Izakaya Sozai

What a hidden gem! I came here with some family and we ordered several things from across the menu, and at multiple points in the evening. Every single thing was beautifully presented, stunningly delicious, and we stuffed ourselves. They also have an exceptional collection of Japanese beers and sake that are all divine. Be aware this small place fills up every night of the week, so either plan ahead or get there early. I will absolutely be back the next time I’m in town. The agedashi tofu is the best I’ve ever had.

I just wanna say that Izakaya says I might be the most delicious meal I’ve ever had in my entire life from the small bites that represent all delicious cuisines from around the world to special things that you can get only hearing in San Francisco. This is truly some of the best plates in the city you need to come try it, especially The spicy tuna crispy rice stuff, but also ranging to the chicken skin anyway super yummy

Now I have to say, for a small joint like Izakaya Sozai, they can sure serve up mini courses that will absolutely get your eyes wide open. Most of the dishes were very delicious and for a very decent price. Izakaya style, of course. My top favorite dishes were the Tako Wasabi, bacon wrapped enoki mushroom and mochi, and Ankimo pate. If you are a foodie like me and are adventurous, I recommend you come here to try it.

We arrived 20 minute prior to our reservation and the table was set and ready to receive us. We were seated within a few minutes and put in an order for a bottle of Sake. Our 2 other friends arrived in time when the bottle showed up at our table in an ice bin. After a round of Sake to quench our throats, we were ready to place our food orders. We scanned the QR Code on the table. We not only orders foods off the menu but from the Chefs Menu posted on the wall. This is a Tapas concept so hope other customers don't expect portions to be plentiful. It's all about the varieties, great place for groups and a wonderful selection of Sake offered. Our party of 4 sat indoor, next to the entrance. The place was cozy and the staffs were really friendly. I noticed there's a chefs table for 2, at the high counter. A party for 2 would be perfect for that spot. Maybe I'll request for that spot on a future visit.

LOVED IT. For some reason, I’m quite picky about my ramen. We started with wagyu sausage, which was good — although I wished there were more. My partner and I both ordered the tonkotsu ramen, but I added on the spicy miso and garlic chips… chefs kiss. I used about half of the spicy miso to get to desired heat. The host and server were super nice and HUSTLED all over the full restaurant. We’ll definitely be back!

A very homey feeling as you walk in you're greeted right away. I tried some bbq items and their ramen. I gotta say i was extremely impressed with the food! The skewers were very flavorful with a lot of different options. The ramen was flavorful and creamy very rich with flavor. And the service was awesome! I don't think my water cup ever got empty or without someone tending on us.

I used to love coming here a lot, I haven’t been for a bit because of the pandemic. The takoyaki, miso cod and clam chowder croquette are really tasty and cooked perfectly. The ramen however was way too peppery, it is a bit overwhelming! The noodles are decent and the pork was juicy but that pepper flavor is too much

Food was good. I was so impressed with their special for the night-fresh uni with fresh wasabi, fresh seaweed and seaweed paper. Good Beer and sake completed our night. Servers were pleasant and helpful. Will definitely go back.

They have excellent food and a family-friendly environment! It was already packed and busy at 5:30 pm, so plan ahead! It is an intimate setting, for sure. The people there are wonderful! It is a lively place hustling and bustling. It is a local joint. The izakaya and tapas were amazing! It is perfect for sharing. Get the gizzards, cartilage, beef tongue in a savory broth - spicy, and spicy tuna rice crisp!! It was all amazing!

Came here for the ramen on a chilly night and it truly hit the spot. The broth was hearty and full of flavor and the noodles the perfect texture (sometimes ramen noods seem a little undercooked to me). I loved that the broth had cracked black pepper in it, don't think I've ever had/noticed it in ramen before but it was a nice addition. We also tried one of the yakitoris, the chicken thigh, it was good but the ramen was the showstopper for me. The menu had a nice variety of yakitori, fried options, and even some sashimi. The restaurant has a very cozy and intimate feel to it. It's fairly small with the tables close together and has pretty dark lighting, there was only one server, and she did a great job taking care of everyone. Would definitely come back for the ramen and to try some of the other yakitori.

