Nara Sushi

Gotta get the Saki bomb roll!!! One of the best rolls I've ever had. So balanced. Spicy, savory, flavorful...just perfect. The chicken karaage was cooked perfectly and served hot. Supposedly a gochujang sauce but I didn't care for it. Also had the ribs and they were perfectly tender but a little lacking in salt for me but I love salt. All in all the value, experience, and food were wonderful.

This is a great place to get dinner before hitting your favorite bars on Polk. They had the freshest, tastiest sashimi! We got the Spoon Set A, I dont even know what 4 fishes they were but they were all great. Even my friend who doesnt particularly like slimy things enjoyed them. We also got the monkfish liver, toro handrolls, victoria secret roll and the spicy tuna roll. Plus, the waitress was so nice - they were fine with accomadating no cucumbers in our rolls. We came on a rainy Saturday evening so there was about a 5-10 minute wait to get seated - if you add your name to the waitlist on yelp beforehand I'm sure you wouldn't have to wait.

There has only been a few places that their fish has been phenomenal and superb, separate from Japan, this is one of the places. There selection of raw fish is one of the best I have seen in San Francisco. I had the Sashimi Omakase (chef choice of premium fish), Ikura (my must have at any sushi place), and my second time having Uni (saltwater goodness). This will now be my go to place when I am in The City for sushi. The Staff was wonderful and the atmosphere was great not to loud but vibrant.

What a gem! Unassuming small restaurant. Popped in on a random weekday for their happy hour hand rolls. They were carefully made and composed, very culinary and thoughtful flavor combinations. Fresh ingredients and delicious. So happy to have found this! Staff was very attentive and kind. Come! You won’t regret it. Can’t wait to go back.

Nora being a sushi restaurant open till midnight is an A+ in my book, The service was great even after arriving 10 before closing which I understand can be annoying for kitchen staff but was met with excellent service and food. Spoon tastings were amazing and rolls were filled with a lot of flavor.

Great service and amazing quality of sashimi! Really enjoyed all the cuts in the omakase that we got!

Our favorite sushi place did not survive the pandemic. Nara is close by, so we thought we'd give it a try. First time here. Won't be our last. Ordered a feast to celebrate my birthday. Over ordered, picked it up, plated and enjoyed it at home. Pricey but worth it. Everything was perfectly prepared. In particular, loved the truffle hamachi, monkfish liver, O-Toro and Hamachi. Nara is our new favorite.

+4

Had the Shrek, Tartare Trio, Floral Train and Loco Crunchy - everything is elevated japanese food in terms of innovation, freshness and presentation. We had a lovely night.

Very good sushi. I happened to go there and it was Happy Hour so it was very affordable

Such great Japanese food. Highly recommend checking this place out! This review was made in connection with a Toast promotion.

AMAZING SUSHI! Freshest sushi I’ve had in a while. Fish was so tender and delicate and melted in my mouth. Amazing service as well.

Very delicious sushi! It was all very high quality and the special tasted amazing! The service was also phenomenal- the waitress even gave us complementary sake on the house! However I will say the sushi is very pricy so be prepared.

Nara offers one of the best sushi experience I had in San Francisco. The sashimi bites were fresh and tasty. The staff were so friendly. They made great suggestions tailored to our needs. I highly recommend the Hamachi Truffle (on the spoons), I could have 100 of those!

Nara is an excellent sushi restaurant providing quality fish. The happy hour menu from 5-7 provides a great value. Ordered the Tai, Sake, Hamachi and Hotate and the fish was flavorful and served in a hand rolls the fish portions were generous.

The happy hour menu and the unexpectedly large beers made us very content 🤪 Fresh seafood and interesting rolls. Though the seaweed were a bit soggy and made it difficult to bite things apart 😬

Delicious rolls and great service. Sushi chefs are friendly and skilled. They have uni from Hokkaido and Santa Barbara as well as great specials.

