O-Toro Sushi

Ran into this small place as my niece and I was strolling down Oak Street, feeling hungry. When we stepped inside the place, we were asked if we had reservations (the place was quite packed) and I told the staff that we did not. His expression was concerning. I noticed that there were enough bar seats opened which he didn’t even offer until I asked. We got the chance to sit down and glance at the menu before realizing we were pressed on time so we decided to tell the staff that we are going to order to-​go instead. He said it wasn’t a problem and we let ourselves up off the bar area and walked to the side of the restaurant with the menu to decide what we wanted to get.
My niece and I decided on getting a roll with unagi (eel) in it, so we chose the Dreamy sensation. For appetizers, we shared the agedashi tofu.
Food was just okay in my book. The Dreamy sensation had a decent flavor, but with the cream cheese and avocado, the flavor of the unagi wasn’t strong at all. I felt like I was eating a roll with mostly fat and no protein.
The agedashi tofu was overly soggy. The food was done and packed inside a to-​go container but we waited 20 minutes for them to make the single dreamy sensation roll to-​go so the appetizer ended up getting soggy while sitting in its own steam. The dipping sauce was good, it made the tofu more tolerable.
Service here sadly didn’t make up for the long wait time. We were never offered anything to drink while waiting, and the staffs kept walking quickly passed us as to avoid talking to customers who aren’t dining in.

I’ve been trying to find a good sushi place that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg ever since my favourite place changed owners. I think I’ve found it! This will be my new go to sushi place!

Fish is fresh, but very expensive. I got the omakase 78 and my friend ordered a mix of hot and cold dishes that came up to 98.

Incredible! Some of the best nigiri style sushi I’ve had. Recommend making reservations though, the seating area is quiet small.

O’toro is very small, cute sushi restaurant in Hayes valley. We got there around 7, and the wait was about 25 minutes. It went by quickly, the host was very nice, and took everyones drink orders while we waited. We ended up with bar seats which was cool– it’s always fun to watch sushi chefs do their thing.
When we were ordering, it bothered me that the waitress always pushed the most expensive dishes on us. It felt a bit weird. We ended up with a shishito stuffed with spicy albacore appetizer, a golden state roll, and a few orders of nigiri. The roll was my favorite– the little pieces of lemon on top of the salmon was really good. The nigiri felt a bit small, and the shishito peppers were just okay.
I didn’t think this place was bad by any means, but it didn’t feel remarkable, while also being quite pricey. I just feel like there are way better options in the city for sushi.

There can be kind of a crazy wait here, but the sushi is fresh, the service is good and the atmosphere is nice. It’s pretty cozy though even when you do finally get a table, so make sure that you are comfortable with getting to know your neighbors… :)

Let’s be clear: this is not a bad place, but for the price, there are a lot better. First, the positives: It’s a cute little place, the sushi is presented well, and the quality of the fish was good. So what’s not to like?
1. They have fully bought into the trend toward «innovative» concoctions full of trippy stuff that doesn’t belong in sushi. They even call their appetizer menu «Japanese Tapas», which should clue you in right away that they don’t respect either Japanese or Tapas.
(Disclaimer: If you have read my other reviews, you know I am not into non-​traditional ingredients in sushi. If you are into that stuff, then disregard #1 above.)
2. When we were discussing what to order, they kept trying to upsell their most expensive items, including the not-​very-​traditional appetizers (sorry – Tapas). We stated several times that we wanted traditionally-​made sushi before the waitress stopped suggesting the other junk and took the orders.
3. The service was TOO attentive-​the waitress constantly pushed us to order more even when we were still trying enjoy what we had in front of us. She aggressively poured more sake when we wanted to pace ourselves. It simply didn’t feel comfortable.
4. In the end, even the simple, straight-​up Nigiri was made with small portions of fish (the pieces of fish are supposed to overhang the pat of rice), and overall the price of dinner was about 60% more than I have paid at comparable or better places in San Francisco.
I go to dinner in Tokyo on a frequent basis, and I know what the real thing is like. While San Francisco is one of the few cities outside Japan where I would feel comfortable taking Japanese guests for Japanese dinner, I certainly won’t be taking them to O-​Toro.

