GINTO Izakaya Japonaise

Ginto has become my favorite place for after work drinks and food. It’s spacious and the service is always excellent. The food is better than expected and the fish is always fresh. They ran out of uni on a few occasions, but no big deal. Try the crab rice stone bowl; it takes about 40mins to cook, but worth every minute of waiting. The drinks are great as well; try the pickle Bloody Mary — tangy, sour, and just perfectly seasoned. Also this is an izakaya so the food is small plates that are meant to be shared. Bonus: Ginto is among the very few places in the downtown area that stays open late for those midnight cravings.

I came here for lunch and the bentos are solid. I had the steak lunch set with miso soup and salad. Nothing exceptional on taste but everything was what I expected. Even though the steak has a bit too much sauce on it, the quality of the meat was quite good. The salad is basically mesclun salad from WholeFoods and wasn’t impressed with the side dish.

Surprisingly good experience considering I did not do any Unilocal research to find this place. Walked by on a Tuesday evening after exploring Super Bowl City and noticed this place’s happy hour. We told our waitress we were in a rush and we were seated, dined, and checked out in 30 minutes!
We ordered 3 happy hour items (hamachi with jalapeño, salmon cheek collar, and spicy tuna pizza) to share among two people. Each dish we ordered ranged from $ 5-​$ 7, which we found fair since they were seafood items. All 3 dishes were yummy and came as expected. The only thing that caught us off guard was the spicy tuna pizza, which misled us with the title of pizza. It was fried/​crispy rice blocks topped with spicy tuna mash — but still yummy.
The non-​happy hour menu seemed a bit pricier than what I’d pay for a spontaneous, casual dinner, but I’d return for happy hour!

Surprisingly pleasant experience here. I came here with a friend on a Friday night after work for some drinks and sushi. The customer service was incredible. They opened the door for us, waited until we sat down to hand us the menu, accommodated to our change of appetizer, and checked up on us at the right times.
Both of us got their chirashi ($ 19.95) with chicken karage and a drink. I got the Yuzu Drop while my friend got the Matcha Saketini. I was eyeing on their omakase set, but realized that it’s $ 35 I quickly went to my second choice which was the chirashi. I’ll get that next time! When our chirashi came, we were pretty surprised at the presentation and quality. It’s pretty rare to see scallop and ama ebi (my fav) being served in chirashi at the $ 20 price tag in SF.
The fish was good quality and the rice was perfectly seasoned. I happily downed my bowl of fish and rice while sipping on my yuzu drop. One complain is that my drink was too watery, it definitely can use less ice and more plum wine. By the end of my chirashi bowl, my drink was almost like water. Oh well. We also got their Matcha Lava Cake which was soooooo good… it was still warm and gooey when arrived.
Overall, pretty fancy place with surprisingly good japanese food. Will be back to try their takoyaki!

I had the late night happy hour ramen and I couldn’t be happier with the quality and service! I had a junior size for like $ 6.95. It was fairly sized for the price! It was so good and flavorful that I had to drink every last drop of the soup! SOOO GOOD.

Good to decent, but not great food. Good place for a late night hang out, however. And for a late night eatery, it probably would not get better than this if you wanted Japanese.
Things are a bit of jack-​of-​all-​trades here, with no speciality or expertise. That is probably the problem. There are decent dishes here, but nothing is fantastic in comparison to the other Japanese available in town.
I had the miso cod here. It was pretty good, but not great. It was smoky, buttery, and came in a relatively generous bento. Only problem is just there are so many other places in town that make this better.
The sushi here was also ok. The fish was not terribly fresh. Again, another problem with trying to do and sell everything — your turnover suffers.
But they do open until very late however. And their food is decent. So come here late night if you are craving Japanese.

Gave this place a not so good review when it opened but now they have a happy hour and a late night happy hour till 2am with great food and drink.
Check it out — especially the ramen at midnight.

