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this restaurant used to be packed all the time...but has been a bit more empty these days. the food is okay - the bento boxes are good - nothing special. the sukiyaki is also good on a cold day. the sushi is so-so - pricey and not the freshest. service is typically quick.
okay for a quick lunch and when you don't want to stray too far from the area.
Is it even possible to serve cold food at 1pm on a Wednesday? It's Wednesday, everyone needs a pep me up, and everyone is going to lunch. How the hell do you have cold tempura, you know, the stuff you fry in hot oil, at 1pm?
The food also sucked, but I would have given it 2-3 stars if it had been at least warm.
Plus they brought me over a fork right away assuming I wouldn't figure out the eastern secret of eating with two wooden sticks. Yes, I'm lacking in melanin, I've known this for a while people, but I have news for you: I actually do use chop sticks.
Anyways $13 bought me nothing but disappointment.
p.s. Plus their maki rolls weren't even put together, all the stuff was falling out, on the plate before I even got to them. Plus they gave me a little plastic cup for soy sauce. Come on, at least try....
It's the quality you'd expect if you went for Sushi in the very very deep south (like where the movie Deliverance takes place). Well, actually there it's at least be warm...
Wow, I am surprised to see so many poor reviews for this place. Granted, I haven't tried the sushi here, but the Tonkatsu was some of the best I've found in the Financial District. If I'm mistaken, let me know.
$3 beers, $5 appetizers, hot sake starts at $2.50, cold sake at $4. From 3:30 to 7:00. Pretty good deal!
(See pic that looks better than it really was, unfortunately)
It's a cute spacious with a loft upstairs sushi joint that also serves bento boxes at a reasonable price.
The Kamakura sushi combo I had was a lot of food for 11 bucks: 7 nigiri, 3 cucumber and 4 kappa maki, so much food. Quality was so so, however.
Complimentary miso soup and hot tea were great! Service was nice but sushi was made to order so it took about 10 to 15 mins.
This place is alright. Nothing to write home about, but I still go here. Their udon is a little lackluster but I get the tempura udon and when I'm finished with the tempura I dump the dipping sauce into the soup and it gives the broth a little more oomph.
They don't overcook their vegetables, though, so that's good. It is a bit expensive for what it is, but then again you are in the Financial District so get used to it.
Oh, but one thing is the service can be slooooow. Which is sad, because the dude with overly dry lips runs around like a litigation attorney high on meth. Maybe he's overworked. Anyway, don't take a date here, but it's decent enough.
A lot of people review in poem form. Like most human endeavors, many people participate, but few do it well. Frankly, that's a good analogy for Kamakura. But, in the interests of promoting good poetic form, let's crank out a couple, shall we?
First, since this is a Japanese restaurant, we have the obligatory haiku:
Kamakura sucks.
Food is beneath contempt.
Why do I still go?
Second, since I happen to like the form, let's do one quick cinquain to get the juices flowing:
Kamakura
Crappy restaurant
Makes me ill
I would rather starve
Worthless
Finally, let's do a little iambic pentameter, which I'm not that great at, but I'll make it work:
Kamakura is not a restaurant
that I would go to voluntarily.
Sadly, I am frequently drug there by
other members of my firm who want lunch.
Why can't we go someplace decent for once?
There! That felt good. $100K in liberal arts education well-spent, I'd say. Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go regurgitate my spicy pork teriyaki.
Nice spot to just have a quick lunch. I ordered the vegetable tempura which tasted like pure oil, thank god for the sauce they give you otherwise I would of died of lack of flavor. My sister ordered the unagi donburi which tasted way better. I wouldn't mind having lunch here again.
My boyfriend is so wonderful that even after spending every second of his waking life outside of the office with me and my whining and my raging neuroses, he will still grin and bear a lunch date with me once a week or so. Today's lunchtime adventure found us at Kamakura.
Kamakura is a block or two away from the office and therefore pretty convenient. I am no sushi expert- I love vegetarian sushi and crabby sushi, but I do not pretend to know even the first thing about raw fish consumption. I was satisfied with the quality of my $5.95 huge 8-piece california roll. We also ordered wakame ($5), edamame ($3), and miso soup (free). Boy had the Unagi Donburi ($8) and appeared to enjoy it. The wakame was a little chewy but the edamame was prepared perfectly. Miso soup was pretty standard.
There's not a whole lot of ambiance and this is not, by any stretch of the imagination, high-end or high-quality dining. But it is a fast, friendly lunch spot where a very filling meal for two will run you less than $30 including tip.
I probably won't become a regular but it didn't suck and will work in a pinch for future sushi cravings.
