Nihon Whisky Lounge

Great sashimi and great single malts. The bar tender made it a lovely experience for us.
The place isn’t very large so I would recommend getting reservations.

As an old denizen of the Mission I can’t help but be surprised to find a place like this here. There was a time when you’d take your life in your hands to visit this particular corner. I remember friends who lived up on 14^th near the armory and the total chaos that used to go on all around here ²⁴⁄₇. Ah, the good bad old days.
My two trips to Nihon were both very enjoyable: it’s a great space, they serve very fresh fish, interesting preparations with plenty of not-​raw alternatives, attentive service, and a mind-​boggling whiskey selection.
One star comes off in my endless (and apparently futile) battle against the absurd pricing of everything everywhere now. It’s very good, but make sure you bring a card with a decent limit. On my last visit 3 people spent $ 500 without really trying. OK we tried, but it was a little too easy.

An update on our last, less than stellar experience with more specifics: we were there between 8pm and 9pm this past Friday. Our bartender had a bun and facial hair (and the personality of a wet noodle).
Adding a star (thanks to Victoria for the quick follow up). Tough to pass up a bar with 500 whiskeys, so I’ll probably try again. Of course they were out of the first one we picked last time, but maybe second time is the charm?

I’ve been coming to Nihon for about 10 years. If you like whiskey/​scotch, you will be in heaven here. They literally have hundreds of bottles — a ridiculously huge selection like you have never seen before. They have sake and beer too. I presume they have other booze but I didn’t look for it (and you should not either).
What surprised me on this latest visit was the quality of the food — very high. I knew that Tsunami and Nihon have a common owner, and I love Tsunami, but the food at Nihon was better than Tsunami this time. I was seriously impressed. Uni on the spoon, seared salmon belly, fried mackerel, mama san sushi roll.
It’s worth a visit. Yes, it’s pricey. I sat at the bar. The bartender who served us most of the night was competent but I thought a little aloof. There was another bartender who seemed to be the manager and he was more attentive and friendly.
Overall a great experience.

$ 70 for a pour of Hibiki 17 — nearly twice the going price elsewhere (my neighborhood bar charges $ 42 for a pour). What a ripoff.
Editing review to respond to Nihon’s comment on my review:
I’ve seen it sell for $ 35 to $ 45 a pour in many, many places. $ 42 for a pour is not a «bargain» price, it is the GOING price. $ 70 is ludicrous and a complete ripoff.

I think Nihon is trying to do too much with both their food and their drinks… unfortunately, it creates confusion as to what this place truly is.
They may fair better to pick either food or drinks as their focus and simplify the other. For example, they may want to focus on their whiskey and give up on trying to be so fancy with their food by going back to smaller, simpler plates. With the dim lighting and choice of music, their sushi dishes seem a bit of a stretch and out of place anyways, and there are far better places to go if you want Japanese food.
They may also want to consider going back to basics with their drinks menu. They have a very large selection of whiskey, but I found the recommendations at other places like Whitechapel or even Redford to be better. Quality is better than quantity.
I had previously given this place a three star but downgraded it to a two star as I found the tone of their staff Victoria’s reply to an earlier post of mine somewhat condescending and arrogant. Being confident of your establishment is great, but pride may be preventing them from being a better place.

I stumbled on this spot the other night with a friend. we were looking for another place but got turned around somewhere and happened to spot Nihon.
It looks non-​descript from the outside. but upon entering, I was delighted to see low tables, somber wood tones, and. the bar which seemed to display a never-​ending selection of whiskey. We sat at the only available spot next to the door on a low but comfortable table. We ordered a smattering of plates, sake and cocktails.
We started with the Pork Belly skewer and the Big Eye Tuna. Both dishes, meaty and succulent. The pork belly was juicy and surprisingly not that fatty. The tuna was delicious. We tried the Shonen Knife, the standout of the night for me the flavor combinations were excellent. Lastly and leastly we ordered the duck, which was forgotten and brought out very late. It was just ok and it seemed like they maybe had hurried it a little. The saving grace was definitely when they remembered my friend’s birthday and brought out some mocha alit with a candle.
The drinks were good the sake a little overpriced for the offerings. The cocktail list obviously geared towards whisky lovers also had some options for us vodka drinkers.

