We had a wonderful cozy brunch at this authentic Japanese izakaya with delicious food. We can tell the ingredients were fresh and of high quality. Will return for sure. read more

Great atmosphere, like Japanese tapas. A few Japanese beers to choose from, as well. I had the shungiku and duck salad, which was outstanding! read more

Don't tell anyone! Best Japanese food in the city! Exciting, delicious izakaya Japanese food!

Torn between 3 and 4 stars for this place. Based on the quality of food and the high price gonna have to give it 3 stars. Everything we ate bordered on good/OK but nothing was amazing or had flavors I hadn't tasted before. We got both sashimi dishes and those were decent. The fried chicken wings were crispy but lacked flavor/seasoning. We tried the meatball, duck, chicken thigh skewers and again not a lot of flavor. The persimmon salad was really good. Maybe we just didn't order the right things??? The ambiance of the place was cool and service was fine. I was just expecting more.... read more

My awesome boyfriend took us here to celebrate this year's Valentine's Day. We loved the speakeasy style and ambiance. Service was excellent and the sake selection interesting. We tried the Chef's special, so didn't really get a feel for the depth of the menu. Hence, the 3-stars. I thought the Chef's special fell short in term of flavors and variety. It seemed like it was pulled together last minute. I do remember enjoying the tuna sashimi served with baby oysters and the slices of beef and duck. The tea was tasty too. I was hoping to find a second "Nihon Lounge" spot that is my go to in this area, but unfortunately I don't think Rintaro made the cut for me. read more

Made reservations and came here with two friends to split some dishes; we got a lovely booth. I love the decor and service was decent. I would highly recommend it as a date place if you're looking to impress. However, I find the prices a bit unnecessarily high, because the portions are tiny. The menu is very fish-heavy (duh, Japanese). I left satisfied-full (but not overly so), with $40 less in my pocket but nothing I had was life changing. I'd recommend it to friends to try but am not dying to come back again. read more

Went with a party of 4. I have a soy allergy (the worst kind for this restaurant), but the staff and chefs were super accommodating. I was able to have a delicious meal and didn't feel I was missing out. The rest of my party raved about the Udon, the Yudofu and the Teba No Karaage, and several skewers. Everything was delicious. The location had a great atmosphere as well. Just added to the deliciousness. Will definitely be going back. read more

Excellent cocktails and food! The suzu cocktail, gyoza, tamago, udon, and amberjack are my faves!

Excellent, high quality rendition of Izakaya food. Everything we had was the best version of what it was intended to be: Yakitori - chicken meatballs, wagyu beef and trumpet mushrooms - all delicious. Sashimi combo platter - very fresh - each fish tasted distinct (tuna, kampachi (amber jack) scallops and halibut. Excellent, moist and flavorful tonkatsu with excellent sauce and mustard. Best gyoza ever (with a fresh sausage-like filling and a potato starch topping. And really delicious udon "carbonara style." The rice bowl with tuna was the only slight disappointment - i thought the tuna was a little tough. Great beer, great sake and dessert was very good as well (cheese cake with was excellent and japanese style parfait.) Service was perfect - attentive and friendly. Pacing of the courses was very good. Setting was lovely and very similar in atmosphere to izakaya we have been to in Shibuya, Tokyo. If you want really good izakaya food at a high level of quality this is your place. The meal was quite expensive, but dish-by-dish I didn't feel it was overpriced. We would definitely go back. read more

The skewers are great but the service is a little weird. No napkin, and the back room is rarely visited by waiters.

