Izakaya House

I usually love japanese tapas, but this place was kind of a miss for me. I order beef carpaccio pretty much anywhere I see it, but Izakaya House’s KOBE beef carpaccio wasn’t at all tender and juicy. Actually kind of tough. The parmesan shavings were also kind of weird with it, so I ate them separately with the mixed greens as a salad. Per Unilocal recommendation, we also got the Techno Roll. For $ 14 it was just alright and not super fresh. At least the hamachi crudo was semi-​satisfying. All in all, I don’t think I’ll be coming back because there are better izakayas in the city

Went to fill my belly before a night of partying in the SoMa, one must try the Hamachi Shooters! Scrumdiddlyumtious!

Very average sushi but good if you are hungry and want to eat rolls (that’s all we had). Happy hour has good selections. It was a dead night, and the staff was definitely bored and not so attentive. Not a place you’d go out of your way to visit.

I love this place!!! I go here all the time for exclusively ramen (I’ve never tried their sushi) but it is absolutely delicious. The house ramen comes with great toppings, the noodles are cooked to perfection, and the broth is absolutely fantastic. I highly recommend adding the spicy garlic to the ramen because it brings a great dish, to a spectacular dish. Sometimes the service is a bit slower than I would like, but I think that’s just because I want those flavor as soon as I order them!

A block away from work AND and has an uni don lunch special? Sold!
It’s a swanky little spot with a pretty varied Japanese menu. The portions are just right and and the service is super attentive while being respectful of your space.
It’s also good for solo diners since it’s pretty much all booth and bar seating and the lighting is dim.
If you’re a vegetarian, the sunshine roll is a fan (me) favorite. It’s filled with perfectly crisped sweet potato tempura, spinach, and avocado, and topped with tamago and lightly drizzled with a sweet sauce.
Totally worthwhile if you’re in the area.

This poor little place; the folks here are really nice and the space is epic having taken over the now defunct Sushi Groove, but most of the food was average with a couple of dishes bordering on disaster. In particular the yakatori should be avoided. This place did push out of few good rolls, including an avocado, tuna, eel roll that was good. But given that we were the only folks here combined with mediocre food, I don’t think this place will last unless the make major changes to their food preparation and quality.

I was blown away by the happy hour specials. I happened upon Izakaya House as its location is just around the corner from Oasis. We needed a quiet spot for a quick meal and stumbled upon Izakaya House. It is a little Oasis amongst the crazy street people and noisy traffic.
Happy hour prices are $ 3, $ 4 and $ 5. We enjoyed an unfiltered cold sake that we thought for sure had to be a mixed drink. We ordered two of those and took advantage of the Unilocal coupon of $ 1. hot sake.
We loved the bacon wrapped scalloped and thought they were fresh and cooked to perfection. We tried the garlic edamame and love it! The edamame was hot, fresh and garlicky. We enjoyed the fast service as we were on our way to a show at the Oasis.
The restaurant is designed with beautiful touches like candle holders inserted into the brick wall and decorative blue tile shaped like a wave. The tiles picked up the light from the candleholders and shimmered in the somewhat dark restaurant.
I will definitely go here again.

If you are a young, free-​spirited Asian twenty-​something among a gaggle of other young, free-​spirited Asian twenty-​somethings, then this place might be right up your alley since it’s conveniently located right off the Bourbon Street of San Francisco, 11^th Street. Actually the area isn’t that jazzy cool and neither is this izakaya wannabe which may be trying a bit too hard to cover its bases as a cool Japanese tapas joint. It definitely has one of those menus that goes on forever with color-​enhanced photos that make the food look not quite as appetizing as the owners hope. So glad my Evelyn Wood speed-​reading skills come in handy in these situations or maybe it was just my eeny-​meeny-​miney-​mo dexterity. I forget.
I always say when in doubt, go with the yakitori because at least it’s cooked. The yakitori is appropriately referred to as kushiyaki, and I started with the $ 6 Kobeyaki, a pair of Kobe beef and onion skewers heavily marinated in a sweet teriyaki sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds that could have benefited from some toasting (photo:
). Not bad, not too chewy thankfully. I moved onto the $ 6 Bacon Wrapped Scallops, which is accurately described because that’s what it was (photo:
). Certainly nothing wrong with bacon on a stick. The third dish actually delighted me, as it was the $ 8 Ankimo, slices of monkfish liver adorned with roe (photo:
). Sometimes you just need to leave the dish alone to let it shine.
Then I gave them my litmus test for most Japanese restaurants worth their salt or maybe more appropriately, their soy sauce, the $ 13 Rainbow Roll (photo:
). Pretty good, not bad, fresh enough. At least they didn’t screw it up with a splooge of mayo like some other places do, but at the same time, you really don’t feel like you’re in the middle of a Tsukiji FIsh Market auction either. I have to admit it’s somewhat confusing that they refer to themselves as an izakaya and then focus most of their menu on sushi. At the same time, they also serve hotteri ramen, which rankles me since ramen should never be a sideline if it’s done right. Like I said, there’s such a thing of trying too many things at once. I’m afraid this House may be overdecorated.
FOOD — 3 stars… Japanese tapas for the clubsters. mostly middling except when they leave the ankimo alone
AMBIANCE — 2.5 stars… too hip for the room
SERVICE — 3 stars… OK, a bit too fast in picking up plates, especially when the place is mostly empty
TOTAL — 3 stars… ah, to be young and skinny again…