As a San Francisco native I am quite embarassed that I have not been to Izakaya Sozai until recently. It is an amazing Japanese meal especially on a cold day where I was craving some ramen. I came in at night without needing a reservation which was nice although this is a restaurant on the smaller side. Service is solid, but the parking situation can be pretty rough because its SF. I ordered: - Tonkotsu Ramen ($18.50) - Tuna Katsu ($13) - Beef Tongue Skewer ($12) The Tonkotsu Ramen has a really rich and creamy broth that I liked a lot. Noodles were the perfect texture and the chashu pork just melted into my mouth. So good. It's one of the better ramens I have had in a while. In terms of the appetizers, the Beef Tongue Skewer was a big hit, but the Tuna Katsu could have been better personally. The beef tongue is delicious though. Perfect texture and packed with flavor. $12 is steep, but standard and the quality can't be denied. It was also very juicy. The Tuna Katsu did look like it was fried too long and was very heavy to eat. The tuna kinda tasted like a tuna salad you put in a tuna sandwich. It was solid, but I wasn't blown away especially for $13. Overall, it was still an amazing meal and for special occassions I definitely want to come back again to explore more of their menu. It was certainly close to a 10/10 experience.

Service was good, they were kind & accommodating, but the glasses of water we were served were dirty. They were promptly replaced when we let them know, but that shouldn't happen in the first place. Now, I can't speak for all their other offerings, but the ramen here AIN'T IT. Noodles were infirm, soggy, and had no bite. Tonkatsu broth was bland, lacking umami. Included ingredients were lacking, while this place instead opted to essentially have everything else as an add-on (for extra cost of course). Go to Yokohama Iekei in Daly City, or Tekka House in Glen Park neighborhood, or Hiro Nori in San Mateo for ramen... and clean tableware.

A bunch of misses....let's start with the Tonkatsu Ramen: This has to be one of the saltiest broths I've had in ramen in awhile. Noodles were mediocre, but for us it was basically I edible due to the high salt content. 0/5 Uni pasta: tasteless and very small uni pieces for around $30. Definitely a skip. 1/5 Bone marrow: thin sliver of bone marrow not enough for 3 small pieces of bread. It was tasty though 4/5. Duck skewer: 2/5 chewy duck with a strawberry sauce. Spicy tuna crispy rice: 5/5 best dish of the night with a good spicy and good portion People kept slamming into our table, this is a crowded place which isn't good for children running around which happened since so many parents brought their children on the weekend. $150 later and a meh dinner....

Amazing food and service!!! Staff were very friendly! Took a friend out here to try, because we love izakayas, and we loved it!

Izakaya means "stay-drink-place" in Japanese. One of the few Japanese restaurants I have been to that showcases the full palate of Japanese cuisine, my friends and I shared seaweed salad, chicken skin skewers, and soft shell crab bao. We especially liked the soft shell crab bao and the chicken skewers. For my main I got the grilled squid, which came with a spicy dipping sauce. It was cooked just right, not very flavorful without the dipping sauce. My friends got the Tonkotsu Chasu Rice Bowl and ramen. For dessert, we tried the green tea cheesecake, the yuzu cheesecake, and the black sesame mochi. The green tea cheesecake was our favorite with the mochi as a close second. Overall, great dining experience with excellent service (the server was attentive and made recommendations on her favorites). Definitely worth the trip to the sunset.

It seems like it's been some years since my last review was posted so I wanted to share an update - tl;dr: still 5 stars for me :) I don't come to this neighbourhood often, but the last few times I found myself here was after some outdoorsy hours around Golden Gate Park or Ocean Beach with friends on relatively chilly nights, so the ramen and other hot dishes here were perfect accompaniments! The last time I came here was with my husband. We easily booked a reservation online for that same evening and showed up within the grace period (10 min I think). We each ordered a tonkatsu ramen (he added braised pork belly to his which was delicious but would've been too much for me if I had added a whole portion to my ramen) and we shared the shishito peppers with bonito flakes and the chicken karaage. We also added hot yuzu sake which was tasty and, again, perfect for the chilly weather in the Sunset that night. The staff were friendly and fast, and it was also fun to get a glimpse into the kitchen and all the activity going on there, so great experience overall.

