Tenkyu

5 of us went there for lunch. We all thought the Miso Soup was bad. Like they added water to save on food cost. Waitress left the miso soups on the table until lunch arrived. We all had Bento boxes. Teriyaki Salmon was not good. Rice was not tasty. The little salad with the thousand Island dressing was watered down and dripping. California rolls were ok but not as tasty as I’ve had. Waitress came by and picked up 1 bento box after we finished but left the other 4 empty ones, then came by much later and grabbed 2 more and cleaned the rest when the check came in. Green Tea was good but she never returned to fill them. Bad Service, Not so good food. 3 out of 5 of us agreed not to come back. i think the funniest thing was the tv that was on was showing human casualties. Some by tiger, some by parachute jumping and other types of deaths. The one with the view had to ask them to turn it off as it was quite disturbing for lunch. Oh well, onto the next Japanese Restaurant.

Not the best. Not the worst, just average. If you really want to experience great, fresh sushi — go to Sushi 69.

Tenkyu’s prices are far under those of other local San Rafael sushi places. Yet their fish is just as fresh and tasty. They have placards on the tables that show where each type of fish is sourced. Very friendly, too.
I come in about every 2 weeks and they know what table I prefer. Family operated and delicious sushi, sashimi, tempura, edamame, sunemono, etc. etc. etc!

My goodness! The food is fantastic! The ambiance warm and the waitstaff friendly. This will be a once or twice a week stop! Miso, gyoza, Kappa maki, Golden Gate rol… tempura, crab, avocado all wrapped in a tight roll… l, California roll with tobiko… plenty of ginger and wasabi! Trying to post a pic of our gorgeous dinner… but haven’t managed… darn.

Lovely dinner at Tenkyu.
Chirashi perhaps a little smaller/​fewer pieces of fish/​less rice than I’m used to, but delicious nonetheless — salmon was rich and buttery soft, all included sashimi was very fresh and tasty. Despite appearances, it was plenty of food for me and left room for some mochi ice cream for dessert.
(Side note: we’ve all grown so accustomed to oversized platters of food at restaurants that when «enough» food shows up on a plate, it seems as though it’s too small!)
Husband ordered the shrimp tempura entrée, and he enjoyed it quite a bit. I stole a few veggie pieces and they were yummy — but then, what isn’t yummy when it’s coated in tempura batter?
We enjoyed our dinner here and we’ll surely be back.

I went here with my family after a long day of hiking at Pt. Reyes. We were cold and hungry and craving ramen and decided on Tenkyu. It was one of the few places open on New Years Day and besides– it was warm and cute and there were happy cats and boats!
We ordered ramen and few appetizers (age dashi, yakko tofu and edamame). The service was good but unfortunately the food was a different story. They were out of ramen so we decided to go with udon and sukiyaki. The «broth» for the udon was more like warmish water with a tiny bit of soy sauce. The sukiyaki was a little less bad– but way too sweet.
I didn’t try the sushi but if the appetizers are any indication of the quality I’m glad I didn’t. They were average at best and tasted like they had been sitting around for a few days.
I don’t like leaving bad reviews but honestly this is one of the worse meals I’ve had in recent memory. I’m sorry Tenkyu– but please try harder!
2.5 stars but I gave it 3 mainly for the good service, reasonable price, and they give you candy.

The 6 year old at dinner with us boldly went to the chef’s station and complimented his food. She says this is her «new favorite restaurant» so I believe that says it all. The booths are slightly small for two adults to sit on the same side, but that was our only complaint. The food was great and reasonably priced. The service was wonderful: she joked with the kids and brought our food in a timely manner. Happy Cats were everywhere so I felt right at home.

