- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Tokyo Go-Go
Categories: Restaurants Sushi Bars Restaurants Japanese Sushi Bars, Japanese [Edit]
3174 16th St(at Albion St)
San Francisco, CA 94103
Neighborhood: Mission
(415) 864-2288
- Hours:
Mon-Thu, Sun 5 pm - 10:30 pm
Fri-Sat 5 pm - 11 pm
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Hipster, Trendy
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
Tiffany V. said: "My friend took me here to celebrate our birthdays! I seriously had four different birthday sushi dinners. I fucking love sushi. They do not take reservations. Instead you write your name on the waiting list and they call you when…" read more »
834 reviews for Tokyo Go-Go
Review Highlights
-
"By far my favorite happy hour in the city." In 245 reviews -
"Our favorite was the golden gate roll." In 28 reviews -
"The Kobe beef tataki is now my new favorite dish." In 15 reviews
Loading...
- A Yelpy Insight: Vegetarians go nuts for this spot. See more places they like.
834 reviews in English
-
Review from Erica L.
San Francisco, CA
4/12/2012 3 Check-ins Here
Tokyo Go-Go is my favorite place to get sushi in SF. I've been here a few times now and this place hasn't disappointed me.
My favorite dishes include:
Spicy Tuna Tartare, Kobe Beef Tataki, and the Miso Marinated Black Cod
My favorite rolls include:
Spicy Tuna Roll, Fish Taco Roll, Kamikaze Roll, and TNT Roll
Sam, the sushi chef, has also made me some unique, off the menu, sashimi and specialty rolls. If you need a recommendation, I suggest you tell Sam what you're craving and see what he comes up with. Sam is truly amazing and talented!
Brian, one of the owners, always makes sure that his customers are taken care of. Service is great and consistent!
Last but not least...they have a full bar, so there's a wide selection of alcohol (not limited to beer and sake like most sushi places).
Reasons why I go back: Awesome food, amazing service, and a chill/relaxing environment. Can't go wrong with Tokyo Go-Go! -
Review from Moot P.
San Francisco, CA
4/1/2012
Best sushi happy hour in the mission/most of the city!
food is always delicious, fresh and the service is great too. The sushi chef's even listen to my nonsense blabber at the sushi bar, and give sound advice. It's like drinking and eating for half price + therapy session!
ok, maybe not super therapy sessions, but they still listen.
ambiance is hip, never super crowded but then again i usually get there right when happy hour starts and by the time i leave I'm too full/tipsy to notice. -
Review from Alison C.
3/16/2012
I think my experience here was tainted by the fact that parking in the Mission is awful. We drove around for a while looking for parking, and I soon realized I was such a newbie for thinking I could drive in the city. Lame.
Anyways, we got seated quickly, and ordered the gyoza and some rolls. We got the kamikaze roll, the baja california, mount rose, and the azteca.
The mount rose was probably my favorite -- with all the yumminess that people love unagi for, but with the added bonus of some salmon. The azteca was also good -- really not that spicy for all the chili and stuff that are listed in the ingredients. The baja california was nothing special and the kamikaze was pretty forgettable (I honestly don't remember what it tasted like).
All in all, I think you pay for the trendiness of the place and the pretty presentations, but not really for the food. I can get some mean sushi elsewhere for cheaper. We were lucky and had a $40 coupon so our $80 meal was cut in half. I probably would have been pretty upset had we had to pay full price.
Oh also, the staff didn't seem very busy? The host was just hanging out and chatting away with what looked like his friends and sort of looking like he did not want to be there at all.
Probably won't be back unless someone else wants to go here. -
Review from Diana Y.
San Francisco, CA
5/9/2012
I am compelled to write my 1st Yelp review.
Why? Sadly, there was a negative issue.
