Warakubune Sushi

Glad this place is a few blocks from my house! The sushi is great. Sit at the bar and watch the boats go round. Grab what you want. You can also order specifically what you’re looking for. The Spicy Albacore is simply amazing! Service is great. The only downside is it can get a little crowded and you may have to wait but I guess that comes with the territory. Hopefully my review doesn’t attract too many new customers.

Warakubuni is my all-​time favorite sushi restaurant. Sometimes the wait times can last awhile as seating is limited but the wait is worth it.
I know sushi boat restaurants get a bad rap, but this place is different. The sushi is fresh and it changes quickly. And if you don’t see anything you like floating by, you can order from the menu.
The special roll and the spicy white tuna are my favorites.
They tend to be out of ebi (shrimp) and uni (sea urchin) frequently.
This place is a bit pricy, but the quality is amazing, so it’s worth it.
I can easily shown spend $ 80 on myself without flinching. It’s definitely a wonderful luxury!
In the 6 years that I’ve been coming here, I’ve only experienced one of night and that is when the head sushi chef was on holiday. Other than that, it’s 100% consistent.
I hold all other sushi restaurants to Warakubuni’s standard. So far, only a few have even come close!

Decent spot to go for sushi if you are with friends. I haven’t found the wait times to be very long, even if you do choose to dine from the sushi boat seating area. The sushi is decent, but it definitely does cater to less of a traditional taste. You can expect to find some of the more non-​standard types of special rolls here, along with some classic favorites like tuna rolls and salmon nigiri. I did realize though that sometimes the sushi does float around for a while, and I question how fresh the fish is after spinning in the boats. Other than that, the food is pretty decent.
If you do not find what you are looking for, you can also always opt to order specific sushi dishes that you want from the sushi chef. Pricing is coded based on the type of plate you select, so nicer items will generally be more expensive. Service is also attentive enough, and generally pretty friendly as well. I would recommend coming here if you are in the mood for a light meal because it’s easy to gauge how much you want to eat since you can just pull it off from the floating boats.

Hands down this is the best quality for the money in sushi in the area. Other sushi restaurants are far more expensive, less friendly, and precious. Warakubune has very fresh, delicious sushi (and I’m not even a big fan of raw fish). It’s fun to sit at the counter with the floating boats of food going by! And service is impeccable, very quick and friendly.
Try their «Special» shrimp and avocado roll… YUM!
We’ve gone here probably 50 times and it’s always consistently good. Get there early, though, as you’ll have to wait 15 – 20 minutes after 6:30pm.

Excellent sushi. Very reasonably priced. Would eat here again. I have been here three times now.

I would give Warakubune 4 stars, but the service I received was very unsatisfactory. I may be a little too nice with 3 stars with the service… :(AND it was not even a busy night.
The LADY who works there is the ONLY person who is doing her job CORRECTLY.
The service was the most disappointing part of my night.
1. Getting seated took a while. It took the guy FOREVER to clean the table. I stared at empty chairs with plates on the table for the longest time!
2. I had to get up myself to go get a menu.
3. No one was helping my side of the sushi boat area. The group on my left tried to get a server’s attention a few times but came out unsuccessful. The workers were everywhere else except for my side of the sushi boat table.
4. While I was in the restroom, my friend asked for two separate containers for her ramen (1 for the soup and 1 for the ramen, so the ramen would not get soggy). The guy said NO and he refused until the lady said okay. WHAT THE ???
5. I had to go up to the worker to give them the check.
Nothing I ate there was spectacular, but it was nothing to complain about. My friend and I ordered the spicy tonkatsu ramen and the spicy white tuna sashimi. The tonakatsu ramen was not bad, but it tasted a bit like kimchi paste. The spicy white tuna sashimi was pretty good though!
The bad service is all I remember. The food was decent, but the service ruined it and I will not be coming back.

Very unsatisfactory experience. Judging by the absence of Japanese language on the menu and by the accents of the staff, they are not Japanese. Their serving style is not Japanese (gracious and pleasant) but Chinese (brusque to the point of rude). No refills were offered on water or tea. The sushi was fine but the tempura was disgusting — dense and crunchy like over-​fried fish and chips, with only sweet potatoes and a single soggy broccoli — not at all light and delicate and varied in vegetables like true Japanese tempura. I should have sent it back.

My sushi craving go to spot. By far the best one around the SF area that I’ve tried.
It is a bit small, but you’re in SF and everything around here is cramped into a small place. lol
The tempura sushis are the BEST & always crispy! Definitely fulfills my umami taste buds
Been here a couple times already and never had to wait to get seated.

We tried this because of the great Unilocal reviews but not sure what we’re missing. The fish wasn’t fresh and it was pretty expensive for the quality. It’s also hard to find parking, even at 4pm on a Sunday so be ready to walk. People working also tend to put their hands on the back of your chair when they aren’t serving you and just hanging out. Note — people were super nice and attentive but the chair touching annoyed my wife =). Biggest disappointment was the grossness of the sushi. Set your expectations really low and maybe it will be okay!

Sushi boats are usually terrible, but this place was actually really good. I’ve been here twice now — both times the food was four-​star good. Some of the items are impressive. I ate a lot and I didn’t eat anything I didn’t enjoy; some of it was stellar.
Cons:
They keep this place about fifteen degrees too warm. There’s no reason to keep it in the mid 80s. I don’t care if it’s cold outside — if it’s too hot inside, it’s too hot. Why make your customers uncomfortable when it is easily avoidable? MINUS ONE STAR.
Seats are WAAAAAY too close together. Shoulders nearly touching the stranger next to me. I hate this. It’s worse than communal seating. Again: an easily avoidable mistake. MINUS ONE STAR.
Service was middling.
Prices are NOT GOOD. I’ve paid just as much or less for identical items at higher-​end sushi establishments.

