Kitchen Kura

My bf and I ordered a lot of food since we were pretty hungry. We had the soft shelled crabs, salmon, nanban chicken, calamari, and beef okonomiyaki.
Soft shell crabs were like 7.50 or so I think? We got these two tiny halves of a crab for it. It was okay but we felt like it wasn’t worth the price. ³⁄₅
Calamari was pretty good. The tempura was flaky and light. ⁴⁄₅
Nanban chicken was pretty good as well. The chicken was juicy and crisp. ⁴⁄₅
Salmon is salmon. Can’t go wrong with that. ⁴⁄₅
Beef okonomiyaki– so we came to this restaurant because my bf craved okonomiyaki. While the presentation was nice; the taste was disappointing. It was pretty bland and we felt like there was too much sauce trying to mask the blandness of the okonomiyaki. Not to mention, there was very few traces of the actual beef. :-/​
²⁄₅
They also gave us miso soup and salad and both were very good. Miso soup was amazing!
Aside from the disappointing okonomiyaki, we enjoyed the homely feeling of this place. The waiters were attentive and the chefs were so kind and cute! They waved us off as we left. Definitely had a homesick feeling at that moment, haha. I feel like ⁴⁄₅ rating is generous but, the food overall was pretty good and we both got massive food coma afterwards. I may come back just for the atmosphere and the awesome chicken and salmon.

Awesome.
Good luck with the parking but don’t let that deter you.
Anyways,
the combination of intimately cozy and authentic (well, at least I think it is) dishes makes for a very entertaining outing —
that’s once you actually get seated. If you’re waiting outside, not so fun.
As for the eats,
my more adventurous nephew decided to try the okinomiyaki and actually enjoying all the flavors and texture of his savory Japanese «pancake.»
The rest of the family went with the more standard two item combos and a couple of ‘em ordered the udon. Good food all around and chicken naban with spicy sauce was particularly yummy.
I did notice they serve a miso butterfish after the fact and I’m really hoping it comes close to the one I absolutely adore in Hawaii but we’ll see.
There’s a nice selection of sake that’s reasonable enough for you to be daring if you choose.
The staff is quite helpful.
And you get a whole lot of bang for the buck (do people still say that?)

Went here for dinner on my 22^nd birthday (3÷25÷2015) with Elizabeth L. and Anderson Y.
I didn’t have the most amazing experience because I was craving curry udon and that’s probably not what you should be getting at Kitchen Kura. I tried everything else because my sister and her boyfriend got a bunch of everything, but I just wasn’t feeling my entrée so every thing else tasted just alright??? Their okonomiyaki was delicious though… but not overwhelmingly great? Haha.
My sister and her boyfriend frequent here often but maybe I need to try it out again to give it a better rating! Service was lovely though. The waitress was quite attentive to our needs and refilled our tea and water often.

Kitchen Kura was an accidental find. We meant to get sushi but the restaurant of choice for the night was full and required that we had reservations which we didn’t, so we ventured across the street to a little mom and pop place known as kitchen Kura and fell in love with their food.
The first time we came here, I got the beef sukiyaki bowl and my partner got the two item combo with friend chicken and tofu. We also ordered beef okonomiyaki. We both really liked what we ordered and as boring as it might sound, we’ve just been ordering the same thing. Needless to say, my partner really like kitchen Kura’s fried chicken and I absolutely am obsessed with their okonomiyaki. I crave it almost every week. BUT DOWNSIDE that is unrelated to food is that you do pay for a cup of tea.
The servers are also pretty efficient, and attentive. There’s only really one server for the whole place, and while it is small, there’s at least 10 tables for two people. So on average, one server is serving 20 people at a time, yet everything is served at a decent amount of time, and no table or atleast my table never really felt neglected during my visits here.
Unfortunately, kitchen Kura’s posted schedule isn’t always accurate. There are several times that we came here and found that they are closed. The normal reaction would be for us to get annoyed but instead we just feel crushed because we’ve been looking forward to tasting their delicious food all day just to find that we will have to wait a little longer.
I highly recommend this place, but be aware of the the days they are open and have a back up restaurant incase they are closed.

