Warakubune Sushi

We eat there every time we go to San Francisco. The sushi is absolutely delicious and expertly prepared. And the service is delightful

Super fresh fish, very friendly staff and customers (sitting around the conveyor is somewhat communal), and a lot of fun to pick the sushi off the boats.

Like family. Have come for years. Simple, special, delicious.

Everything is fabulous. TOP tier sushi for a rotating sushi bar. The service is marvelous, the sushi chefs offer to make specific rolls, the waiters and waitresses are so kind and attentive. I love this place.

My favorite sushi boat place in the city! Small little hideaway with lots of seats, very nice staff and chefs, and a great clientele. Plus, the sushi is on a real boat!!! Get the unagi, its delicious. But be careful the food is so good that you’ll easily run up an $50 tab. Highly recommend!

Words can not express how wonderful this place is. The fish is fresh and delicious. Its the genius in its simplicity. Great quality in a cozy humble setting.

Sushi boat places are usually pretty gross but Warakubune does a great job! I don't ever see stuff on the boats circulating for too long and everything is generally fresh. There are things that you can order directly with your server if you're not seeing it on the boats. It's a super fun dining experience and I used to come here with a friend to have a small snack before heading to another spot for a full dinner.

Didn't realize this place has sushi in the little boats and you just grab it, but it was so good and so easy. It's nice because once you sit down you can just immediately start eating. My one complaint is I often didn't know what I was eating, but every roll I had was delicious!

Is it just me or is there is something fun about picking your food from a moving conveyor belt. Seating around the conveyor belt is best with a group of two to three people. I think the quality of the fish is good for a sushi boat restaurant. For those not interested in sushi boats, there is a menu to order meals. I have eaten here multiple times and enjoyed every dining experience here. Hope you try and feel the same!

One of the rare boat places still around SF, also fresh since they get very busy everyday. Staff are very warm with us, know what we like and are super friendly with my 8 year.

Warakubune Sushi’s standout dish is their sushi salad—pictured here in all its glory! It’s a vibrant, low-carb option featuring an incredible medley of fresh sashimi paired with cherry tomatoes atop a refreshing base. Each bite is a perfect balance of freshness and flavor, making it both light and satisfying. Whether you’re health-conscious or just a sushi lover, this dish is an absolute must-try. Plus, the unique boat-style sushi bar setup adds a fun, interactive dining experience!

January 2025: Came here for a family dinner. We sat at the sushi bar and we had a great time. I tried the hamachi maki and it was very tasty. For my main, I ordered the miso ramen 🍜 and it came with the pork belly that was deep fried before slicing. Everything was delicious 😋. Service was friendly and attentive. The place was quite busy. Most people were seated at the bar! Will definitely be back again for more delicious food!

First time caller lol Holy cow, was the best thing ever. The place has a no frills vibe and clearly all about their fish. Probably one of my favorite sushi spots and the sashimi cuts are magical. They celebrated their 30th anniversary and hopefully more in the future. Love this place!

We arrived there just 5 minutes after it close and even it was already closed they let us eat (they deserve 10 points just for that). You can eat food from the roll (sushi, sashimi and more) but they also have a menu for people vegetarian like me. The service was kind and professional and, even if it was late, they served us a super tasty vegetarian ramen.

This is our favorite neighborhood sushi spot. We've been coming here for at least 12-15 years as the food & service are excellent: the house special roll is one of my favorites as well as their spicy white tuna, and don't even get me started on the unagi!! The boats are fun and a way to try something new as you can see what you're ordering, of course you can also order off the menu, highly recommend their Agedashi tofu bowl and gyozas. Say hello to Tiffany when you go by, she'll take excellent care of you.

An amazing conveyer-belt sushi place which provides a rich variety of sushi, and delicious ramen. Take a pick from the sushi plates that arrive on the boats, or order from the menu to get anything specific that you want. I had both some sushi and the ramen, and the ramen was surprisingly good (I ordered it spicy). It’s a really cool place to hang out at if you go with friends, but if you come with friends and want a seat at the counter, make sure to come early. Highly recommend this place!