It seems like at least one out of every five Japanese restaurants in the US is named Kamakura, presumably after the city southwest of Tokyo.
They make a decent unagi donburi; the unagi itself was very tender, though the vegetables could be a little more tender. The generous portions of wakame and the california rolls are both good.
The service is prompt and friendly, though you may have to speak slowly and repeat things every now and then.
The entire place could use a coat of paint and softer lighting. It has an officey feel inside.
This particular location was the center of the Shogunate and the fourth largest city in the world in the 13th century (which was incidentally known as the Kamakura period.) Today, it is a popular tourist destination, served by the JR Yokosuka and JR Kamakura-Enoshima Free Kippu train lines.
Go and check it out for yourself if you're nearby. Don't bother trying to look it up on Wikipedia though; I already tried and they don't have a page. Trust me.
finances...blah blah blah...planning your future...blah blah blah...finances...etc..etc...free sushi.
OK..the only part i heard in that whole thing was free sushi, and i jumped at the chance. Why? Cuz I'm cheap and poor and actually have no need for a financial plan, seeing as though i have no finances! :) Alright, slight exaggeration, but i really didn't care about listening to some chick talk...i just wanted to eat!
Anyway, 10 people from my office went, listened to the Ameritrade lady talk for 10 minutes, and then we got our choice of entree, as long as it was under $10. The food...not a 10, but id give it a solid 7, and when looking for sushi in the financial district, that's totally fine with me.
Most of the entrees came with soup, including my roll. The rolls came with 8-12 pieces, and were totally suitable for a meal. The bento boxes looked great, the salad was delish (i ate one of my co-workers. Her salad, not her!). The gyoza was perfectly fried and pork stuffed, and you know how i like to be stuffed with pork, and even with the 10 minute finance lecture, i was still able to take only an hour lunch.
I keep finding new sushi bars in the FiDi, when i thought there were none...this one is at the top of my list now.
Came here for lunch last Friday.
There was some kind of black powder on my tea cup so I had to get a new cup. zzzz... I ordered one of the specials, I think it was chicken curry $9.00. I don't have much else to write. I chose not disparage this restaurant at this time.
I'm sorry George, I'm disappointed. But if you still want to go back, I'll hang with you. haha
Ah, what to say about Kamakura... it is convenient to my office, which is nice... however, unless you go between 11:00 a.m. and noon or after 2:00 p.m. it's crowded as a mofo... takes forever to get service.
The most important part of any sushi equation is: Is the fish fresh?
And, yes - every time I've been to Kamakura my sashimi has been tasty and fresh... however, I wish they would give me MORE of it... $10 for six small cut wedges of sashimi isn't a good deal in the Bay Area - Kamakura should clue into that (not that they are hurting for business from the looks of the lunch lines which materialize there on a daily basis.)
Eh... it will do in a pinch... however, if you're really a sushi freak like myself there are probably better choices of lunch spot.
Catering from this restaurant for several months, my team has been happily satisfied with the variety of teriyaki bentos which come with your choice of 3 assorted appetizers plus miso, add a drink and at about $10 a head -- not bad for frequent lunch meetings when everyone is tired of pizza and burritos. The delivery staff is courteous and volunteered to unpack on an especially large order. The food is generally on time (however they are very close to our office), and Mimi (the manager) has always made good on minor mistakes which occur rarely.
Recently a vendor took me to Kamakura for lunch and the sushi was delivered to our table lightning fast during a packed lunch hour. 3 stars for quick, consistent service and acceptable sushi.
Despite my compatriot Julia S.'s detestation of this establishment, I will say that as far as Japanese goes, Kamakura is decent enough to satisfy my perennial cravings for teriyaki, tempura, and edamame on occasion. I remove two stars for the following reasons:
- The food is overpriced. With an entree and drink you are lucky to get out of here for just over $10, which is not that great a deal considering the quality of the food.
- Kamakura is always crowded beyond belief and getting a seat for more than one is a challenge. And by challenge, I mean that you will literally be fighting with a number of other "table stalkers" for a place to comfortably eat your meal. Not. Fun.
Kamakura is a good "last resort" place for when you're in one of those "I must have a Bento teriyaki box with fresh hot tempura and some edamame or I will keel over" moods. Which seem to strike me quite often. And so, regardless of Kamakura's pricing and urban sprawl, I will continue to go there until a better option presents itself.
For a place with nice interiors you might expect table service. At least during lunch it was pretty much seat yourself, get your own utensils, and pour your own tea from the main canteen. Still the food decent for the price and filling! Get there early because it gets busy!
Times visited: 1
DAME DESU!
