Sanmi Restaurant

Excellent Japanese food…
Japp foods are normally almost the same… sushi…sashimi…udon…
Sometimes you really don’t feel the differences.
BUT…here … at Sanmi… you definitely taste the real Japanese food.
So delicate and tasty.
Spicy tuna rolls. Salmon skin rolls. Spider rolls. Ker rolls. Sesame chicken teriyaki. Agedashi tofu… etc…almost everything on the menu… :)
Also… Nabeyaki udon soup is so yum!
This is the only Japanese food in town with a decent price that I always go to in my home town… San Francisco.

My Japanese friend told me that as descendants of the samurai class, there were only two restaurants he and his family felt went hand in hand with the code of Bushido: Sanmi and Kitchen Kura. As a descendant of the all father Odin, I decided it was my duty to try all dining halls of every culture’s warrior class.
We arrived at Sanmi around 7 and it was already crowded with people. Each table was filled with the waitstaff of two doing their day’s cardio to and fro from the kitchen to each individual table. We were seated by what I believe to be the owner, who was very sweet. She apologized profusely for the wait and gave us fair warning… the kitchen was backed up so the food would take a little longer than usual. With a sweet face as hers, one could not help but smile at the elder Japanese mother and exclaim, «take your time… as a matter of fact… take longer». We took fellow Unilocaler’s recommendations into account and ordered the specials poke and black cod and the cold soba with tempura and fried chicken. In the meantime, we were given a side of salad and miso. The salad was delicious, light and refreshing and the miso dressing was most excellent. It had me clamoring for more. The miso soup was your standard fare. You can’t ask for much except that it be hot. Technically, I was swindled here. We ordered 3 entrees and an appetizer. Each entrée comes with soup and a salad, thus, technically speaking, we should have had one more salad and soup. I think it was more of them forgetting than avoiding. I will give them the benefit of the doubt. In order:
poke: ³⁄₅ They gave us generously cut portions of poke mixed with seaweed and avocado. However, there was wasabi infused marinade which burned our noses and ruined the taste.
cold soba noodles with tempura: ⁴⁄₅ I love cold soba noodles. It is a simple dish that legendary shinsengumi squad 3 captain saitoh hajime, practitioner of the gatotsu style made popular. We were given a warm dipping sauce along with condiments. The soba noodles were delicious and very refreshing. The dipping sauce gave it the perfect taste. The tempura was your average tempura. We were given an assortment of carrots, shrimp, broccoli, and eggplant. They were crisp and not battered to heavily.
special black cod: ³⁄₅ My girlfriend ordered this dish, expecting it to be mindblowing. Many Unilocalers have raved about it however, we both felt a little let down. The plating is very generous with a variety of sides, however, the fish was just average. It was very soft and tender, however, lacked the oomph.
fried chicken: ⁴⁄₅ I was pretty full at this point yet, when the chicken was put down before me, I got a second appetite. The chicken is also their specialty and takes a little longer to be prepared. They give you a half chicken for 12 bucks and the portions are massive. They even add tidbits of peeled fried chicken skin. The chicken was delicious. It was fried yet not overly greasy nor salty. The meat underneath was tender and it was a good mix of white and dark meat. However, like all things, especially chicken, when you have too much, it loses its appeal and slowly, I started to despise my chicken. Chicken, especially the white meat, isn’t exactly the most flavorful of meats and it can weigh upon you.
slice of orange: ⁵⁄₅ This wasn’t a dish however I must note that the slice of orange they provided was the best I’ve had at a restaurant. It was so sweet and perfectly at a temperature where the orange meat just melted into your mouth effortlessly.
Sanmi will be closing on July 27^th and from observing the patrons, it will be sorely missed. However, I believe it is more due to the people and staff than the food. Many patrons knew everyone in the room so this is a neighborhood regular joint. I overheard a women exclaim to a friend she saw, «i’ve been here three days in a row». Many customers asked to go to the back to say thank you and goodbyes to the chef/​owner in the back. Many backclaps were given and to be honest, I felt quite left out. I wanted to engage in some backclapping myself. This place is so full of regulars that a man chased the female owner down with the check and slapped her with it. How I envied him. While the service was a little slow, the hearts of the owners and staff never caused me to get irritated. We were given complimentary edamame however just her stopping by to smile and apologize for the 10^th time was more than enough. Damn the mama-​san and her good heart. I felt the high rankings from Unilocalers was due to the people. The food was average but the staffs’ hearts were beyond 5 stars. I wholly recommend you come here and try this restaurant under this ownership before it switches hands and a new régime takes power. You never know if a dictatorship will rise in its place.