Tenkyu is a no-​frills Japanese restaurant on Fourth Street where you can expect to find all the usual dishes: big bowls of hot udon, hand rolls, vegetable tempura, lunch bentos, teriyaki, and nigiri sushi. The quality of the food is average, to be honest, and the portions usually leave you with some leftovers to take home. I’m partial to the sushi rolls– the avocado is always ripe and the rice is tasty, though the fish has varied slightly in freshness throughout my visits here, unfortunately.
However, the restaurant is a very casual place where you don’t have to spend a small fortune– being on a food budget myself, I love being able to go here and still have good food, good service, and good atmosphere– and some warm house sake on a cold autumn day.
As this place is never packed full of people, I find this place to be perfect for solo dining. The 2-​seater tables are situated along the left-​side wall towards the kitchen, and there are private booths for larger groups. The horseshoe-​shaped sushi bar has plenty of seating, and the chef can either be talkative to you or be respectful if you want some privacy. There are piles of magazines and children’s toys near the front entrance, so the restaurant is clearly a good place for families to come and eat.

Good place. Small, quite and not too bright. It has an intimate feel. Nice service. I really like the unagi hand roll. It was good! Also the tempura fish appetizer was good.

The house sake was good, but the food was only OK. The beef (and the sushi) were slightly rubbery, and I feel like I could’ve gotten just as good of sushi from whole foods.

A hidden gem. Perfect for a quick lunch stop. Fresh fish, fast service and affordable! Great lunch specials — I will be back!

Try the Chicken Teriyaki Lunch Special, it’s light and quick and only around $ 7, and comes with a miso soup. A good, quick, inexpensive lunch. Not bad.

Great Japanese cuisine. Great tempura and beef teriyaki great place to meet family and friends. I have become a regular.

Meh-​diocre. Pretty much your typical middle American quality sushi. Not great, not bad. Lots of shit with mayonnaise in it. Age dashi tofu is good, the veggie udon is terrible. Spider toll had a beautiful chunk of soft shell crab poking out the ends… and fake krab salad stuffed all through the middle. Srsly?
Plus a star or two for not costing an arm, a leg, and a first born child. However, I don’t go to sushi to save money. Can’t say I’ll be back.

Nice little place I found while wandering 4^th street. Really enjoyed the pot stickers I got, wish I had time to sit down and enjoy more of the menu.

Nice people but the quality of the fish really isn’t top notch. We had the «fresh» red snapper and it was barely edible. the sushi boats are fun but they are rarely filled with anything more than mayonaisy based shrimp salads or the occasional edamame.

My favorite Marin sushi place due to the service, family friendly and their vegetarian sushi options. I LOVE their vegetarian roll with soy paper on the outside. Best veggie roll I’ve ever had anywhere! I live in the city but I still go back to Tenkyu as often as possible.

Add Tenkyu to the long list of three and one half star restaurants in Marin.
Nice place and the sushi boats was a nice novelty.
We started with the tempura it was good, next we had spicy tuna it was really good, I love spider crab rolls but they coated it with something two stars.
When places aren’t crowded there is a reason.
Overall not bad but!

Why does it matter if they are not japanese??? You say you dont care but why would you even say that??? LOL… I come here for lunch its great they are really sweet & I love the hamachi kama. Not about where you come from if you enjoy what you do then much love n respect. I know a hispanic owner of a popular italian rest in petaluma… he studied in italy. Before you snip pick someone race I suggest you learn more about the people before you write something sooo dumb.

This is one of the worst Japanese restaurant (in fact, restaurants in general) I’ve been to. The owners are not Japanese. That’s okay, as long as they put effort into making good Japanese food. However, my friends and I wonder if the chefs have ever experienced Japanese cuisine before.
We ordered pork ramen and katsu don. The ramen was NOT ramen. Rather it was probably some instant noodle bought from Safeway… Then, they used very lean and very dry pork chops, NOT the fatty slow-​cooked kind of pork that you’d expect in a ramen.
The katsu don was watery. The same lean and dry pork chop was used. I’ve never tasted a katsu don this bad. I hate wasting food I really couldn’t stand it. I ended up going to nearby Cold Stone to fill myself up. Cold Stone saved the night.
Service was good though. Hence the 2 stars.
All the rave reviews were for their sushi. We haven’t tried that. Maybe stick to ordering sushi if you must dine at this restaurant.