Baad sushi. The rice is too salty and too sweet from too much sugar! The sashimi is bottom grade and would be better cooked for your health.
Only went here since a friend of mine works down the street. She wanted someplace close and I agreed *hesitantly* as I heard so-so things about it. How unfortunate it lived up to those expectations.
Ordered a bento meal which consisted of over-dressed salad, chicken katsu and six pieces of California roll. Not what I would typically order and it was okay.
There are better Japanese restaurants in and around FiDi.
Very average for the price. Really no reason to go here, unless you can't walk a few blocks to a better spot or want a lot of space to yourself since they have a large dining area and it isn't too crowded usually. I'd much rather walk a little and brave the crowd at Tokyo Express on Sacramento. I split with a friend the Rainbow Roll and Double Kamakura Roll with miso soups for about $22 all in. It was satisfying, but uninspired. They also charged us for tea we didn't order, which I got corrected. They are sort of in a dead zone of lunch spots, which is probably how they get business. I don't think it's as terrible as others write, though. just nothing special given the usual high cost associated with sushi.
My motto is always to go to a Japanese restaurant that is owned by Japanese.
And, this is definitely not the case! I work around financial district and I went to Kamakura for lunch earlier today. I got the Tonkatsu Donburi and I must say I wondered a little bit. Not because the food was bad, but it's nothing like I had in a (real) Japanese restaurant before. The pork was okay, but it came with stir-fried veggie that is more like a side veggie dish that you have with Chinese food and HALF piece of fried egg. The meat in donburi is supposed to be cooked altogether with the egg (obviously more than half).
I'd say it's an okay place to grab a lunch during work. The price is normal for a financial district restaurant, about $10 per lunch portion. The place is clean, even though seating is not comfortable, it has a food court kind of atmosphere. But this is definitely not a place to go for real sushi or japanese food, not to mention a date!!
Who knew that such a low-quality Japanese restaurant could actually survive in downtown San Francisco? Both the donburo and the teriyaki were lazily prepared with subpar ingredients. It looked like the udon could have been palatable, but I won't be returning to find out.
Not a fan.
Well.
The eel was a bit too blubbery (is it supposed to be?) but their service was PRONTO.
A bit pricey, but good sized portion.
Blah soup, but good decor.
I think this place survives because it's not sandwiches/soup/coffee like most staples of the FD. I rolled in here at about 12:30, and was a little afraid of the crowd standing around. Turned out they were just people waiting to order and the cashiers were doing a pretty good job of moving people along.
Because it was chillier than I expected, I decided to get some udon. My order was taken in a very efficient manner and I checked the place out. It's small and cramped for an eatery, and those with more than 2 people will be hard pressed to find a place to sit. Most people get take out it seems anyway.
The servers are efficient and they have big placards with numbers. The food looked yummy but I didn't want to stare too long. I was sadly in the way of a gentleman who wanted soy sauce or some other condiment, but he wasn't rude and tried to snake around me as unobtrusively as possible. I scooted out the way and attempted to find a place to keep myself until the food came.
It was out in about 5 minutes, and the cashier said to me specifically that my order was ready. I trooped away to work and sat down to eat. It seems to be pretty Americanized--zucchini and carrotts and broccoli in the soup. No issue with that, since veggies are good, but I was looking forward to a udon and soup slurping session. (Okay, not really, but this reminded me of American style soups rather than an authentic Japanese place...)
That said, the place seems pretty clean and it's a decent place to grab lunch that's not a sandwich place. I won't come here too often, but when the mood for teriyaki strikes, I suppose this will be the place to come.
I went with a couple coworkers for lunch because it was close by and we were in the mood for Japanese. I had never been here before and figured we might as well try it. As no real surprise, the majority of the lunch crowd was white (as opposed to yellow), but I tried not to let that factor into the quality of the food we ordered. We were seated and ordered tea (which we later found out was $1.25 a cup!). As we contemplated an exit, the server came with menus so we decided to try and make the best of the situation.
My order of hot veggie soba had the following:
- green onions
- carrots
- broccoli
- TAKUWAN!!
Okay, granted the noodles and soup were average and the carrots and broccoli were a bit weird (but forgivable)... Takuwan (or oshinko - whatever you prefer to call it)?? Seriously, who in their right mind puts pickled daikon radish (yes, the yellow ones you see at Asian grocery stores) in an order of soba?!
[/soba rant]
Two coworkers had California rolls, another had the "Embarcadero roll" (forgot what's inside, sorry), and another ordered a nigiri sushi combo. No complaints from the roll folks, but THE SUSHI COMBO IS NOT TO BE TOUCHED WITH A TEN FOOT POLE - the ingredients were not as fresh as it should have been and the katsuo (was that even katsuo??) was as questionable as it was unidentifiable.