This business is definitely out to get your money.
Parking here is hard to find so you may have to circle a couple blocks around and around.
It was strange to come here on a Sunday and have this restaurant open from 6pm-​9pm. The restaurant is tiny — maximum capacity would probably be around 15. We were seated immediately, thank goodness.
We were given our menus and decided to get the two entrees for $ 15. My friend and I decided to get the Nanban Chicken and the Garlic Pork. With the combo, you also get a side of rice and miso ground chicken (which was amazing!)
Unfortunately, we had to buy a little more because there’s a $ 8 minimum PER PERSON. What the actual fuuu? I’ve never heard of that before, so my friend bought a can of soda with it.
The Nanban Chicken was ⁷⁄₁₀. The only problem I had with it was the breading kept coming off. It comes with a special sauce and it tasted better.
The garlic chicken was ⁶⁄₁₀. It had the right mixture of sauce and the texture was all right.
However, I don’t think I’ll be back here just because it’s very limited and the service was slow.
Oh, there’s a $ 15 credit card minimum here.

When we think of Japanese food, our minds usually jump to fresh sashimi or ramen. What makes Kitchen Kura different from other restaurants is their homestyle cooking. With delicious appetizers and entrees, I find myself coming back for more.
As a person of routine, I always get the dinner special with nanban chicken and sukiyaki ($ 13.50). The chicken comes with a spicy mayo sauce which complements it perfectly. Crispy, but tender on the inside, the chicken is a must if you come. The sukiyaki is a combination of deliciousness :) (meat, tofu, and onions).
For the price, you get a lot of food! I usually have enough for leftovers, which is always nice to have. If you’re in SF and looking for a different take on Japanese food, drop by Kitchen Kura!

Made our way over here as Izakaya Sozai across the street had a one hour wait but was not disappointed! Their dinner combos come in generous portions and it could easily be shared between 2 people. It’s a really small mom & pop type restaurant and unfortunately you’ll have to wait in the chilly San Francisco weather before being seated. There was only one server running the floor which made ordering a bit difficult.
I ordered the dinner combo with sukiyaki and the nanban chicken as everyone on here was raving about. Sukiyaki was yummy and the nanban chicken came in an enormous basket! It was coated with a light batter and luckily wasn’t just white meat. Lots of dark fried meat, YAS! There was so much that I kind of got sick of eating it towards the end, even with 2 people digging at it. My friend got an okonomiyaki which was served in a cute little skillet. She thought that it got boring though because it all just kind of tasted the same and they skimped on the tako. (She counted less than 10 pieces in that whole thing).
Definitely a good alternative if you don’t want to wait on Izakaya Sozai!

I’m surprised I never reviewed this place. I came here many years before and remembering it was japanese home cooked food that was tasty and looked healthy.
I came here for dinner recently and I was so hungry. I decided to get the Golden Trio Curry cause it seemed like there was a bit of everything I wanted to eat. A piece of hamburger steak, a potato croquette, several pieces of nanban chicken, and curry over rice. The steak and croquette was delicious, as well as the curry, although it lacked some spice. The nanban chicken was a bit disappointing for me. It wasn’t crispy enough and was just too much batter, but the meat was moist and tender.
Price is cheap, and soup/​salad/​appetizer is provided as well.

Line is too long! Restaurant is too small. Also, why are you open only 3 hours a day?
Eggplant in Broth: Very tasty! I watched through a small gap in the divider as they deep fried the raw eggplant through and through, and then poured cold flavored broth over the eggplant. It made for a very tasty dish that was piping hot and fresh. I would say it took a bit for the sauce to soak into the fried eggplant (double dip at first!), but once it did, it was lovely.
Nanban Chicken: Actually, not a fan. It was good fried chicken, like good kaarage, but it wasn’t nanban, because there wasn’t any nanban sauce! Yes, it was served with tartar sauce, okay, but where is the sweet/​sour nanban sauce? Where is the vinegar? It was tasty, still. Very nicely fried.
Okonomiyaki: Thick, crispy on the outside, soft on the side, generous heaps of mayo and sauce, yeah, pretty much the best okonomiyaki in SF.
When I walked in, I noticed the smell was really strong in the restaurant– not in a good way, in the «someone forgot to cook without the fan on» kind of way. I mean, they probably have the fan on, but it’s such a small place with so many tables jammed together, that it’s just hard to ventilate. Not the most pleasant ambience, but the smell wears off about a bit. Our Über driver though we had takeout in the back, but it was just our clothes. Embarrassing

I’m a sucker for good Japanese cuisine, and Kitchen Kura definitely brings it! I usually go for a combo with the nanban chicken, baked salmons or sukiyaki. I usually dine with friends when I visit Kitchen Kura, which is awesome because we have no excuse to not split a okonomiyaki.
The combo comes with some pretty awesome appetizers that include a salad, a miso and a sashimi dish.
I would definitely come back here for another visit!