I was looking forward to some yummy sushi after reading the mostly glowing reviews. Arriving for Happy Hour, I ordered 4 handrolls and a pint of Sapporo draft, all part of the happy hour menu. Yum, I gobbled down the first two handrolls, a crab/salmon then a hamachi with wasabi tobiko. Biting into the third handroll, an unagi with cucumber, I bit down and pulled out a 5" strand of thick black hair. Not mine (brown), or the sushi chef (very short hair). DISGUSTING! I lost my appetite and didn't want to continue eating.
The nice staff and Richard apologized, didn't charge me for the 2 handrolls but I paid for the beer. Unfortunately, I have a Livingsocial coupon to use. Richard mentioned taking care of me on my return. Story to be continued...
2 stars for the nice happy hour menu and the good handrolls I ate. -
Review from Mark T.
3/6/2012 1 photo
I came here with a friend to have dinner about a week ago. The location is thin and long, has high tables, low tables, booths, and bar seating making it great for any kind of occasion. From the menu, we ordered the Kamizae and the Culkani Maki.
Both rolls were pretty good. The fish was fresh and the rolls had pretty good flavor. The cukani maki was a little bit difficult to eat as it had a very large diameter. The waitress did come to us afterward and ask us if we were still hungry, which would make me suggest going for AT LEAST a 1.5 roll: person ratio when ordering here, granted the price of your bill will go up.
For desert, we had the mochi and deep fried banana bento box. The bento box was one of the most interesting desert concepts I've ever seen, and though the tempura on the banana diminished some of its flavor, the entire desert was interesting and fun. The mochi was also good, but not necessarily that much better than you could get at a super market, but that would be hard to do anyways.
Overall, it's a little bit too pricey for what you get. Luckily my friend had a Living Social coupon to help bring down the price substantially, but I probably wouldn't be back on my own without a discount. -
Review from Laura B.
San Francisco, CA
4/24/2012 Seated via OpenTable
Super yummy! Tokyo Go-Go is now my favorite sushi spot in the Mission. Every dish we ordered was fresh, tasty and well-priced. They also get Bonus points for having gluten-free soy sauce options for those of us that are "special" :) Also we ran into some friends while we were there and that always makes the night more fun. I'll definitely be back!
-
Review from Tharey S.
San Leandro, CA
2/24/2012
I promised myself that I would NEVER become a yelper but after my experience here I just could not help myself. Yes, people it was that good that I signed up for yelp so I could write a review and tell the whole wide worldddddd.
Came here with 6 of my girlfriends to celebrate my birthday and everything I shoved into my mouth was delish. Champagne, greygoose, udon, chicken katsu... you name it and I prolly ate it. Yum-may in my tummy. Food came out on time so no complaints here.
Service was great! Had a handsome fellow for a waiter by the name of Tony who fulfilled my every inner fat girl needs. Brian, another handsome young lad(who I believe is the jack of all trades there i.e. chef/co-manager/bartender/waiter, etc.) also made sure everything was beyond my expectation on my special day.
Great decor, great food, great music, great staff, great booze = an overall great experience.
P.S. Parking is scarce. So to save myself from the frustration and pain of walking in stilettos, I decided to valet my car at a restuarant that offered it located about 3 doors down from Tokyo GoGo. Problem solved. :) -
Review from Yasi G.
San Mateo, CA
3/11/2012
Nice place. not too fancy but not super casual either.
Their sushi is pretty good and the quality isn't bad either.
The rolls are kind of small (as most sushi resturants tend to be) so you have to order a couple to get full.
The place is kind of small so be prepared to wait on a friday/sat night -
Review from Tina F.
San Francisco, CA
4/17/2012
Tasty sushi and a fun atmosphere. I always like this place.
-
Review from David W.
1/29/2012
Parking sucks as is the norm when trying to park around the Mission Dolores Park area so be warned if you come during the evening time!
I took my mom and sister here on a weekday night after purchasing a Living Social coupon. First of all, the ambiance and decor of the restaurant provides for a very intimate and romantic setting...something that was nice but not needed as I took my mom and sister here. And the place looks a bit too fancy for Japanese.