Came across O Toro sushi while in a pinch to find a place for dinner on a Thursday night. Located in Hayes Valley (sort of) O Toro is surrounded by tons of restaurant options, if sushi isn’t your thing.
The place isn’t very big, has about 15 tables and then a few seats at the bar. The waitress showed us to our table and brought us warm cloths to wash our hands, which I thought was a great idea.
To start we had a saporo, Tempura and ribs. I liked the beer and the Tempura, but for me the ribs were nothing special. For our sushi, we ordered a variety of different rolls, including salmon roll and Tempura roll. the rest I cannot remember. All of what we ate was fresh and delicious and served really quickly!
The only downfall was that they have a menu with all the fish of the day and speciality items. It hangs on the wall beside the bar. However, they don’t point it out to you. I would have loved to order off the special menu, since the food listed sounded great. Oh well, maybe next time.

A bit above average, but on the pricy side. This place is fresh and has good quality food. Came by here for lunch last week and ordered a bento combination of chicken teriyaki and short ribs, the Hip Hop roll, the Otoro Roll, salmon nigiri, and toro nigiri to be shared with two people. We usually eat a lot so this is more than enough food. The bill came out to be around $ 80.
The restaurant was fairly crowded at lunch time but luckily we didn’t have to wait. It is a relatively small restaurant. We were seated at the bar. The bento was about $ 16 for the combination. I thought the meat was excellent. It took a while to come out, which the servers were very apologetic about, but it wasn’t too bad of a wait. I definitely liked the Hip Hop roll more than the O-​toro roll, which was smaller and less special than I expected. The nigiri that we had was fresh.
I would come back to try more items on the menu if I am back in Hayes Valley. Nothing blew me away, but we did enjoy the food and experience.

Love this place. My go to for casual sushi. The fish and skewers are fresh and delicious.
Do get the Otoro #2 if they are serving it.
Beef tongue skewers on point.
Dynamite roll blew me away.
Do not order ramen if you are a ramen lover. If you do, do not expect to be impressed.

Fish was super fresh that didn’t break the bank.
All the rolls we got had a great combination of texture n favors.
Presentation was great.
Small little environment but the atmosphere was good.
Trying to make sense of the avocado pit they use for the soy sauce cover. And the avocado pits y have growing.
My favorite was the lollipop roll, wish I had taken a picture. 3 types of super fresh fish with avocado all wrapped in a thinly sliced cucumber.

What a nice random find! My brother and I originally wanted to go to another izakaya restaurant in the area but it was on a 2.5 hour wait so we trusted Unilocal and found ourselves at O-​toro! The restaurant is small and only has a few tables but that makes it that much more charming and cozy.
We ordered a few small plates as well as many of the different sushis — delicious! We started off with agedashi tofu which was good per usual. Light crispy tofu — deceivingly filling. We also ordered the Hamachi carpaccio which there are enough reviews on but it was pretty good! Not amazing at first but the fish was so fresh and the side mango/​refreshing veggie (not sure what it was) made the combination outstanding.
We ordered a variety of sushis and they all melted in your mouth. Our favorite was the albacore tuna. It was both of our first times trying it and I just have to emphasize that the sushi just melted in our mouth.
Two things we’d probably pass on next time: sea eel and the scallop dynamite. I like eel and there was nothing wrong with it but it wasn’t amazing like the other sushis — just good as you would find at another good Japanese restaurant. Scallop dynamite is not what we expected. We thought it’d be raw scallops but it was cooked in cheese and kimchee. Not bad either but I’d rather eat something more authentically Japanese or fresh at this restaurant.
Overall a really good experience!

You have got to try this place. Hands down the BEST sushi in Hayes Valley! Great service, ambiance and versatile menu.

