On the Bridge

The only japanese curry place I go to within San Francisco ever since 2014, gotta stay a true customer to them and I’m just finally writing a review.
First things first, the girl who works there is amazing at her job! She’s efficient and definitely always tends to my needs even if I don’t ask for it. I usually go on Saturday’s around 11M, and there’s always one or two other tables. Price wise is also affordable.
For food, I usually order the pork katsu curry don and 1x spicy (mild). I love their curry sauce and can’t get enough of it. A worth and must try. I also tried their tofu, mushroom, and spinach curry. The only difference is the curry sauce is on the side, and they give a plate of just white rice. Tofu was soft and I liked the taste of it. Very flavorful!
The taste is so good I tend to eat way too fast and get really bloated after finishing the whole entrée.

Today’s lunch I ordered the «Beef Curry» (Just OK) and I will not order that again :(

On the Bridge does some exciting & unique dishes, basically Japanese-​style pastas and other Japanese family food.
I had the pepperontini pasta, which was a bit spicy with red chili pepper, savory mushrooms, spinach and ham. It’s also a really good value, the pasta dish I had was under $ 10 and really filling.
My husband had a curry, and while the taste was really good (we could tell it wasn’t from a ready-​made roux) he didn’t care for the thick, dry nature of the sauce. It looked okay to me, but I like drier curries — just something to consider! I think it’s really cool that you’re able to customize your curry so much, with tons of different toppings and different levels of heat.
One thing I’d love to try next time is the rice gratins, that are like a dish I’d had in Japan a couple times called Doria. It’s layered rice, cream sauce, cheese, and whatever your other chosen topping is. They’re really nice & comforting dishes and they have a few options. I’d like to see a meat sauce one sometime, though!
The one thing I’d ding just a tiny bit is that one of the waitresses is a little cold. Not so much that it’s a big deal, she’s clearing plates & taking orders in a timely fashion but she seemed pretty unhappy to be there, and I noticed a couple other reviews mentioned her. Like I said, she’s not rude, but you do definitely get a sense of coldness. I can live with it, she gets the job done. :)
I’d love to go to back and try a few more things — they have quite a few interesting beers, sakes, and cocktails (including chuhais) so next time I’ll visit with that in mind, haha.

I’ve passed by this place numerous time growing up during my visits to Japan town. Unfortunately, the food and experience definitely did not live up to the hype.
Service was slow and inattentive and the food was mediocre. To be honest, I was sorely disappointed in my meal. I ended up getting the tofu and veggie curry. Unlike other Japanese curries I’ve had elsewhere, the curry here lacked
Flavor and complexity. Though it looked appetizing, it was super bland and the tofu tasted like nothing has been done to it. The curry itself was a weird consistency and definitely did not tickle my taste buds. Would not recommend. There are better places and options in jtown

I always pass by this restaurant whenever I’m in Japantown. I’ve eaten here once before and enjoyed the loco moco. This time I was with family visiting from SoCal and we were all hungry so I suggested we eat here. When we first walked in my brother was amazed at the decorations. The restaurant is embellished with animé wall scrolls, shelves full of manga and animé playing on the tv in the background. Its any animé lovers dream restaurant haha. Our waiter was nice and delivered us water but unfortunately one of the waters had some particle floating around in it so we set it aside.
When it was time to order our food my brother ordered one of the pastas, my cousin ordered the katsu curry and I ordered the okonomiyaki pizza. The food took awhile and when it arrived it was only the pasta and curry. The pasta looked good but the portion was rather small because my brother finished it quickly. The loco katsu curry looked amazing and had egg with cheese sprinkled on top of it. My pizza wasn’t there however which was kind of awkward because they started eating without me. The pizza came later and it was really hot so I had to wait before touching it. It tasted great though, definitely like okonomiyaki with the infamous movement of Bonito flakes and the cheese didn’t overpower the Asian taste. The service was pretty mediocre but I don’t blame the server because he was the only one on the floor. Please hire more people to make it easier on him!