Do not come here without a reservation. I've tried few times and they are always fully booked up and they don't seem to want us to wait. I put down my number and never get a call back. That happened twice. read more

Izakaya Rintaro is not a traditional izakaya: don't expect to drop in with a group of friends, order a pitcher of beer, and have a few laughs with the table next to you. Naming aside, it is my favorite Japanese place in SF. read more

One of the best chicken wings I've ever had - the pepper makes your mouth a bit tingly and it's awesome. The whole fish is fun to eat but my favorites were the fish cake and the cocktails. read more

They have some surprisingly interesting and good food for an Izakaya, especially some delicious and interesting cuts of meat for skewers. And some fun variety options that really make the meal enjoyable. I'm not normally an Izakaya fan but I would definitely go back to Rintaro. read more

We were a walk in - and they accommodated my wife, 14 month old and I graciously. The food and service were both great. Highly recommend both the sashimi and croquettes! read more

Just so great. I got the kobocha karage and it was out of this world. The attention to detail in the side plates is also perfect

Came here for brunch with a friend, thought it was decent. The brunch menu is really limited, so we couldn't try the majority of the food that everyone raves about. But it was a cute place and servers were nice as well. I'd come back to try their dinner options, but not the brunch. read more

overall very nice, i thought it would be a more japanese feel place, but it's actually feel very american in some ways. food is very authentic. tsukune - 4 stars. had better tsukune before, but it's definitely decent quality. it's kinda dry for my taste. knee - 5 stars. what a surprise. very tender, juicy. with crispy outside. love it. pasta with raw egg yolk - 5 stars. first time having this kind of dish. delicious. very rich flavor. definitely will come back and try something differnet read more

Great meal here tonight. Sort of unique and interesting atmosphere with creative and super tasty tapas-style food that came out at a fair pace for it being packed at 7:30 on a Saturday night. We had: Fresh Monterey Bay halibut sashimi with fresh wasabi which was top notch. The chicken cheddar katsu. The hand rolled fresh udon noodles with tofu. The chicken meatball skewers, chicken thigh & scallion skewers. A salad with persimmon vinaigrette and chilled duck breast. All of it was really great food. Service was good for us. No complaints other than a missing egg in one of the udon orders. No big deal. Show up early and hit the whisky bar next door. Amazing selection. read more

Went in with really high expectations but the meal ended up being a mix of highs & lows, hence the 3 stars. Let me just start by saying that the restaurant itself is beautiful. Tons of visually stimulating elements and handmade wood work - a welcome change from the cookie-cutter rustic restaurant design everyone seems to be copying these days. DRINK: the house sake ($19 for a carafe) was delicious and a great deal. We got about 4 glasses out of the carafe, so priced otherwise at $8/glass, the carafe is definitely the way to go! FOOD: This is where things were either major hits or major misses...we had the following: Liberty Duck & Persimmon Salad (4/5) - generous portion, the persimmons' sweetness went perfectly with the medium-rare thinly sliced duck breast, slightly overdressed/salty but still very enjoyable way to start the meal. Housemade Silken Tofu (3/5) - texture was very creamy, almost cheese-like but without the tang. accompanied by freshly grated ginger, scallions, & bonito flakes. I guess tasty for what it was, but really just too boring. Yakitori - we ordered two skewers, chicken meatballs (5/5) and breast with ume (3/5), both were cooked perfectly, juicy and delicious. definitely preferred the meatballs and wished we had ordered more of those. Chicken Katsu (5/5) - hands down the best dish of the night, I could eat this every day! not your traditional katsu in that they stuff the chicken with cheese, almost like the french cordon bleu. but damn, that panko breading was perfectly fried and the impossibly juicy chicken was magic! Braised Pork Belly (3/5) - this dish could benefit from a better description on the menu. I expected something more of a stew consistency with succulent chunks of pork belly. instead you get a plate with a piece of belly that has been stewed already, but has no sauce and served with a poached egg and some boiled turnip. the dish was hard to eat with chopsticks, pork belly was dry and at $15 the dish is way overpriced. Matsutake Gohan (1/5) - we ended the meal with this dish, listed in the "Final Dish" section of the menu and I really wish we hadn't! As a closer for an otherwise decent meal, this was an embarrassing dish for a restaurant of this caliber to serve. It was essentially a clay pot filled with rice and about sliced matsutake mushrooms. No broth, no scallions, no ginger...no flavor. $15 for some rice and a mushroom. We took two bites and left the rest. Total price for 2 people (tax+sf surcharge+tip) = $135 Despite the inconsistency on some of the dishes, I would probably go back because there were several other dishes coming out of the kitchen next to me that looked worth trying. The sashimis were beautiful and the chicken wings (and probably anything else being panko breaded and fried) are probably amazing. read more