O-​toro
Address: 205 Oak St, San Francisco, CA 94 102
We ordered salmon & white tuna sashimi, so expensive, 15.95 for 5 pieces! The ramen is the worst I have ever had in San Francisco. Look at the egg, it’s fully boiled. The miso soup tastes like alcohol, I’m not sure the ingredients in the soup. As an Japanese Restaurant, they can’t even make good ramen. I has to say it’s very disappointed experience.

I’ve been addicted to using restaurant reservations apps lately, really makes things convenient. Planning on dinner with a friend, I decided to use my trusty apps to guide me in choosing the joint. Stumbled upon O-​toro and saw the reviews were really good, so I definitely wanted to hit it up.
When you get in, you’ll notice this place is super small. Make reservations, it’ll be so much easier. It’s on the cusp of Haye’s Valley and Civic Center and super intimate setting. Sushi bar or booth/​table seating, low lit lighting and overall romantic ambiance. The staff was super quiet but helpful. For dinner, I wanted to try everything! The menu looked great. Here’s what I settled on:
–Sake Butteryaki from the Hot tapas menu for $ 12.75. Grilled salmon with a butter sauce. I thought this dish was good. The flavor was light, but present. I thought the salmon was a little dried out but it may have been sitting in a window for a bit. Not a bad dish though.
–Hamachi Belly with Yuzu Miso on their specials board for $ 14.95. OH-​EM-​GEE! This dish was to die for! The hamachi belly was marbleized and so delicious!!! The yuzu miso really enhanced the flavor overall. I really didn’t want this dish to end haha!
–Shoyu Ramen for $ 12.75. Ended my meal off right! The ramen was cooked to perfection, the soup included things like bamboo shoots, pork, seaweed and other greens. I kind of wished they did a slow cooked, little runny boiled egg. That would’ve sealed the deal for this dish but what I had was super delicious.
I’ve been trying to find a good sushi joint here in SF since I moved. This has to be up there as the top 5 joints I would frequent for years to come! If you’re in the area, check them out!

My friend thought the fish and uni were fresh. He was a fan of the restaurant and would come back. I thought it was pretty good, but the rolls were a little small. My favorite were the O-​Toro fatty tuna and the Amaebi sweet shrimp sushi. The sushi came pretty quickly and service was good overall.

Service and atmosphere was great. Food was only worth 1 star. I’m the type of person who orders my usual classic favorites, never too adventurous since I am not a fan of Asian fusion. A friend was in town from NYC and asked to go to a good Japanese restaurant. I wish I took her to K’s Kitchen. My friend was sweet and thought everything was delicious. But really? The O-​Toro didn’t seem too fresh (too fishy), which cost $ 40+ That’s about the only thing I remember from the menu because it was all so unmemorable. Oh, the truffle tuna tar tar the waiter highly recommended was just wrong. Slightly creative idea, but just doesn’t work. Definitely a no for a return visit.

Had sushi here tonight with the few friends and had a good time! The service was great — we got a table right away since we had a reservation. I thought it was a nice touch with warm hand towels when we sat down. The rolls were not too expensive… on average about $ 15 a roll. I had the Miso Ramen which I thought was OK… Didn’t have much flavor and the noodles were thinner than I’m used to. The salmon sashimi was fresh and thick so that was nice. I might come back to try some more rolls but it’s definitely not a ramen joint.

This place is a hit or miss.
One time the fish was super fresh and delicious. The next time it was eh…
It’s a reliable choice when I want sushi but I don’t want to go far.
I came for lunch and ordered the Chirashi… and was shocked at the lack of variety and the small portion. I know it’s a lunch item but $ 20 for what I got wasn’t really worth it.
It almost turns me off from coming back because I feel so ripped off. But we’ll see. I might cave since it’s an ‘okay’ place to get sushi when I want it most.

This is my first time at otoro. This is my first time eating otoro. This is the only place to do it. I’m never drinking water again. It was so good that me and my boyfriend ordered two more pieces at the very end just so I can walk out with its taste still in my mouth.