Great whisky cocktails and the small plates are supper yummy! Fried octopus is my favorite ! Will definitely come back again.

The time it takes to get the waitress’ attention to order and the time it takes to wait for our drinks to be made was way longer than necessary. We probably spent less than half the time we were here actually eating and drinking.
Speed aside, the place has an interesting atmosphere. It’s food and drinks are pretty upscale but the atmosphere it fosters is super casual. It’s a great place to come for a drink after work (happy hour is 5:30−7pm and many things are half off!!!)
We ordered:
— Mars Attack: deep fried octopus with an aoli dip on the side. A little salty but delicious!
— Nihon Fries: tempura sweet potato fries with a special orange colored salt and aoli dip on the side. These were thick, chewy, and just amazing.
— Bobby Burns and Atichoku: Japanese based whiskeys with bitters and other flavors. These drinks tasted very similar, and was a little too sweet honestly. Not sure if it was the whiskey or the flavoring.

Nice space, food was delish. Would totally have been 5 star, cept it was just a bit too loud… So this is more like 4.5
There were 6 of us, so we ordered a bunch of stuff to share. The Dr. Oct, Torch My Belly and the carpaccio were all nice and fresh. The wings has a really nice crunch and is not drowned in sauce so easy finger food. The Takoyaki was nice, though I normally like it with a bit more of the creamy mayo. The fries wasn’t anything special, but goes great with a peaty scotch. The pork belly was very nicely done, and the thunderbird and samurai were both crowd pleasers.
There there are the scotch/​whisky selections, OMG…
Too bad we had a movie to catch, so only tried a couple of selections. Will definitely clear calendar for a night and come back here again. It just seems they carry every type of whiskey under the sun, or moon, or whatever.

This place is so cool! Who thought there would be a bar that serves whisky and sushi. Nihon Whisky Lounge, located in SoMa, has the most impressive selection of whisky’s I have ever come across. Specializing in Japanese whiskey. They have a tasting menu as well as a cocktail menu. I tried a Whisky Sour, made with Japanese whisky and it was great. We also tried a few sushi items from the menu, which were delicious.
I recommend going here for a late night drink and snack. They have restaurant seating and bar seating. I suggest to sit at the bar and enjoy a drink, and watch the bartenders mix drinks.

I came here strictly to sample their vast array of whiskies, and let me say: wow.
Their collection of whiskey is why I continue to work hard and save that $$… so that one day I too can have a collection like theirs.
Their menu samples whiskies from the most random parts of the globe… South Africa? Really? I may one day return to try that, but for the time being I felt like something more… known.
Please note that the bill can sneak up on you after 1 round, as some pours from my recollection can average out to be close to $ 40 – 50 per glass. On a positive note, the bartenders there are super cool, and will tell you everything there is to know about each whiskey. I’d love to work there part time to boost my knowledge of whiskies, but I doubt they’re taking interns.
All in all, if you absolutely love whiskey/​scotch/​bourbon, this place is definitely worth a try. However, if you’re on a strict budget, I’d recommend only coming here for special occasions.

The first thing I noticed was that the décor was nice, but the ambiance was not. It definitely looked like a whisky lounge, with some nice seats in odd conformations, a giant wall of bottles filled with that lovely caramel color. But ugh, why a DJ? It’s been a while since I’ve been to Japan, let alone a lounge there, but I’m pretty certain their lounges didn’t have a bored looking DJ apathetically spinning discs and looking like he’s checking his day job’s work e-​mail, filling the room with some mix of Will Smith’s «Whoo!“s and «Ha ha“s.
Then I look at the menu, and realize that this place exists solely because people don’t know shit about whiskey. Because if you know your whiskey, you would already have bottles at home, instead of coming here and being charged a 500% premium. Buffalo Trace, for example, is easily a $ 40 – 50 bottle, but this place is charging $ 200. For a mix bourbon. Like many places in San Francisco, this is an establishment that provides an image of learnedness to its clientele while obfuscating their ignorance, and you know, all the power to it for taking advantage.
So if you want to pay an extreme premium for the illusion of style, then go for it. Otherwise, just go to your local whiskey shop and just get a nice cheap bottle for you and your friends because you probably won’t be able to really tell much of a difference. Johnny Walker Black is a popular blend.