I’ll break this review down into 3 categories: décor, service and food.
First, the décor is very nice. From the outside, I thought this place was a hole in the wall. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how nice it was inside. There were 2 or so bars and decent amount of seating. This place is very linear but cozy.
Second, the service was okay. Even though they were busy, you can see how hard and fast they were working! At one point, I saw the waiter throw the menu into the their little cashier section! It wasn’t bad at all, it was kinda cool how much precision he had doing so haha! You can get caught up in the busy pace.
Third: The food was okay. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t come here if it wasn’t happy hour. Happy Hour makes it worth it. The rolls were tiny but the takoyaki were good.
Overall, I give this 3 stars because the food can be better. However the place and service was good during my experience.

Came for lunch and had the ramen noodles which were more floury than I like. It was not good. The broth was lukewarm. Spinach was tough. I had the bento box another time and it was way better selection and taste. The place is quiet for lunch so you can actually catch up and have conversations. the place has a dark décor. Service is good.

This place is awesome! I highly recommend this spot. They had a great happy hour, I really enjoyed the sushi and I really and I mean really enjoyed their ramen. I highly recommend their house ramen. Extremely flavorful and full with deliciousness. They get pretty busy so come early. There was so much more than I wanted to try and i can’t wait to come back and try some more. A lot of people seem to get the gyoza. I am not a lot of people, I didn’t get it. The tempura is good, the sushi is fresh, they’re pretty bomb.

I’m a cheap bastard. I hate to waste food, but I couldn’t finish two of the dishes I ordered.
The Cal roll was the only ok thing I had.
The gyoza were decidedly the worst I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a lot. They were the type of food that give you murderous burbs for hours after you eat. Finally, the chicken karaage made made chicken McNuggets taste like something from French Laundry.

Great meal: love your House Ramen (get it all the time) and tried the gizzard last night (very tender and tasteful).
You guys really need to tell your story on r3lish:
This is where I would want to hear from you.

The food was OK; the servers were attentive; atmosphere is cozy, it’ll be good for dates. I ordered the chirashi bowl ($ 20) and bacon wrapped scallops ($ 6 for 2).
I would come back again if I am in the area, just wasn’t anything amazing I would go out of my way for.

Izakaya House has less than 10ish tables in the rear. sushi bar has about 10 hard wooden seats (not comfy at all)
looked thruout menu, didn’t see any izakaya. one waiter on duty.
eats: chirashi don (14.95)
–ten slices of hamachi, tuna, sake.
tuna bland, others tasty as was the rice.
–miso soup had msg aftertaste.
some sprouts and seaweed salad too.
just ok.
temaki:
–service friendly, but some waiting at times
–bento box 2 items (10.95)
–food not a good value, maybe HH is a value.
–passed on $ 1 sake available when one checks in.
wouldn’t repeat. menu looks just like the hundreds of j eateries in s.f.

Came by with a friend. Decent up front, sorta cold looking towards the back, but you can sit at the bar as well. I got to try their combo ramen that had everything in it! Some chicken katsu, karaage, a fried quail egg, stewed char siu, bamboo shoots, corn, and even a shrimp tempura. The broth itself was very tasty!
I also got the Techno roll, which was very very good. The butterfish on the roll is so silky smooth! Every other table also had this roll. Highly recommended. I also chose the Sea Monster roll. This one had the delicious seaweed salad on top with unagi. Just the perfect roll if you enjoy these ingredients, which I LOVE!
It’s not the easiest locations to get to, but I’d definitely recommend dropping by for some fresh sushi and delicious ramen.