One of the best sushi places I’ve tried!!!
While the place can feel tight and cramped with little elbow room to enjoy your sushi, I loved that that there is little waiting time and I can grab what looks interesting from the sushi boat. You can also request special rolls from the sushi chef, he makes a few and they end up on the carousel.
Not your everyday sushi place at $ 100 for 2 pax (without drinks, and yeah we have a good appetite too), but so worth it!
Would’ve given it 5 stars but they didn’t have Uni that night, boohoo.

Warakubune (is it just me or is it really hard to remember this name lol) had insanely fresh and delicious sushi/​sashimi! My friends and I got here around 730 pm and the wait wasn’t that bad, maybe only 10 minutes max. However, the place is a bit small so it’s best to go here with a smaller group. We sat at the sushi boat and the staff (being incredibly friendly and helpful) immediately filled and refilled our waters and teas maybe three or four times, which in my book is pretty damn good.
I ordered the spicy white tuna and grabbed four other plates off the sushi boat and all of them were delicious! The spicy white tuna wasn’t actually that spicy and was more wasabi-​spicy than anything, and was very tender and fresh with a yummy sauce on the bottom to douse your tuna in. If you’re expecting a very heavy, decadent, American style deep-​friend sushi with lots of sauces and crunchy flakes on top then this is not your go to place. Their rolls were much more simple, less heavy on the sauces, and felt more authentic to the actual sushi you’d find in Japan, which I really liked.
The only thing that I didn’t like was that it was uncomfortably stuffy in the restaurant, which is understandable since there’s no AC in most places in SF, but nonetheless I was pretty hot and was ready to leave at the end. Overall the food was amazing and pretty cheap (if you watch what you eat/​count how many plates you get. I got 5 and it ended up being almost $ 30 total including tip. yikes) and the service was great. I would definitely come again, but maybe in the back where it might be cooler haha.

The boat sushi is good, for boat sushi. The spicy seafood salad is hardly spicy, but delicious.
Service is good enough. Seats can feel cramped. Consider getting a table in the back.
Get some drinks at Tacorgasmico down the street and eat here after.

It’s all about instant gratification here. Want a decent roll and want it now? Just grab one off the sushi boat. Not tons of variety, but a solid selection. They also have great udon soups. Wasabi out of a tube is disappointing as is the overly attentive, bordering on annoying, staff.

Solid 3 – 3.5 stars.
I really enjoy their spicy seafood salad and spicy white tuna. Good sized portions for what you pay.

The sushi boat concept is one that I truly love as you watch the sushi float by and select only the options you desire. I loved the design of this restaurant as the sushi chefs were in the middle of the sushi boat area so you could watch them prepare the sushi. At other establishments I have seen the boats just float in, but been unable to watch the food preparation which always makes me wonder what is going into the dish. At this restaurant we had the salmon roll, spicy tuna, and tuna roll. sashmi and miso soup. The miso soup was flavorful and the fish in the salmon roll tasted very fresh. I was not a huge fan of the tuna roll as it did not taste as fresh as the other fish. However, the spicy tuna did not have the same taste so I am not sure what the distinctive difference was. We came early, and until four to five groups were seated did not have a lot of variety in the food options. This changed as we stayed longer, but was a little annoying at first. Overall this place is a-​ok in my book. While it might not be my first stop in San Francisco, it is still worth a visit now and again.

This place is by far my favorite sushi place in the city and peninsula. I’ve been trying to search all over for a better tasting and better priced placed than here, and I have yet to find it.
If you’ve never tried the spicy seafood salad and love sashimi, you must try it at least once. It serves 2 – 4 people.
The service is very friendly and quick and I am going to be so sad when I move and won’t be able to come here as often anymore. I live only 1 block from here and despite all the wonderful places I can walk to in the Mission and Castro, this is the one place I will miss the most.

Meh. Nothing impressive here. Ordered take-​out one night and portions are on the smaller side. Food was fine, but nothing memorable. We had rolls and salads. Definitely better options just down the street.

Is this a joke? Warm sushi. Maybe three different kinds of rolls. Hovering waitresses. Hard mochi ice cream.
This place was awful. The only good part was the warm towels they give when you sit down.
But the sushi was I’ll prepared and warm. I can already feel the food poisoning setting in.

SPICY WHITE TUNA is the best sushi I’ve ever eaten. I’m drooling just sitting here thinking about it. It’s chunks of white tuna, edges covered in sesame seeds and seared super quickly, and then topped with a little ginger and their special sauce and heaping full of thinly sliced green onions. The fish is so fresh and doesn’t even taste fishy. I used to never eat raw fish at Japanese sushi restaurants, but for some reason, I had to try this, and now, I cant stop eating this! I mean, the price went up a little, but that’s only because the price of fish at the fish market went up. Still the same good fresh fish!
Special Roll — shrimp tempura roll topped with avocado, crab meat and special sauces. it is so delicious and a beautiful display!
Coming in, you can choose to sit at the sushi boats or the tables in the back. Sometimes their sushi boats are empty, but that’s because they want to make the sushi fresh. I’ve been to some sushi restaurants that the sushi have been going around in circles for like 5 hours. gross. Totally not the case here! Don’t even hesitate to ask the chefs to make it for you fresh! I also like how their ginger is not the dyed pink stuff that is usually served. They constantly refill their tea for you and everything is clean, even the bathroom!
MY TO GO SUSHI PLACE IN SF