Underwhelming. Sushi is passable. Great for grabbing quick bites before show, but sadly fish is small and not as fresh as you’d expect it to be, considering they are flown from Japan. However, the service is very good. And they are very attentive, and when I told them that I only had thirty or so minutes to eat, they sat me quickly and fed me even quicker. Dining alone, women get attention. That’s sort of the general rule of thumb, especially if you sat by the bar on your own. So, you get that going for you if food is not of your top concern. But It is, for me. Quality of food takes precedence over ambience and attentive service.
There are some silver lining to this spot. It’s right next to Rich Table, one of my top restaurants in SF. So if you are unable to make that gruesome wait and are tired of walking, this could be your spot. Just that it’s not going to be mine. Bookmark for this spot, removed.

Dinner review
Tempura — ³⁄₅
Otoro Nigiri — ⁵⁄₅
Dragon roll — ⁴⁄₅
Cherry blossom roll — ²⁄₅
Hip hop roll — ³⁄₅
Overall, true to its name the Otoro was «as good as it gets.»

Sushi quality: nothing special. You can always tell a good sushi place if the salmon is good, and it wasn’t. They’re known to fly their fish from Japan and known for the otoro (fatty tuna). It looked promising, but it didn’t have the melt in your mouth texture that filled your mouth with its rich creamy flavor.
Ambience: small and cramped. Make reservations. Super loud because cheap alcohol prices make ppl rambunctious. Wouldn’t recommend bringing a group larger than four.
Service: waitresses are nice but it took 5ever for sushi to come out. Maybe because it was a Friday night, but my udon and tempura came out before the sushi.
Prices: $ 6−10/ per two pieces of sushi. The five pieces of salmon was $ 12−15(I forget)
Overall…not cheap and the quality doesn’t add up.

DISGUSTING. GROSS. EWWWW…
i am so disappointed. went to O-​toro for the first time with my bf and sister. it was my sister’s last night in sf so we wanted to go out for sushi! we lyfted it here because we wanted it that bad.
we got seated pretty quickly. in like 15−20minutes. we get water. we’re drinking water. bf drinks about half his glass of water until my sister asks him if he’s wearing lipstick/​lipgloss. of course, my bf is like wtf no, and my sister says «there’s a crapload of lipstick on ur cup» (see pic for reference)
first things first, that’s gross. it’s not even a SMEAR of lipstick, it’s a perfect mark therefore that shows us that this cup was not washed. EWWW…
we waive down the waiter and let him know and he doesn’t even say sorry… like wtf? RUDEEE… he says he will bring us a new one, and as he is going there, the manager asks him what happened and i see him explaining the glass.
i would expect the manager to come over and apologize or something for his lack of cleanliness in the restaurant, because it’s his responsibility. but nope, he doesn’t say a word or even look at us the whole freakin night. EWWWWW…
the waiter is getting a new glass of water for my bf. and i see him checkin to make sure it’s clean. shouldn’t all the glasses be clean? do you really need to check if it’s clean? do you wash ur dishes? are you saving water by giving us someone elses? EWWWW…
secondly, we are waiting for our food and he brings out a little tray of ginger and wasabi. which is awesome. i love ginger and wasabi. but it would be nice if there was actually wasabi in it! –see pic for reference — there was ginger but NO FREAKIN WASABI… like wtf? not sure if he wanted to give me that little microscopic piece of wasabi or if he completely forgot it. but obviously he did not forget to put wasabi in it because then there would have been no microscopic remnants of wasabi, but why do i see leftovers of it. therefore it can only mean one thing, he gave us someone else’s leftover of wasabi… EWWWWWW.
how sad, cause the food is pretty good. but then again, the dirtiness of the restaurant makes me questions everything. if the water glass and wasabi trays don’t get cleaned, how clean can my food possibly be? it makes me wonder… EWWWWW…

I love Sushi, n at minimal, have sushi 3 or more times a week. With that said… I wasn’t blown away by my sushi experience here. We ordered our own handmade roles, n ther cherry blossom role, uni nigiri n special salmon sashimi. Uni was tasty n cherry blossom role very blah, n salmon was just ok… N also pricey.
Limited wine n beers, n menu. The staffs awesome n helpful though. Also small n sper crowded little resto.