Customer service was horrible. They were not nice about accommodating food allergies and treated request like it was a huge burden. Server acted like it was annoying. Do yourself a favor and go to Sushi Goemon a few doors down. Great food and customer service is not far away from this place.

After a few years of returning, this place still is my favorite izakaya place in SF. Everything I had was fabulous. For all the skewers, my ranking was 1) sea bass, 2) beef tongue, 3) sausage, 4) mochi bacon, 5) chicken heart, and 6) duck. I like all of them, however, my favorite dish was the tuna tartar. The chips were crispy and sweet, paired with juicy tartar, it is so heavily. The place is tiny and squeezy, but I like its dark ambiance. It's a perfect place for dinner and dates. The people here are nice as well. This is a popular spot, I recommend people to try it.

Such a great dining experience! I came here with one of my supervisors who frequents this restaurant. She did all the ordering and it felt as though we shared the majority of the menu! We (party of 5) came on a Tuesday around 5:30 PM and were seated right away. Happy hour was going on I think from 5-6ish so there were reduced price dishes and alcoholic beverages. It was pretty easy to find free street parking but there was also plenty of metered parking nearby as well. Everything was absolutely delicious so I don't think you can go wrong with anything in the menu. My favorite dishes were the tuna tartare (the best I've ever had), spicy tuna crispy rice (definitely has a kick that creeps up on you so be prepared), tonkatsu ramen, and tempura mushroom with truffle (can't remember what it's actually called). The employees made sure they took away our numerous plates as we finished them and made sure we stayed satisfied. I'd love to come back and get my favorites + try the rest of the menu!

I've always been wanting to try this place. I was surprised that this place wasn't crazy busy on a Thursday night. Some of the food i got were: 1. Chicken heart 2, fried octopus 3. Spicy tuna crispy rice 4. Hamachi carpaccio 5. Scallops with saikyo miso 6. Bacon mochi 7. Chicken skin 8. Duck chashu tataki 9. Beef tongue daikon soup Pretty decent place for yatikori. Most of their items are average. Small plate. It can be expensive since a lot of their yakitori comes in one stick especially if you order a lot. The restaurant is pretty small. Friendly staffs.

This place is great. The food really good. We tried the whole squid, the hamachi Kama, chicken skin, and the Gyu-don. The chicken skin is nice and crunchy. The gyu-don is very good but the beef is a little bit dry. I definitely recommend the whole squid and Gyu-don. The service was good. The ambiance was nice, I like how you have a look of the kitchen. I recommend this place if you are craving Japanese food. -S9yo

Our go-to neighborhood Izakaya and one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco. We have been regulars here for years and can always rely on this place for super tasty eats. Some of our reliable favorites--maitake fritters, white pepper chicken wings, tonkotsu ramen, beef fyi-don, bacon wrapped mochi, fried karage, hamachi, shisito peppers, fried chicken skin, mochi desserts and so much more! Service is very attentive and the restaurant is cozy and welcoming. Make a reservation and/or arrive a little before opening to avoid a wait. Highly recommend!

The chicken ramen was an 11/10! A very flavorful and saucy ramen! The fried egg and chicken meatballs were amazing! The cheesy bread was good, reminded me of mozzarella sticks, but a very mild cheese. Service was ok, but the poor girl was the waitress for all 8 tables. We had the matcha ice cream. The ice cream was good but the mochi was terrible. Was very dry and had no flavor. The ambiance was trying to be intimate, but it gets very very loud. A little on the pricy side. $49 a person including an entree and side each (no drink).

Wow. Just wow. I felt like Anthony Bourdain discovering the best place I've eaten at in years.