They have happy hour on Friday and Saturday which is a total banger. I don’t see many places that have HH on a Friday or Saturday night. But there happy hour menu is kind of mediocre but with not a lot of great food options. But def a lot of drink options– sake, beer, some cocktails and mixed drinks. I got a jalapeño margarita which is pretty good and surprisingly tasty. I got the shingoku oysters– fresh and very good. Our sever Anthony was very sweet and attentive. There was a misunderstanding on one of our orders and he was so kind and he gave us the mistake order for free. Customer service was wonderful. I would most def come back because of the freshness of the food and quality customer service. :)

The salmon cray pot and signature tofu is so delicious!!! I love it happy hours is everyday!!! Awesome deal

Came here yesterday to have a quick diner with my friend. Decided to give it one more star.
This time, I tried more of their cold items. We ordered the Ahi Tuna Tower, Sashimi Platter, Portobello Fries, Hamachi Roll, and Spicy Tuna Pizza. I was pretty satisfied with everything. Ahi Tuna Tower was very good, kind of small, but still delicious. Spicy Tuna Pizza was interesting, the pizza is fried up rice, loved it. The Portobello Fries was yummy, had a great sauce that came with it. Roll and Sashimi Platter was fresh and nicely presented.
Recommend this place for the cold items on the menu!

I took my friend there for his bd. It was during hour but we stayed way pass the happy hour. Most of the drinks were great. Our server was very nice and the food was great. I gave this place three stars because I felt like they were trying to get us to leave. They were in such a hurry to take our plates. I still had the tar tar on my plate and no I wasn’t done eating. :(I wouldn’t mind going back for the drinks during happy hour though.

You can’t help but be immediately taken back by the large (and I mean LARGE) masks hanging on the back wall. I don’t usually take note too much on décor but this place was pretty cool.
I got the spicy tuna rice bowl and it was sooo goood. I thought it was going to be cubed tuna, like poke, but it was more like canned tuna (in the way it’s chopped finely) and mixed with I’m guessing a bit of mayo and spicy goodness. The rice was perfectly sticky and it was top with plenty of avocado. The sauce on top really tied it together.
During lunch you get it with miso soup and a salad for ~$ 14 – 15 (i think)

My friend and I were looking for a good Japanese place near Union Square and Ginto is right located by the Market&Montgomery bus top. I loved the modern and lively ambience of the place and this place surprisingly isn’t pricey at all!
We ordered Avocado &Negitoro Tartar, Wagyu Beef Roll and Bread Pudding as our dessert.
Avocado &Negitoro Tartar: tuna slightly had that fishy smell but avocado did a good job masking the smell. Overall a great refreshing appetizer.
Wagyu Beef Roll: WOW period. I literally could taste the perfectly smoked wagyu beef even before chewing it. The roll was so flavorful and delicious you don’t need soy sauce with it. Only wish the beef portion was larger, :(
Bread Pudding: expect to wait about 20 minutes for this because they bake their own in the oven! The bread pudding is sooo soft inside and melts in your mouth with ice cream on top. I enjoyed every bite of this pudding. Hands down my favorite dessert.
You can request for the ice cream flavor change!
I would definitely come back here the next time I shop around Union Square. Happy Thanksgiving!

We ate light before catching a show at the YBCA– tuna pizza roll, sushi and sesame cucumber with a cocktail each. Our drinks were so diluted– I had to ask our server to add a little more alcohol to my drink. Luckily, the server was very sweet and didn’t hesitate to add more to it. When our sesame cucumber arrived, I just had to laugh out loud. It’s like they ran out of knives in the kitchen. It was hilarious– I had never seen such poor presentation of food before, that it really begged for this review on Unilocal.Sloppy Award of The Year! Luckily our sushis and other appetizer was okay. Overall, considering the ambience and the décor of the place– I was really expecting more and was disappointed.
Three stars for the food. But I would give four stars for the sweet server we had.

I celebrated the big 2 – 3 in the city a few weekends ago and decided to have dinner here with all of my friends before our night on the town.
I felt a little silly walking in and saying we had a reservation for 6 people since the restaurant is huge (perfect for large groups!) and there were barely any people during the time. The restaurant was a bit more full by the time we left, though.
We didn’t expect it to be happy hour since it was 6pm on a Saturday but we ended up ordering almost the entire HH menu — spicy tuna pizza, carpaccio, chicken karaage, takoyaki, miso salmon cheek collar and spicy tuna roll. Off the regular menu, we ordered a few rolls to share, a chirashi and a salmon+roe clay pot.
Everything I tried was good for the most part, I would pass on the spicy tuna pizza though. However, My favorite by far was the sake kama (on the menu as Grilled Saikyo Miso Salmon Cheek Collar). It was SO good we ordered another one after happy hour ended and our waitress was nice enough to charge us the happy hour price.
I would come back just for the happy hour and sake kama!
HH
Every day: 3:00PM — 6:30PM
Thursday, Friday, Saturday: 10:00PM — Closing
You’re welcome. :)