Nara on Polk Street is a fantastic sushi spot! We went for an early dinner and enjoyed their happy hour from 5-7 PM. The hot sake was perfect for the chilly weather, and we loved all the sushi we tried. Our favorites were the Sake Bomb, which had amazing flavor and crispiness, and the Tres Tuna. The Loco Crunchy wasn’t our favorite—the crab was a bit too oily. The shrimp tempura hand roll was also delicious. Overall, a great experience, and we’ll definitely be back to try more rolls!

Came in here for lunch with a friend for nigiris, but wasn't aware that they didn't offer it during lunch. The server, though, was really patient and talked us through the menu on what we would like to order. Although we were a bit confused and disappointed that there weren't any nigiris, we were pretty convinced from the sushi choices that our server was presenting us. The rolls were packed with fresh fish and great flavors and we ended up loving it! I will have to come back for nigiris next time around dinner time. May have

Our first time here, and we loved it. It started to get hectic when we got there. They sat us immediately. We started off with chicken karaage. Fresh and crispy. Mostly meat and not a bunch of fried breading. Whatever the white dipping sauce was. It was delicious. We asked the waitress but she wasn't too sure. I had the Jessica Alba roll. I got it without sesame seeds. It had shrimp tempura inside and tobiko. Which in most places is a topping. They put it inside the sushi roll, and it still had that delicious pop and crunch. Had some cucumber in it as well. On top was delicious fresh white tuna or shiro maguro on the menu. Topped with eel sauce. When I say it was delicious. I mean, I ordered 2 for myself. It was that good. I did share a few pieces with 2 people who were sitting at the same table as us. They loved it. My partner had the hamachi kama with side order of sushi rice. Which I highly recommend together. It's a can soda type of place, so those refills cost more, but they do have happy hours and drink specials on alcohol. I love this place. Can't wait to come back to the bay to eat here again. Domo arigato gozaimashita.

Updated: I definitely wanted to go back to Nara Sushi for their amazing gimbap, but the idea hit me on Monday morning while I was busy at the office. Overwhelmed by the usual Monday hassles, I decided to order a pickup instead of visiting the restaurant in person. And guess what? It was fantastic! The colorful, juicy gimbap brightened up my Monday at work. My coworkers couldn’t resist and rushed over to my lunch box, eager to take a bite, almost begging. I felt so proud of my local restaurant and my Asian identity. Nara Sushi is even developing more options—how can they be so good? I absolutely love Nara!

We had family visiting from Texas, and after a day of hiking, we were craving sushi in the city. We stumbled upon Nara Sushi, and it turned out to be perfect for our group of six, especially since many other spots were too small to accommodate us comfortably. We were thrilled to get a same-day reservation. The ambiance was modern, clean, and inviting. Our server, Jenny, was incredibly friendly and guided us through the menu, making sure we ordered the best dishes. The fish was so fresh—it really stood out. A special shoutout to Chef Kevin! His sashimi platter, topped with a delicious truffle sauce, was a game-changer. Definitely a must-try! To top it all off, we were celebrating one of the girl’s birthdays, and they surprised us with mochi ice cream, which made the evening even more memorable. And if you’re into sake, make sure to order the one with a whale on the label—it was excellent! Nara Sushi truly impressed our guests and made our trip extra special. Highly recommend for anyone looking for great sushi in San Francisco!

An exceptional place to enjoy sushi in San Francisco. The service was excellent and the staff were friendly. The food was excellent and well put together. Prices are reasonable and the atmosphere is comfortable. Parking is hit or miss, but that's the city for you... The Sake Bomb and Big Boss rolls were outstanding. I highly recommend!

Very enjoyable dining experiences with high quality sushi, sashimi, and other items to choose from. Customer service is friendly and attentive and the atmosphere is quit and relaxing allowing you to fully enjoy the dining experience. A nice wine selection and sake is a perfect compliment to the menu. Highly recommended.