Made a reservation for a weekday evening although might not have needed one. Better to be safe, though, as the restaurant is small and has limited seating. The staff were friendly and you can look into the kitchen to watch the food being prepared. We tried a few different things, including the spicy tuna on crispy rice, which came with a nice balsamic soy reduction. I actually wish I kept the sauce to go with the other dishes! The salmon onigiri was grilled. I'm not the biggest yaki onigiri fan but it was solid and came with refreshing pieces of takuan (pickled radish). The wings were good, nice and crispy with the house teriyaki-like glaze. The ramen was the most unique dish we tried. The tonkotsu has a strong pepper flavor, which I haven't had at other ramen places. It was rich without being overly heavy, and the chashu was nice and tender. Overall a very nice experience. Next time, I'll try some of the skewers.

After a long afternoon of hiking in Marin, my best friend tried taking me to some Chinese chicken wing spot, but it was closed. No one wanted to drive around to find something else, so we hit up a hot pot place that was too busy before settling down at Izakaya Sozai. I was on the verge of freezing to death, so I ordered the ramen and my friend got a bunch of skewers. We were given a small portion of spicy garlic edamame as a complimentary appetizer at the tiny bar, which was nice. I didn't try any of my friend's skewers, but she seemed to enjoy them. I did try her eggplant. Although well-flavored, the skin was really tough and not very pleasant to eat. My ramen was okay, but nothing I'd come back for again in the future.

Haven't been here in awhile but I used to come here all the time in college (about 10 years ago now). Decided to come here to celebrate an anniversary. We ate so many skewers. My favorite skewers were the Seabass, scallop, and beef tongue. Besides that we also got pork jowl, chicken skin, meatball with jidori egg, eggplant with miso glaze, and beef don buri. Another favorite is the don buri, great flavor. The service was very attentive and they were very helpful. The server accidentally dropped one of my chicken skin skewers and she brought me a whole another set! Inside is tiny and intimate with very nice hip music. Didn't get it this time since I ate so much already but the ramen is solid, at least from what I remember. Don't forget the fried braised pork belly.

Was turned on to this place by a friend probably close to 7-8 years ago and back then, it was a stellar experience. Today, it feels a bit like a sad, hollow shell trying to hang on to its former glory days. To be clear, you can still get decent food here, but it is nowhere near the same level of quality and execution as when they first opened. We found ourselves in the area, on our way home from being in downtown SF and decided to stop in. We had a few skewers (chicken heart, chicken skin, pork jowl, and tsukune), tsukemen, and an udon special with scallops and uni. The skewers were decent but lacking the smokey aroma you get from binchotan at more authentic shops. There were no perceptible aromas of live fire cooking so I can only guess they were cooked over a gas grill. Again, it's okay, but far from being amazing. The tsukemen was pretty disappointing. Aside from the bouncy noodle texture (which was awesome), everything else just fell short. The broth was thin and didn't coat the noodles well, which IMHO, defeats the entire purpose of tsukemen. The udon special was terrible. A few small pieces of uni and small bay scallops, which were delicious on their own, but the udon itself had absolutely no flavor. This just missed the mark completely for us. Service was okay, though they interpreted my order of "tsukemen with spicy miso" as tsukemen AND a spicy miso ramen, which, while I certainly love noodles, is just absolutely insane. A 2-top with three bowls of noodles (including the uni and scallop udon)?! lol In general, just super disappointing.

Haven't eaten here since pre covid and decided to go tonight with my wife..arrived around 530ish, no customers so seated easily - service was good and both host were very attentive with our water, orders and check. I thought the food was pretty awesome..my favorite was the sea bass yakitori (comes in 2) tasty, melt in mouth and 3 large chunks per skewer..I wanted to get another one but opted for the scallop (only one skewer on this order) but was equally delicious with the saikyu miso ..beef tendon stew was good. The crispy rice tuna was just ok..too much tuna and not much flavor but the crispy rice part of it was good. Wife got the gizzard skewer -her favorite - I had a few bites and it was pretty good. Overall, good service, great food. Will be back again.

Excellent food! Excellent service! There was 1 waiter handling the whole place and he did it with grace. The ambiance is always nice. Wish it was a little bigger! Love this place!