My friend is friend of owner so they recommend me to visit. Today was my birthday. I was very upset. I took reservation but waited for 30 mins to be ready. The table they reserved for us was counter. I was assuming to have regular table because this was first time to visit. When I explained the situation to waitress, she said I should have wrote table preference in note section of online reservation system. Again, this was first time and did not know. Instead of apologizing, they are telling me what I should have done. Unprofessional attitude. I do not recommend if you are looking for great services. Food was great but they need to train hostess and waitress how to speak to customers. read more

Have been to Rintaro several times and it keeps getting worse. Had 9pm reservation last night, waitress rushed us through out the evening. The kitchen was breaking down before 10pm, check was delivered before we were done. Overall bad vibe last night. read more

Make sure you RSVP! We waited so long to be seated that we lost appetite and we're a little off-set in our experience because we saw free tables. Portion size is relatively small, but the taste on food is well done. Their yakitori and chicken wings is probably my highest recommendation here. Very friendly staffs as well read more

Hands down one of the best Japanese restaurant I've been in SF Bay area. Yakitori is a must and their salad menu is very fresh and while light still flavorful. The only drawback is the bill at the end.. price is a bit steep for the menu portion, for example a very small bowl of salad is north of $10, all the yakitori menus are pretty much between $10 and $15. Would recommend it overall. Kampai! read more

had a great time, and a great meal... was seated in a comfy cozy booth with a great vantage of the night. have been coming back frequently and it's really hitting it's stride. great atmosphere and people. unlike any other place in SF... california meets tokyo in both food and the vibe. looking forward to seeing how the menu progresses throughout each season... read more

Wonderful food and concept but one star off because of the loud music and less than stellar way to be greeted and taken to a table. And since there is so much tofu and soy sauce involved, I wish they would say that they are using organic sources for that. Service/Atmosphere: We had a reservation and arrived early to a 20% filled front room but were put in the dark back room, which was cold, had strange smells and even louder bad music. We asked to be reseated. That took a long time, even though there were many open places available throughout our dinner. So, not very well run in terms of customer comfort. The architecture/woodwork is stunning and the open kitchen is nice. Looks like they are going for a urban hipster experience which has limited appeal and should not mean loud Japanese bar music. Maybe we were there at a poorly managed time. Food: The food was very well prepared and nicely presented. We loved both the soft and fried tofu dishes and yakitori. The chicken wings were suberb if a bit salty, but the lemon slices helped that. We did not like the mushy shumai and it seemed out of place on the menu of Japanese food. The chicken tenders were too spicy but overall the dishes we ate were excellent. Some of the nice hand made dishes were chipped already, and the (sobacha) buckwheat tea (why is that not on the menu?) was delicious but not as nice to drink from a chipped cup. Menu: I would have liked to know that the tofu was made with organic soybeans and that the soy sauce was organic. Much of soy is now genetically modified and should be avoided. Since Rintaro makes the effort to source local food and name it on the menu, it should also give customers that information. And I would expect a choice of shoyu sauce, such as tamari, a wheat free option. Over all the potential for greatness is there but I agree with the reviews that it still is a work in progress. read more

A very good meal. While all the dishes were somewhat unique, the favorites were the fried chicken and cheese (chicken katsu), the odd bits yakatori (chicken meatballs), and the cod. The sake fleet was terrific. Service was very accommodating, but at times could have been a bit more attentive. read more

while we enjoyed our experience and the food, it was somewhat expensive The food was good---but NOT a caliber for the Bon Appetit rating of ## 8 in the country The Bay area has many more 'way better' Japanese restaurants of all kinds read more

