Kiji Sushi Bar and Cuisine

I rarely head to the Mission these days, but when I do, it's for a local place housed in a remodeled Victorian home. The sign maybe hard to see from the street (intentional?) but the red lantern should tip you off that you've arrived.

Welcome to the intersection of quality and delicious.

Let me preface by saying, we are blessed with a slew of great Japanese establishments in SF. Let me also point out that that you'll pay for quality food (fish flown in from Japan, organic ingredients, etc) Also, be aware that the portions here are small. Fill your hunger first with easy appetizers like a shitake miso soup or the ahi poke.

Then enjoy the Miso black cod. The delicate white meat is marinated in sake and miso, grilled and served with asparagus. Simple and satisfying, but every bite will be memorable.

I love dayboat scallops especially if it's served with some form of pork fat on it. This version is lightly seared topped with wasabi pesto and bacon bits. A drizzle of truffle oil provides that extra layer of decadence. It came to the table presented in the shell which was very pretty.

What's a sushi dining experience without rolls? Fret not die hard sushi roll fans! there's a small section of rolls for your choosing. The orange spicy salmon roll had interesting flavors of orange peel, chili sauce and tobiko. The Valencia roll reflects the Mission neighborhood flavor to it: of course it had salsa and guac in it.

A wonderful neighborhood sushi spot for those in the know. I would not hesitate to come back here again.

Excellent spot for sushi. All of the nigiri has a nation of origin attached, ranging from Japan to Hawaii to Norway, demonstrating the care that the restaurant takes to source the best ingredients.

The nigiris were the best on the menu. The uni and scallop ones were my favorite. Uni had the best texture / taste combination and the scallop nigiri was soft but with structure. The rice is perfectly cooked and none is overly salted (like some sushi places).

I would probably not recommend the butterfish since this version is cooked even though it's pretty good. Hirame/halibut, ocean trout, Red Sea bream were all delicious - I would not hesitate to order any of those.

The appetizers were solid - kampachi carpaccio and sunomono and were good complements to the nigiri.

Ambience is so so (not great on lighting) but food was pretty exceptional.

Kiji Sushi:
Craving some sushi but not wanting to break the bank, we made a reservation at Kiji Sushi in the Mission for dinner. This place is dimly lit and has very limited seating, and on arrival we were seated in the back room which, despite other reviews descriptions, is comfortable. I can agree with the the sentiment that the service here is less than friendly though.

Toro Tartar - 2/5 - This didn't live up to the hype that all of the other reviews gave it. The portion was too small and they went way too heavy on the truffle oil. Pass.

Black Spider - 4/5 - The best of the rolls we ordered. This spider roll had a good balance of unagi and crab. I liked the black tobiko on top and I really liked the walnuts they added in here. Order this again.

Kobe dragon roll - 2/5 - Sounds much better than it looks. The roll itself was mostly breaded vegetables and the beef slices were laid on top. The flavours didn't come together all that well. Pass.

Lobster citrus roll (special) - 3/5 - The end pieces of this roll were great because the increased amount of lobster per piece let the flavor come through and balance out the citrus. I liked that the tobiko also carried a citrus flavor and was yellow to match. I liked it, but not so much that I'd order it again.

We didn't get to try the White Dragon roll because they were out of one of the ingredients.

Overall, Kiji Sushi was decent, but I wouldn't return since there are other sushi places I've been to that I think are better. There are also so many others to try. "I've experienced better."

Finding a good sushi joint in San Francisco is like finding a beautiful, single woman, who is emotionally stable, and doesn't look at me like I'm an ATM ready to dispense cash, gifts, and compliments 24 hours a day.

So imagine my surprise at being a SF native and discovering this superior sushi joint for the first time.

This must have been the way Indiana Jones felt when he discovered the Temple of Doom, before they tried to kill him.

Checking in here gets you free sunomono, and even for this free dish, they didn't skimp on the quality, it was filled with bits of octopus and other goodies.

But, let's talk about some of their highlights and must order items.

KIJI STYLE CRUDOS one spoonful of uni, ikura and quail egg, one spoonful of ankimo, shiso and hirame, one spoonful of hamachi, all with ponzu. You must try this, this was a great dish, almost as good as Koo's "spoonful of happiness." Easily a close second.

