A w e s o m e Came here randomly and we were not disappointed! Really cute interior, really really friendly service. :) Even though we were the last ones in the restaurant (oops) they did not rush us and were really kind and friendly. I definitely want to come back again! And the food... wow!! - Salmon Sashimi= SO FRESH! So good!!! Beats any of the regular sushi places I go to, by far. I'd give 6 stars if I could! - Miso Soup= So refreshing, not salty and overbearing at all - Fried Chicken Wings appetizer = REALLY really good. Very simple but still very flavorful and delicious! - Family Affair roll = wow. SO delicious. Really really fresh, really delicious. Wowwie!! We got one more roll (it was a house special), but cannot remember what it was called. It was really fresh and delicious too~ but the Family Affair roll really outshined it. Really loved it here! Please come check it out! :) read more

The food is absolutely delicious here. Fresh sashimi, great sushi rolls, and they even have an amazing teriyaki steak. The reason why I gave them 4 stars is because of the wait. This restaurant doesn't take any reservations, first come first serve. The wait can get pretty bad as well. The waiting area is small too and can get very crowded. This totally spoils the experience. I really wished they took reservations. read more

Really great sushi place. It was very busy but our wait was not too long, and the service was good. Every dish we ordered was excellent. The poke had generous servings of raw fish, the uni was very fresh (so good!), and I enjoyed my first experience eating Ankimo (monk fish liver). Every dish is plated and presented beautifully, both a joy to look at and eat. Highly recommended, I'll visit again for sure when I'm back in SF. read more

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the food was great ! the rolls was ok. The apps were to die for. I would go there but expect a wait. I had such a Blast. read more

A friend recommended this restaurant to me, and I'm so happy he did. One of the best sushi restaurants I've been to! The ambiance a small warm feel, with the sushi bar along one entire wall. Several people making sushi, and everyone working was so cheerful, gracious and hard working. It's a bit of a wait, but there is a reason why! The fish is fresh, the options are plenty, and everything is delicious. read more

Would be five stars if they could get their service and atmosphere together (I agree!). They do need to work on their bathroom through---always smells stale and dank back there, and the bathroom itself really needs to be cleaner and updated to make me feel better about the overall cleanliness here. Will change this review when/if the bathroom changes. I've been coming to Ebisu since we moved into the area (7 years ago---25+ years in SF) and it is by far my place to go for sushi and their 49er roll is always a part of my standard order. I only order sushi and can't speak much for their other food. never had a bad roll here (but I did have terrible sushi at Hotoi across the street, so don't be fooled into thinking you'll get the same sushi there). The fish has always been fresh and the rolls are consistently great. Once a while (maybe 1 in 15 times) they take WAY to long to get you your order and the rolls can come in one at a time over a weird time interval. I've started to ask them to bring the rolls all at once when they are particularly busy, and that solved the problem. Try to get there by 6:30 to avoid the sign-in and dreaded wait. I would NEVER go to Goemen instead of to Ebisu. Their service is WAY slow and their food is average. Kiki is also an "eh." Ebisu is the best sushi in the Inner Sunset BY FAR and one of the best in the city if you don't care about decor. read more

Good sushi, good decor, good service, all in all great experience! The fish is very fresh and their roll very yummy. Plus the sushi chefs are great, we always have a great time chilling and talking and joking around with the chef. Too bad we can't buy them a beer, stupid law! O the waitresses are cute, that helps too! Sometimes there might be long wait, so try to make a reservations. But you know what? well worth the wait everytime! They also have tables really backed up into each other so claustrophobic need not to show up here on weekend nights. They also have this discount card thing where you can get points for eating there and eventually getting 10% off? I think. They are not open on Sunday so be wary when you plan your trip! read more

I found this joint on yelp. Had a great date with the hubs at the Academy of Sciences and wanted to grab some lunch nearby before we continued our date to Sunset and explore the Sutro Bath Houses. I digress, back to the review of Ebisu... Pros - Came after the lunch hour rush ~1:30PM, so got seated right away - Ambiance is cute, cozy and clean - Waitress was super nice, but if you have a few tables - customers tend to get undivided attention - I ordered an obento lunch (beef, sushi and gyoza) and the box had lots of veggie side dishes - seaweed, spinach and salad. Pleasantly surprised. The sushi consisted of CA role and maki (not listed on the menu). - Beef came with delicious tiny yukon potatoes - small amount, kind of a garnish, but it was tasty. Cons - I ordered my beef medium and it came out well-done. Yikes! - Order took forever - The obento menu did not list all the items that came with it so we over order, ordering a side of CA roll (not knowing it came with some in the obento) Conclusion - If Ebisu is the only joint available in the neighborhood, sure I'll go back. But my first option is to try another sushi place in the area. read more