Great sushi, fresh and high quality. Staff is nice and welcoming and I love the running-sushi concept. Not expensive as well, casual vibe. Will definitely come back!

The salmon sashimi, hamachi, and special roll is my favorite! The special roll has an incredible sauce & is only $9.99 - super affordable for the amazing quality

Walk in, sit down, grab sushi from the rotating boats, enjoy! Wish I found this place sooner. You can spend 10 minutes in there for a quick bite or an hour for a relaxed meal. You can still order from the menu if the boats don’t have what you need. Friendly and attentive wait staff. Easy 5⭐️. Arigato 👋

Food was great. Waitress and cooks work attentive and amazing.. I had a great time. There was 3 of us and we were seated at the revolving bar.. definitely recommend.

Terry Hinton, M.Sc, MBA

Warakubune Sushi’s standout dish is their sushi salad—pictured here in all its glory! It’s a vibrant, low-carb option featuring an incredible medley of fresh sashimi paired with cherry tomatoes atop a refreshing base. Each bite is a perfect balance of freshness and flavor, making it both light and satisfying. Whether you’re health-conscious or just a sushi lover, this dish is an absolute must-try. Plus, the unique boat-style sushi bar setup adds a fun, interactive dining experience!

Ken Wong

January 2025: Came here for a family dinner. We sat at the sushi bar and we had a great time. I tried the hamachi maki and it was very tasty. For my main, I ordered the miso ramen 🍜 and it came with the pork belly that was deep fried before slicing. Everything was delicious 😋. Service was friendly and attentive. The place was quite busy. Most people were seated at the bar! Will definitely be back again for more delicious food!

Jenelle Gallagher

First time caller lol Holy cow, was the best thing ever. The place has a no frills vibe and clearly all about their fish. Probably one of my favorite sushi spots and the sashimi cuts are magical. They celebrated their 30th anniversary and hopefully more in the future. Love this place!

Pierpaolo Zizzi

We arrived there just 5 minutes after it close and even it was already closed they let us eat (they deserve 10 points just for that). You can eat food from the roll (sushi, sashimi and more) but they also have a menu for people vegetarian like me. The service was kind and professional and, even if it was late, they served us a super tasty vegetarian ramen.

Carlos D. Cabarcos

This is our favorite neighborhood sushi spot. We've been coming here for at least 12-15 years as the food & service are excellent: the house special roll is one of my favorites as well as their spicy white tuna, and don't even get me started on the unagi!! The boats are fun and a way to try something new as you can see what you're ordering, of course you can also order off the menu, highly recommend their Agedashi tofu bowl and gyozas. Say hello to Tiffany when you go by, she'll take excellent care of you.

Shivam Trivedi

An amazing conveyer-belt sushi place which provides a rich variety of sushi, and delicious ramen. Take a pick from the sushi plates that arrive on the boats, or order from the menu to get anything specific that you want. I had both some sushi and the ramen, and the ramen was surprisingly good (I ordered it spicy). It’s a really cool place to hang out at if you go with friends, but if you come with friends and want a seat at the counter, make sure to come early. Highly recommend this place!

Roni Perry

Great sushi, fresh and high quality. Staff is nice and welcoming and I love the running-sushi concept. Not expensive as well, casual vibe. Will definitely come back!

Chi Fai Choi

The salmon sashimi, hamachi, and special roll is my favorite! The special roll has an incredible sauce & is only $9.99 - super affordable for the amazing quality

Anthony Affrunti

Walk in, sit down, grab sushi from the rotating boats, enjoy! Wish I found this place sooner. You can spend 10 minutes in there for a quick bite or an hour for a relaxed meal. You can still order from the menu if the boats don’t have what you need. Friendly and attentive wait staff. Easy 5⭐️. Arigato 👋

Gee Chavez

Food was great. Waitress and cooks work attentive and amazing.. I had a great time. There was 3 of us and we were seated at the revolving bar.. definitely recommend.

