligible. To our disappointment, the sushi was not prepared with care with uneven ratios of rice in the sushi as well as shockingly ending with O-toro which had a ridiculous amount of silver skin.

I wanted to share my perspective on the dining experience at Wako breaking it down to ambience, service and quality of food.

Ambience: The space is small - about 8 tables. Wooden table surrounded by minimalistic décor. I can appreciate that the focus should be on the food however, being next to fake plastic plants isn't very appealing if you are going on a special occasion.

Service: The service overall was very fast - perhaps too fast. We went on a weekday night at 9 pm and perhaps this was too late for them but the dishes were discussed in a very rushed manner that made it seem like more of a formality than an experience. So if you are looking for an okay sushi tasting menu and want to get it over with fast - this would be the spot.

Food: Let me preface this with some background. We are some detailed foodies celebrating some recent success and wanted to try this highly recommended sushi place so our expectations were high. The appetizer platter was probably the highlight of the night. The natural progression from baby eels ending with the cheese and tomato was well thought out - we enjoyed it. However, to our disappointment the sushi tasting was average at best. The first 4 pieces were actually below par with minimal flavor and odd ratios of rice to fish. It seemed like the sushi was prepared in a rush and not enough thought and care was given to the preparation and portioning. The Mackrel and trout were perhaps the best out of the tasting. The tasting ended with two pieces of tuna - soaked in house soy and O-toro. The soaked tuna was good but the O-toro which is the real indicator of the quality of food was pretty bad. I just could not believe that my O-toro had a significant amount of silver skin. Ending the meal on that note was very unpleasant.

Perhaps this was a one off experience since it was late on a weekday but the expectations for a restaurant this highly rated were naturally high and Wako really failed to meet our expectations, to our...

It was our second visit to this restaurant. The first visit was years ago before it was granted a star and it was an amazing experience. But unfortunately, our recent visit was not such a pleasant one.

Food -- 4 stars. Don't give me wrong the sushi was great compared to its price ($95 for 10 pieces), but compared to other Michelin starred sushi places I would say the rice is a little bit on the hard and dry side. Maybe I was too picky.

Service -- 2 stars. This is the part we were feeling less pleasant. When we entered the store we were grated very impatiently and even kinda on the rude side. Maybe we were not that well dressed that day, the lady may think us to be someone just wandering on the street trying to grab some cheap sushi, and accidentally entered a premium place.

When the sushi were served, the lady who presented the food to us had started to move away from us even before she completed the sentence. Sometimes I was trying to ask some follow-up questions but she did not give us the chance. Frankly speaking I did not know what's the rush. I've been to almost all Michelin starred sushi restaurants in bay area and it was never like this.

When we paid the check and left the restaurant, again, no one greeted us as well. Maybe we were not welcomed from the very beginning.

After all, I appreciate their effort to lower the bar for accessing premium sushi (tasting menu at $95 compared to other places at around $200). But frankly speaking I was disappointed on the way I was treated. I'll find somewhere else...

I first discovered Wako while wondering the streets of Clement. The exterior caught my eye…it was simple and clean, gave a very traditional Japanese vibe! We ordered their 7 course omakase, chirashi bowl, and grilled miso black cod.

The place is really small - seat max 25 people. The chef and the waitresses were all Japanese. The service was amazing...the waitress was very attentive. She promptly took our orders, brought out the dishes one after another perfectly timed, cleared the table as soon as we were done with each dish, rearranged our plate settings for prettier presentation as she saw fit, wiped the table in between dishes, filled tea/water frequently. Service itself is always an experience at a traditional Japanese restaurant!

Now the food…. It was definitely quality over quantity. Omakase was a good option for variety. We tried the house sesame tofu, small salad, 2 slices of eggplant (or was it 1 slice?), tempura, 4 slices of sashimi, 7 pieces of nigiri, miso soup, and blueberry panna cotta. Hmmm I’m missing one dish but can’t recall what it was!! Everything was so delicate, fresh, delicious and nicely presented! The chirashi bowl was equally impressive. One thing worth of noting – sushi rice was warm….yumm. And oh boy, my favorite was probably the miso black cod. It was so moist, tender, and just melted in your mouth good. Overall a great experience, so excited for another authentic Japanese restaurant in the Richmond! Tho probably can’t return too...