Really liked this place… its cozy atmosphere and funky designed ceiling somehow reminded me of Tokyo. Having said that, we ordered a rather non-​Japanese appetizer — the fried cheese — which will remind Wisconsinites of fried cheese curds… do it! Also got the bacon wrapped scallop (tasty), the techno roll (with jalapeño), and the hamachi toro nigiri… which was fantastic.
Also, it’s in the least Tokyo-​esque microneighborhood possible: lots of low slung warehouses and not tons of people… at least unless it’s bootie night at DNA.

After having a few beers from Willows… it was time to feed the food baby. Food baby wanted some Japanese food so when we saw that Izakaya House is literally a 2 minute walk from Willows. I was super excited.
This place is more of a sushi place than an Izakaya. We got seated right away and there was a good amount of people eating here as well. Oh, it was Happy Hour time so we got some HH food from the menu.
— Takoyaki: it was his first time having it. first impression? maybe have to try it again and wished there was more meat rather than just one. Lol. Fair enough.
— Spicy Tuna roll: decent roll. I don’t really remember much rather than it was decent. I wasn’t that crazy for it.
— Geisha Roll: Is it just me or this roll has seaweed salad on top? It was actually my favorite part of the roll. thumbs up.
— Dynamite Roll: now. this is sexy time in my mouth. We both ended up liking this roll a lot. I really liked the special sauce on top of the roll.
We also had a glass of their Cabernet Sauvignon which was okay. what do you expect from a Japanese restaurant serving house wine? Not much.
Overall, I really liked this place and they have some spacious, clean restroom too.

This place is more of a sushi place than an Izakaya. It was pretty empty when I went (Monday night around 6:30). Only one other table was there. But the food was pretty good.
We got:
Taste of Heaven
I generally don’t like raw food but so many Unilocalers recommended this so we had to try it. It was pretty good actually. Most of the raw fishy taste was covered by the raw egg. Pretty unique dish but probably a one time experience for me.
Oshitashi (chilled spinach w/​bonito flakes)
We got this dish because we were looking for some vegetables. The spinach was waaaayy to salty because it’s drenched in soy sauce.
Bacon Wrapped Scallops
Pretty good. Each scallop is about 2 inches in diameter so a decent size.
Kobeyaki
This was disappointing. The skewer was covered in a thick sweet sauce which I wasn’t a huge fan of. The beef pieces felt like they had a bit of a fat because it broke down in your mouth easily but it was a bit grainy.
Bacon Wrapped Enoki
Pretty good, nothing special though.
Bacon Wrapped Kurobuta Sausage
Also pretty good but a bit too greasy. This dish also came with a side of mayonnaise.
Sea Monster Roll
Sounds better than it tasted. The tempora pieces didn’t have much of a tempora taste (also not that crispy). The unagi was also a bit more fishy than usual and could have really used a bit more unagi sauce. It was a decent dragon roll replacement.
I liked the skewers we got, they weren’t anything special but satisfied my skewer cravings for the day.

Izakaya House seems more like a sushi heavy Japanese restaurant vs. Izakaya, but hey, I’m not Japanese so they can call themselves whatever they want.
Still, with the sushi centric menu I decided on Chirashi ($ 18) and Gyoza ($ 6).
The gyoza are on the small side and (disappointingly) deep-​fried (
). Meaty filling, but after having Kotetsu’s better and cheaper gyoza a couple days prior (
). .. well, you get the picture.
The chirashi was one ebi and three each of Hamachi, Tai, Maguro, Sake, and Escolar (!) in a clean presentation with some seaweed salad and flying fish roe (
).
I’ll go with A-​OK. Everything tasted fresh, but there were a few things to note:
— Sake (salmon) — The lemon slices between the sake. .. not sure what their purpose was. They were too thick to eat with the fish; I tried one and it completely overpowered the fish. They also provide a «ceviche» effect, acid-​cooking the outer parts of the slices.
— Maguro — Thick slices had texturally odd mouth-​feel.
— Escolar (
) — ESCOLAR!
Maybe 2.5 stars for the food. Rounding up for the service.