Excellent service - seated our party of 10 almost immediately per our reservation even though the entire restaurant is smaller than the average room in San Francisco. Nice and cozy and pleasant decor. Sushi was fresh and delicious. Had a great time! read more

Ariake - Hamachi Mango Roll - Japanese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Very nice place. Great fresh food. During my visit here one of the guests was celebrating a birthday and I, along with the whole restaurant, sang the birthday song. Great ambiance all around. Very pleasant servers. read more

Ariake - Japanese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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This is the perfect neighborhood sushi restaurant. Excellent fish, excellent service, comfortable and lively. Hamachi Kama was super juicy and crispy, the Gomaee (spinach with sesame sauce) was bomb. Sushi was really good- We had the special Yellow Jack Nigiri, 49er Roll, Cherry Blossom, and Dragon Roll. The Salmon was so incredible that we ordered a Island Roll when we were already full. Highly recommend! read more

The sushi here is hit or miss. I rate 3.5 star . The service is great. I love our server, really nice and great with kids. I really want to give a 4 star since he was so awesome but our uni took it away. The reason is I ask if they had Hokkaido uni which the chef said "yes" but end up being lied to and charged for a high price for Hokkaido uni. I was so excited to have my friend try the Hokkaido uni for the first time that I rave about how sweet and delicious it is until it arrived. I took the first bite and went into shock. I know I should have told the chef about it but didn't. I felt as an honest chef he should known especially by looking at it. I mean I had Hokkaido uni many times at many restaurants and Japan which I can tell you it's small, soft and sweet not fishy, bitter and slimy. My friend had the worse experience and I felt so bad for him. Sigh . Oh well it was nice hanging out with him and our server was great. read more

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Birthday dinner for my man here last night, and it was delicious! I had udon soup and we shared a plate of sushi rolls (the Ariake). I tried the salmon, which was very fresh, but my favorite was the california roll - absolutely delicious!! The soup was good also - large portion and very filling. The prices are reasonable and the food is high quality - Ariake is rated a 27/30 for food on Zagat for a reason! Service was also good, well-paced and our server was very sweet - she responded promptly to all of our requests and even brought us complimentary scoops of green tea ice cream in honor of the b-day. Yum!! read more

The Yelp star rating thing says 'Woohoo! As good as it gets!' for five stars. This is how I feel about this place. The fish is always fresh, the service is awesome, the price is fine, and they remember you when you come back. Their rolls are great but I love the nigiri here. My favorites are Shima Aji and the Sea Bream (blanking on the name right now, will have to update later). I've brought big and small parties here and have always had great service. If you do have a larger party call ahead and make reservations. If it's just 1-2 people you can probably bounce in without much of a wait. That's been my experience anyway. I love this place! read more

I wandered into this place tonight with a hankering for some good sushi. I live in this neighborhood and had never thought to eat here, but OMG I was denying myself! The sushi is prepared cleanly, the fresh, lush colors are gorgeous too look and the taste is heavenly! The service is awesome, and my green tea never got chance to get cold because the servers were so quick to top me off! That to me is AMAZING. I would definitely visit this place again in a heartbeat. This is as good as it gets for neighborhood hot spots! My recommendation: order the Ariake signature sushi roll as a starter: it's a great flavor, it's light and its fresh taste is a great way to whet the appetite. I had the Moon Dog roll for dinner and it was so damn good. This fat kid is a happy fat kid! I will be back with plenty of hungry friends. read more

If you are looking for a warmer and friendly service out in the richmond, you should check this place out. Food was amazing. Great sushi and service. read more

Highly recommend this sushi restaurant. Was in the area with a friend and decided to try it out. Staff was very helpful, warm and inviting. Food was very fresh and perfect portions. The atmosphere was great very cozy and relaxing. The bathroom and restaurant were very clean. This is one place I will come to again! read more