I have a new to go to spot when I'm craving for sushi!! My friends recommended this place and I'm so glad I took their advice to try it out. We came here twice already and it still amazes me. My favorite of all is their salmon. It's fresh and melts in your mouth. Also, their prices aren't outrageous like other sushi places I've been to. read more

This is my new go to sushi spot in the city. It's consistently delicious and has an amazing staff. The 49er roll is my favorite but everything I've tried is wonderful. It gets busy even right at 5 pm, so make sure to get there early for dinner! read more

So fresh and tasty! If you love authentic Japanese sushi, this place will be an experience alone. Traditional Japanese design and sushi bar. read more

Ebisu has been our favorite restaurant for decades. We recently went for my husband's birthday and got there at 5 o'clock and were seated right away. We were brought all of our sushi within minutes and felt very rushed. We spent a lot of money for dinner and in an hour they were trying to push us out. In fact the owner brought the bill over and didn't even look at us just and just put it on our table. The waitress had the audacity to bring over the settings for the next party to get us to leave. The portions were the smallest I've ever seen anywhere. We've never experienced this there before.I'm sorry to say that we will never go back again. read more

Used to be one of my favorites... until tonight. Staff was so fixated on clearing out our seats at the bar to seat new customers that they were being messy and, frankly, outright rude. It wasn't even like we were even camping out, our chef was just busy and so our nigiri was steadily coming out. They were frantically clearing our bar space before our bill even came out and brushed my head with a plate and dropped my chop sticks and some soy sauce on my sweater. Accidents happen, but slow down and this could've been avoided. Also, this makes for a terrible customer experience who spent a pretty penny in this place. read more

The food is great. The sushi is top notch and fresh. Great service. The wait wasn't bad and the food order was efficient.

This place is GREAT!!! Chef Suzuki is absolutely the guy to sit in front! Quality, taste and price...everything is very good, except always very busy regardless. Make sure to check with chefs for specials of the day. There are a few items not even listed. Make sure to have a reservation, plus some patience to wait even with reservation. They have also good selection of premium Jizake as well. read more

I'm getting tired of giving sushi joints 5 stars, but again, this one is fantastic. They DO NOT have fresh wasabi, which should automatically get them dinged a star, but the abundant selection of fatty belly cuts were amazing. We had chu-toro (medium) oh-toro (fattiest) sake toro (salmon belly) and hamachi toro (yellowfin belly) and they also had live uni... not as fairly priced as Kiji, but still under $20 for fresh uni is a great deal. Their sake menu is broad enough to satisfy anyone's desires... from the milky unfiltered stuff (not something I'd drink) all the way to the highest polishing junmai daiginjo sakes, Ebisu has it all. The service is excellent as well. We sat at the bar, and one of the chefs recognized me immediately. Now I have not been to this place for nearly 7yrs, but that last time I went was very memorable, but I won't get into that here. Bottom line is there are plenty of excellent sushi places in SF, but if you find yourself in the sunset, you definitely want to go here. read more

We walked in, were told of a 15 minute wait, had a beer around the corner and then sat down to good service and yumminess. We ordered 2 rolls - the spicy tuna and 49 roll, then had the Oysters with Uni (4 for $10), after a seaweed salad. For $50 including tip and a big beer, this made for a perfect dinner. Their sushi, preparations, service, and environment really do make for a great experience. The room is crowded and noisy, there's no getting around that - it's bistro seating in addition to the sushi bar. The noise level oddly gives each table a bit of privacy - it almost makes a white noise and you aren't bothered too much by your neighbors. I'd go back and recommend it to people outside the neighborhood. read more