Oishii!
So happy to have stumbled upon this cute Japanese mom and pop shop. Honestly, Kitchen Kura wasn’t even on my radar since I was planning on feasting at San Tung that night, which was just down the street. However, after seeing an unimaginably long line — plus being starving — we decided to take a chance and try this place — very glad we did!
The restaurant itself is super tiny with only 4 – 5 tables inside. Casual atmosphere and super friendly waiters made it feel very welcoming. The menu selection is pretty broad but predominantly listed Japanese comfort foods: okonomiyaki, curry plates, chicken nanban and so on.
I ordered their infamous chicken nanban with curry: the curry was good, thicker in consistency. I also asked for the spiciest option, but it barely had any heat in it. The chicken nanban was as delicious as the hype! I really liked how the batter was soft and not as crunchy as regular karaage. Plus, it tasted amazing with the tartar sauce mayo. Price was cheap, portion was huge… enough to keep me full for 2 meals!
I’ll be back!

Wow this is a neat place!!!
Feels like eating at your cool uncle’s house. Japanese style comfort food to the max.
Tuna tartar appetizer was great, kinda like a ahi poke vibe going on which i loved.
Osaka okonomiyaki came out on a sizzling iron skillet, octopus and pickled ginger with oko sauce is magic in your mouth. Im a fan of big flavor and this is the real shit.
Sukiyaki was fantastic, sweet sweet beef juice all up in my floofy rice aint nothing better.
This place is the bomb diggity looking forward to the nanban chickenon the next.

BF and I had a big lunch, so we didn’t get to try to nanban chicken! Next time.
We ended up getting the beef tongue, chicken heart, chicken gizzard, osaka okonomiyaki, sake flight (kurosawa, katana, hana-​na-​mai), and large Asahi.
Loved the beef tongue and chicken gizzard. but the chicken heart. oh so succulent and juicy and tender. Hands down the best I’ve ever had.
The okonamiyaki was OK. A little too doughy and wet for my taste.
I can’t wait to return for the chicken!

Four for the okonomiyaki. But wasn’t a fan of anything else to be quite honest (but we only got the appetizer, miso, salad, and edamame because technically this was dinner #2) so that is not saying much.
The California (pork + avocado) Okonomiyaki came on a skillet and was definitely on the thick and creamy side. If Okonomiyaki is considered the Japanese equivalent of a pizza, then this is more of a Chicago deep dish style instead of a New York Pizza type. It had a healthy dose of mayo and the pork was nice and crispy on top.
Our miso came out only slightly warm (as if it had been sitting out for a while — but we did show up near closing time). It was gross.
Appetizer special of the day was a fried chip with a seafood mash that tasted like fishy mashed potatoes. We ended up eating a few bites and leaving it.
Edamame was extremely garlicy. There were giant chunks of fried garlic that I ended up putting on top of my rice and to add more punches of flavor to the okonomiyaki. Wish they had sriracha or some other flavoring to add spice to my okonomiyaki but that’s just my American side talking.

The nanban chicken lived up to the reviews. It is a little annoying that they are only open for lunch on Saturdays, and they don’t open til 12pm! We were waiting outside at 12 because we heard there can be a line, but no one was there but us.
Once we ordered, our food came out quickly. I ordered the lunch with nanban chicken and eggplant and the fiancé ordered nanban chicken and the beef hamburger patty. The chicken was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, and the eggplant was tasty, too. I do wish they had a different dipping sauce other than the tarter sauce, but it was okay.
I’ll be back to try the okonomiyaki pancake which looks yummy!

Wonderful little place for authentic home-​cooked food. It is very affordable — $ 13.50 for dinner with 2 dish choices, appetizer, soup, salad, and rice. The appetizer was eggplant with ground pork. The place is small so sometimes there’s a wait.
Everyone recommends the nanban chicken but I think it’s overrated. It’s just battered fried chicken. My favorite is the hamburger. I got the ginger and garlic pork and it was overcooked. The soft shell crab and the croquette are excellent. The sukiyaki was very flavorful.