Ariake - Salmon teriyaki plate and gyoza. The box is sashimi and California roll. - Japanese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Came in for a late dinner on a Friday night and the wait wasn't too long. The waitresses were very attentive from the moment we sat down. Sometimes sushi places can get intimidating especially if you don't have the things that are listed on the menu but the waitresses were extremely helpful. Now onto the food. I ordered the 12 piece chef's choice Omakase as my dinner for the evening. It is a fixed dinner wheeee you have the option of a mushroom or clam miso soup, a small sashimi appetizer, 12 pieces of nigiri, and a choice between red bean and green tea ice cream. The clam miso was interesting because the clam definitely added a different level of flavor to your average miso soup. The sashimi dish was not explained but it was some type of seared fish seasoned with sauces and daikon radish. Both were a good starter and the sashimi had a nice tangy flavor to it. The seared fish provided an interesting contrast when being eaten. Now the star of the set meal the nigiri. The progression of the different kinds of fish that was served to us was harmonious. We started with light subtle fish and as the meal progressed the chef started bringing out the big flavor a with the stronger tasting fish. Each piece had the perfect amount of wasabi added to bring out the flavor and the waitress was kind enough to explain every piece that was brought out. The salmon nigiri was probably the best pieces of salmon I've had so far because it was just melt in your mouth good. She also explained that we should follow a certain order to get that flavor progression. Overall a great experience with fresh fish and great Omakase. The waitresses and chefs all said thank you and goodbye as we left the restaurant, another highlight in their excellent customer service. read more

I know the owner since he was working in Ebisu, 22 years ago. When Jin opened Ariake, I never went back to Ebisu. The freshest fish and good service. That the only place I go for sushi ever. Thanks, Jin. read more

Ariake, I'm so glad I found you. Wanna build my world around you! Fresh. Good cuts. Super sweet sushi makers. Attentive waitresses. 49er rolls that rock your body. No, it aint fancy but it never fails to please. Nummers! read more

Great sushi spot. Small place. My favorite rolls in preferential order are: (1) Ms. Vivian (2) Hamachi Mango (3) 49er They also do a nice job with their tempuras. The owners are very nice and attentive. read more

My local favorite! It's more of a mom & pop type sushi joint (not a trendy kind of sushi place) A lot of traditional sushi with just enough of their own creations to keep it fun. Sushi has always been fresh & yummy, and the selection is great. It's hard to find a sushi restaurant that also serves more of the traditional type Japanese appetizers and side dishes. This is one of 2 places I know in the city that serves yamagake (yum!). I discovered this place when Kabuto was full (it's about a block away) and now prefer Ariake over Kabuto any day. read more

My wife and I met up at Araike with my brother-in-law Tuesday night. As has been stated elsewhere, Jin is The Man. If you're a sushi fan, look at the whiteboard, and order whatever suits your tastes from there. Live scallop, shima aji, ocean trout, Scottish salmon, it's all good, and it's all fresh. Ask for the "seafood salad", which I don't think is even on the menu...it's a mix of fish, cut a little smaller than sashimi, some onions, smelt roe, and greens with a slightly spicy sauce. Wonderful! The seating can be a little cramped at times, but if you're patient and wait for a seat front and center at the bar, you won't regret it! This is far and away our favorite sushi restaurant in the Bay Area! read more

Disappoint dinner~ we ordered a cherry blossom roll, which is their signature roll on the menu. the salmon which inside the roll was too chewy , and the roll was is easy to break in parts before you put in mouth. Deep fried soft shell crab: too fishy and do not have crab taste. Tempura: very good!! 5 stars Over all their price is expensive !! May be not back there again.... read more

We came at around 9:30pm and waited a few minutes to get our name in for a table. It was not overly busy but the service seemed to be a bit slow. The food however came out fresh and timely once we got our order in. We ordered 4 rolls: Crazy Roll, Moon Dog, Lion King, and the Island roll. All delicious! We would have given four stars but the lack of service knocked them down a star. *they were not rude or anything, it just seemed like they kept forgetting we were there. read more

Generous servings of Sushi and nigiri , great cheap hose sake , and great service . Also some awesome selections on their special menu .best of all they all speak japanese ! Authentic ! read more

The sushi here is great and generously cut, and Jin and his family are very welcoming. Highly recommended.

The salmon teriyaki is amazing and they give good portions for their prices! It comes with miso soup that is also great, especially soothing for a sore throat. The staff is friendly and helpful. 10/10 great restaurant. read more

From the staff to the sushi... AMAZING! I've never eaten so many orders of Salmon sashimi. Every cut was clean and melted in my mouth like mildly fishy butter. There was not a thing to complain about. Best overall experience I've had yet. After eating here, I won't be able to indulge in sushi anywhere else. read more

always good sushi. i can't eat sea food but when i eat sea food here it doesn't make me puke but i still get sick!! haha. Very nice waiters and chefs!! read more

standard bento lunch....decent sizing and portions....large fatty packed rolls...assume korean operated....teriyaki chicken meal....hefty sliced stacks...completely coated thick teriyaki saucing....texture and chicken slight sub-par....coming with miso and salad.....bento box presentation at par...order of tempura and saba....tempura coating fine and mackerel fried crisp...same salad and miso....rolls compressed tight and filling...ariake acceptable for cooked bento box meals... read more