Went in person and had great izakaya experience! Loved the special fish, scallop, and beef tongue. Overall food was tasty and service was pretty quick for the amount of food we ordered. The house wings took the longest and were brought waaay after everything else, but would still recommend! Small staff and small place but great overall. It does however get loud so just depends what you want!

We absolutely loved everything we ordered and highly recommend it all--the tuna tartare, monkfish liver, eggplant, and mochi were outstanding. The sea bass was perfectly cooked, and the noodles in the tonkotsu ramen were incredible, with a rich, decadent broth that was full of flavor. Beyond the amazing food, the owner was incredibly friendly and brought such great, positive energy to the experience. We'll definitely be coming back!

Joe and Sumi are so welcoming and you feel like family. The food is beautiful and delicious. We love the tartare, ramen, and the specials are always fantastic.

The restaurant is a tight fit, so it's very cozy and loud. The door is kept open, so make sure you dress warm. I had the red snapper ramen. Very light and mellow. The only protein in here is a scant portion of ikura and an egg. The salt and pepper I was provided wasn't enough to give the broth that flavor I was accustomed to such as in the beef/chicken broths. I wasn't a fan except for their egg and ramen noodles. Will stick to the other ramen in the future.

I love this place- I have come here about once a quarter and I really need to come more. I came on a Tuesday for dinner and it started out slow and the service was excellent- I ordered pretty much one item from every section and I was so happy with it all! The crispy rice cake was so nice and crunchy with the delicious sauce on it but my final item was the tofu steak with mushrooms and that blew everything else out of the water. It was so delicious and even though it took so long, it was worth it! I will come back and enjoy it just as much, I know that!

Unfortunately, we won't be returning. The food was mediocre but the worse thing was that the dishware and even takeout box were dirty. The mushroom tofu was pretty bland. Nice sized portion but it didn't have much of any flavor. The hamachi carpaccio was soggy and limp, seemed like it had been frozen then thawed out rapidly. The salt chicken wings, bacon wrapped enoki and fried chicken skin were tasty with nice presentation. We also had the chicken ramen and tonkotsu ramen. Presentation was nice, taste was just mediocre. The ramen was very Al denté in both bowls and I didn't care for it. I'm still starving for good ramen! :0( Service was wonderful, friendly and fast. It's unfortunate that the food wasn't better and the dishware, etc. wasn't cleaner.

Izakayas are one of my top venues for food, and wanted to check this place out while i was in the area. Overall this felt like a solid 4 stars for me. Overall good food, great to go with friends, but not a place I'd go out of my way or crave. Tako wasa - I like wasabi, and this was a good appetizer. Ankimo toast plate - Wow! this was killer good imo. For $25, there was a wealth of ankimo, good flavor, and warm bread. Agedashi mochi - Dont see this very often. Solid. Squid ink Okonomiyaki - Was an interesting concept, overall good. Tai Konbujime - Fish was dry. Dont recommend. Bacon Enoki - recommend. Bacon and enoki had a nice bit of crispiness, which was a great contrast to the softer parts. Chicken skin - Just ok. Medium texture, but nothing memorable. Chicken meat ball (tsukune) - don't recommend. Reasonably cooked and not dry, but flavor profile more on bland side. Arabiki Sausage - strong flavor, little on oily side. This is a recommend for me, but will caveat that sausage is one of the less popular dishes for most people. Tonkotsu ramen - recommend. it had a good medium flavor, not too thick or oily. Service was good. Street parking in this area is a pain. Also, the place is kind of small, so suggest booking reservations or coming early. Also this area gets cold at night so bring a jacket.

During my first year of college, this was my favorite ramen in San Francisco. After class, I'd wait outside while my Southern Californian self would freeze in line during the evening because I always found the quality of the ramen to be worth the lone nighttime Muni trips. Seven years later in 2023, I took my partner on a little ramen trip all around the city, making sure to hit all of the top rated spots until finally finishing here. After all this time + now with another person by my side to try it all, it's nice that the ramen here still tops my list as my favorite in the city in both taste and value. The broth is uniquely pepper-y and perfect for a cold day.