Went here for late dinner around 8:50pm on a Thursday night. This place was packed and very noisy. I had to almost yell when I was talking.
Nonetheless, the food here is really good! Must try mango with tuna roll, Asparagus wrapped with Kobe beef, some sake, mushrooms and nigiri.
I am sucker for fresh wasabi and this place had itsad that they didn’t serve oyster shooters.
I will be coming back again soon!

The Ankimo (monkfish liver pâté) deserved 4 – 5 stars by itself. The rest of my fare, not so much.
It’s O-​Toro, so I felt I had to try the Otoro (fatty tuna) sashimi. It was fatty, but pretty veiny at the same time. We ordered the five piece for $ 30 but I was pretty done with it after the 3^rd bite. The asparagus covered in kobe beef was a bit of a let-​down as well. It was cooked nicely, but there was nothing about it that wowed me. I could go on about some of the other dishes, but I’ll try and focus on the positives.
Got there at 11:30am for lunch: no wait. Gold flight sake: good selection.
Verdict: I personally wouldn’t recommend it, although it’s possible that I’ll come back and give it another shot.

We called to get a reservation for dinner saturday night. Everything was full but they told us walk-​ins were still welcome.
We arrived right before 7. There was another person waiting before us. They said the wait would be around 20 minutes. It ended up being less than 10, cool! Around 7:10, a line started forming in front of the restaurant.
Everything is pretty pricey besides the gyoza, rice, and miso soup, LOL. That’s very common in many japanese restaurants.
What I liked at O’Toro was the atmosphere and lounge music. Not always the case in similar places. The staff was attentive, too.
We chose the salmon-​avocado rolls, spicy tuna rolls, 2 scallop nigiri, 2 tuna nigiri, miso soup and the gyoza. The waitress asked if we wanted live scallops. I passed.
We had ordered a rice but the waitress forgot it. The gyoza was served very hot (5 pieces). It was good even if I prefer mine a bit more dough-​y. This one was grilled it seemed, which is good too.
The sushis and rolls were good but NOT incredible at all.
I was searching for that special touch that some chefs put to make their dishes unique, but I did not find it.
We were excited to try the green tea cheesecake but they were out so we ordered the red bean mochi and a sesame ice-​cream scoop for 4 $: I think they could give at least 2 scoops for that price… The mochi tasted fresh, I liked it. It wasn’t too small, either.
Over 50 $ for two w/​o tip and not entirely full at the end of the meal… Not too cool.
The restaurant is nice though and I do recommend if you’re in the area and don’t mind spending extra money for decent sushi!

Since Domo had a wait and we were trying to look for something else to try nearby, we decided to check this place out.
I would say the sushi was pretty mediocre, especially for the price. Between 2 of us, we spent a little over $ 50 for 1 roll to share and a few pieces of nigiri, and definitely didn’t leave full. Although there was no wait, the service was extremely slow, so I’m not sure if it actually saved us any time in the end.
I LOVE uni, so I tend to judge a sushi place by its uni. The uni here was not among the better ones I’ve had, but also not among the worst. The highlight was probably the o-​toro roll, which was good, but still nothing to write home about.
Next time, I’ll probably check out one of the many other sushi places nearby!

