KUSAKABE - SAN FRANCISCO, CA

During my long weekend to San Francisco, I wanted to try a sushi place because I've always heard great things about the sushi in San Francisco. Kusakabe, which serves omakase, was recommended to us by a friend. It was actually an one Michelin-starred restaurant in 2015 and 2016. Unfortunately they lost their star in 2017, my friends believe it was due to the customer service since their sushi is still superb. On our visit, we didn't have any problem with the customer service, the manager and servers were detailed about explaining each dish of the sushi to us. Since Kusabake is an omakase restaurant, I was hoping we can sit in front of the sushi bar to see how they prepare the sushi and serve it right in front of us. However, it was disappointing to find out party of two or more were not able to sit by the sushi bar and we had 4 people. I feel like that is part of the experience if I was to dish out $200 bucks for a meal.

We were seated promptly by our reservation time at 8:15 and we chose the Grand Omakase because of the delicacy menu options (Truffle, A5 Wagyu beef, Hokkaido Sea Urchin, Eel from Tsukiji Market and Toro bluefin fatty tuna belly). An important thing to point out is we were NEVER served the Toro bluefin fatty tuna belly like the menu stated. Instead we were served Negitoro, which is minced fatty tuna with micro onion on a roasted seaweed. Those are two very different things, I wanted to ask why we were served the negitoro instead of the fatty tuna belly, but since my friends didn't mention I didn't want to be particular. Now that I think about it, I am quite angry that the manager didn't mention anything at all about switching our menu.

Anyways, a review on the food that we DID have. It was a 10 course menu (with 2 soups) and it was more than enough. A tip for everyone, if you want to do a la carte towards the end, I suggest you choose the regular Omakase with less courses. Actually with the Grand Omakase, there is a course with non-sashimi/sushi dish. So if you here for the sushi/sashimi definitely choose the regular Omakase then do a la carte at the end.

One thing to note about the sushi here is that they seasoned all their rice. At first it looked like brown rice, then we realized every piece of rice has soy sauce seasoned so the flavor is even throughout. My favorite sushi would definitely be the Oshinogi with Scallop+Uni sushi, Nata with poached egg on spoon, the uni sushi and surprisingly the Shima Aji (stripe jack) which is the chef's choice of sushi. The Hassun which included 6 small plates was also very tasty, I love how the food is like art. The wagyu beef tartare was one of the most delicious tartare that I ever had. The most disappointing course would definitely be the seared A5 Wagyu sushi, they over-seasoned it with too much pepper and salt overpowering the taste of the wagyu. It felt like they wasted a perfectly fine piece of meat, except the meat itself had a bit too much lines in it.

Overall, I highly recommend Kusakabe for Omakase on a special occasion or if you are visiting from out of town. It seems like a popular date place, you can impress somebody by bringing them here and eating in front of the sushi bar. It's a shame we didn't get to sit there to watch as the sushi chef prepare our dishes. There might have been 1 or 2 disappointment, nevertheless it was a good experience. And I figured out why they lost their star; it was not perfect like it should be.

Sushi Prelude