I’m sad to hear that this place will have their ownership change next month, but for now I’m reviewing the goodies we ate today.
I ordered the nabeyaki udon and a side order of unagi roll. Cool thing they gave us free opening salad with miso dressing. I really like the salad with it’s yummy miso dressing. Next came my unagi roll. It tasted like warm goodness, with just enough unagi sauce in the roll to make me happy. My nabeyaki udon had lots of soft silky udon noodles with mushrooms, fishcakes, chicken, tofu, seaweed and a shrimp tempura. It was served in a hot iron kettle… super cool! Mom got the unagi donburi. The grilled eel was wonderfully charred on top a bit for texture and the rice has a nice layer of unagi sauce underneath. It was the perfect combo of rice and unagi. Mom also loved the side of miso soup.
You know this place rocks when 98% of the clientele storm are Japanese that right through 5−6pm dinner crowd doors. Parking around here is meters but a block away have 2 hour free areas.

Although it has a buncha stuff on the menu, it’s an overall good place for Japanese comfort food.
The sesame chicken was not like most places-it’s actually half a chicken that’s fried and not made into nuggets. The teriyaki sauce, good and authentic. The plate is huge enough for two people to share.
Tonkatsu donburi was really good, with battered pork cutlets, egg, onions and sauce over rice. Very filling and decent quality of meat.
I’d say no on the agedashi tofu because it was soggy, bland and the sauce was flavorless-​had to pour me in some soy sauce for added taste.
Otherwise, pretty satisfying meal with nice, attentive service. The waitress and cooks are actually Japanese, which is interesting since many Japanese places are not always owned by Japanese people. I do see myself coming back for the donburis.

S uitable neighborhood Japanese restaurant
A bit overpriced for the taste and quality, but everything is decent
N ice and very attentive waitress works the floor
M enu includes comfort food favorites and a few gems
I like the Tempura and (especially) the Black Cod — winning!

²⁄₅ disappointed
came here with a couple friends last night after catching the King’s Speech (which was great!)…
shabu-​shabu was on their specials menu, for $ 15. figured might as well, it would be nice to have it since i had fond memories as a kid… wrong choice. it came out with everything already in the pot, the broth wasn’t even that hot. the broth was actually the most disappointing part. it tasted just like water. no exaggeration, and it wasn’t even that kind of wow, this is a really sophisticated yet understated taste… just plain understated.
it kinda made me sad, but since i was with friends i lied and said it tasted great.
overall. wompwomp.

Pros:
Excellent Japanese food! This is not a sushi place, but more of a place to try a variety of cooked foods (and some raw ones/​fish), including their special chicken.
Cons:
Ambiance is a little sterile.
Fun:
All of the staff was Japanese except for a blonde woman working there; she gave us her standard spiel: she was actually living in Japan and just moved back here and then got this job because she speaks the language.

This place gets a solid 4 stars. Husband and I shared the matsutaki special, which included a rich savory mushroom broth that comes in a teapot and served in teeny tiny bowls for sipping; fried chicken nuggets; chawanmushi (yum); and a tasty rice cooked in mushroom broth and tea. All were well prepared and very satisfying. We also had the hamachi kama and it was meaty and delicious.
Servers were very friendly and we were seated promptly on a Sunday evening.

We’ve been to Sanmi a few times now. The food is fine, and they have good versions of some standard Japanese fare that is getting harder to find in the sea of «Japanese» restaurants that are really just sushi-​and-​teriyaki joins.
We tend to gravitate towards the Donburi, which so far have been the best thing we’ve tried: I enjoy the Ten-​Don and he usually gets Katsu-​Don. They cooked fish dishes are good: we splurged on Hamachi-​Kama one night and it was definitely tasty. I had the Sukiyaki once, which was good but a little off (can’t quite say why).
The wait staff is nice — sometimes a bit pushy or surly, but in a friendly way, not antagonizing. The décor is stale, and the restaurant has a general lack of ambiance. But, Sanmi definitely serves authentic Japanese food and for that deserves praise.