We came in looking for soba for our soba-loving toddler/kiddo. But it was not in the daily menu or sold out. But we ended up ordering a bunch of other items, they were a little on the pricy ends, hamachi carpaccio taste good, the yaki scallops were ok, ramen for kid was great, some other yakiniku, yakitori items were good too. But somehow either ambience or something else, we have no sugoi effect and we won't come back again.

10/10 ramen! We were surprised and impressed with this place. My husband raved about how good the ramen was (it even dethroned his forever favorite ramen nagi!!) and no line when you go at opening! I got the uni udon pasta and it was also delicious. It wasn't amazing, but still enjoyable nonetheless. The duck skewer was juicy, and not gamey tasting at all. Loved it! Perhaps the most unique and interesting dish was the maitake (mushroom) fritters with truffle. They were so savory and yummy to snack on as a side for our meal. Only thing is that the restaurant was quite small, and didn't have many tables. Also, no high chairs available (only booster seats). Will definitely return!

If you can only go to one izakaya, make it Izakaya Sozai. Mike drop. From melt-in-your-mouth pork belly to crispy karaage, every dish is a testament to Japanese culinary art. The sake selection? Phenomenal. The lively yet cozy ambiance and knowledgeable staff make the experience unforgettable. In a city full of dining options, Izakaya Sozai is the undisputed champion. Go experience it yourself. Mike drop, again.

The food was seriously amazing! Great staff too! And I didn't even order fish. I can be picky but was pleasantly surprised

When you're wandering around the city and don't know what to eat... izakaya's a pretty good place cause there's a lot of little bites of variety! But this is SF on a Saturday night... so many popular asian restaurants are packed. But surprisingly we called, reserved seats on the drive here, and snagged a table easily on 7PM on a Saturday?! Amazing. UNI UDON PASTA -- $24 with fresh pieces of creamy sweet uni? Def coming back for this alone!!! I've had a share of uni pastas, but I love their take on it for actually having uni pieces. The rest of the pasta is more of a savory cream sauce, but like I'd rather have the real uni than the blended saucy version. If you wish to have a more uni-infused cream, you could just take it in one bite together! Plus you even have scallops in here! Joy CHICKEN THIGH YAKITORI - $8.5 - another good deal, you get two pieces. Sauce and flavor felt just right - savory, not too salty - and they grilled it juicy. Solid. SCALLOP w SAIKYO MISO - $9 The miso sauce was pretty interesting. It had a strong sake flavor to it? Interesting. And they give you all the parts of the scallop. Liked it. BACON MOCHI - $9.5 I honestly just wanted grilled mochi but this was the closest. I took out some bacon since it was just a bit too heavy/salty, but overall great... chewy mochi!

Make a reservation if possible. The inside of Izakaya Sozai is small, so there aren't many tables to go around. There's only one large table if you have a party of more than four people. On the plus side, that table was an outlet for charging devices close by. I needed an outlet badly for dinner, so the outlet was appreciated. Unfortunately the food is nothing special. Honestly, the seafood dishes were significantly better than most of the dishes that are common in Izakayas. Izakaya Sozai would be better off as a casual sushi restaurant than an izakaya. The Hamachi carpaccio and the tuna tartare were the highlights of my dinner. For some reason the Ramen was more expensive than a good portion of the meat dishes. So don't get the Ramen. It's not worth it.

One of the best Izakaya places in San Francisco. I always order the chicken tsukumen and the tonkotsu ramen. I never miss to order their skewers specially the chicken skin glazed with savory sauce. I would recommend this place parking is a bit challenging bec it's in San Francisco.

Joe made our evening such a good night, we are travelling from Australia and he was so knowledgeable helping us around the menu ! would highly recommend this restaurant just from the service not to mention the food was unreal !!