Came to Nara for the first time and was very pleased by the quality of this restaurant. As soon as you walk in, you feel like you are transported to a sushi bar in Tokyo. The decor and lighting set the right mood and ambiance. The happy hour deals were great, they served beer and sake for $5 as well as very reasonably priced oysters and spicy tuna wraps. We also tried one of their sushi rolls which tasted amazing!

I attended their happy hour. All of this plus hot sake for $25 with tip. The staff is extremely friendly and attentive. The food comes out very fast and is delicious. The shrimp kimchi taco was extremely unique and delicious!

Amazing sushi, amazing service! Very attentive to allergies.

Amazing place with awesome sushi and great chefs. My boyfriend and I loved the atmosphere there. Perfect for Friday date night. Each food had extraordinary flavors other just sushi itself.(some seasoning and details they added to the food was phenomenal) We'd love to go back sometime soon!

Ryan Fernandez

Very enjoyable dining experiences with high quality sushi, sashimi, and other items to choose from. Customer service is friendly and attentive and the atmosphere is quit and relaxing allowing you to fully enjoy the dining experience. A nice wine selection and sake is a perfect compliment to the menu. Highly recommended.

Omeed Moghadam

Came to Nara for the first time and was very pleased by the quality of this restaurant. As soon as you walk in, you feel like you are transported to a sushi bar in Tokyo. The decor and lighting set the right mood and ambiance. The happy hour deals were great, they served beer and sake for $5 as well as very reasonably priced oysters and spicy tuna wraps. We also tried one of their sushi rolls which tasted amazing!

Steven Pegelow

I attended their happy hour. All of this plus hot sake for $25 with tip. The staff is extremely friendly and attentive. The food comes out very fast and is delicious. The shrimp kimchi taco was extremely unique and delicious!

Maddy

Amazing sushi, amazing service! Very attentive to allergies.

KyoungEun Oh

Amazing place with awesome sushi and great chefs. My boyfriend and I loved the atmosphere there. Perfect for Friday date night. Each food had extraordinary flavors other just sushi itself.(some seasoning and details they added to the food was phenomenal) We'd love to go back sometime soon!

Juju C

Very delicious sushi! It was all very high quality and the special tasted amazing! The service was also phenomenal- the waitress even gave us complementary sake on the house! However I will say the sushi is very pricy so be prepared.

Ducky

Nara is an excellent sushi restaurant providing quality fish. The happy hour menu from 5-7 provides a great value. Ordered the Tai, Sake, Hamachi and Hotate and the fish was flavorful and served in a hand rolls the fish portions were generous.

Rinka Yoshida

The happy hour menu and the unexpectedly large beers made us very content 🤪 Fresh seafood and interesting rolls. Though the seaweed were a bit soggy and made it difficult to bite things apart 😬

Mika Hale

Came in here for lunch with a friend for nigiris, but wasn't aware that they didn't offer it during lunch. The server, though, was really patient and talked us through the menu on what we would like to order. Although we were a bit confused and disappointed that there weren't any nigiris, we were pretty convinced from the sushi choices that our server was presenting us. The rolls were packed with fresh fish and great flavors and we ended up loving it! I will have to come back for nigiris next time around dinner time. May have

Adamo Stivala

Delicious rolls and great service. Sushi chefs are friendly and skilled. They have uni from Hokkaido and Santa Barbara as well as great specials.

Stone Soup

Our first time here, and we loved it. It started to get hectic when we got there. They sat us immediately. We started off with chicken karaage. Fresh and crispy. Mostly meat and not a bunch of fried breading. Whatever the white dipping sauce was. It was delicious. We asked the waitress but she wasn't too sure. I had the Jessica Alba roll. I got it without sesame seeds. It had shrimp tempura inside and tobiko. Which in most places is a topping. They put it inside the sushi roll, and it still had that delicious pop and crunch. Had some cucumber in it as well. On top was delicious fresh white tuna or shiro maguro on the menu. Topped with eel sauce. When I say it was delicious. I mean, I ordered 2 for myself. It was that good. I did share a few pieces with 2 people who were sitting at the same table as us. They loved it. My partner had the hamachi kama with side order of sushi rice. Which I highly recommend together. It's a can soda type of place, so those refills cost more, but they do have happy hours and drink specials on alcohol. I love this place. Can't wait to come back to the bay to eat here again. Domo arigato gozaimashita.