Once we got in, we were promptly seated and immediately started to order food. I'm not going to lie...my favorite roll of all time is the California roll...and that is what we ordered. We ordered several more rolls which included the Spider Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll, and two other rolls which I have already forgotten. But all I remember was that the rolls were pretty plain and dry. No taste. The California Roll was pretty disappointing.
And the price? The total came out to about $65 for 3 people and we were still complaining of hunger.
The service on the other hand was pretty awesome, which made up for the food quality. I left my wallet on the table as I left and they yelled for me to come back just as I left the door (actually...it was the table next to us who noticed it...).
Don't come here for the sushi. Come here for the setting. -
Review from Heidi M.
1/24/2012
Have been going here for a long time, and even after the change of ownership and subtle changes to service and menu, it's still one of my favorite spots in the Mission to get together with friends. Is it the best sushi in San Francisco? Absolutely not. I look at it more as a social sushi place, where the emphasis is on the atmosphere rather than having the most authentic dishes or the best sushi chefs in town. That said, the food is usually satisfying and delicious. The fish has always been fresh "enough," and I don't remember trying anything here that I just didn't like. It's not my favorite place when I'm specifically looking for good sushi, but it's better for entertaining than the places I feel have the absolute best food.
If you arrive early enough for happy hour, there are some great deals on the specials menu. "Sunshine", hamachi, dynamite rolls all get raves from my friends. Off the dinner menu, I love the beef tataki as a group appetizer (though I usually start to feel stingy about sharing and wish it was all mine), black cod salad, and sunomono salad are also good starters. Beyond that, I usually go for a combination of sashimi and specialty dishes. The truffled hirame is quite good. The rolls here are not for me, but my friends rave about the Azteca, Fort Point, Off the Wall, and Kamikaze rolls.
One of the highlights of my visits to Tokyo-Go-Go is the drinking. They have a reasonable assortment of cold and hot sakes for order, one of my favorite dessert wines is on the list, several beers on tap, and a variety of custom cocktails. I'm rarely able to resist a cocktail, and I normally start out with a Strawberry Lemonade while at the bar waiting for seating, The Cucumber Gimlet, Pineapple Blossom, Drunken Ninja Martini... all quite nice too. Now that I think about it, I've never left this restaurant soberly and find myself with a bit of a sugar-drink hangover within a couple of hours of leaving... -
Review from Limor B.
San Francisco, CA
4/12/2012 Seated via OpenTable
Good sushi quality for the price. The location is greatand it wasn't too crowded when we went on a Friday night.
-
Review from Miguel V.
1/10/2012
Bought the Living Social coupon for this place a little while back. Came here with the wifey. The prices are a bit steep for what it is. Happy Hour is alright, but still not a great deal. I honestly cannot remember the names of the rolls that we ordered, but can tell you that they were mostly around $13 or so, which is pretty expensive in my book. I also have a severe taste aversion to asparagus, which rules out about a third of their rolls. I do not think the menu on their website is accurate because I do not remember seeing a few of the things that we ordered.
We got a couple of the sunshine hand rolls, which were really good. We opted to not get the quail egg. The Hamachi was very fresh and the mix of it with cilantro was awesome. The chicken wings were pretty good too, but not nearly as good as the server made them out to be.
In any case, a few drinks, two hand rolls, chicken wings and two special rolls later and we were staring at a pretty hefty check even after the $20 Living Social coupon. Not bad, but not great. -
Review from Ying F.
3/20/2012 1 Check-in Here
Came here with a group of friends. Very nice server. WE ordered a bunch of rolls and appetizers. Everything was pretty basic. I like the design and ambiance of the restaurant. Just the food was just ok. I think most of the rolls have too much rice and I just remember leaving thinking it was ok. Sorry!
-
Review from Julianne H.
El Cajon, CA
4/7/2012
Tokyo Go-Go is one of my favorite places for sushi - I love the atmosphere, the great service, the awesome sushi bar chefs, the sashimi plates - awesome! One of the last times I went, the chefs gave my gf and I hamachi belly - OH MY GOD - delicious!! Since then, hamachi for life! ;D
-
Review from Green Mango Y.