Whenever stopping by japantown I always pass by and have never actually stepped in here to try it out. My cousins and I decided to try it out and were seated immediately.
Service is pretty fast except our food came out at different times, that was the only thing because we finished all at different times.
Also their water had bits inside and I was confused…
I had the chicken katsu curry don and it was good~
I just wished the curry was on the side instead of all over the rice, but it’s ok it was all good. Also the egg and the whole meal had cheese sprinkled on top, I think it was Parmesan cheese and I’m not really into that but it’s ok. Other than those things I have no complaint of the foods and enjoyed my meal!
Overall pretty good restaurant!

The fusion cuisine is one of a kind! I love stopping here for unique creations like okonomiyak pizza or locomoco… things you wont find in the other restaurants. There is a minimum $ 15 for cards, so bring cash. That said, Im usually close enogh with an entrée and a drink, and they havent been terribly strict aboyt the minimum with me. There is a unique, vasual atmosphere as well. The bridge behind the counter is decorated with various nicknacks and screens showing animé. There are bookshelves as well, with manga that you are welcome to read while you wait. The staff is courteous, though sometimes a bit short… seemingly due to a bit of a language barrier. I like to avoid peak dining times and have always had good, quick service. This is one of my favorite go-​to spots in Japantown, theres really nothing else like it!

I think I’m done with this place. the older lady waitress makes for a very unpleasant experience. she is slow and never mumbles more then a few words. never checks on you. I have manners and always say thank you even when she is placing the utensils onto my table. what is her response? nothing. the last straw was today. she total up my check wrong. if the service was great then it is excusable but her service is lacking so it just ticked me off more. when I corrected her, she corrected it and mumbled something which I couldn’t even hear when she handled it back to me. she then left and was nowhere to be found. so I couldn’t even pay for the check… I waited and waited and she never came back out. She must be hiding from me. I had to hand it to the older gentleman who came out later.
I have gone here many times and I always get the same lady waitress so this is not my first encounter with her. it is my last.

This was our first time dining at this restaurant. We were hungry and it was almost 10pm. The place didn’t look super busy so we decided to walk in and try them out.
I usually order my favorite sushi and tempura but I noticed they had loco moco on their menu. I haven’t had that in a while so I got that with mushroom sauce. And I tried their melon creamy soda. Loved it! My husband ordered their shrimp katsu curry and he liked it too. The food here was really good. I would definitely come back.

Today I experienced one of the worst meals of my life. Both entrees, udon and the chicken au gratin, were nightmares. Flavorless, greasy, under/​over cooked at different places in the same dish, which usually means a microwave was involved… Everything was canned or prepared food and tasted like nothing. Garlic potatoes were unercooked and had piles of raw garlic on them. Service was slow and disorganized. Tempura udon was burnt on one side and undercooked on the other, and the breading immediately fell into the udon and turned into a gluey clump.
I’ve been here a handful of times before and always had a good experience. This time was bad enough that I won’t be back. There are five hundred other options in the area.

Got hungry after a long spa day so a friend and I stopped by Japan Center to find something to eat. We passed by On the Bridge, which looked really cute and the food smelled good so we took a chance and gave it a try.
I had the Mentaiko spaghetti (fish roe sauce) which was delicious! Even though it was a pasta, it still felt light.
My friend had the chicken curry, which was also very good, but heavier.
The staff is super friendly and helpful. Shout out to chef Makamura who was a joy to talk to.
Overall, great experience!

I’ve always passed this place eveytime I come to Japantown and finally we stopped by here on Valentines Day after walking around. We were seated after 5mins of waiting even thought there were 2 empty tables.
FOOD:
We ordered the chicken Katsu curry and the MocoLoco with mushroom sauce (recommended by many Unilocal reviewers.”). Both tasted delicious! The burger pattie tasted tender and the mushroom sauce was heavily. The only compliant I had was the sunny side up egg was slightly under done and you can see the raw egg whites. I had to discard ¹⁄₃ of the egg to prevent an upset stomach later. It would have been better if they offered brown rice as a substitute, I would be willing to pay $ 0.50 to $ 1.
SERVICE:
This restaurant would have easily been a 4 star if it wasn’t for the slow service. We understood that it was busy due to Valentine’s Day, but people who were seated 5−10mins after us got their food way before us. AND we ended up not receiving the appetizer we order. Unacceptable in our opinion. It was the first time my BF didn’t feel like tipping the serves & that’s saying a lot since he’s typically a generous tipper. But we tipped them anyways.
AMBIANCE:
Since the restaurant is located on a bridge, the seating is pretty tight as you would expect. However I’m quite surprised they can fit a kitchen in there! The inside is decorated with animé figures and walls are covered with collections of various comic books. Not sure if customers are allowed to read them.
Overall, food was good but service was slow. Perhaps if I come back, I would choose a slower day.