Sanmi is delicious, and soon to become a local favorite, I think.
My trip there began one night when my girl mentioned that she wanted sushi, not too expensive, but higher quality than our usual cheap bento haunt. Following reviews on this very website, I was led here — and was not disappointed!
The waiting staff were all very polite and helpful, and the waitress even brought us a small portion of edamame, on the house! If her intention was to wrangle us in for a second visit, she got off to a great start!
I eyed the ribeye teriyaki but that’s something I’ll have to try another night, as the teriyaki donburi caught my eye and before I knew it I was shoveling biteful after joyous biteful of delicious eye-​fried rice and beef in a bowl as big as my head! Alka-​Seltzer should hire me as a spokesman, because I can’t BELIEVE I ate the whole thing! And all for about $ 11, and with soup and salad!
My girlfriend got the chicken katsu, which was fried to a quality that I’ve never seen anywhere else, a sort of light, crispy battered quality which almost made me feel like it was melting in my mouth.
Essentially, here is where I stand on restaurants: if I want high-​quality sushi I’ll probably spring for Sushi Bistro (if only because I haven;t tried the sushi here and I’m a fan of the rather, shall we say, ‘eccentric’ rolls at SB), cheap sushi, probably Sanpo, and for good quality meat dishes on a regular date night, definitely Sanmi!
If you’re reading this, Sanmi staff, count yourself as having one more life-​long fan!

4.5 stars!
I’m a really big snob when it comes to good Japanese food, but this place has good down-​home Japanese food! The portions are pretty ginormous and the specials are usually on point. The fish is pretty fresh but I’ve obviously had fresher, but it’s fresh nonetheless!
I always get the black cod misozuke and it’s always a WINNER! One time it had not even of the marinate stuff in the taste and another day it had WAY too much sake, but then again those were only 2 out of the 384 023 840 284 times I came here! The sesame chicken is… christ always the best! So crispy and good. The tempura is also delicious because its nice, light and so airy and crispy — rare considering most places have really heavy batters on their tempura! The rolls are good too but don’t expect those extremely creative type of rolls or anything. This place is good for like entrees and what not, not necessarily the sushi. But sesame chicken and black cod misozuke! Also one of the few places with chawanmushi!

This is the type of restaurant that families go to on a regular basis. My bf’s family almost always runs into people they know when they have dinner here. It’s a small restaurant serving remarkably comforting Japanese food that makes you feel good inside. This last time we visited I had the calamari appetizer and katsudon with a small salad.
First up was the little salad as part of the entrée. Man, what is that incredible dressing on the salad!?! I wanted every nook and cranny of my lettuce leaves to be slathered in this stuff! Sesame goodness.
The fried calamari appetizer was quite nice. Batter was light and the calamari flavor was good and not super chewy.
My katsudon arrived and I was surprised at the size of the giant bowl of sliced pork, egg and onions heaped upon a mound of white rice. By accident, this happened to be our pre-​race carb loading meal and I think I may have now found my go-​to dish. The hot, rich pork and egg combo relaxed away any last minute butterflies (or was that the giant Sapporo?) and the voluminous heap of rice, to me, provided the necessary pre-​race fuel for an early (5:50am) start time.

My 84yo auntie has lived in SF for 60 years+. She likes to shop and go out to eat. And boy, does she ever know the good places to eat.
You know its going to be good when you walk in and the clientele is mostly all old Japanese folks. She has brought me here several times before and it has always been excellent. This time since she was having surgery the next morning, my auntie wanted a big-​ass meal. She ordered the steak teriyaki special. She is about 5 foot nothing and they brought a steak the size that would satisfy a Dallas Cowboy linebacker. Of course, I am still dieting and I got 6 pieces of sushi and 6 pieces of tofu, which were both really good – they use real crab in the California roll. Then she starts pushing pieces of steak at me like a street-​wise drug pusher to «help her» finish half of it. So much for the diet. But damn… it was GOOD! I’ll bring her back in a few weeks… IF I reach my diet goal. Then maybe I’LL have the big-​ass steak.
BTW: the little old couple next to me got chicken donburi and the sesame chicken teriyaki… dang…that’s a lot of food! And it sure looked good! I thought they would have to be wheel-​barreled out.

I’ve made up my mind and this is my favorite Japanese restaurant in my area. I’ve always passed by this restaurant while driving on Geary street but never though much of it.
A friend told me about this place and said it was his favorite Japanese restaurant as well. He recommended me to get the Sesame Chicken Teriyaki dinner entrée. Came with Salad, Miso Soup, and a bowl of steamed rice. On the menu, it says Sesame Chicken which has bones in it, but when you tell the waiter what you want, you tell them «Sannpo Chicken» which is boneless and is supposedly better than with bone. Sannpo Chicken is basically a fried chicken without any batter that is topped with a light teriyaki sauce and sesame seeds. The chicken itself is fried without any batter but still so crunchy and good. The plating was very interesting as well (check the pics to see what I mean). My friend also ordered Gyoza as well because he tells me that the owner makes it himself. I took a bite of it and I could tell that it was fresh. Very good.
Last but not least, the service is remarkable. The waitresses were very polite and kind to us. I liked the overall atmosphere of the restaurant too. very. Japanese-​y.
Must check this place out, period.