San Francisco, CA
Updated - 1/16/2012
Richard is new owner and now it's just excellent!
We ate
Seared Hamachi (spectacular!)
Kanpachi Hajapeno (spectacular!)
Mushroom plate
Grilled prawn plate (spectacular!)
T-monster roll (5 stars! I love crunchy!)
Goma Ae
Spicy Tuna Roll
Edamame (I love warm edamame)
Fried Oyster
Mochi Ice Cream Desert
Green Tea Ice Cream
Cheese cake
I loved everything. Absolutely everything!!Listed in: Cocktails... Happy Drinking…
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
8/14/2007
I would give 3.5 stars.
Their Dry Sake with ginger cocktail. It was so good! So good! Soooooo… Read more »
-
-
Review from Juliana K.
Lakeside, San Francisco, CA
1/25/2012
This place has pretty good sushi. I definitely recommend it. The reason it didn't get 5 stars was that it's slightly pricey and our waitress wasn't exactly friendly. Being in hospitality, her service could use some work. But maybe she was just having a bad day..
Nevertheless, I ordered the Golden gate roll and the kamikaze roll. both were very good. The atmosphere is really fun. Not your traditional sushi restaurant, but it's definitely a trendy place.
Check it out if you are craving some sushi flavor! -
Review from Alicia T.
San Francisco, CA
4/3/2012 Seated via OpenTable
I have been here twice now in one week! The first time on a Thursday night, it was pop'n. The second time a Sunday afternoon, more laid back but still a chill spot. Located in the heart of the Mission. Tokyo Go-Go has an awesome vibe. Even though it is located in hipster land, it is not at all that kind of place. The wait staff are young and attractive, upbeat music is played, and there are cool SF images adorning the walls. The place smells like clean fish when you walk in. If you are a true sushi lover you know what I am talking about. It's like the fishies are not just fresh, but have also been showered ;). The food is delicious, all of it. Please try the tuna tempura, the mix of crunchy with sweet sauce is awesome. I will be back soon.
-
Review from Earlene C.
East Bay, CA
Five stars for the host, he was great! Funny, we got more service from him than our actual server who we saw ONCE. The rest of the time we had to stop any waitstaff walking by to order more drinks or get refills on water.
The food was aiight. We only came because I had a livingsocial coupon.
We enjoyed the salad and the Fish Taco roll the best.
I guess I'm not a fan of fancy, saucy sushi. If you like it like that, you will love it here. -
Review from Jamie J.
12/14/2011
Wow tokyo go-go, it seems your service has really faltered since this place was sold to new owners about a year ago. When I used to come here 2 to 3 years ago it was totally booming and amazing, and then the owner sold it and now it seems the service and food have seen better days.
If this place could function quickly and successfully when it was run by the other owners, why can't it now? get it together, tokyo. -
Review from Betty L.
San Francisco, CA
3/22/2012 1 Check-in Here
Thursday night, 8pm sharp, well more like 8:05pm, SCORED parking at the front of Tokyo Go-Go! Didn't even circle around the block at all. Whoo-hoo!!! The staff took care of our party this evening and didn't leave any of us unattended. The Owner stopped by to check on us as well. All the sushi we had were fresh and amazingly delicious! Also, ordered a dozen oysters and gotta say, they were really fresh! OMG, got to order the Lion King, it's a must have roll. Our bottles of sake were chilled well at our table. This place ROCK!!! Would definitely be returning again soon. Thank you!!!
-
Review from Chan L.
San Francisco, CA
10/29/2011
The dining atmosphere is very trendy and laid-back. The staff here are very nice and attentive, checking in on my friend and I from time to time.
We sat at the sushi bar, and the chef there was very patient with us as we took some time to go over the menu. Nonetheless the sushi rolls were tasty (I recommend the Golden Gate which has salmon, avocado and lemon which has this zing to your taste buds).
