Ariake Japanese Restaurant

The best Japanese place in town! Although there are many Japanese places in the city, it’s hard to find a good authentic sushi place reasonably priced like Ariake.
Amazing customer service! Every single staff including the servers and the chefs are super friendly and welcoming. They are also very knowledgeable about their specials and the menu.
Excellent food! Ariake only serves the highest quality of the fish. They also have daily specials that are not typical fish you find anywhere but unique and different. I highly recommend this place if you want to try something new.
If you are a sushi lover like myself I highly recommend this place.

Really gone down hill over the last 5 years. I probably will never go back after two recent experiences with low quality fish. The cuts were so bad I didn’t even finish my nigiri.

This is the perfect neighborhood sushi restaurant.
Excellent fish, excellent service, comfortable and lively.
Hamachi Kama was super juicy and crispy, the Gomaee (spinach with sesame sauce) was bomb.
Sushi was really good– We had the special Yellow Jack Nigiri, 49er Roll, Cherry Blossom, and Dragon Roll. The Salmon was so incredible that we ordered a Island Roll when we were already full.
Highly recommend!

A cute and tiny sushi restaurant with tables on the side and bar seatings to watch the sushi chefs work their magic. There’s also a TV in the corner. Service was super friendly. The sushi chefs immediately greet you when you enter and leave and the servers are quite attentive.
Rolls I’ve Tried (Ranked to Most Favorite to Least Favorite):
— Maguro Mango
— Dragon
— Moon Dog
— Sweet Heart
Their sushi rolls tasted fresh and you can tell the chefs took their time to perfect each roll. I suggest ordering their Special Rolls, especially the Maguro Mango roll. My boyfriend and I order our own roll for Manguro Mango. It’s one of our favorite rolls EVER.
We come here again and again because of their rolls and good service!

Was randomly in this neighborhood and this sushi restaurant came highly recommended!
Called for a reservation for 2 around 6:30 pm. When I called back to inform them we were running a bit late, the woman on the phone was so friendly and understanding about it. When we finally arrived 20 min later, they already had 2 spots at the bar waiting for us. The restaurant is small and very cozy. We were greeted by the sushi chefs and treated as if we were family.
Started with some house hot sake, complimentary edamame and white tuna tataki. Everything was so fresh and delicious. We also shared 3 more rolls — ariake, cherry blossom and double albacore. Of the 3, my least favorite was the ariake roll, but it was still a very fresh and above average sushi roll. The prices are reasonable, portions are very generous and extremely hospitable staff that made us feel like family. I could definitely tell that this place is a local favorite. Can’t wait to come back and try some more of the special rolls and nigiri.

This place is actually stellar. It’s one of the few places in the city i would go so far to say is my go-​to place for any cuisine (as I believe there’s so many great options). As far as sushi goes, I’m never disappointed by Ariake. The wait-​staff are so friendly and sushi chefs behind the counter always recognize and greet me warmly. It’s a great start to the meal. As far the food goes, it’s equally welcoming. I’ve come here (and dragged friends as well) around 4 times and we have never been disappointed! Definitely try any mango roll — the mango is super fresh and compliments the equally if not fresher fish perfectly. Also go for the miso soup with clams — so warm and comforting. This place is tremendous and I cannot wait to go back!

Accessibility (Parking /​Wait Time)
¹⁄₁ Star: street parking was easy to find. No wait to be seated.
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Service (Waiter /​Cleanness /​Ambiance)
¹⁄₁ Star: great service. Clean. Cozy ambiance. Great place for a date for to get some food and drinks with some friends. Intimate setting. There is also a TV if you want to watch the game.
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Taste (0=Not Edible /​1=Edible /​2=Good (average) /​3=Must Try!)
³⁄₃ Stars: The salmon skin hand roll is a MUST TRY! Hands down the best one I’ve had so far! The lion king roll was also really delicious. The uni was fresh and tasted like the uni served in Japan.
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Overall Experience
⁵⁄₅ Stars
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Last Words
The food was so good that it was eaten on sight! Didn’t have a chance to take any pictures =(
I will definitely eat here again!

The food is delicious and fresh and they have some unique rolls. Staff are super friendly and helpful. It’s always busy so make a reservation. Sit at the sushi bar and let the chef surprise you. Live Scallop, Tataki and Fire Cracker are my go to dishes.

