Yo Yo Restaurant

Not sure what happened. Literally, I came in, said hi...no response. Asked the sushi chef how was his day...short response.

After I asked for the check and said thank you, no "your welcome" no nothing. The rice was hard and chewy in my roll.

Decent sushi joint in the Mission

Unlike most hipster shops in the area, this is a relatively down-to-earth sushi joint that serves decent sushi at reasonable prices. The sushi was pretty good--nothing too fancy, but was tasty like most sushi.

The wait folks are also pretty nice, attentive, and friendly. The rolls were decent size, and tasted exactly like what I had thought they would.

All in all, a solid sushi place. Nice place to stop by if you're craving some late night sushi.

I really enjoyed the sushi at Yo Yo. The fish was fresh and the service was fast. I stopped by at 9pm on a Tuesday night. The restaurant has a few customers sitting at both the table and sushi bar. We were sat promptly at a table near the window. Here is the breakdown of our order:

Poki roll - This roll was tasty. You can taste the marinated white tuna and the green onion in every bite. The roll is loaded with cucumbers so you get a nice clean crunch.
I Hate You roll - This roll was more interesting in name compared to the Poki roll. The over all taste was good. The sweet sauce overpowered all other flavors in the roll. The roll was good and I enjoyed the crispy crunchy deep fried parts.
Sake Nigiri - My second favorite item during this meal. The salmon melted in my mouth and was delicious! I would order this again and again.
Amaebi Nigiri - #1! I loved the amaebi. I am always order sweet shrimp if it is on the menu. Yo Yo did not disappoint. The shrimp was clean tasting (no fishy taste or smell), super fresh, and very sweet. The heads were deep fried in a light batter with the outer shell pulled back. The shells pulled back made it very easy to eat and enjoy the heads. YUM!!!
Ika Nigiri - Wonderful! The squid was very good, had a slight crunch but was not chewy. The taste was very clean. I would order this again, for sure.
Tako Nigiri - The slices of octopus were decent and the octopus has a little crunch in texture. It was not chewy which is a good thing.
Unagi Nigiri - Nothing special here. Just your standard BBQ eel with the sweet sauce. It was served warm and was delicious.

I will definitely come back to this restaurant the next time I am in the mood for sushi and am in the area.

LOUSY LOUSY LOUSY!! I wish I could give NO stars.

The rice was not properly cooked or seasoned -- bland sticky icky with hard uncooked centers, and tasted like they hadn't put anything in it (even salt or seasoned rice vinegar would be a good start, people).

All of the fish was mushy, and though it didn't taste *spoiled* it felt awful in my mouth.

The Godzilla roll was a deep fried mess with an oil-drenched tempura coating that was almost half an inch thick, doughy next to the bad rice, and really not even crispy at the outer edges.

My other roll's maguro and eel had no texture whatsoever - they could have been mashed potatoes for all I could see.

The tamago was a bland disaster, none of the creamy caramelization that comes from a proper slow cooking of the crepe, no seasonings whatsoever. Flavorless.

I'm very surprised at the current reviews, as this sushi didn't even pass my meager expectations for "cheap sushi" and definitely wasn't worth the $40-plus I spent (including a beer and sake).

My server was quick and efficient, but I don't hit a restaurant for the wait staff...

Never again.

Food: great; price: great!
Our server was Jessica and she was amazing! It was a big group of college grads celebrating and she made it such a fun time.
Definitely recommend

YO YO sushi -

OK, so its not THE best sushi place in SF - This much we know - I agree with otehrs commetns about the "just ok" quality of the fish. Edible, not necesarily memorable, but definitely a fair bang for your buck. You cannot go wrong with the rolls here - The 49er and crazy and Dynamite rolls all are very good.

Iv'e NEVER had bad sashimi either - its just never phenomenal.

Where YO YO REALLY shines is in service and fun. We frequently get groups of 10 -25 people here and almost always get out the door busting at the gut and terribly well innebriated for $25-30. For this reason I give YO YO 4 stars.

The best sushi party place in the city. Jessica remembers everyone's names, free beers and desserts all around. Always a pleasure to visit YO YO's - If Im in the mood for a real sushi treat i may go to Tsunami, or Sushi Bistro, maybe Blowfish or Kyoya - but you know you will also be paying yen up the yin yang.

For a decent and resonably priced sushi group gatehring you cant beat Yo yo.

Me & my friend ate there last weekend
We ordered Alaska sushi and avocado sushi
Plus seafood soup that was the best Japanese food I ever had as well as they were very friendly we stayed late and they never complained
Again the food was so delicious and defiantly we will be back

Just what makes that little old ant
Think he'll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant, can't
Move a rubber tree plant

But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes
Hes got high apple pie, in the sky hopes

I had high hopes too after reading countless reviews that talked about how good this place is.

Well, everyone knows a single ant can't move a rubber tree plant, nor can it move an entire roll of sushi in one fell swoop, and neither can most other bugs. However the table next to us found some sort of critter trying to move theirs. What we found at our table was not quite that bad but it was still pretty bad.

The gyosa were green, some of the fish was super fishy, some was too warm, some was too cold and it all appeared to be pre-sliced which explains the lightning speed in which it arrived to our table. Unfortunately once it did arrive we saw nothing else of our server to let her know that not all of our order actually had arrived. Perhaps we should have left well enough alone but we thought something had to be the apple pie in the sky of our meal.

Nothing was. I am pretty sure the ant has a better chance of moving the rubber tree plant than getting good sushi here.

I have to say that I am still a little wary of a sushi place that ALWAYS has seating available, especially when it's located right on 16th and Valencia. I liken it to a tranny getting no play on Jones and Taylor at 12am on a Saturday night. Is there a secret that no one has told me about Yo Yo? Has Yo Yo survived a horrible childhood and gone through scores of VD scares only to come out on top, unscathed, and only just a little under the weather?

The Answer: Yes.

This place isn't the best hooker, I mean sushi restaurant on the block. The rolls ARE a little loose, if you know what I mean - they could roll the little bastards a bit tighter. However, it's reliable and cheap and is always a great fall back if you can't stand the wait at Tokyo-A-Go-Go. I'd say it's better than Crazy Sushi (on 16th b/w Guerrero & Dolores), too! Try the Jumping Tail roll if you likes Hamachi, 'sssgoood!!

1 of 4
16th Street / Valencia St Area

Like a yo yo, I keep coming back here. IT'S LAME. The yo yo analogy that is, but I don't like the restaurant much either.
The staff and service is friendly and efficient. The Korean hostess sort of remembers us when we walk in; and we've never had to wait no matter how small or big our group. The restaurant space is big enough to easily shift tables and chairs around to accommodate big groups. Occasionally we'll get complimentary mochi, but I think that's only when we've had Korean or Japanese reprezenting in our group. Don't quote me on that.

I've been to Yo Yo's several times and have found the sushi and entrees to be mediocre. I return to this restaurant only when someone else makes the dinner plans. You won't go home hungry, and if you're settling on mediocre on the cheap then this is a good place. I can only recall the "USC Roll" being the only item on the menu I'd order again. This restaurant is on par with Sushi Rock (Polk St), which I don't like either.

I'm going to steer my crew to Crazy Sushi or We Be Sushi next time we're in the hood for cheap sushi. For a few bucks more, I'd suggest going to Tokyo Go Go which I think is excellent. Quote me on that.