The only drawback is that there was no complimentary rice to go with my Chicken Katsu, and the menu, overall, is a bit pricey. But you pay for the dining experience, and it was very nice, nonetheless. -
Review from Katherine Y.
San Diego, CA
1/6/2012
Can't remember the price exactly but each of these rolls was between 13-15.
Fort Point: grilled asparagus and avacado with seared kobe beef, fried shallot and ponzu. It was interesting to have beef on a sushi roll and it was cooked really well. My chef boyfriend said it was missing some kind of creaminess, like the aioli that the Azteca had. Once he pointed that out the roll was pretty much ruined for me. Ha ha. No, it was good.
Azteca: spicy crab, cucumber, avocado and gobo topped with Suzuki, jalapeno, chili aioli, tobiko, and scallion. This was the lightest roll that we ordered so it was refreshing. Not spicy at all.
T monster: shrimp rolled with tempura flakes and sweet soy sauce drizzle. This roll was really rich. Gave up on using the chopsticks (I fail at being Asian; I'm also bad at math) and used my fingers to get the crunchy tempura flakes in my mouth as fast as possible.
Pork gyoza (5.95) Hard to screw this up right? But they were really good. They come steamed, not fried.
Unagi Nigiri: 2 pieces for 4.95 Good, but lacking that fresh flavor pop of unagi (eel) I've had other places.
Total bill for the food and two beers (pre-tip)= $70
Service was mildly disinterested but that's cool. Just give me the food right? The interior is narrow and dimly light, which could go either way depending...
All in all, really good sushi, slighty pricey but for a trendy sushi place in the Mission it's what you expect. They don't take reservations for parties of two. But at 8 on a Friday night there was no wait. Does that mean anything? Everyone also says this is a very "hip" eatery where you pay for the scene. There's a scene there? I wouldn't date any of the fools I saw in there (with the exception of those at my table...)
Too many other places to pull me away. Was between three and four stars on this place. Went with three for the sheer fact that I most likely won't be going back. -
Review from Mennlay A.
Oakland, CA
11/13/2011 1 Check-in Here
Don't get me wrong, their fish was fresh, but their service is beginning to stink.
1. 1 menu; 4 people
2. Server uninvitedly explains the history of Nigori -- condescendingly
3. Inebriated server discloses intoxication to justify forgetting several drink orders.
4. Leaves ONE strawberry Stoli on the house. Nice gesture but who drinks strawberry Stolichnaya and are we suppose to split it?
To explain my rant. I've been here before many times and the food doesn't always justify the prices. I think there are plenty of sidewalk traffic from and tourists and bridge and tunnel folks who will keep this place in busines -- you need not.Listed in: My OLD Neighborhood in the…
-
Review from Anthony V.
San Francisco, CA
4/27/2012
mmmm....that s all that needs to be said
-
Review from Kevin W.
San Francisco, CA
10/20/2011
I have gone to Tokyo Go-Go several times because of deals I bought on Living Social. My first trip was okay, even though the restaurant was ridiculously crowded and people kept bumping our table. Food was decent enough but I wasn't especially overwhelmed. Well I'm glad I had more than one deal so I could go back another time!
This place definitely becomes a better dining experience when it's not crowded. The layout doesn't lend itself to crowds, so you feel like people are almost standing over you when eating up front. On a calmer weekend day it's a much better experience, and good for date night. Service still feels a little slow like some have mentioned, but the whole vibe is calmer so you aren't feeling so much in the need to "get the hell out".
The standard sushi is good, but where they excel is in the specialty rolls. I'm not a particularly big fan of specialty rolls, but I have to admit that they have some EXCEPTIONAL rolls at Tokyo Go-Go. Last night was probably our best combo of rolls: Angel, Twin Peak, and TNT. We'd had the Twin Peak before and loved it. Was trying the others for the first time and they were amazing.
It was definitely our best night of eating there. And more importantly in a city like SF, the sushi quality and presentation is pretty consistent from these guys. I hate going to restaurants and getting hit or miss experiences. That hasn't happened here.