Small place with very good service. I came with a very big group and they were very attentive. We were such a hassle to them cause we kept on changing the size of our group.
I had their Black cod in sake and miso, and while it’s not the best I’ve ever had, it was still very good. Strong taste of sake, and a bit burnt.

I went right before we had to catch our flight from Oakland to Burbank, and told the waitress I had one hour. She was very accommodating. We had a party of 3.
Saba misoyaki– the best cooked Saba I’ve had since I got back from Japan. It was cooked just right, and had that fishy taste that I love. Hard to find Saba this good in the U.S.
Zaru soba — Standard Soba hat came with a huge pile of tempura. Probably enough to share if you aren’t too hungry.
Black cod — My girlfriend ordered this, and it also same out very well. It was moist and very tender.
A kettle of green tea on the table and friendly servers. Cozy atmosphere. I would definitely go back.

Cute Japanese place. Pretty busy at 8pm on a Friday. There were quite a few people waiting when we walked in, but it only took about 15 minutes to be seated.
Very friendly waitress. When we told our waitress that we only wanted sushi, she warned us it would be bit of it wait. A wait is was indeed, but we didn’t mind. We are accustomed to places that make you wait for your sushi! It was weird not to see our sushi prepared at a bar, but I believe that this is a Japanese restaurant, that happens to serve sushi, not a sushi joint.
In the end, everything was delicious, but not cheap. A tad less expensive than our usual Hayes Valley haunts, but 25% more than Nagano down the street, which makes sense given that the ambiance is of a higher caliber. We’ll definitely come back again.

Great mom and pop restaurant to take the family out to for a family style dinner. You know it’s authentic when you see three generations of Japanese Americans all sitting around having a good time. Plentiful portions, friendly staff and as authentic as you can get in the states Japanese food.
It’s not Ginza level, but for the price and quantity it’s almost like I’m back at an Ootoya or mom and pop restaurant right next to the JR train station.
Recommendations:
Smoked salmon and ikura don. (This was a special though.)
Spicy tuna don. (Also a special.)
Ribeye Teriyaki. They make this oh so good every time we order it, which is pretty much every time we go…
Decent but not the best I’ve ever had:
Pork Tonkatsu (Crisp and generous portions but way too dry.)
Sukiyaki (Decent, but it just didn’t have that umami feeling that a nice warm sukiyaki bowl should give you.)
On a side note, it’s probably just me but there is way too much dressing in the salad.

Came here last night with the family and it was just what I wanted. You can tell its comfort Japanese food when all the patrons are older Japanese Americans sitting quietly with their friends and family while enjoying their food.
if you’re looking for stuff like «Rock N Roll» of «Golden Gate Roll». or any of those made up fusion rolls with sake bombs. this is not the place for you. I
The staff is very friendly. No frills either. The sign for the specials of the night are brought to your table so you don’t have to turn around and squint at the sign in the far back wall of the restaurant.
We got the sashimi appetizer, sukiyaki, the black cod special, nabe udon and sesame fried teriyaki chicken. everything came with a side salad with creamy dressing and miso soup.
I’m allergic to fish so I can’t comment on the freshness or butteryness of the salmon and maguro, but my family sure did.
I loved my chicken. it took longer, but it is worth the wait. It is fried and NOT OILY because you know they use clean oil. The meat is juicy and perfectly cooked — not dry at all. The teriyaki sauce adds a good sweetness to it. This reminds me of my childhood favorite spicy dish, «Oil Drenched Chicken,» we used to get at a small Chinese restaurant in San Mateo, which is now closed.
thumbs up: the FOOD! service, get the chicken and the sukiyaki. its a must! home cooking comfort food yay
thumbs down: it was a bit cold when we first walked in but they said they just turned on the heat and after the miso soup, I was warm.

I was told this was a family friendly restaurant and when we got there on a Sunday evening, that definitely seemed to be true. Lots of parents and kids.
I had the nabe with seafood and chicken in a miso broth. The broth was not too salty and the fish, shrimp, clams, oysters and chicken were cooked just right. It really hit the spot on such a windy and chilly night. I also tried some of the hamachi kama and that was good too.
The service was a little uneven but very pleasant. I want to try the black cod next time and probably some squid because I love squid.