Zentarou Sushi and Sake Bar — Restaurant in San Francisco

I was very interested in trying this place because of the 5 star reviews and now that I've tried it... I'm flummoxed! I don't understand how every single review is 5/5

Came here for an early dinner on a Friday. We were the only table. Server was attentive and very proud of the establishment, but not subtle in upselling (I've served in a variety of restaurants from casual to white tablecloth so I've learned a lot about this), which was kind of a turn off.

One of my dining buddies ordered the $60 Kisetsu Tasting - chef's choice of 9 pieces of nigiri. This was the first dish to arrive. While we waited for the other dishes, the server asked if it would be ok to take this one to the photographer (they had one there taking photos of their food) and bring another one of these at the same time as the other entrees? We agreed.

When they brought out the 2nd Kisetsu Tasting, it was completely different from the first - it was still 9 pieces, but they took out the Toro 🫤 The pieces of nigiri were small - from the rice to the thinly cut sashimi. Can't believe they charged $60 for that.

My mini chirashi don was aptly named. Mini indeed. The size of an orange. I couldn't even use the spoon that came with it because it was too large, despite it being a small spoon. You can see from the photo that the fish were cut into tiny pieces, not much bigger than ikura. There was nothing wrong with the quality of the dish, but it was not worth $34. I have never paid so much for such a small chirashi bowl.

My other dinner buddy also ordered the mini chirashi don, but was up sold to the $58 Zentarou's Box - 9 mini chirashi bowls. Impressive looking and once again, nothing wrong with the quality, but O-M-G that price tag!

Not sure how they plan to survive amongst all the other sushi restaurants in...

We went for their Soft Opening! It was our first time trying this place. I am gonna go through all the point in order :)

Food

We ordered 8 dishes including dessert. They are all delicious, to be honest!!! My husband and I LOVE Sushi and Japanese food. Most places that we go to have some good dishes and some that we don’t really like. But at this place, I have to say…We say yes for all the dishes!!! The ingredients they use are all on good quality. You can tell it is clean throughout the process and even the taste of it! It tastes clean! My husband is a personal trainer and he is very careful of his intake. He said they are all in good quality! They made their own soy sauce too! It tastes so good!!! We had Yuzu Sorbet as our Dessert. Their frozen lemon peel on top was amazing!!!! It is crispy and chewy! Go so well with the ice cream sorbet! as Please see some photo attached to this review!

Service

Service was awesome! We were lucky to have one of the owners as our server for the night! He was super friendly and attentive. He would suggest most dishes that he loves it himself and when we tried, we loved them too!!! He also suggested drinks like Sake but I have a very sensitive stomach that I can’t intake alcohol anymore. We love his service!!!

Atmosphere

The design and decoration of the restaurant is beautiful! They use a very good material for their tables, chairs, walls, chopsticks and etc. The lighting in the restaurant is great! You don’t really need any filter for your photo! The music is good but we think it would be perfect with Japanese tones and styles for us! :))

Thank you so much for serving such good food and giving us such good service!!! We’ll be back for...

I really wanted to love Zentarou, but unfortunately, it missed the mark for me and my partner. We visited during Valentine's weekend (though not on the actual day) and opted for the Valentine's omakase special (which seemed to be the equivalent of their premium omakase, but dressed up for the occasion). At $280 for two people, we had high expectations but felt that the quality and service didn’t quite justify the price.

Our favorites were the Miyazaki A5 wagyu, Otoro, and Hokkaido uni. These were included in the Valentine's special (and also appear to be part of the premium omakase set on a regular night). For the regular omakase, these items are available as supplements. The second round of nigiri was probably the best part of the meal.

However, beyond those highlights, the rest of the experience fell short. The rice ratio and flavor on the first round of nigiri were inconsistent, and the hamachi tasted slightly overcooked. When asked about allergies and food restrictions, I specifically requested no cucumber, yet the first dish included it. The eggplant in that same dish was also tougher than expected. While we tried to keep an open mind, we couldn’t help but feel that the overall quality didn’t match the price tag.

That said, we appreciated the presentation of the dishes and the effort of the team. While the staff was friendly, they seemed a bit rushed (likely due to the busy weekend), which made the service feel less personal than we had hoped for. Perhaps it was just an off night due to the occasion, but given our experience, we’d be hesitant to return. At this price point, I believe there are better omakase experiences...