Great food, ambiance, and service! A little pricey if you want to leave full, but I think it's worth the price! The restaurant is small and intimate. We are a reservation and we're able to come a few hours earlier - they seated us right away which was lovely. We ordered a ton for just 2 ppl! - Duck special skewer was delicious (especially for someone who thought they didn't like duck) - chicken skin skewer - chicken thigh skewer - bacon wrapped enoki skewer - hamachi carpaccio - spicy tuna on crispy rice - tonkatsu ramen - beer & wine This meal came out to ~$162 with tax and tip Our favorites were the hamachi, spicy tuna, and duck skewer! The ramen wasn't memorable, so this would probably be the only item I wouldn't re-order

This place seems like it's always busy! Good for them! There's indoor and outdoor seating. The first time I came here, I ordered the ramen and it was pretty good. Came here for the ramen again and it was not good... Overall, I'm not in a rush to return and don't think I will anytime soon. It's a bit expensive for the quality and quantity too. **Tonkotsu Ramen** A $17 bowl served with chasu, 1/2 soft boiled egg, green onion, and seaweed. I added on spicy miso ($2) and mushrooms ($1). Was this $20 bowl of ramen worth it? Definitely not. The noodles were also overdone so there's no chewiness...just really soft noodles. The broth is different now and is definitely not tonkotsu. It's like they put some kind of thickening agent in it so you don't actually get that rich and creamy flavor. It was just murky, kinda starchy (bc of whatever thickening agent that was used), and underwhelming. **Chicken karaage** Served with spicy mayo and fried green peppers. The chicken was juicy (dark meat) but it was too salty so the lemon helped a bit. It was whatever seasoning was sprinkled on top - not the chicken itself. The batter was okay...it didn't stay crispy so eat it fast!

This is one of my favorite few-frills tonkatsu ramen in the city; the broth is very flavorful, the meat is fresh and delicious, and I'm a sucker for a perfectly runny egg. I wish the tsukamen came with a pork broth like the ramen does, just because I prefer it a little bit over the chicken broth, but they're both very good! The restaurant itself is fairly small and loud. It's a nice place to get a quick delicious ramen but it's quite hard to hear people talk, at least in the busy times.

This felt like a unique Japanese food experience with skewers being the stars. Their iced matcha was also yummy! The staff was super friendly and the ambiance actually feels pretty intimate, even though the place can fill up. Would recommend for a date night or a night out with a few friends.

P A R K I N G a little hard to find depending on when you come, predominantly meter spots and some residential -- 2/5 F O O D chicken skin skewer: I knew I would love this skewer because I'm obsessed with chicken skin but my boyfriend dislikes it, but he still really enjoyed this skewer 5/5 duck skewer: this one was alright, meat was relatively tender but nothing too special 4/5 scallop skewer: really enjoyed this one but for my first scallop there was a stronger taste of sake from the glaze than on my second 4/5 tonkotsu ramen: this was a little bland in flavor to be honest, and added braised pork belly for $3 which was also mediocre house chicken wings: really enjoyed these but wish the wings were a smidge crispier, but they still had good flavor 5/5 S E R V I C E our server came and checked on us a lot, and was very attentive ! 5/5 O V E R A L L pretty good skewers and fantastic service! overall a really great experience & i recommend !

I order Tuna Tartare and Tonkotsu Ramen. Food was amazing. Quiet, toned down ambiency. Very relaxing experience. This restaurant is top rated for ramen in SF and is well deserved.

The pork belly was so thick and melted in our mouth. We all got ramen and the soup felt very hearty and thick. We loved the consistency of the soup, and how the egg was perfectly cooked. We also got the ramen additions, black garlic oil and the spicy miso paste, and they were good and very big portions. We realized we could have shared some of that amongst ourselves instead of ordering it per person. Next time, I wouldn't get the paste addition unless I was really craving it! Service was great, and everything came out at a good pace!