A friend of mine took us here since we wanted to check out Japantown. I love Japanese curry, so I was pretty excited to eat here.
I was surprised at how much there was to choose, especially because the restaurant was pretty small. Nothing else interested me except for their curry, which my friend said they were known for. I ordered a beef curry at their maximum spice level. The waitress was a little hesitant and warned me that it was really spicy, but I was confident in my tolerance so I went ahead with my order.
When it arrived, it was definitely not how I’ve had my curry elsewhere. It was nice that the curry was in it’s own container, but it was also really dark and kind of lukewarm. I scooped some curry out and took a bite with some rice and noticed that it tasted off. It didn’t taste bad, but it tasted chocolately and kind of burnt. Perhaps it was the spice level, but towards the last few bites, I started to dislike it. I ended up eating everyone else’s food. As for the spice, it really wasn’t spicy to me. Although my spice tolerance is definitely higher than most people, it still had a decent bite to it for someone like myself.
The katsu curry was curry I was definitely more familiar with. My girlfriend’s pasta wasn’t too bad, but something I definitely wouldn’t order though.
I’m sure their other food options are much tastier, I just happened to order something that wasn’t one of their specialties. My friend seems to frequent this spot often, so I’m sure they’re doing something right.

Cute interior with toys and videos from Japanese films/​animes, and manga on the wall. They made me nostalgic and feel back in Asia, I picked up some Case Closed manga sometimes while waiting for service. Speaking of service, it could really get improved but they seemed short of staff.
This place specializes in yoshoku (Japanese western food), but their curry was tasty as well. I liked making my own curry with plenty of options for toppings and sides. Chicken udon was pretty good as well with mixed vegetables.
I’ve been trying to get gratin (baked pasta with béchamel sauce) twice, but they always told me they didn’t have it for the day :/​probably because it’d take long to make/​bake. Perhaps third time’s a charm?

When the holidays are not upon us, the weekend routine of my partner and myself has become to start off with a Runkeeper walk through The City. Maybe a month ago, we walked about five miles into Japantown, and chose to have brunch here!
It’s a quaint, spiffy locale within a shopping mall at exactly its title spot, with both tables and bar seating inside the slender space. I found enriching how we could be watching animé amidst all of the stuffed animals and funny quotes from the chef along the window wall.
My brunch items:
–Gyoza Appetizer (shared)
–Flying Fish Roe Spaghetti
–Orange Juice
The size of the fish roe spaghetti dish was huge! I tried my darnedest to finish it. Both it and the Gyoza were delicious and served pretty quickly. Orders like that for a slow-​eater like me take awhile to finish, so if you also plan to get absorbed in viewing the animé movies or in conversations, keep that in mind and you’ll enjoy it!
Not that any of this has anything to do with Runkeeper, but this wasn’t our first visit here, nor will it be the last. What’s exceptional is that when there are levels of spiciness for a dish and you choose a higher level, the chef won’t shy away from honoring it. Good sake on a previous visit. Also would particularly like to try their Okonomi Yaki Pizza!

There’s so many restaurants to eat in Japantown, but my cousin was excited for this one. It’s small but cute, felt a bit sticky but comfortable enough. Service was nice and attentive. Price is reasonable.
Unlike other restaurants, the chef himself serves you your dish (since it’s a small place)
My cousin ordered the Locomoco (she saw it outside on the banner and was like– OH I WANT THAT!) so we got that. It was good! like GOOD! with mushroom suace, IT IS GOOD! She couldn’t finish it, there was only 5 more bites for her to be done.
I ordered the seafood pasta (I have a thing for pastas) The sauce was light and sweet, which I like. The seafood– 2 shrimps, 2 scallops, HUGE chunks of tomato, LOTS of calamari and ONE mussel LoLs.
I don’t come to JTown often or at all, this is my first time in. . 2 years? But coming back to this restaurant is 90%