vamsi C

Nara on Polk Street is a fantastic sushi spot! We went for an early dinner and enjoyed their happy hour from 5-7 PM. The hot sake was perfect for the chilly weather, and we loved all the sushi we tried. Our favorites were the Sake Bomb, which had amazing flavor and crispiness, and the Tres Tuna. The Loco Crunchy wasn’t our favorite—the crab was a bit too oily. The shrimp tempura hand roll was also delicious. Overall, a great experience, and we’ll definitely be back to try more rolls!

J S

Updated: I definitely wanted to go back to Nara Sushi for their amazing gimbap, but the idea hit me on Monday morning while I was busy at the office. Overwhelmed by the usual Monday hassles, I decided to order a pickup instead of visiting the restaurant in person. And guess what? It was fantastic! The colorful, juicy gimbap brightened up my Monday at work. My coworkers couldn’t resist and rushed over to my lunch box, eager to take a bite, almost begging. I felt so proud of my local restaurant and my Asian identity. Nara Sushi is even developing more options—how can they be so good? I absolutely love Nara!

Popobee Nguyen

We had family visiting from Texas, and after a day of hiking, we were craving sushi in the city. We stumbled upon Nara Sushi, and it turned out to be perfect for our group of six, especially since many other spots were too small to accommodate us comfortably. We were thrilled to get a same-day reservation. The ambiance was modern, clean, and inviting. Our server, Jenny, was incredibly friendly and guided us through the menu, making sure we ordered the best dishes. The fish was so fresh—it really stood out. A special shoutout to Chef Kevin! His sashimi platter, topped with a delicious truffle sauce, was a game-changer. Definitely a must-try! To top it all off, we were celebrating one of the girl’s birthdays, and they surprised us with mochi ice cream, which made the evening even more memorable. And if you’re into sake, make sure to order the one with a whale on the label—it was excellent! Nara Sushi truly impressed our guests and made our trip extra special. Highly recommend for anyone looking for great sushi in San Francisco!

John Pobursky

An exceptional place to enjoy sushi in San Francisco. The service was excellent and the staff were friendly. The food was excellent and well put together. Prices are reasonable and the atmosphere is comfortable. Parking is hit or miss, but that's the city for you... The Sake Bomb and Big Boss rolls were outstanding. I highly recommend!

Laraine Wong

Great service and amazing quality of sashimi! Really enjoyed all the cuts in the omakase that we got!

I was looking for a good sushi spot nearby and oh…my…this place was so good!!! The sushi was ON POINT. Ingredients are top quality, the fish was excellent. I also had their wagyu tartare and it was so amazing as an appetizer! Will definitely be coming back here in my future trips to downtown San Francisco!

I got hamachi nigiri and it was super yummy. The place was packed and the service is great. Highly recommend.

Mina Tzoukermann

AMAZING SUSHI! Freshest sushi I’ve had in a while. Fish was so tender and delicate and melted in my mouth. Amazing service as well.

Jonna

Had the Shrek, Tartare Trio, Floral Train and Loco Crunchy - everything is elevated japanese food in terms of innovation, freshness and presentation. We had a lovely night.

Tahnee Smith

I was looking for a good sushi spot nearby and oh…my…this place was so good!!! The sushi was ON POINT. Ingredients are top quality, the fish was excellent. I also had their wagyu tartare and it was so amazing as an appetizer! Will definitely be coming back here in my future trips to downtown San Francisco!

NARA is my go-to in Nob Hill. Cozy atmosphere, great Nigiri/Sashimi selection + specials.

+1

Went here for happy hour, $7 hand rolls, good quality best were the tai/snapper and scallop, would go back to try from the full menu

a solid, moderately priced sushi spot known for rolls. quick and friendly service which was great since we were in a rush. sake bomb roll was really good, not the best roll i’ve ever had but hit the spot.