We love our friends at Warakabune as much as we love their sushi! We have been coming there since shortly after they opened 30 years ago! Congratulations on remaining true to your customers and your business 👏🏻🍣🍙🍱 Teresa and Brad

This is my favorite sushi place in the city. I have been eating here for years and Benji and Tiffany are like family. They have sushi rolls that are unlike anywhere else and no other place can beat theirs. They have small plates so you can get a variety and try everything. These are my must haves every time: Spicy white tuna sashimi, special roll (shrimp tempura), asparagus maki, tataki nigiri, crab salad nigiri, spicy tuna maki. The most impressive thing is that there isn’t imitation crab in any of their rolls.

This was SUCH an amazing place, there's no maximum for how much I recommend it. The sushi quality was great, the delivery was one of a kind and the service was fantastic. We are going to visit San Fran again, just so we can come back here! 10/10!

YUM. Our favorite sushi spot in the city -- come here for cozy mom-and-pop vibes with a little (or a lot of) something for everyone (we've met a number of regulars who love their sushi rolls, the indulgent kind slathered in flavor). For the nigiri-fond folks like us, their portions are generous and of phenomenal quality for the price.

Ann Gladstone

This is my favorite sushi place in the city. I have been eating here for years and Benji and Tiffany are like family. They have sushi rolls that are unlike anywhere else and no other place can beat theirs. They have small plates so you can get a variety and try everything. These are my must haves every time: Spicy white tuna sashimi, special roll (shrimp tempura), asparagus maki, tataki nigiri, crab salad nigiri, spicy tuna maki. The most impressive thing is that there isn’t imitation crab in any of their rolls.

Maddy

This was SUCH an amazing place, there's no maximum for how much I recommend it. The sushi quality was great, the delivery was one of a kind and the service was fantastic. We are going to visit San Fran again, just so we can come back here! 10/10!

Addy Z

YUM. Our favorite sushi spot in the city -- come here for cozy mom-and-pop vibes with a little (or a lot of) something for everyone (we've met a number of regulars who love their sushi rolls, the indulgent kind slathered in flavor). For the nigiri-fond folks like us, their portions are generous and of phenomenal quality for the price.

Teresa Kuhlman

We love our friends at Warakabune as much as we love their sushi! We have been coming there since shortly after they opened 30 years ago! Congratulations on remaining true to your customers and your business 👏🏻🍣🍙🍱 Teresa and Brad

Pretty good, our spot was in the back which made us wait awhile because people in the front keep grabbing the rolls lol. Recommend the tempura roll and crab leg roll. Pic attached is about $70 including large Sapporo and tip (for 2 people).

I wasn't sure walking in. But they are friendly, fast, and the food was fresh. They were constantly making new plates to add to the boats going around, even later on in the night. I definitely recommend.

Love the water sushi boat carrousel, but very limited seating. Recommend coming at opening to avoid wait. Very close seating and narrow walk ways. Food is solid for verity and turn out. Can't be afraid to speak up for check, water, special rolls, etc.

This was an interesting experience for us as parents and our two toddlers, we choose to do the boat/bar sushi, we loved it, I have to admit that some plates are worth their price and some are not. Overall we enjoyed it.

Great sushi boat spot. We were seated promptly. Jasmine tea is brewed constantly. Sushi (nigiri) was fresh and seasoned well. Rolls were also interesting (alongside the usual). Great experience for someone that is just starting out or never been to a conveyor type of sushi restaurant.

Solid sushi and Japanese fare. The boat is nice to get food your items get prepared, or if you're just in the mood for sushi. For some reason on the boat the addition of a small amount of fish eggs to a California roll raises the price by a dollar, but other than that this place is a good value. If you don't like mayonnaise this isn't the place for your as they load up on the stuff in some of the dishes/rolls.

pretty quick takeout and not too many options so not overwhelming. the nigiri were large, some fish were pre frozen so the texture is not as good. rice had good vinegar ratio, the gomae was a bit on the sweeter and saltier side, need rice to have that. overall satisfied!