Came here once with a friend for lunch. The food was affordable and delish. I think the lunch special was about $ 8 plus tax, and it comes with two sides, rice, and a small salad.
My friend and I both ordered the lunch special and got the following sides:
1. Fried chicken — the batter was very light, crispy, and delicious. Not like any fried chicken i ever tasted.
2. Beef sukiyaki — like any other beef sukiyaki.
3. Shoyu white fish — comes with a lot of onions.
4. Radish — it’s okay.
My favorite was the fried chicken because of the batter and the chicken was really juicy. The food tasted very home-​cooked which I like.

I love it! I’ve been wanting to try this place for so long as I’ve heard great things over the years, but every time I went, they were either closed, it wasn’t the right time, etc.
Finally, I had lunch here on Saturday and had the 2-​item lunch special. I picked the nishime (my Mom makes nishime, love it as it is total comfort food, it is lightly stewed and so flavorful) and the butter fish (love butter fish, so light and flaky and takes on the flavor of the sauce so well). My dish came steaming hot — loved it!
I got a nice table in the front window off to the side where I could enjoy my meal while in bright natural light. Service was friendly — the guy was busy running all of the tables! It’s a small restaurant but it is popular and hopping so you’ve got to hit it at the right time. I want to try more of their dishes soon! Easy to get to on the Muni N line.

Japanese-​owned, family style restaurant with cute-​to-​boot dishes, home-​y and SF-​y ambience (reminds me of my grandpa’s house) and great service. We went on a Friday for dinner and here’s what you should order if you go in a pair:
1 Osaka okonomiyaki — $ 9 — octopus and red ginger cabbage and egg pancake with kewpie mayo on top
1 combination with nanban chicken + sukiyaki — $ 13.50 — the chicken is succulent and TO DIE FOR in combination with the sriracha tartar sauce (god, it’s good) and the sukiyaki is a bit reminiscent of gyudon flavors, which I love btw, and unpretentious, home-​y, comforting, and flavorful when paired with fresh and fluffy white rice
1 veg potato croquette — $ 2 — this is only medicore and not as buttery as I like it (potato croquette snob here), but still I really really appreciate the clean oval shape and perfect golden brown panko crust + lots of tonkatsu sauce
1 matcha cheese cake sliver/​slice (lol) — $ 4 — this is also mediocre and definitely seems store-​bought and frozen (the center of our sliver/​slice was frozen), so something to pass on, or try if you want to end on a sweet note. They only offer 2 desserts, mochi ice cream or matcha cheese cake, so up to you.
But wow wow, this was quite a satisfying meal!
They even seem vegetarian friendly, providing a tofu burger combination meal, which is surprising for a Japanese restaurant (but less surprising since it’s SF.).
Please please try it out! It’s so yum! Just beware of the small restaurant size as it only seats like 3 tables of 4 or 5, and 3 tables of 2.

After eating heavy food here and there, my group and I decided that we wanted Japanese food for our last night here in SF. Initially, we were planning to eat at Izakaya Sozai, but even at 9:00p on a Saturday night, there was over an hour wait! We saw Kitchen Kura across the street and decided to come here instead since we were starving.
There were 5 of us total, and although they close at 9:30 (on Fridays and Saturdays) and it was already 9:05, they kindly let us in (I know some places frown when a group tries to walk in near closing time). The interior was a bit run down, kind of like it never left the 70s or 80s, but gave off a nostalgic down home vibe that I grew up in.
For starters, we all shared garlic edamame (yum yum), and I got the oyako zen dinner set ($ 13.50). The set came with salad, miso soup, fried wonton skins with curry sauce, tofu, oyako (chicken, onions, and egg cooked in a sauce), and a big bowl of rice. Holy cow (or chicken), that’s a lot of food! And everything, especially the curry sauce, was so good (if anything, the oyako dish was a bit too sweet). I saved some of the curry sauce and put it on my rice (actually, we all did). Man oh man, I almost kill… uh, asked the owner for the recipe. I could’ve pretended to go to the bathroom and grab the curry pot from the kitchen and run away. Oh the possibilities…
Delicious comfort food, friendly service, and an at-​home feel… Kitchen Kura, I will keep you bookmarked for when I visit again.