I've been looking for a place that I'd park myself and my wonderful friend whenever we have a craving for a delectable raw craving. I've recently have acquired a taste for fat. Fish fat. So, toro was my ultimate goal that night. I know parking is horrible in this area and it took me a few laps around the block until finally the paid parking lot across this place got a free spot. Thinking about it now, the valet was sort of racist. He gave the other couple a tip of what to order at the place, and all we got was, have a nice night. Anyway, back to Ebisu. I was set to order the lobster tempura and the kobe beef, but mostly my mind was set to ordering every piece of toro they have. Guess what, I got distracted. I did order a lot, like the kobe beef sukiyaki. This was sort of off putting. It was a teensy bit sweeter than the usual sukiyaki. Then we had some oysters, 5 sashimi (forgot which ones), and 4 diff. toro. The one that I was craving the most, I forgot to order. Oh well. We did enjoy some of the dishes. Oh, she didn't like the Chawanmushi. The texture was not right somehow. Anyway, I'll be back and this time, I'll know which ones to order...and a lot of them. ....obviously, I liked the place. I don't have anything bad to say, except that past midway our dinner, everything kind of tasted the same. We will order more variety next time. read more

This is our go-to date spot when we're craving sushi. The rolls are usually delicious, but sometimes they're a little better than in other instances. The first time we tried the XXX Roll we nearly creamed our panties. It was BOMB.com But this last time we went it was good, but the panties were still in tact. Either way, this place always hits the spot and it's always a successful date night. It's also great that Starbucks is right around the corner for my way cheaper dessert...just sayin. read more

It is a consistently wonderful experience with fresh delicious fishies. The agedashi tofu is particularly good. Also, if you get the choice between a table and the counter - the counter is a fun experience to chat and thank the talented sushi chefs. read more

Premium Blue fin Toro... drops mic. read more

Ebisu - premium toro - Worth every penny. - Sushi Bars Near Me - San Francisco, California

Super rude over the phone. They take no reservations, they won't add you on the waiting list and there is apparently an "hour" wait every night. I can't believe this place is owned by the same people who ran the hotei restauarant that was closed. Awful. read more

Why do people like this place?! It was possibly the worst service I have ever gotten at a restaurant... I was meeting my friend on his one hour lunch break, and the waitress took so long to take our order and bring our food that he was a half an hour late getting back to work! Not only that, but we only ordered one halibut roll to share... Why would it take an hour to make that? And to make things worse, the fish tasted/looked like CAT FOOD! It was so very terrible. Forget Ebisu! Any other sushi restaurant in the city can top them. read more

I've been eating here since 1984. It has remained the best year after year. Steve the owner always makes his way to say hello and ask about my mother who has moved to LA. The fish is always fresh and tender. I tried live scallop the other week. Didn't think I could do it, but it was the sweetest thing I'd ever tasted. Love the tatami rooms. Thanks for everything Steve. Sandra & Mamasan read more

In summary to my review below: long wait and staff is unorganized and rude. Not worth the wait! Waited an hour and a half to be seated. There was only 2 of us in my party. The hostess had given our table to someone who was on the list after us and didn't apologize when confronted. When we were finally seated our waitress seemed to have a staring problem along with a big attitude. After receiving our rolls, we asked for ginger and we did not receive the ginger for another 25 minutes. Our waitress did not ask how things were till way after (read a similar review about this on Yelp). Towards the end of our meal, the staff was rushing us (also a theme in other reviews). The waitress boxed our leftovers in front of us. It didn't seem necessary but she wouldn't let us take over. She also looked like her soul was being sucked out of her while she did so.....such a happy dinner! I was hoping to really like this place but the long wait and poor service will keep me elsewhere. read more

Sushi chef Kevin deserves all the accolades I can give him. He was personable, attentive, made delicious nigiri, and was able to discern what I liked and adjust suggestions accordingly. Not that it's relevant to his sushi preparation, but the main can also hold his liquor-my friendly neighbors were plying him with Sake shots all evening which seemed not to affect him in the slightest. The place smelled a little fishy when I first arrived, which gave me initial pause, but it was unjustified-the fish was fresh and outstanding. I supplemented my omakase with an order of bacon wrapped scallops from the kitchen, and I can't recommend them more highly. The center was perfectly undercooked and the balance of scallop, bacon, and spicy sauce flavored was perfect. I had to wait about fifteen minutes for one seat at the sushi bar at 8:15 on. Thursday night, which I didn't think was bad, and my bill was a completely reasonable $40. I'll be back the next time I'm in the inner sunset. read more

We love Wanida and Yoki. Amazing service and delicious food. High quality saki, beautiful venue. Great service.