Sushi conveyor belt/boat train restaurant in the Castro neighborhood of SF. Sushi was decent quality and the vibe was cozy and fun. Each option is tray colour coordinated to a price ranging from 2.95 to 7.25. while I enjoyed the experience, the cost became borderline unnecessary if you eat as much as I do.

Neal

Solid sushi and Japanese fare. The boat is nice to get food your items get prepared, or if you're just in the mood for sushi. For some reason on the boat the addition of a small amount of fish eggs to a California roll raises the price by a dollar, but other than that this place is a good value. If you don't like mayonnaise this isn't the place for your as they load up on the stuff in some of the dishes/rolls.

Winnie Xu

pretty quick takeout and not too many options so not overwhelming. the nigiri were large, some fish were pre frozen so the texture is not as good. rice had good vinegar ratio, the gomae was a bit on the sweeter and saltier side, need rice to have that. overall satisfied!

Josh Sittner

Sushi conveyor belt/boat train restaurant in the Castro neighborhood of SF. Sushi was decent quality and the vibe was cozy and fun. Each option is tray colour coordinated to a price ranging from 2.95 to 7.25. while I enjoyed the experience, the cost became borderline unnecessary if you eat as much as I do.

This place is definitely a fun spot to hit if you want an interesting take on sushi conveyor belt restaurants! As seen in other reviews the most interesting part of this place is that instead of a conveyor belt the sushi is carried along in little boats, which is pretty novel! Overall the service was great, but rather than checking in on you like other places, instead you just shout at the chef for anything you need, and he arranges for it to be brought to you. The sushi itself was alright. Definitely pricy, though some rolls were delicious. Unfortunately the best rolls typically were roughly 7$ per 3 pieces, so your bill can quickly rack up. Overall you’re paying for the novelty mostly, and though very fun, the price vs quality to me is worth visiting just once.

I was really excited about this place and have tried to come by a few times, always a bit too early. When we finally got here at the right time, there was a long list at the door. The sushi boat experience was fun, but the sushi was mostly covered in sauce. If you like Americanized sushi (I used to!), this is a great place for you. I can't say I had any standout sushi and I really wish they had cold sake rather than only the hot kinds... but the experience is really fun and it's nice to chat with the other patrons at the bar.

Don't come here if you're expecting high quality fish! It is, after all, sushi served on conveyor belt boats! Do come here if you're just planning on a fun night out with some friends chatting and ogling what's floating by the bar in front of you next! All the dishes also really adds-up so it's not really that great in terms of value either. As a small Asian girl, I would say it will cost you at least $40 per person to feel full at this place. The biggest surprise for me here was the deep-fried seaweed-wrapped taro and shrimp. This strange combination is strangely addictive! Apparently this is a special that isn't served every day! They really should make this a regular item though because I would come back JUST to eat it. It's one of those dishes that makes you daydream about starting your own food truck that sells just this one particular item and making a boatload of money!

A good sushi place is typically about the attention to details and not just the taste of the sushi . That function is typically owned by the sushi chef him/herself. Warakubune has some work to do on that front. A good sushi chef is fully aware of every customer he can oversee. That's from whether drinks need to be refilled, ginger replenish or reading searching eyes for something special. Warakubune falls short on these little but highly appreciated items. Presentation is another part, in particular when you load up the sushi boats. There is no need to overload a sushi boat, rather get each plate presented to look nice and clean. We do eat with our eyes as our taste buds. So now to the plates, I worked myself through a criss cross of selections. From the top: As it was a cool evening I started with miso soup, unfortunately the soup lacked depth and flavor. The sake sushi was fantastic, I must think they just got fresh salmon. It was plum juicy yet firm and tender all in the same time ... Great job. The maguro on the side must have had a tough life, it didn't have that tuna flavor or texture.. bummer for me and bummer for the poor fish. The spicy scallop handroll was also a bit disappointing. Neither the scallop flavor nor the supportive spice came through. It felt like I ate a roll with rice and something... Last but not least the Uni. I love uni, if I'm in a sushi restaurant I must try at least once piece. This uni was alright but doesn't stand out. One of the key issues with uni, you can't serve it very cold as the flavours are lost and of course not warm as it spoils but right before it starts to warm up the flavours come out. At 12$ a piece I expect the sushi chef to know such details. If you ask me if I'd go back. I wouldn't.