O, O-​Toro… if I eat enough Otoro, I will soon become as big as Totoro.
I found O-​Toro on Unilocal because I was looking for a place that was nice, decently unique, and affordable. I cannot necessarily say that O-​Toro satisfied the last criteria, but it was definitely a fancy hassle of a culinary expedition: on my showing-​people-​around-​SF list.
We got the SHISHITO STUFFED WITH SPICY ALBACORE ($ 6.95) to share. Although I generally find appetizers underwhelming and overpriced, this turned out to be addicting flavor explosion – I would be happy eating plates of this for a meal! It’s somewhat similar to the shrimp stuffed bell pepper dim sum, except with a big kick from the shishito pepper, spicy albacore, and spicy mayo. I wasn’t sure what to think when I saw the dish arrive with bonito flakes, but the bold nuttiness added a nice extra dimension. It also threw me off guard that it’s not sashimi, but cooked albacore which looked and tasted suspiciously like imitation crab. (However I would trust them not to have imitation albacore.)
Since they don’t offer the sashimi or any other type of sashimi combo for dinner, it forced me to think. I have reached the age of straying away from saucey crunchy fusiony rolls, so I confronted the difficult, sophisticated (and expensive) choices for nigiri.
I got the O-​TORO NIGIRI ($ 12) because restaurant namesakes tend to feel obligatory. Maybe my expectations rose a little too high, because I failed to detect anything mind-​blowing and would honestly have preferred a leaner tuna with better fish flavor that wasn’t diluted in fat, i.e. the regular maguro. The price wasn’t listed on the menu due to the seasonal availability, and $ 12 was steep for the two pieces of nigiri… $ 6 perfectly good lunch money (or two days of coffee money) vanished into thin air in one bite! (well, technically not thin air, but don’t get me started on metabolism)
I really liked the GARLIC ALBACORE ($ 5.50) which was infused with garlicky goodness and turned out to be excellent with the rich albacore. The SAKE ($ 5.75) was good too, with minimal strips of fat which placed a strong emphasis on the actual salmon flavors.
The nigiri can rival the badass sushi of Socal – large cuts that drape over the sushi rice and a glistening freshness that makes your mouth water just from looking at it. The presentation was nice but I thought it was a bit too whimsical with the seemingly random garnishes of cashew, radish, and cucumber (I debated rearranging the one of the awkwardly placed garnishes for my food pictures)
At the end we were still hungry so we added the GYOZA ($ 6.75). I expected it to be exactly like all the other premade salty frozen gyoza, but for once it tasted fresh: the thin wonton skin, perfect tad of browned crispiness, and vegetable-​based filling rather than the usual hamburger-​grade mystery ground pork. Another unexpected yummy was the dipping sauce: it was very much sweetened which made the gyoza even more complexly delicious.
Overall O-​Toro has undeniably good food, but at over $ 30 (without drinks – this is definitely restricted to special occasions, or if I want to show off to non-​SF peeps about how SF has good food.
Note: If review intrigues you, I suggest checking out Domo in the area! I only chose O-​Toro because it takes reservations, but seriously how can you not resist the thought of Domo (even though the restaurant is way too classy to be named after that silly Domo-​kun)

Solid go-​to sushi spot.
Whenever I’m craving some no-​frills, real sushi, I turn to O-​Toro and fortunately or unfortunately, that happens quite a bit!
Located in the heart of Hayes Valley, O-​Toro is cute, intimate and quaint with extremely fresh fish and a killer daily specials menu. The sake selection is great and it’s usually not too hard to find room for 2 at the bar with no reservations.
Here’s what I recommend ordering:
1. O-​Toro (fatty tuna): Obviously this is the way to go. The 2 pieces are tender, fatty and the texture is so perfectly smooth
2. Scallops dynamite: Delicious baked scallops with a cheesy-​mayo sauce
3. Cherry blossom roll: Yummy salmon, tuna and avocado roll
4. O-​Toro roll: Obviously another must-​have with spicy tuna, avocado and mangoes
They also have a bottle of a delicious sparkling sake that pairs with all the fish so perfectly — ask the waiter/​waitress for the name as it completely slips my mind!
So on your next craving for some yummy sushi, consider heading over into the heart of charming Hayes Valley.
Happy Eating, Unilocalers!