I had a really weird and uncomfortable experience at this restaurant. I was having dinner with my girlfriend, we are sitting at the sushi bar chatting and enjoying our meal when my friend tells me that she is going to send me a text message and to look at it. She writes that there is this creepy man staring at you, giving you elevator eyes.
I’ve been noticing this man staring at me 3 seats away at the sushi bar but have been trying to ignore him, but when my friend notices and points it out I can’t ignore it anymore. Now I am feeling very uncomfortable and I can’t enjoy my food because I feel very creeped out. So after a few more minutes of attempting to ignore the staring, I turn and face the man and ask him, «Are you staring at me?» The creepy stranger starts mumbling something in his poor French-​English saying something about studying here and that he was just watching the television on the other side of me. I very well know he wasn’t looking at the TV when his eyes were burning into me.
Now he is embarrassed for being called out and shows me his French-​American Alien card for some reason and shows me how much he spent at the restaurant. It was very strange and he made it more uncomfortable by continuing to explain. I told him it was fine, my friend and I are just trying to enjoy our meal and to please leave us alone. Shortly thereafter he leaves Ariake.
The owner of the restaurant and main sushi chef must have been watching this encounter because as soon as the weirdo creeper leaves, he starts scolding me. The owner says that the man is a regular customer and spends a lot of money there, he obviously does NOT care/​understand how uncomfortable I felt. I felt even more doubly uncomfortable as I am Korean-​American and I know that the owner is Korean and Korean men from his era are historically misogynistic. Rape wasn’t even reported until a couple years ago and customarily it was considered the woman’s fault in South Korea. Therefore who cares if a strange man was staring at me, I was probably asking for it right? I was in the wrong here obviously…
I live several blocks away and I love sushi but I am never coming here again. Ladies and gentleman, unless you enjoy stepping into the realm of the 1960’s where misogynistic ways of man rule the planet, I wouldn’t suggest you spend your money here either.

Really good sushi — high quality fish and nice service. Feels authentic Japanese but they do have a lot of Godzilla rolls etc as well as tempura and udon

Still my favorite Japanese restaurant in my hood. The fish is always so fresh, innovative rolls, sashimi excellent. I feel like I am in Tokyo when I eat at this gem of a restaurant. Service is always friendly and good. Do start with the firecracker, amazing combination of ingredients, so delicious. I always order beer or wine, their rolls deserve champagne!

Came here for the first time with some friends. We tried four different rolls and an order of sashimi for 19 dollars. Sushi was pretty good but the maguro mango was mind-​blowing amaziiiing. I will definitely go to this place by myself just to get that roll.
Minus one star because of the sashimi. We thought it was overpriced for the quantity and quality.

Get the seaweed roll with spicy tuna! Da bomb $ 12. The miso was good, little on the salty side. Cost about $ 2 – 3. Great little stop.

My friend raves about this place and we finally made it out here after talking about it for a year. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. Maybe he oversold it to me but otherwise, I thought it was too pricey for the quantity and quality of food.
We got the following:
— ankimo appetizer
— live scallop sashimi
— toro sushi
— anago sushi
— hamachi mango roll
All this came out to be a $ 75 bill. The most egregious was $ 20 for the live scallop. It was really just one scallop, thiiiiiiinly sliced into 8 pieces. Not worth 20 bucks seriously.
Objectively, the ankimo and toro were pretty good. Anago was okay. Hamachi mango roll was okay. The best part of it was the asparagus, but otherwise the hamachi and mango were lackluster.
It’s a friendly place — both the chefs and waitresses were very nice and attentive. However, for better sushi at a better price, I recommend Kazu or Wild Sushi in the Sunset, or Yuubi in the Richmond.

We came here on a Wednesday night.
This place worth a try.
It’s nice to have a greeting in
«irasaymase»
Yes, 5 stars. cuz I think Ariake does a fantastic job.
I read some of the overly tough review
I’m not sure.
We are very good time.
Excellent fresh & delicious .
Service at the bar and waitress super friendly not too much not too little.
Just go there & enjoy your time.
You’ll love it: D

Where do I begin? I’ve been eating at Ariake for 20+ years and it’s been my go-​to quality sushi spot. Jin has always served big pieces of quality fish, offering sterling service and superb quality. Unfortunately, it appears he has recently chosen to cater to the takeout crowd at the expense of service, portions and quality.
I don’t write many Unilocal reviews and I’m not going into laborious detail. Suffice it to say I was so disappointed tonight — lack of attention, small pieces, poor cuts and massively slow service — that I shall never return.
Jin has probably made a good financial decision for his business by embracing the explosive demand for take-​out food in SF, but it’s too bad that it comes at the expense of his most loyal patrons. I hope he survives the next downturn.
Ps. My gf and I are still so hungry after spending $ 140 on aforementioned meal that we just ordered pizza.