The miso soup was your typical "non-Japanese made miso soup" with no distinct deliciousness to it and nothing truly memorable. Lots of wakame and green onion, few pieces of tofu.
When the bill came, we found out the hard way how the restaurant makes its money: $1.25 per tea (x5) and a compulsory 20% tip because we had 5 people. WTF!
Let's just say I'm never going back there and I'm pretty sure neither are my coworkers.
No.
I have always enjoyed the beef teriyaki bento with either a California roll, gyoza or tempura. The beef is always tender (although getting there before or after the lunch rush is better). The prices have tended to sneak up a bit so you'll be out $11-$15 with a juice/soda.
Big servings of expensive, boring sushi. The service was nice though.
grab and go chicken and rice. good miso. cheap. gave me gratis rice tea while i waited. nice touch. plentiful seating but most i saw went 'to go'.
mission accomplished.
Solid three stars. Cordial and speedy service. The food was 3 stars...filled me up and took care of my need-for-soup-because-I'm-hungover craving. I went in with mild expectations...so I didn't get dissapointed. I think the veggies in the udon might be frozen.
Considering that I've heard a lot of good things about this place... I personally wasn't wowed. I ordered the Shrimp Tempura which came with miso soup, and over dressed up salad (iceberg to top it off, eww), and rice. Seriously, nothing special. The rolls weren't all that either, very disappointing considering there are other Japanese restaurants in the area I could have chosen from. The service was lacking and the place was not busy. Would I eat there again? Probably not. Thanks for reading, Silvia
For the cozy and warm interior, this place deserves a four star. I liked the upper level dining area with bright skylights and traditional Japanese decor. The food was average. Spent a wonderful lunch with former colleagues from a large San Francisco banking institution. It is always nice to catchup with kindred souls in a comfortable and homey atmosphere. I had the tempura lunch, which was ok. The batter was not as crisp and light, as I would expect from an authentic Japanese tempura meal. Nevertheless, a nice lunchtime venue in FiDi.
Came here for lunch yesterday with a colleague because we didn't know where we wanted to eat and just decided to go for Japanese (which is a bit odd since I just came back from a two week trip from Japan). It wasn't too crowded for about 12:30pm on a Friday. I mean, there were still a bunch of tables open. I ordered the katsu-don because I was wary of ordering the sushi. I mean, seriously, I just got back from eating sushi in Japan! How would this even compare? We had to wait about 10 minutes for the food to be delivered to the table. My katsu-don was just okay. My colleague had (typical) teriyaki chicken, which he seemed to like. I thought the prices were a bit high. My katsu-don was $7.25 and the teriyaki chicken was $7.50. Overpriced. The only real plus is that it's close to the office and it'll do when you have a Japanese food craving.
Sushi is forgettable, imitation crab in most of the rolls, which is not my favorite thing. I just don't understand adding it to rolls that are perfectly fine without it. My shrimp, avocado, and fake crab roll was $8.75, too expensive for what it was. It gets another star because the service was so nice.
There sushi is barely passable but I go there for their udon noodle soups and some of the their bento boxes. Their new one the spicy pork teriyaki is actually pretty decent. For about 9 bucks for a soup and salad, it is a pretty okay price. Wouldn't go there for top notch stuff but if I am sick and wanted something warm for my stomach. Their udon noodle soup is my way to go.
was i ever so happy when our firm switched from kamakura to akiko's for our catered sushi lunches. sorry, mushy rice is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to sushi! most of my experience w/ their sushi is through catered lunches, as i've only eaten in the restaurant once, years ago, when i didn't know any better - i can't remember what i ordered, just that it wasn't very good =P
i'd rather go to akiko's, or for cheaper japanese food, try niji japanese grill @ the crocker galleria or tokyo express on sacramento.
i have a pretty strong stomach. even stuff that makes other people sick doesn't usually effect me. but not here.
Not a fan. I'm only giving it 2 stars because I had my first date w/ DH there. Food is blah and pricey. I prefer Oishii!
For downtown food is ok here. U can find some reasonably priced stuff if you are flexible.
Not the cleanest restaurant but the food is pretty comestible. I had the sushi combo lunch box for $7.90. It came with tampura and teriyaki chicken with soup and salad. My friend had the seared salmon. It was good. This place is busy for lunch but you can find a table here pretty easy. I will probably go back to this restaurant again.
the joint is pricey, but i'm willing to look past the dollar amount for something stellar...needless to say...not impressed. i had a tummy ache after eating here. d'oh.
service was solid.
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