Okay, given that I never have been to Japan (sulk!), I really don't know how Ebisu would compare with Sushi places back in Japan. However, I have eaten Sushi from restaurants around Europe and many states between New York and California and came to the conclusion that Ebisu is my most favorite Sushi joint. No, I don't regard the regular Sushi as superbly better than other places (although it is as good as it gets in my opinion). If someone asked me what's good about Ebisu, I'd say It is their specials, such as the 49'er rolls (ultimately what made me an addict and caused me to spend $50 a week for Sushi - insane!). Now we live in Florida, reminiscent of those times when we had those bloody good rolls and still crave them from time to time (what a pain!) If you're lucky and are in the area, give it a try and try their specials. PS. It's crowded on many days...so just beware! (or call up). read more

This place was the star in the early '90s. It was definitely where I began to get really serious about sushi. I haven't been in ages, will pay it homage soon, and update my review. read more

Fast service and really fresh sushi. Best sushi that we had during our time in San Francisco. The wait was about 45 minutes but it was well worth the wait! read more

Super fresh sushi Any time we return to SF we eat at least once here The scallops and sweet shrimp are always amazing Aji and uni also superb read more

The place got crowded real fast, but luckily we got seated before the dinner rush. My rolls were slightly more petit than I would have liked for the price I paid for them, but they were exquisite-tasting enough to keep ill will at bay. No complaints about the service, except that the place is tiny and picking your way around seated patrons gets tiring. Good experience overall. read more

It's a little bit overpriced here for the food. Ordered a Crunchy Roll and a ribeye steak. The only part of the roll that was crunchy was the tuna. It was alright. It was kind of weird that they had a pink wrapping around the sushi. I've never seen that before The ribeye took awhile to come out. It tasted good for the price but then again that's the first time I ever had ribeye. I thought the spinach they placed beneath the ribeye added nicely to the taste of the steak. read more

The food is very good here and yes it gets busy. To be honest, the portions were too small and expensive for me. Staff is nice and since they remodeled, the ambiance is also very nice. read more

We frequent this place like it was a ritual for us 10 years ago when my boyfriend and I dated. We remembered the service were great,especially the sushi chefs behind the bar that's where we would seat. They entertained while we ate. We shared great laughs with them. Their sushi always fresh. We are great fans of hamachis and sashimis. Now 3kids later and married to then boyfriend. We take our kids here. My kids love sushi,this would be the place we take our kids when ever we are in town. Service is still great,food is fresh as it gets. We ordered the chef special,dragon roll,49ers, and spider roll it was devine we were satisfied. When I had to change my baby's diapers,I asked our waiter if the bathroom have a changing table? His reply No! And walked away. I got up with baby and diaper in tow walked toward the restroom when the nice hostess asked if I want to change in the waiting area. I explained to her my reasons. She then proceeded ahead to find one of the lady waitress to retrieve two chairs to place inside, the nice hostess arranged the chairs to where she felt it was safe enough for me to lay baby down. We for sure will be back soon. 0 read more

They changed their menu a bit when they reopened, but I don't care because Tommy and Shizaki are still there. They always take good care of us! We don't tell them what we want, we let them decide what we're eating and it is always delicious. The service is consistently good and the nigiri is to die for. read more

This place has been up there for sushi restaurants in SF for a long time. A reason for that they have been consistent on occasions I have been here (except Sundays when main chef is not working) I went in early on a weekday so didn't have to wait and they had special on pints of Sapporo. I had a chirasi combo and rainbow roll. Service was fast and the sushi was great as always. No wonder it keeps bringing people back again and again. I guess its the old charm which makes me prefer this place over other places. read more

Been here a few times, and always a pleasant experience. Love they have live sea urchins. We got to see the urchin before they prepare it behind the sushi bar. One of my go-to whenever I am in town and have time. read more

One of my favorite sushi spots! The best Hamachi nigiri and Hamachi toro, my mouth is watering : ) Everyone I've taken here falls in love at first bite, you will not be disappointed. read more

Ebisu's portions are smaller now, which makes me like the place less, but my change in rating is mostly due to my more refined sushi taste the past few years. Since I tried places such as Saru and Wako, I can't justify giving Ebisu five stars. read more