Wayo Sushi Restaurant — Restaurant in San Francisco

Great traditional sushi restaurant which is quite large for a restaurant with a single chef. Be prepared for a wait (on a Tuesday at 8pm, it was about 45 minutes for food to be served), but expect some fair prices and solid sushi in exchange.

The menu is quite simple (basic nigiri/sashimi/maki options with a small special rolls section). I chose the assorted sushi set with a side of the uni sushi. The uni was good (not fishy at all), but as compared to my expectations, the boiled shrimp stood out to me the most, as it's not usually a piece I particularly enjoy but the texture of the shrimp here was nice and chewy. Overall, however, all of the fish was high quality and tasty. My only complaint was that they used a fair bit more rice on the nigiri than I would have liked, but that is easily fixed.

One more aside, this place has a large counter and a few tables for 2. The restaurant is a great option for solo or couples dining but probably not great for groups...

Very cute and cozy restaurant. As many have mentioned, it is a 1 man sushi chef show, with 1 waitress helping out. They directly tell you it takes 1 hour for the food to come to ensure you are okay with it. So we got a couple rolls (snow leopard, alaska, and dragon), as well as salmon and scallop nigiri. We indeed waited for awhile, though it felt more like 40m than 1 hour.

In short, the sushi was nothing special. The chef put too much wasabi on the nigiri pieces, and the rolls had little flavor and too much rice. I am surprised people recommended the snow leopard, it was probably the worst roll out of the three we ordered. It ended up being about $20 per person, not expensive but I can get the same quality sushi for cheaper at Nara Sushi on Polk St that takes less than 10m to prepare even on busy nights.

The service and ambience were great, but I don't think we'll be...

GO HERE! DO IT! 33 YEARS MAKING SUSHI!

It was a toss up between Wayo and Kuma. Both strong reviews and great menus on Google. SO HAPPY WE WENT WITH WAYO!

My Mom and I were in town for the weekend from LA. I called Wayo to make sure they were open, post COVID and all. We got the owner who politely invited us to come in. What we didn’t realize is that we’d be his only in restaurant diners! And it was amazing!

Awesome price for the quality. Good size portions. Quality! Freshness. Being patient makes everything taste better when it’s made to order. WAYO HAS BEEN IN BUSINESS FOR 33 YEARS! Maybe this should be first! If this doesn’t make you just love the place a little bit more SF, come on, you have no soul!

Mamoru was kind, attentive, and grateful for our business. And in turn we were happy, thankful, and stuffed walking back to our hotel....