I can't really complain in general because of my Living Social deals. Decent sushi at 50% off is almost always a good thing. But especially after last night's selections, I'd be tempted to go back even without a deal! ;-) -
Review from April D.
Salinas, CA
2/22/2012
I will NEVER eat here again. Drove up to visit my girlfriend Monday night. She wanted to sushi so we figured we'd try teh place out, despite it being one of the more costly sushi places. Besides the tuna tartare (our appetizer which came out last?!!?!), I was extremely disappointed.
Miso soup or was it? Had a tomato-ish broth? What's that all about?
TNT Roll - I love spicy food but food shouldn't be so unbearably spicy that you have to chew on ice to relieve the firey inferno in your mouth. chill with the thai sauce.
Aztec Roll - what makes a great sashimi is the freshness of the fish. I don't know what it was but it seriously tasted like i had the entire ocean in my mouth. A sushi connoisseur friend of mine once said , "if it tastes how chicken-of-the-sea smells, don't eat it." Ive never gotten sick from sushi and I don't plan to. One bite and I was done with this roll. YUCK!
Spicy Tuna Roll- Don't get me started. They use the same tuna as the tartare. It was mushy. I only ate two pieces because I couldn't get past the texture.
Unimpressed with the service. You would think when a customer asks you to take almost two full rolls off your table mid-meal, that might be an indication that they are unsatisfied. We were never once asked how our meal was or if we needed anything else.
$91 later, I was still very hungry, unhappy and irritated.
Note to the owner...lay off the coffehouse music. Play something instrumental that blends well with the overall ambiance of your establishment. I don't want to listen to Coldplay and John Mayer while I'm eating sushi. -
Review from Jessie G.
San Francisco, CA
10/18/2011
I had been here once before for happy hour and really liked the fish taco roll so I took a few friends back there last night. We waited maybe 15 minutes for "Missy" to even take our order. She seemed like she was sleeping the entire time we were there. She forget to take one of the four people at our table's order then we waited another 15 minutes for drinks. Our edamame came out with our first roll (which portions were smaller than expected). The roll was warm which I thought was strange. We ended up waiting 20 minutes between rolls for the Caterpillar which was mediocre and warm, yet again.
Needless to say, me and my friends will not be going back. If you try it have the Fish Taco Roll and the Cucumber Gimlet! -
Review from Jessica C.
San Francisco, CA
9/22/2011
The only thing that was acceptable taste wise, was the ginger that accompanied the sashimi.
Ordered:
Miso Marinated Black Cod - they over grilled it, too salty and just not tasty.
Kamikaze Roll - essentially a sriracha sauce roll. me think not.
Sashimi Combo - what makes a great sashimi is the freshness of the fish, which is not the case here.
If not for the fact that we had a $25 gift certificate to eat here, i'd kill somebody if i had to pay $56 for my meal here. -
Review from Mac L.
San Francisco, CA
Updated - 10/23/2011
Oh Tokyo Go-Go, how far you have fallen. This used to be my favorite sushi spot in the city but I've been about 6 times now and every time its gotten progressively worse. 3 out of the last 3 times there have been major service problems (forgotten dishes, miso soup coming next to last, etc.) and the last time we were went there was a 45 minute gap in service followed by a bunch of HOT sushi - I'm guessing that they ran out of rice and had to cook more and didn't have time to bring it down to the right temp which is an amateur move for 7:30 on a Friday night. We brought a few friends here and they were equally unimpressed. Many of the dishes and rolls are just mediocre these days but still on the pricey side.
Also, they don't take reservations (which is annoying but not that uncommon) but what's even more annoying is the first come, first serve policy for the bar seating which results in shoulder bumping and hovering to get a seat which sucks if you are waiting for a seat at the bar or already have one. This dynamic affects all of the tables around the bar as well. So much for a nice ambiance...