KIJI SHOOTER, fresh oyster, uni, quail egg, spicy sauce, scallions, tobiko and ponzu, yum and another yum.

The Oscar winning dish here by far is their toro tartare, my buddy and I were literally trying to get the last scoop out of the glass, it was like we were dueling spoons for this thing. It's that good.

Their Sashimi is fresh, we ordered several different varieties, and tried their CARPACCIO dishes, Hamachi and Hirame.

So why not 5 stars you ask? Because our waitress tacked on two things we didn't order, such as the Hirame Carpaccio and a Ceviche. Both were good, even great, but the problem was that we didn't order them, and when we tried to send it back, the waitress kept arguing with us that we did or them. Rather than argue further, we just said relinquished and ate it. Also, she was super slow with refilling the tea, getting the dessert, and the bill. Hence minus 1 star.

I guess Kiji is like that rare woman, close to 5 stars, which is more than good enough for me.

My roommate and I were looking for some good Japanese restaurant in Mission area; found Kiji on Yelp with good reviews and decided to give it a try.

Kiji's interior design is more like a sushi/bar type of place rather than any authentic Japanese restaurant. We were seated at a table near the door. I have to say that I was pretty unsatisfied about our server's attitude - I don't think I did anything wrong but ever since we sat down, the server wasn't so nice to us...

[Sake sampler]: B+
My roommate got the filtered sake sampler and I got the unfiltered. It wasn't bad but nothing spectacular.

[Sunomono]: B+
We got this dish for free (got this coupon by checking-in on Yelp). It was basically some cucumber, seaweed and sprouts. If it wasn't free definitely I wouldn't be getting it.

[Yellowtail Sashimi]: B
Not fresh at all; couldn't feel the usual yellowtail texture. In fact I wasn't exactly sure whether they gave us the wrong fish or not.

[Yakiniku]: B
It's basically chicken, beef plus green onion. My roommate and I both felt the sauce was very salty.

[Halibut Carpaccio]: B+
Standard Carpaccio taste, no surprise. The halibut was definitely better than the yellowtail though.

[Albacore Tataki]: A-
One of the better dishes of the night. The sauce definitely helped bring out the taste of albacore.

[Orange Spicy Salmon Roll]: B
Came with six pieces. It was just meh. Ordered this roll expecting the spicy sauce could help enhance taste of the fish, but it did not work out that way.

[Green Monster Roll]: B+
This was basically red and white tuna roll. The tuna was the best out of all the fish that night. The seaweed was a nice addition to an otherwise rather standard roll.

I would have barely rated it as a three-star experience; but we ended up paying $85 for each person for the above - a very high price based on the quality of food we got, so I am only giving it two-star this time. I don't think I will come back again.

Kiji caught me by surprise. I've been disappointed by trendy Japanese places before, so I kept my guard high and expectations low.

We started with the edamame, gomae (spinach with sesame sauce), wakame salad (seaweed) and seaweed miso soup. Really enjoyed the soup since it had a lot of wakame.

The stuffed jalapenos is a must-try! They're stuffed with minced tuna, grilled, then topped with a nice spicy sauce. Very tasty!

The carpaccios were delicious. Kanpachi carpaccio (http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/TdTl_T42gbewHCMQVqZ_xA/l) is amberjack served with jalapenos, sea salt and olive oil. Some people might find the olive oil overwhelming since it gives the fish an oily feel. The Tai carpaccio (http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/j9rAjC-YagLr-5Y7Oi5VwQ/l) is Japanese snapper topped with wasabi, ponzu sauce and roasted red pepper. Seems like an odd combination but it creates an interesting tangy sweet flavor that was really good.

Rolls. Hopefully I got the names right since our food was brought out in platters. (http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/lTghOL4kswCFrNdmwyS0Cw/l) (http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/vPc7lHAbAe6yP-IVuOmFQQ/l)

My favorites of the night were:
-Red dragon caterpillar roll (shrimp tempura roll topped with spicy tuna and avocado) abundant in tuna and avocado. mmm.
-Mission roll (halibut, cilantro, jalapeno, cucumbers and wasabi tobiko with chili sauce) loooove the kick even though I don't usually eat wasabi
-Lantern (flounder and shiso tempura rolled in soy paper, topped with yuzu sauce, tobiko) first time having a soy paper roll. a nice warm roll.