Came here right after I went to the Chinese Embassy for lunch with my boss. I had the katsu curry, and it was good. The portion was large for lunch. The staff was a tad bit slower to seat and take our order, but they were very nice. The second time I came back I had the loco moco demi galce and my friend had the cream spaghetti.
I was a huge fan of the Katsu Curry and the Loco moco, but not the spaghetti because the sauce was like a broth or soup almost.
I forgot my invisalign here and left to the restroom, the owner remembered that we asked for the restroom location and brought it to us down the hall. That’s some attention to detail. As we walked passed the restaurant to leave the waitress ran to us to make sure that I had my Invisalign! How nice of her.
I would definitely come back to eat here. Just because I didn’t like 1 dish doesn’t make this restaurant bad. They definitely had a unique selection and what I did order was good.

Mom and I ordered the Mentaiko Pasta (Japanese twist on spaghetti with cod roe and seaweed) and the Shrimp Katsu Curry Platter. Both dishes were actually pretty good. I found the pasta oddly satisfying. The roe definitely provided the salty touch to the dish and the seaweed gave it a nice kick. The curry had a fair amount of shrimp (5 full medium sized shrimps) as well as other katsu’d items bell peppers, broccoli, and imitation crab. It was also very filling, but the curry left a bit to be desired — it was a bit dry and clumped heavily on the rice rather than serving as a sauce.
Avoid the tap water and maybe shell out 1.65 for tea cause that water was nasty! No amount of lemon could hide the metallic flavor.

Was wandering around aimlessly in Japantown the day after Audio On the Bay looking for something to eat and spotted this cute restaurant. Two things popped into my head when passing this place:
1. easy to eat? should beeee
2. so kawaiiiiiiiii :3
This little cozy place is decorated with bookshelves stuffed up and down with manga, animé posters, japanese magazines and stuffed animals! It’s super unique, and definitely for animé lovers! I think it’s awesome that you can read and watch animé while you eat. There’s small bar seating for solo-​eaters and you can watch the animé on the flat screen behind the register.
We got seated immediately and looked over their extensive menu. They have a lot of Japanese dishes that have a western twist. We ended up getting:
–Mentaiko Spaghetti: Light fish-​seafoody flavor. I’m not used to eating a fishy smell and lukewarm spaghetti like that, so it weirded me out a bit. But looking back on it, its pretty good and a wonderful blend of japanese fusion with the cod roe and seaweed texture. def a must try.
–Beef Curry: also comes with spaghetti, but hot/​warm temperature! I always thought curry was just curry (with the pot, boyyyyy LOL), so wasnt sure how they could change it up. BUT they changed it with a ingredients you would find in italian spaghetti, but with a Japanese curry taste. It is delicious and filling, but a little salty for me.
–Pepperontini Spaghetti: got this to go for the roommate and ended up trying some of it. the BACON is what really the star of this dish. It really takes over the rest of the flavors. It is also a tad greasy.
The employees were very helpful, especially on explaining if dishes had any eggs in it, like the potato croquette and the chicken karaage. Also very patient in our orders as well. We saw other people order other dishes and it LOOKED SO GOOD, so we’re def coming again to try the rest of the menu

What a little gem among so many pricier restaurants!
We have passed this sweet little place so many times. This weekend we decided to try it out and we’re so glad we did.
It is a small long restaurant with lots of animé décor. Animé posters and many many Animé charter and critter figures are perched on shelves.
The menu has so many choices —and interesting menu items — Japanese pizza and spaghetti! We finally decided on:
Veggie Curry over rice. Mr Rinky asked for it with low salt and the cook came out to get a clarification. The dish was perfect. He was given a large serving of rice
(white – they don’t have brown) and a large serving of curry vegetables on the side.
He really enjoyed it.
I had the chicken karage (fried chicken budgets) with coleslaw, potato salad and rice.
(Carb bliss!) Very satisfying. Although the coleslaw, rice and potato salad servings were smallish (i.e. not enough for a meal, by themselves) the total meal was plenty of food.
We had water, hot water and an iced tea for drinks.
Our server and the other staff were so sweet. The home cooking, homey atmosphere and warm staff made us feel so welcome and ready to return again soon!