We had such a good thing going together for such a long time, but alas, I'm done with you. P.S. It's not me it's you.Listed in: Top Restaurants
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
8/16/2008
Atmosphere was great, service was great, timing of the meal dishes was great, food was equally great… Read more »
-
-
Review from Ryan Y.
Bay Area
12/18/2011
So a friend at work recommended this place for a date night.
The atmosphere was nice and the food was delicious. However I felt alittle irked that rice was $2.50 a bowl, fully knowing that I could buy 6 months of rice possibly at a store two doors down for under $10 - but as a friend once told me about S.F. "You gotta pay to play!"
Very hip place filled with hipsters, scenesters - a place where you will see and be seen. Problem is that I don't like being seen and i'm not very hip (I live in the eastbay, automatic minus 10 hipster points) - and being surrounded by hipsters is probably not the restaurant experience i'm looking for, LOL. But it was still a nice experience overall - good service and nice food, very good cosmo (warm buzz lasted for hours) and sake. -
Review from Samantha M.
San Francisco, CA
2/7/2012
Dear Tokyo-GoGo,
You are not located in the Marina. Just because you are staffed by cute blonde white girls doesn't mean you should just allow your staff to be rude to and ignore customers and charge insane prices for your rolls. A simple California Roll was 6.95, tamago nigiri was $4.95 for 2 pieces, where at Yoyo, Crazy Sushi, We Be Sushi, etc are a few steps away the same dishes are MUCH cheaper than that. The hostess was playing with her phone when I arrived, and didn't notice me at first when I walked through the door. I said I wanted something to go and she sat me at the bar, the bartender gave me a menu and never checked in with me again. 10 minutes passed, still no follow up. I got up, and promptly left without even trying your overpriced crap. Now I know why people hire undocumented workers. Even though most of them can't speak a word of English, at least they actually try to pay attention to the customers because they are actually concerned about keeping their jobs, concerned enough to check the 'tude at the door, unlike your stuck-up and rude staff. Do better, TGG!
Sincerely,
Samantha M -
Review from Julia N.
Washington, DC
12/2/2011
Service: 3
Taste: 4
Quality: 4
Variety: 3
Price: $10-20 (happy hour), $15-40 (dinner)
Recommend to a friend: Meh.
So my friends and I decided to come here because we wanted some happy hour, it was close to their place, and it had good Yelp reviews. It's pretty easy to find on 16th street (a few blocks from the 16th and Mission BART station).
I was the first to arrive, and the bartender gave me a glass of water while I waited -- I didn't ask, but he just gave me one. :) Good start. The interior decorations are really cool, and it looked very nice and chic. I noticed it was pretty empty but attributed that to it being a Monday evening, but it might be because the prices are high for the amount of food that you get.
We wanted happy hour food but had to ask to see their happy hour menu because the server only gave us the dinner menu. We ordered the onion rings and wings to share, and I got a crab and salmon handroll and a spicy tuna handroll. Someone else got a chirashi bowl with tuna. The onion rings were crispy and covered in a delicious tempura batter. The wings were alright, but not amazing (comes with 4 or 5). The spicy tuna handroll was average, but I did like the crab and salmon handroll. The quality of both seemed pretty decent, but the person who got the chirashi bowl said it seemed like her fish had been defrosted (sad..).
It wasn't downright awful, but it wasn't good enough for me to go out of my way to return. -
Review from Thao L.
Manhattan, NY
6/30/2011
FRESH SUSHI. I'm not much of a fan of rolls drenched in sauce, gimme the real fresh shit.
A+ Staff.
A+ Sushi.
Great location as well, this joint pulls in a great and eclectic crowd always a fun time here. -
Review from Ming C.
South San Francisco, CA
2/6/2012 1 Check-in Here
Forgot what I had there except for 2 bottles of Sake...and a shot of goose on the house, don't even really remember how I got home. BUT! I do remember the dishes being very creative, well presented, and 4 stars yumminess.
-
Review from marcie v.