Finally got to try this place after driving past it for so many years! We walked in on a Friday night around 7, and the staff quickly made arrangements to seat us despite being fully booked from reservations. Definitely make reservations online if you plan on coming! Although it's a fairly small place, the ambiance is intimate and perfect for dates. It's also open kitchen so you can watch the food being made. Menus are on a QR code. We ordered the agedashi tofu, tonkatsu ramen, chicken karaage, as well as the duck skewers and mizu tako specials! The agedashi tofu was crispy and flavorful, probably the best one I've had yet! The ramen and chicken karaage were pretty standard, but nonetheless delicious. The duck skewers were well seasoned and came with a wasabi paste that paired really well with the fattiness of the duck. The mizu tako was really fresh and tasted interesting, but I don't know if I would order it again. Food comes out fast, and the servers are very attentive and friendly. Parking is also easy to find if you don't mind having to walk a few blocks.

OOOF this place was a big no. Not sure why this place has rave reviews but they can all come at me because we were sorely disappointed. This place specializes in Japanese food more specifically tapas. I'll get to the food, but the wait in itself was CRAZY! We came on a Friday evening, carved a big chunk of our evening open since we knew it'd be a wait seeing how popular they were on here. The resto itself is on the smaller side, which explains the long waits and it did seem like their turnover rate was very low. Many tables stayed there awhile and people were sitting around waiting to be helped and given their checks. We ourselves even waited awhile for our checks and our food; our ramen came at the very end when we were about to ask for the check. We also had to flag the waitress down twice for the check. Now onto the food: -skewers/yakitori (2/5): Now I have had my fair share of yakitori everywhere else; I don't really get the hype about their skewers specifically; I think they're good, but they are priced very steep; all averaging around $10 for two small ones and the offerings did not stand out from elsewhere. We got the bacon wrapped enoki, chicken skin, chicken gizzard, and the beef tongue. All of them tasted pretty bland with the most flavor being the bacon wrapped enoki. The meat pieces were very very small and they were all on the drier side, especially the beef tongue. -tonkotsu ramen (0/5): This one was the most disappointing out of all the things we ordered. You'd think at a Japanese restaurant as it is, the ramen would be top notch. The soup tasted straight out of a ramen packet. The noodles themselves didn't taste like it was fresh either. It was very hard and combined with a broth that wasn't hot, just made then even tougher. We both were really sad about this one and agreed that the ramen was even worse than the yakitori. It wasn't very presentable either so no points even for aesthetics. Portion was also on the smaller side though we split, the bowl itself is noticeable smaller than your average single serving of ramen at a restaurant. Unfortunately we will not be coming back; the experience itself was very long and dragged out, pricey, and there are far better options for Japanese food in the area.

Walked in on a Thursday night for a table of 3 and got seated immediately. We ordered a variety of things on the menu: Uni pasta: 3.8/5 Ramen: 3/5 Takoyaki: 4/5 Braised fatty pork: 3/5 Bacon wrapped enoki: 4/5 Beef tongue: 2/5 I've been to izakaya sozai a couple of times and thought the food was decent. The food was presented nicely but but tastewise, nothing to rave about. Our beef tongue was a bit tough and hard to swallow so I ended up spitting it out. Unfortunately, I had diarrhea from eating here. :( my stomach was not happy so I'm updating my review to 3/5.

Super good! When I went to Sozai, it was an extremely cold day in San Francisco, so the hotness of our plates balanced out the weather perfectly. We were seated outside and given this really cool propane tank - fan set up that blasted a hot breeze at us which was amazing. PARKING: Really nice! There is a street right next to Sozai that you can park in, which is free and plentiful. Took me two minutes to find a spot, which is amazing! SERVICE: Fast with polite staff! We were seated in five minutes upon arriving in an outside booth, which was safe, protected from the elements, and gave a homely feel to our meal. The waitress was very sweet in setting up the tank for us and it was overall a cute experience. FOOD: AMAZING! The cold air with Sozai was perfect! The Albacore had really complex flavors with earthly and spicy undertones. The sausages were really good with the sauce and is a must try. The sausages were very light and not overwhelming in fat nor flavor. The ramen was super good and the egg was perfectly cooked. Though I must say, the toppings for the ramen are bare with just some seaweed, an egg, some woodear, and green onions. However, the broth and noodles were perfect! Overall, if you're feeling homely Japanese food in SF, check this place out!