Had heard the buzz about this place and went to check it out. We were not disappointed. The restaurant itself is super interesting, with a long bar as you enter with booths on the other side, exposed beams overhead, and traditional Japanese curtain partitions placed here and there. Feels a little close quartered, intimate and rustic. Especially with all the smoke from the open grill swirling around. When you step in from the street, through the courtyard and into the restaurant you feel like you've stepped into an old timey Japanese izakaya joint. From the street, you would never guess that behind the wooden gate was this sweet little Japanese eatery. The service was very attentive, our waiter helped us pick out the initial cocktail, and then parse through the sake list to chose a very yummy bottle. As an izakaya place it was many many small plates of food. We have been to many and this one definitely stacks up with the best. Menu was varied, veggis and proteins fresh, and preparation spot on. There were four of us and one was a vegetarian, so we tried the sashimi, the housemade tofu (YUM!), various yakitory skewers, the croquettes, dumplings, chicken karaage and finished things off with beef curry (SO good!). I will say it was a pricey meal, but very memorable and special. Definitely one to add to this list of places to go for a unique, delicious and enjoyable meal. read more

3.5 stars, really. Place was quaint and cozy, but I must admit the food didn't wow me too much. LOVED the eggs, veggie yakitori, and fried chicken wings, but everything else was nothing too memorable. I would come back if reservations aren't hard to come by or if the wait time for drop-ins isn't too long...which doesn't seem to be the case for either. read more

See all

Nice decor, some dishes were excellent, but some were off-target, especially for the price. Portions are very small. Interior and the plates were nice. The fish croquette had almost no fish or fish flavor (it was nicely fried) and when we commented to the waitress, we were more or less brushed off. Overall, not bad, but doesn't deliver on the promise for the price (i.e. overpriced). read more

Good tasty authentic and fresh food, well thought out and nicely presented. Very good thoughtful and attentive service. Felt a bit rushed out the door at the end, but service was great otherwise. Tended to be a bit loud... but it may have just been the booth behind us. Smokey at times due to open kitchen. Energy occas, frenetic with 'trendy' ' millennial ' crowd and attitude. The Pannacotta was superb read more

Expensive but tasty. Enjoyed the yakitori here more than some of the places I went to in Tokyo recently. The udon was also fantastic. Highly recommend. read more

Food was good but not great. However, it was very expensive for the offerings. The skewers are mediocre for $9-$12 for 2 tiny offerings. The service was solid but lacked personality. Felt like a trendy pick and place to be seen but I would like great food for my money. read more

This place is delicious!! I recently organized a birthday for my dad and Virginia, the office manager, helped with so many details- dietary restrictions for the prix fixe menu and beautiful printed personalized menus. All the food was stunning and the service impeccable. Thanks Tomoka!! Try the karage if they have it and always get the fresh tofu and panna cotta. read more

Foods are ok but price is a bit too high. Environment is super nice, good for date night or friends get together. Service was good

Excellent food. Polite and efficient service. A lot of the staff is Japanese, so don't expect them to engage in a lot of banter. It's not typical in Japan to do that, so they're not going to flirt and crack jokes with you. The interior is really nice. A bit expensive but not crazy. Overall, a pretty authentic Japanese experience. read more

We had a great time here on our anniversary. Yakitori was so good...husband wouldn't let me get the gizzards, so i'll have to go back! Gyoza so tasty... we lived in Tokyo for years; really miss that yakitori feel... and the greeting as you enter irashai mase...arigato! in our neighborhood as well... loved Chez Spencer too. So happy to have this place .... Chez Spencer would be pleased! read more

Fun laid back atmosphere with amazingly great food. The sashimi's were fresh and delicious. The Chicken oyters very tender, the dumplings interesting and different (excellent) and the cold noodles topped off a great meal. The booth the three of us sat in allowed for great conversation while being part of the restautrant. read more

High-quality food, but really high prices for really small portions. I ordered a sushi platter for the table, for $65, and it literally came with 14 small pieces of sushi, not even enough for one person. If you're not that hungry and don't mind spending lots of money, it's not a bad choice. read more