San Francisco, CA
9/10/2011
The host this past Friday night was a real jerk. We were ready to be seated (10 of us) and he had asked us to wait. After noticing that he had seated about 3 - 4 groups ahead of us (albeit they were groups of 2-3), I asked the bartender if we could be seated since it was getting late and we had reservations. He talked to the host who said he couldn't seat us because he was looking for menus. It takes 10-15 minutes to find menus?
We were brought up to our space and the table had been set for 8 vs. 10 (will admit that we had been flip flopping between 8/9/10 people as my cousin wasn't sure what his friends' plans were. Ultimately we ended up at 10 and the original reservation was for 8). So, when we got to the table we asked if we could slide the table for 2 that was next to our table for 8 to make up a table for 10. He said no because it was for a reservation. We were cool with that as we had been flip flopping, the original reservation was for 8 and there was lots of space where we were to fit 10. Turns out, no one was seated there the whole night and our waiter had even offered to slide the table over when he came to greet us and take our drink orders.
Our server was awesome and super friendly. We had a lot of fun and the sushi was solid. We were lucky that we were able to get a reservation for 8+ in the Mission on a Friday night at the last minute. Our server also comped us some mochi dessert because he was concerned the upstairs was hot, which it wasn't, but we enjoyed the mochi!
The restaurant is still getting a 4 because the food and the service made up for the bad experience at the "front of the house." -
Review from F. P.
San Francisco, CA
7/23/2011
If you're looking for an authentic, down to earth sushi joint ... this is not it. In fact, it's probably more of the opposite, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
It's trendy, located in the busy part of the Mission (along the 16th street corridor) with a younger clientele. The sushi rolls are good, although they tend to lean heavily towards fried combinations (fried tempura shrimp, fried crab). You'll still find your standards, like the dragon roll and the spider roll.
But the standouts here are the non-sushi items. The kobe beef tataki, sliced in medium-cut medallions and served elegantly on a long plate, was the highlight. The beef was served more medium than medium-rare (but still with a pinkish center) but it was melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
The miso marinated black cod was also one of their specialties (but these days it's ubiquitous among these types of trendy Japanese fusion restaurants (e.g. Nobu)). Still, it was flaky and tasty (having been marinated for two days prior. There was a little fishiness to it but not bad.
Tokyo Go-Go attracts more of the type who may not be so into sushi because it offers other fusion options (e.g. gyoza rolls, cooked fish, beef) so keep this in mind if you're more of the type that prefers authentic, low-key, unadulterated Japanese food. -
Review from Josh D.
Oakland, CA
8/14/2011 1 Check-in Here
Over priced, fishy, not worth the money.
There are way better sushi places for your money.
On the flip side, the service was good, maybe that's cause it wasn't that full. -
Review from Katie H.
San Francisco, CA
7/14/2011
The food was really tasty! I would highly suggest Tokyo Go Go for the food. However, our night was spoiled by the service! It was horrible.....It took about 20 minutes after we order to get our drinks.....then about another 30 minutes to get our food...Also, it took our waitress a long time to give us our check and our change... It was so bad that we did not ever tip.
With that being said, the food was amazing. My friends and I ordered the Gyoza Pork rolls for apps. Heavenly...The we ordered three rolls: The Azteca, Off the Wall, and the Twin Peaks.....They all were amazing, but the Azteca was my FAVORITE! It was crab in the middle, with yellowtail tuna on top. On top of that, there was a jalapeno with a garlic cream sauce....the whole roll was slightly torched! YUM!!!! -
Review from Doug R.
9/4/2011
Their happy hour isn't bad.. they have Sapporo on tap which I definitely enjoyed.
The food seemed a bit pricey during non-happy hour times.
I also felt weird as a hapa being the most Asian person in the building eating at a sushi restaurant lol.
I probably wouldn't really come back except for a beer during happy hour, but the food is reasonable. I just think in a big city like SF I can name a dozen other sushi places I'd go to first. This isn't a knock to this place, but it's just competitive out there.
I really wanted to 'like' this place though.
