Izanami — Restaurant in South San Francisco

This place really gets a 3.5 star rating from me, but since I can't assign half stars, I had to give it 3 stars...and here's why...

Izanami is a new place that just opened up (maybe a few months ago?) on Grand Ave. in South San Francisco. Its a pretty spacious restaurant with new decor, and everything is just modern and fresh. It also does a very good job of filling the void or lack of good Japanese restaurants in SSF. Because of its location, lots of employees from the surrounding local area come here for lunch (e.g. Genentech employees)

Now let's get down to the food, because that's what you're really here for anyways. I have been here several times, and your experience will vary greatly depending on what you order. They have an extensive menu, but I personally felt that they could have toned down the menu and eliminated some of the items on the menu.

For example, they have everything ranging from appetizers, ramen, sashimi, to donburi bowls.

Appetizers:

1. spicy soft shell crab: flavorful (spicy!!) and very yummy...I highly recommend
2. gyoza: meh
3. potato croquette: crispy and has the right texture...yummy!!

Main Dishes:

1. spicy garlic miso ramen: tasted pretty bland...IMHO, they should not make ramen
2. salmon sashimi donburi: very fresh slices of salmon sashimi w/ sushi rice....very fresh and light, I would recommend
3. chirashi donburi bowl: assorted slices of sashimi w/ sushi rice...also very fresh and light...highly recommended!

Drinks:

1. sake is decent

TLDR; if you come here, please order the sashimi dishes as that is what they excel at. The sushi rolls are okay too, but the ramen is not good at all (which makes sense because they don't...

What we ordered & my thoughts:

Edamame $4.95 Simple and healthy appetizer! One of my favorite snacks/appetizers.

Spicy Garlic Miso Belly (+ Pork Belly) $21 My partner ordered this one, he felt it was a big bland and nothing to special. Didn’t feel it’s worth the $21 :(

Bento Box Special (Braised tofu & Chicken Teriyaki) $11.95 This was a pretty good deal for a bento box, normally bento boxes are between $15-20. You can choose from quite a lot of options. For the price and for what it is, I’d say this is worth it and would recommend! Everything was pretty tasty and I had some leftovers too. ps this doesn’t come with miso soup~

Lion King Roll $14.95 One of our favorite sushi rolls, we love that it’s warm since it’s baked and all the ingredients blend so well together! It feels slightly melted as it’s been baked~

Yakitori $6.95 This came with 2 skewers, it was chicken thigh and scallion. I was to full to eat this the day of and so I ate it the next day at lunch, it wasn’t good being warmed up again so I assume it’s probably better eating it when it was still hot & fresh...

We ordered delivery of two chicken ramen bowls from them. We were about 50 cents shy of the minimum order, so had to add a $7 appetizer that we didn't want. We chose them because they were only half mile from our hotel and promising short delivery times. We asked for our Ramen medium spicy. After 40 minutes, a while after food was due, I called to see if it had been delivered (since we didn't find it in our lobby). They told me driver was picking it up, and we'd see it in 5-10 minutes. So I told them thank you. We are literally a few minutes away. Still 20 minutes later no food. I called again and got the same promise as the first time! Ugh 😩. Almost $50 for two bowls of ramen and a forced appetizer. When it finally arrived it was not that hot and they hadn't added any spice as we had requested. Such a bummer. I wish they'd make this right! Otherwise we won't be trying again! Based on our experience so far, I'd recommend not to...