Came here on a Wednesday since my favorite Japanese restaurant in the Richmond was closed so I decided to try this place out for the first time, and it will be my last.
Ordered $ 150 worth of food to go, charged me $ 180. Went back to the restaurant to resolve the issue and they gave me the run around and said only the owner is able to credit my account. Not a problem, that was on 3-​3-​2015. I spoke with the owner on the phone and he said he will credit my account right away. Two business days later and I still see no credit on my account. 2 business days is NOT right away.
Tell me something, when a merchant makes a mistake on the bill, whether you’re shopping for clothes or groceries, they correct the mistake on the same day, on the spot. It doesn’t take 48hrs to correct a charge, the owner could have invited me back to the restaurant and given me the cash difference or a $ 30 credit plus compensation for my time and everything would have been resolved.
What shady business practice. Words are useless, action is ultimate form of sincerity.

WOW — have lived in the Richmond for just over 4yrs now and can’t believe it took this long to stumble in here — being just down street from Lou’s (outstanding subs), have walked by many times… anyhooo
Smallish place, typical sushi bar, tables for ~25 — two sushi chefs working with two waitresses — tried grilled squid, uni nigiri, escolar nigiri, spider roll, Mango/​Hamachi roll — all were really, really good.
Uni — our favorite to have and seem to be a good barometer of quality; solid serving, albeit a bit on expensive side at $ 10 for two pieces, but super fresh, piled high inside the little nigiri pocket
Escolar was super delicate almost buttery in flavor (sooooo good) — in fact, we ordered two orders of both the Uni & Escolar.
Mango/​Hamachi a nice roll served with a creamy white sauce that had just a tough of fruity sweetness to it, not too much though and complimented the roll very well.
Spider roll is a staple — good panko crust on crab and cooked very well — nearly too well done as the panko was pretty dark but it really wasn’t bad at all (about the only complaint if any) — ate the entire thing and would easily order it again.
Service was pleasant enough — solid, solid sushi place and reasonable value — nothing to give it 5 stars, but would easily go back again as it is just around corner!

A hidden gem in the Richmond District! This is the best sushi I’ve had in the city and here’s why:
–Super close walking distance to me. Sushi anytime!
–Delicious, and FRESH fish for nigiri or sashimi. I was really impressed with the freshness of the Hon Maguro my first visit, but my second visit it was a lot stringier… but still fresh. They made up for the stringiness by giving me a little extra maguro as sashimi on the side. They have a board behind the sushi bar that shows what their «catch of the days» are — follow this, try something new, and you will be set.
–Really delicious specialty rolls. I’m not a huge fan of lots of mayo sauces, so if you are along the same parallel as me, great! Order the Hamachi Mango or Dragon rolls. The tempura in the rolls doesn’t overwhelm the sushi, if you know what I mean. If you like more mayo-​y sauces they have a few of those too: Moon Dog and Bob’s rolls.
Disclaimer: very small space with limited tables. I usually sit at the bar, but even that sometimes gets crowded. Be forewarned that you may need to wait for a good 30min for a table, but it’s worth it!

This place auto-​wins because it’s a Japanese restaurant that stays open until 11 PM on Mondays through Thursdays, midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Staying open past 10 PM – that’s herra rare for Japanese restaurants!
When we arrived around 10:15 PM, we had to a wait a few minutes for an open table. Looking through Unilocal reviews, there wasn’t a strong consensus for must-​order items, but a good number did mention the Moon Dog special roll. Which is exactly what I chose.
The MOON DOG, $ 14, is an 8-​piece roll stuffed with prawn tempura and crab, topped with seared tuna and special sauce (
). The seared tuna is nicely subtle and smoky, and the tempura added that textural dimension. The special sauce and Japanese mayo weren’t too heavy, and the freshly diced scallions were appreciated. They seasoned the sushi rice with furikake and used cucumber slivers in the roll. Sadly, I didn’t really taste the crab.
My boyfriend ordered dinner entrée #6, the SALMON SHIOYAKI, $ 16, which is broiled salmon without teriyaki sauce (
). Since it’s a dinner entrée, it’s served with miso soup and mixed greens salad. The entrée dish also comes with a pile of shredded pickled daikon and another pile of seaweed salad (double yum). The salmon wasn’t strongly flavored but wasn’t dry either. Not the moistest I’ve had, but tasty nonetheless.
The food is good, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here. Unfortunately, I couldn’t bite the bullet and convince myself to order their slightly pricey raw fish dishes. I’m starting to follow a trend of either paying dirt cheap for mediocre fish, or paying oodles for amazingly high quality fish (e.g. Tekka). But, when it’s past 10 PM, and you’re craving Japanese, Ariake becomes your default option: P