Staffs are nice, sushi and sashimi are both great, presentation is good. Except for the clam soup is a little bit too fishy, overall is a great dinner. The cream brûlée is so yum, not too sweet and the flavour is perfect, very smooth, easy to finished it all. If you like to have a warn and passionate vibe of restaurant, here will be you a option.

+2

Nara is a really reliable sushi spot located on Polk, with another location in lower Haight. They have a really great fish selection as well as a daily selection of fish from Toyosu fish market in Japan. There are also different types of uni, but by the time I dined in only Hokkaido was available. We went on a Tuesday night, and we were able to be seated promptly. Service was super nice and helpful, and we ordered several appetisers as well as some nigiri and sashimi. The shrek was very interesting, and we just ordered it out of curiosity - but it is not something I would order again. Fish quality was good, and we were able to get some of the specials from Toyosu market. The Hokkaido uni was just okay, but I think for me uni is a little too much for nigiri. Overall great experience, and I would definitely return to both of the Nara locations!

Nice vibe in the place. We went on a Monday night and it was busy anyway. It is open until 23.00 although on Google said it closed before. Service was great, our waitress was very nice and recommended us dishes to try. We were four people and we had a bottle of wine, a small sake, a miso soup, 2 edamames, 2 big sushi of 5 pieces each, and 2 or 3 sushis of 8 pieces, plus a starter and all came out for around 190$ taxes included. We recommend the Hamachi Truffle which was a good starter. As for sushi, we ordered the Big Boss (in the picture), it comes in 5 pieces that are huge with 4 different kind of fish in the same roll. The Jessica Alba roll (in the picture) was also very good with the shrimps tempura in it. The waitress recommended the Sake Bomb which was really good and comes in 8 pieces. The Florian train was good if you like truffles but the fish itself was not very tasty.

Fresh sushi! The auto sphere is nice place to chill or go on dates at. We had the hamachi truffle mmmmm, you can taste the best of both worlds. Shrek is interesting, nice balance taste of avocado and tuna, if you like avocado rolls - this is for you. Uni is fresh! Would come back next time I’m in town.

Claudia Rasi

Nice vibe in the place. We went on a Monday night and it was busy anyway. It is open until 23.00 although on Google said it closed before. Service was great, our waitress was very nice and recommended us dishes to try. We were four people and we had a bottle of wine, a small sake, a miso soup, 2 edamames, 2 big sushi of 5 pieces each, and 2 or 3 sushis of 8 pieces, plus a starter and all came out for around 190$ taxes included. We recommend the Hamachi Truffle which was a good starter. As for sushi, we ordered the Big Boss (in the picture), it comes in 5 pieces that are huge with 4 different kind of fish in the same roll. The Jessica Alba roll (in the picture) was also very good with the shrimps tempura in it. The waitress recommended the Sake Bomb which was really good and comes in 8 pieces. The Florian train was good if you like truffles but the fish itself was not very tasty.

It was a lovely dinner but I wouldn't be thinking about this restaurant to come back to. I think it's simple, good quality but the sashimi platter had nothing special. Overall I feel that dinner was a bit pricey for what I got

strange places. the karage taste like chicken 65. the sushis look cute though.

Ordered to go. Was surprised to see this was $98! Minus the service fee and things, the food was more than $80. I think it’s very expensive. The items in photo is chirashi. Big boss roll and some tuna roll? ( that only apparently comes with 5 pieces? )

Happy hour is from 5 - 7 pm. Happy hour is also ONLY** Hand rolls. Do not eat here if you are looking for a price-to-portion-to-flavor ratio of any good quality. Me and my sister ordered 3 hand rolls we finished in 1 second each and still managed to spend nearly 40 dollars before tip and after tax DURING happy hour. Atmosphere, decor, and regular menu are all mid and outrageously expensive for what is offered and how it tastes Try House of Sushi instead