Pricey, but the quality, variety, contemporary décor, full bar, accommodating staff and high end location for convenience is all there.
I love their Monrovia roll. With cucumber wrapped around sashimi, shiso (a minty leaf) sushi and served up with a tint of side sweet sauce, this is a delight to the palate. The Chirashi bowl is a guaranteed win. They have the full selections of what Japanese cuisine has to offer that comprises of ramen, yakitori and izakaya dishes. Happy hours exist here. Bento specials are happening during lunch.
There is a limited, pleasant, outdoor, front seating area that I opted for on a sunny day. Great servicing that kept checking up on us.
I’m down for getting Ginto anytime!

It’s a hip hh joint. Located right by the Market/​Montgomery bus stop. Ginto is pretty cool and upscale but menu isn’t too expensive. Vegas-​ish décor with large masks visually hung in the back of the restaurant.
Just steps away from my office, great spot to predrink b4 dinner. Very friendly hostesses and bartenders. We sat at the bar both times and it’s perfect, large windows that’s bright enough to people watch.
Order a plum sake drink! And try: Karage-​fried perfectly, ankimo. very fresh, well-​seasoned chicken hearts skewer and fresh sashimi.

For a Japanese restaurant in fidi, it’s not bad for lunch.
Unlike many other reviews on their takeout bentos, I dined in. I ordered the salmon bowl.
In general, the flavor and taste of the salmon bowl was fair, the freshness of the fish definitely brought down the overall taste — which typically happens with sashimi dishes.
Also, the presentation wasn’t very good. I’ve had a lot prettier bowl presentations and fresher fish. However, I do understand it’s difficult to stay competitive with that location at $ 17~ a bowl.
Next time, I’ll try the bento. It seems like a more bang for your buck.

We went to GINTO with a large group (10+) on a Monday evening — from about 6 – 7:30 pm, we were the only people in the place. The restaurant is well-​staffed in the front of the house, but with one (visible) bartender and a large drink order, it took awhile to get things moving.
The great: Gorgeous, bordering on Vegas-​lavish décor with huge masks hung high on the walls and a giant iron birdcage looming over the bar. Excellent lighting, furniture, and an overall calm/​classy ambiance — this is a great place to bring a date if you want to be able to talk without feeling like you’re in a library.
The cocktails — I had 3 of the Macha Russians ($ 10) — they were pretty freakin’ amazing. The habanero margarita and beer list is also awesome. This is a great place to grab a drink after work — bummer that happy hour ends at 5, though!
The alright: The service was reasonably attentive, though aside from putting in our initial order we did a lot of flagging for second rounds of drinks, additional orders, etc. The dishes also varied across the «pass» to «not shabby» spectrum — rolls were decent, the seaweed salad was good (minus the arugula), and the edamame with flaked salt was pretty great.
The not-​so-​hot: If you suffer from epilepsy or are otherwise prone to nervous breakdowns, the menu’s layout may be a trigger. While the silver lamé cover and matching drink menu effuse a certain grace, the inside looks like the ransom note of a deranged sushi chef. Several people in our party simply gave up on it and ate whatever came to the table.
The food, while tasty on some counts (yum rolls; the yakitori left something to be desired), I can’t say that any of it held up to its price tag. It’s unlikely that I’ll return here on my own, but for a beautiful place that can accommodate a large group easily, this may just be your spot!

Très bon restaurant de sushis. Propre, personnel impeccable. Addition dans la moyenne. Plat bon et pas mal de choix.

Très bon restaurant, j’ai mangé d’excellent maki. Les plats chauds sont aussi très bon, et bien épicés. Je recommande pour ceux qui sont amateurs de cuisine japonaise.

I can’t give a full review since I Ate at the bar. But I’ll do the best I can.
Miso soup came out the kitchen quick, but a little cold. Then again if it’s not scorching I’m never satisfied. Ordered a basic Cali roll but it was dressed up like a dragon roll. Well prepared, very ornate.
The service is what really stood out. All good by me!