Amazing sushi and whisky! Cool ambience. Pricey. Would go back again. Servers could be more knowledgeable about the whist though.

This dude must have well over $ 100,000 in whisky. I’ve only been here once on a warm summer night and we were the only ones here. We didn’t stay long because it was clear that he could go home after we left. He was very friendly and made us feel very welcomed. I’m sure we could have stayed all night.
When you do come take your time and ask questions about what you think you might want. It will be a rewarding experience.
I need to go back.

I adore the whisky list, but it was just so loud and the tables were kind of cramped. Not really a great atmosphere for enjoying the rare whisky with friends or enjoying friends with fine whisky.

My friends and I was thinking to get drink in the city after our dinner and we found out about this place. We ordered 2 whiskey, 2 Suntory Premium and an order of sweet potato fries. We were surprised by the food and the drinks. The Suntory Premium was really smooth and the whiskey have slight coffee bean’s scents both drinks were remarkable. As for the sweet potato fries, they were huge but only have few pieces. But the taste of the fries were also amazing.
Overall, the service was great as well. The servers were nice and always asked if we need anything else or need another drink when our plates & glasses were empty. Overall, I would recommend this place, but if you don’t have the right budget, don’t try this place out. Since their drinks are on a more of a mid to pricy end.

We’ve come here a few times over the years for: drinks or dinner. Each time we enjoyed ourselves and our selections. This last time was for my husband’s 40^th birthday. A group of us were able to join together some seats in the front and really have a great time laughing, chatting, and catching up. He ordered a few times of whisky (that’s his drink of choice) and I stuck with wine. Also, I ordered some uni with quail egg and it was delicious!
Overall, the ambiance is pretty swanky, the staff attentive, and drinks/​food — delicious.

–I don’t like whiskey
–They have a lot of whiskey
–I tried some whiskey
–it was okay
–Happy hour is robust and yummy
–Got a bunch of shit and it was all good
–I tried some more whiskey
–it was getting pretty darn good…
–More happy hour foods
–more whiskey
–I love whiskey
Come here if you want: Swanky ambience, good happy hour menu, large whiskey menu, to have a class date!
Do not come here if: You hate candlelit swank, you want extra large portions, you hate chilling

Great spot to head to for drinks and bites with friends or a date.
The happy hour menu is ½ off and is from 5:30−7pm in their downstairs lounge. I’ve unfortunately never been able to make the happy hour timing but still enjoy all the items at full price.
The highlights are the torched salmon belly, the chef’s choice omakase (the fish meat is so tender, fatty and has the perfect texture), avocado fly, nihon taco rice if you’re feeling particularly carby, and the pork belly grill. The wine menu is a bit stale but their whiskey menu is obviously well thought through. The bill for the two of us came out to $ 150 so definitely make note that the portions are small and the price of each small plate does add up. I’d recommend checking out the spot for happy hour for the 50% off if you can.
Happy Eating, Unilocalers!

You had me at whiskey lounge. Then I find out it’s Japanese and they have awesome share plates. Sold.
I started with a whiskey flight with a few recommendations from our server. Then I had the mermaid lychee cocktail that everyone on Unilocal suggested– then went back to whiskey! The food was amazing. I loved everything from the grill– the bacon wrapped shrimp especially. The beef carpaccio was also a stand out with the crispy onions on top. The cucumber salad was a nice palate cleanser and the hamachi was good– it had truffle oil which I don’t care for on delicate dishes– it’s an overpowering flavor! The nihon fries were good too– sweet potato with tempura and kewpie. Yes.
Our server was great and we had a lovely meal– I’d come back.

