Daimaru - Review

Intro
Daimaru Sushi - Recommended
290 Sanchez St
at 16^th Street
San Francisco, CA 94114-1614
Phone: (415) 863-9128

For our last dinner in San Francisco, I wanted sushi. After eating at Julia’s for lunch, the great ingredients made me think San Francisco probably has really fresh sushi. Daimaru Sushi (courtesy of our friend Dan) definitely fits the bill with some very fresh sushi and again, I was surprised how good the place was. Overall, I give the restaurant an 85/100.

My Menu
Sushi and lots of it.

When eating sushi at a sushi counter there’s an ebb and flow with the sushi chef (how was the previous item, what would you like next, how full are you), so I didn’t want to take any pictures or write down what I ate.

Dish Comments
What stood out was how amazingly fresh the fish was (especially the kanpachi) and how big the flavors were. The rice was average (too sticky and clumpy), but because the fish tasted so fresh and the price was so reasonable I really didn’t care. A big standout was the castro roll (mango, eel, avocado, with a sweet and spicy sauce). I’ve never had such a sweet mango in a sushi roll before – again California produce is shining. Other standouts were the white tuna which tasted so fresh and rich. BBQ quail egg skewers were tasty as well. Ankimo (monkfish liver) was really rich and the sweet spicy sauce matched perfectly.

Overall Restaurant Experience (85/100)

• Food 8.6/10 – Fish is really fresh and I actually like the sweet/spicy sauces on some of the dishes.
• Service 8.8/10 – The sushi chef (I’m assuming Daimaru) was really friendly and recommended great pieces of sushi. Sushi came out a little slow, since he was the only sushi chef for the whole place. Didn’t matter, since we were still so happy.
• Atmosphere 7.5/10 – Very casual place. Looks like any average sushi place. Crowd consisted of couples and also a large group.
• Price 9.1/10 – The price was amazing for the amount and quality of the food. When you get 1 order of kanpachi for example, it actually comes with two pieces (still for $5). Great deal for the quality. Unfortunately, since the restaurant aims towards low price points, they don’t serve toro unless the price drops and the quality is still good.

Closing Comments
After eating lots of sushi with Porthos, I tend to lean towards the traditional Edo style of sushi. No crazy sauces, no huge pieces of sushi - just fish and rice. However, I truly like Daimaru Sushi because of the freshness / flavors and also the cost. I think the next time I eat sushi in San Francisco it’ll be at a high end traditional edo style place. See what some true sushi masters can do with the phenomenal fish San Francisco has to offer.