We also had:
-Eddie roll (spicy scallop, shiso, cucumber, sprouts, tobiko)
-Spider roll (deep-fried soft shell crab, cucumbers, tobiko)
-nigiri (http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/FeUAQG5J6yp6slyx6HIuUA/l)
-sashimi platter (http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/CR5IiLsD1M8CzBMXOPaaOQ/l)
-lychee sorbet (http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/E3n6AD2OGuA7QMfxtANVXQ/l) yuuummmy

so much good food.

5 stars for the combination of delicious food, groovy ambiance, great company and trying-new-dishes experience!

fyi: strictly sushi and rolls. meaning they don't do teriyaki, udon...etc.

So I've had worse Japanese food. The sushi here is minimalistic (think: not too much mayo-y sauces and few, but simple and fresh fish). I have no problem with minimalistic sushi because it tends to highlight the flavors of the fish. Well that only works well when you have great tasting fresh fish. Perhaps both me and my friend got the two worst sushi rolls on the menu?

I don't know if I've ever had a bad Miso Cod. Call me spoiled, but every cod I've had was super flaky, and moist with a perfect glaze of sweet sauce on top. This was not. It was tiny, dry, and I'm glad the waitress accidentally gave me the appetizer portion because I didn't want anymore after that.

Kiji, I am not sure how you got a Michelin recommendation or 4 stars on Yelp with bland, expensive Japanese food served by non-Japanese dudes and waitresses who can't take orders. I'll give you an extra star because I got a free shot of sake out of this.

What a cute little sushi place. I just moved out here and my cousin wanted to show me her favorite sushi spot so we came here for dinner. It was great and oh so filling. Anyways, we ordered the shooters which were AWESOME! I've never tried anything like it. It had the quail egg, an oyster and some uni in it. It was also dressed in a salty sauce (I think it might've been ponzu, but I'm not 100% sure). We also had the shiitake mushroom miso soup, the sashimi sampler, and the hamachi. What was super awesome was the hamachi. They fried the bones for you and they're like crunchy, delicious chips.

Another bonus was their presentation. It was beautiful and it tasted good so YAY!! Definitely would recommend this place and come back.

It's a small place once you walk in. They also have a back area (dark). Service wasn't bad. If you read the menu, they already added 18% tips to the bill so you won't have to tip. We ordered a bottle of sake, 2 sets of omakase nigiri, king crab salad, and seared walu. It took almost an hour for the food to come. They should've served the small plates first so at least we had something to munch on while waiting instead of serving everything at once. We were starving! The food came right when we're almost done with the bottle of sake.

King crab salad was okay. They just put 3 pieces of crab on top of some cucumbers and kale with a bit of vinaigrette. The seared walu was not bad. It has a lot of flavor to it and it's still buttery and saucy. The omakase wasn't too special; nothing exotic. I think they compensated the chef roll (we didn't order) because they took a long time to serve us which is nice of them. We also ordered the halibut carpaccio which is flavorful. You can really taste the truffle (think they use truffle oil). Lastly, we ordered uni. The uni was fresh. It melts right in your mouth.

Overall, this place is not bad food wise. They just need to work on their time management on serving their customers.

This is more like 2.5 stars, but I'll round up, because it's sort of affordable. I think it was partially because I had high expectations. We ended up spending about $170.

We ordered the $40 12-piece nigiri set and the $40 omakase (10-piece nigiri set & a spicy hamachi roll). The nigiri cuts seemed a little sloppy, and the chef also made tiny cuts on the fish so it opened up a bit. I don't know the reason for doing this. The second thing I didn't like was the rice. The texture was a bit off and it seemed like not enough vinegar was used? Not sure. It wasn't cohesive with the fish.

They have a huge menu, so there are probably good rolls and other dishes. The maki rolls are def more Chinese-style Japanese than Japanese.

Friendly staff.