I would personally give this place 2 stars but I’m bumping it up to 3 based on the experience of the rest of my group.
Location is terrible but ambiance inside is nice. No question that they have a HUGE selection of Japanese whisky as well as sake. I would recommend coming here for drinks but not the food. Food was expensive with tiny portions and no one seemed particularly excited about their food.
As a vegan options were extremely limited. I had some sort of grilled vegetables in foil without butter which were ok. I also tried to order an off the menu sushi roll — I mentioned to the server that I was allergic to avocado and the first time the roll came out with avocado. It looked pretty lack luster (standard carrot, cucumber, not very tightly packed rice) so I should have just abandoned ship but I asked the waiter to have the chef remake it. After over 25 minutes we finally asked the waiter to cancel the order as the rest of the group had finished eating long ago. I feel like when the kitchen messes up the order they should prioritize fixing it in a timely fashion, not putting the order at the bottom of the list. When the bill came out we were still charged for the sushi; the waiter and managed seemed very annoyed at taking this off the bill and no one apologized.

ive been wanting to come here for years and years and years! finally got to try it since the Unilocal elite at the streat food park was so close! its super nice on the inside, but you wouldnt be able to tell from the dark windows and curtains from the outside, so dont be alarmed!
we cozied up to the bar and looked through the EXTENSIVE whiskey menu — pretty impressive. my friend got the hibiki harmony — first neat, then on the rocks. he prefers chilled drinks so the second was better. i went the cocktails route — dead rabbit, sazerac, bartenders choice (DELICIOUS) and 13 years of hell. lol. then i ordered two of the fuzzy drinks that were also really yummy that the bartender was making. awesome night — tab was 180 for 2 before tip hehehe.
had the ‘mars attack’ to snack on. so cute! so crunchy!
WILL BE BACK SOON.

My friends and I were originally looking for restaurants that served omakase. At that time, Nihon Whisky Lounge seemed to be a good choice since it had omakase and other small plates. I was actually pretty excited to try, but boy was I wrong… It was just very disappointing. If my friend hadn’t also bought a Groupon, the meal would’ve been so not worth it even more. We were seated upstairs since we had reservations for a party of four. On a Friday night, this place was actually pretty crowded downstairs. Maybe because of its happy hour?
We had the hamachi jalapeño, mars attacks, avocado fly, torch my belly, and sashimi omakase. The hamachi jalapeño had very thin slices of hamachi. I’ve had better tasty and more fresh hamachi at other places… The mars attacks was basically fried baby octopus with sesame seeds. Pretty delicious and probably my favorite dish of the night. The avocado fly was a deep fried avocado with tomatoes, onion and citrus soy sauce. Very interesting since it was a fried avocado. Torch my belly were slices of seared salmon belly. The salmon didn’t really taste that fresh. We had ordered 4 orders of the sashimi omakase (8 pieces) so that we each had our own omakase, but for some reason, our waitress had put in only one order. So we basically had a total of 8 pieces of sashimi to share between the four of us, which really makes no sense… After we found out, we decided to order another sashimi omakase (24 pieces) since we were all still very hungry. Some of the fishes were not fresh, ESPECIALLY the uni. It smelled/​tasted really fishy in a bad way. YUCK. So so so disappointed. :(