R M

A good sushi place is typically about the attention to details and not just the taste of the sushi . That function is typically owned by the sushi chef him/herself. Warakubune has some work to do on that front. A good sushi chef is fully aware of every customer he can oversee. That's from whether drinks need to be refilled, ginger replenish or reading searching eyes for something special. Warakubune falls short on these little but highly appreciated items. Presentation is another part, in particular when you load up the sushi boats. There is no need to overload a sushi boat, rather get each plate presented to look nice and clean. We do eat with our eyes as our taste buds. So now to the plates, I worked myself through a criss cross of selections. From the top: As it was a cool evening I started with miso soup, unfortunately the soup lacked depth and flavor. The sake sushi was fantastic, I must think they just got fresh salmon. It was plum juicy yet firm and tender all in the same time ... Great job. The maguro on the side must have had a tough life, it didn't have that tuna flavor or texture.. bummer for me and bummer for the poor fish. The spicy scallop handroll was also a bit disappointing. Neither the scallop flavor nor the supportive spice came through. It felt like I ate a roll with rice and something... Last but not least the Uni. I love uni, if I'm in a sushi restaurant I must try at least once piece. This uni was alright but doesn't stand out. One of the key issues with uni, you can't serve it very cold as the flavours are lost and of course not warm as it spoils but right before it starts to warm up the flavours come out. At 12$ a piece I expect the sushi chef to know such details. If you ask me if I'd go back. I wouldn't.

Food quality was good, but there was absolutely no variety. The boats go by extremely quickly to artificially speed up your eating process so it ends up being a very quick, rather expensive meal with no variation. I had really high hopes. I should note I do love all kinds of sushi, but if your main goal is California rolls with salmon or yellowtail, this will serve you nicely.

Carrie Newell

Food quality was good, but there was absolutely no variety. The boats go by extremely quickly to artificially speed up your eating process so it ends up being a very quick, rather expensive meal with no variation. I had really high hopes. I should note I do love all kinds of sushi, but if your main goal is California rolls with salmon or yellowtail, this will serve you nicely.

I’m positively flabbergasted that this place gets so many 5-star ratings. It’s terrible. Granted, I only went here because my son likes the boat thing, but I still expected it to be somewhat tasty. It wasn’t. Sushi from the refrigerator at Whole Foods tastes fresher and is more skillfully prepared.

The food is delicious, service is so so. Food is fresh, taste good. Price is a bit high, for 3 pieces of regular sushi is $8. About service - not good, and that least I can say. Waitress spilled tea on me and didn't even say sorry, i asked for napkins to clean my jacket, tokk them 40,min to bring it. Later that same waitress spilled water on my neighbor, no reaction, no sorry. You also get automaticy charged 18.5% for each person (each card).

Jason Huffman

The food is delicious, service is so so. Food is fresh, taste good. Price is a bit high, for 3 pieces of regular sushi is $8. About service - not good, and that least I can say. Waitress spilled tea on me and didn't even say sorry, i asked for napkins to clean my jacket, tokk them 40,min to bring it. Later that same waitress spilled water on my neighbor, no reaction, no sorry. You also get automaticy charged 18.5% for each person (each card).

Service doesnt exist yet there's 18% mandatory tip, lol. Sushi also sucks, seems like they get many 5 stars reviews from accounts with only 1 or 2 reviews