A fun, sexy almost dive bar looking place.
I was searching around Unilocal for things to do at night when Nihon popped up– and it is everything I hoped it to be. This is my new spot to take people/​catch up!
First know there’s actually two seating areas– bar and tables. There’s no one really standing around (its not *that* kind of bar) and most the tables turn over 2x in a night. The first time I came here I was in LOVE. We sat at the bar which was wicked fun, and drank beer/​whisky/​feasted all night. They have a HUGE selection of Japanese Whiskys, and some solid beers (Duvel, La Chouffe) on tap for the beer drinkers.
Sit at the bar if you have a small party. I think the service AND attention from staff is much better. If you’re looking for a whisky to try– me and my friend are obsessed with the Yamakazi 18 year. It’s expensive ($ 40 a pour) but it is seriously *so* good. For a cheaper drink, we like the Nikka Coffee whisky which is also super fun for first timers– and affordable ($ 8) to boot!
FOOD
After all that drinking you’ll notice the trays of food being whisked around… and you’ll definitely want some too. We ended up caving in and ordered the torched salmon belly and the samurai roll. The torched salmon belly was DELISH and buttery, only complaints were I could still taste a little bit of butane. The samurai roll was perfect– so so good.
So only thing that bums me out?
The second time we were here we got a table… but had a much weirder experience. The hostess felt very stiff, and they had some weird hierarchy going on with the wait staff that made it really hard to order drinks/​foods. The food was also considerably worse this time and a much smaller portion… so I may reconsider my love of this place depending on how the next visit goes.
All in all, a really fun experience that I recommend at least once!
Some last tips for the ladies:
Pour a little of the water in your drink, it’ll make it way more tasty and you won’t try to throw it down so quickly that you can’t taste the nuances of each whisky :)
Also, ask for an ice cube! The bartenders hack them by hand at the bar, and it’s really fun to watch if you’re close enough. if you’re lucky, theyll shape it in to the shape of a heart (but he mentioned this was for the ladies only ;))

5 stars for customer service. But 3 stars for food. It’s not average, but I think food weighs more. So overall this place is a 3.5 star.
I got a Groupon $ 35 for $ 70 worth. (Does not include happy hour). Our host was super nice and told us that if we order $ 70 worth of non happy hour food, the happy hour will then be valid. Most people would not do this, but they were super sweet. I came with my family and we were a group of 7, so we definitely took advantage.
My family said they would definitely come back for the whiskey.
For the food:
MARS ATTACK. 8 mini fried octopus. I would recommend this from all the other appetizers. It was tender and not chewy. You can definitely taste the yummy octopus. It tasted really good with the mayonnaise sauce.
TORCH MY BELLY. Seared salmon. Super good! But the portion is super small. They give you five strips of thin salmon.
KURO BUTA SAUSAGE. 4 pieces of sausage. Eh. It tasted like sausage. I don’t really have anything to say about it. Just not worth the price. Maybe only for happy hour, but still a dollar a sausage. Not for me.
VEGETABLE FOIL YAKI. Lots of Shitake mushrooms, asparagus and peppers. It was whole ingredients so everything was fresh. I really liked the sauce it was made in. I think that made the dish. This is good if you want some vegetables and a good amount too. Definitely would get for happy hour.
HAMACHI JALAPEÑO. Super refreshing vegetables but I could barely taste the fish. It was so tiny, but it was very light.
THUNDERBIRD and SHONEN KNIFE. These tasted okay. I felt like they skimped out on the main ingredients in the rolls… Pretty sad especially since everything is expensive. I expected more.
SWEET YUMMY ROLL. It was interesting. It has yam in it which you can taste. Something different if you don’t want fish.
JAPANESE WINGS. Wow. We’re these tiny wings. They were probably as big as my thumb. And I do not have an abnormal looking thumb. Haha. They probably gave us 8 pieces. It was fried with sweet and sour sauce which was good, but I would have wanted more meat on it. Very crispy.
HAMACHI SHITAKE. This came with two big pieces of Shitake. It tasted good, but had the texture of chicken breast. I dont know how I felt about it. Good if you just want something normal. It came with a wasabi sauce and sweet and sour sauce. Both were good with it.
MAMA SAN. This roll was so small, BUT I honestly think this was my favorite roll. I could actually taste the fish and it was fresh and yummy.
The waitress and host were very attentive. One person dropped his chopsticks and the host came after two seconds with a new pair of chopsticks. The waitress kept refilling out water vase and made sure we were happy. The people were AWESOME!
Overall. I probably wouldn’t come back for the food. But I would come back for the drinks and service though.

Ambiance — 5 stars
Japanese whisky selection — 4 stars
Price comparable to Japan — 1 star
I like to say that I’m a collector of Japanese whisky. My collection is growing slowly, but when I crave something new, I’d like to know I can find a place that will carry what I don’t have. This place has a good selection of Japanese whisky.
Con: For a $ 50 bottle of Nikka From The Barrel will run you $ 360.

You know a place is fancy when it offers a choice of regular vs sparkling water, but at least I have encountered this situation before so as not to appear like a confused fine dining n00b.
Fancy? Yes. Worth trying? Yes. (or I would not be spending time on a review since the water choices alone already prove fanciness)
[TL;DR]
Nihon Whiskey Lounge defies paradoxes and pulls together the best of all worlds: authentically novel izakaya fare, whiskey cocktails so smooth they can be downed like girl drinks, and an ambiance that’s simultaneously fancy and swanky.
[THE HAPPY HOUR]
Happy hour is 5:30−7pm every day and features 50% off a selection of food and drinks (starred items, though there is a typo on the menu which says stared items.)
Note that happy hour is offered on the first floor only! We made reservations and we were ecstatic to land a large table on the posh and loungey second floor, only to find that it was restricted to the über pricey regular menu, i.e. it would blow my budget and (literally) exceed how much I spend on food for entire week. Fortunately the waiter was cool and helped us move downstairs after clarifying the menu limitations.
[THE NOMS & DRANKS]
Unfortunately the online menu is neither complete nor updated, and I was not sufficiently diligent in my Unilocal duties to take those «very useful» menu pictures, but here is my take:
(++) AVOCADO FLY, x½ ($ 3.50 HH, deep fried avocado served with a lemon soy sauce): I couldn’t help being amused by the Engrishness of the name (fly and fry are the same in katakana). I’m sure we all know that avocado any way usually turns out unexpectedly amazing, and this was indeed unexpectedly amazing.
(++) QUAIL EGGS, x6: Thanks to the popularity of Benedicts and ramen, there is an unspoken San Franciscan standard for soft-​boiled eggs, and Nihon’s quail eggs appetizer meets this quite well. The delicious runny yolk is made even better when packaged into bite sized quail eggs, but I would take care to pick them up carefully (like with xiao long bao attention), so as not to break it and spew the insides.
(+) KURO BUTA SAUSAGE, x4 ($ 4 HH, pork sausage served with karashi mustard): The mustard was so amazing it outshined the actual sausage, though that was pretty good as well and makes me not want to go back to non-​kurobuta sausage
(++) VEGETABLES WRAPPED IN FOIL: Officially, it had a fancier name, but essentially it was vegetables wrapped in foil and grilled robatayaki style. I was surprised at the generous, un-​tapas-​size portions of shiitake, oyster mushrooms, and shishito peppers. I know vegetables are not as exciting as foodgasmic pork belly and the like, but the savory and fitting flavorings would stand a chance even with carnivores.
(++) NIHON FRIES ($ 4 HH, sweet potato tempura served with Hawaiian sea salt & spicy aioli): Amazing! You get the full satisfaction of fries without being stuck with American bar food frozen fries, which we are all undeniably sick of. The extra crunchy tempura coating is delicious, and the sweet potato just makes it better. I don’t know about the Hawaiian sea salt aioli though… there seems to be nothing about sea salt nor Hawaiian origins that adequately justify making an aioli out of sea salt because it just tastes like a sauce with way too much salt. (Insert hypernatremia joke)
(+++) Whiskey cocktail: I don’t remember the name: just that it sounded badass, and when it came it looked like badass straight-​up whiskey as it was a glass half full (not half empty lol) without ice. It was an absolutely perfect balance of let-​it-​burn whiskey (which was so high quality it was the most pleasant burn I’ve ever experienced) tempered by a mix with overtones of exotic flavors.
[THE VERDICT]
The place is overall cozy and nice; the bar area with the towering wall of whiskey will make you think they have ninja Whiskey Thieves to build such an impressive collection. With bar food and dranks so unique and memorable, Nihon Whiskey Lounge targets the audience of hip San Franciscans who go happy-​hour-​happy (and if you like Asian things then you will be extra happy.)

No