I had a really weird and uncomfortable experience at this restaurant. I was having dinner with my girlfriend, we are sitting at the sushi bar chatting and enjoying our meal when my friend tells me that she is going to send me a text message and to look at it. She writes that there is this creepy man staring at you, giving you elevator eyes. I've been noticing this man staring at me 3 seats away at the sushi bar but have been trying to ignore him, but when my friend notices and points it out I can't ignore it anymore. Now I am feeling very uncomfortable and I can't enjoy my food because I feel very creeped out. So after a few more minutes of attempting to ignore the staring, I turn and face the man and ask him, "Are you staring at me?" The creepy stranger starts mumbling something in his poor French-English saying something about studying here and that he was just watching the television on the other side of me. I very well know he wasn't looking at the TV when his eyes were burning into me. Now he is embarrassed for being called out and shows me his French-American Alien card for some reason and shows me how much he spent at the restaurant. It was very strange and he made it more uncomfortable by continuing to explain. I told him it was fine, my friend and I are just trying to enjoy our meal and to please leave us alone. Shortly thereafter he leaves Ariake. The owner of the restaurant and main sushi chef must have been watching this encounter because as soon as the weirdo creeper leaves, he starts scolding me. The owner says that the man is a regular customer and spends a lot of money there, he obviously does NOT care/understand how uncomfortable I felt. I felt even more doubly uncomfortable as I am Korean-American and I know that the owner is Korean and Korean men from his era are historically misogynistic. Rape wasn't even reported until a couple years ago and customarily it was considered the woman's fault in South Korea. Therefore who cares if a strange man was staring at me, I was probably asking for it right? I was in the wrong here obviously..... I live several blocks away and I love sushi but I am never coming here again. Ladies and gentleman, unless you enjoy stepping into the realm of the 1960's where misogynistic ways of man rule the planet, I wouldn't suggest you spend your money here either. read more

disappointing place for sushi. if you like rolls then maybe this is your type of joint. i think of all the dishes that we ordered, i liked the ariake roll (spicy tuna roll with wakame salad on top) and the hamachi kama (broiled yellowtail shoulder) appetizer. But trust me, I've had WAY better sushi and cooked dishes before so given the price (the bill ended up being $36/person) i would not recommend this place. Oh and the service was completely off. And if you are not a fan of imitation crab, beware that most of the rolls with fried tempura use fake crab. Yuck. read more

My wife and I really liked this place and used to go at least once a week. We just went again for dinner and the owner raised the prices on the menu to an unacceptable level. We typically don't look at the prices anymore and when we received our bill it was a shock! One example: we got charged $ 6.00!! for edamame, SERIOUSLY? The foodcost for that is a few cents. Other items on the menu were raised up to 30%. Granted, they have really good sushi but the owner's greed is getting the better of him. Everybody wants to make a good profit but Jin's (the owner) business practices are unethical & out of line. If he does not change, his business will be in trouble...karma will run its natural course. read more

Thoroughly Impressed! I just can't believe it took me so long to find this central Richmond gem. Highlights were the Uni, Blue Fin, Mirugai, fresh house-cured Saba, and the excellent selection of good beer and Sake. I went for an early lunch with my best friend and had a nice time talking to Jin (The owner) who was very knowledgeable, patient and sensible. When it comes to good fish at reasonable prices in a friendly and clean environment Ariake gets 5 stars. This is my new Sushi home. Definitely worth crossing the park for! read more

ok, i feel guilty saying this, because i am only supposed to approve of japanese sushi. I like it here. sure it has all the crazy giganto rolls with five kinds of fish and fried asparagus and spider catapillar sf vivian cherryblossom dynamite powpow roll but, they also have kimpira gobo! i like the tataki. i love thinly sliced lemon with my raw fish. i had a spicy tuna on top of a fried shiso leaf and that was huge and yummy, maybe i would have liked more heat in the spice. i saw other people's nigiri orders and they looked great, but we already had tons of food. i have not tried the shio saba, but i am sure it will be good. my tip is to order off of the wall behind the chefs. that is where the fun stuff is. it's relatively small in there, they were playing koit on the radio. thats fine by me, i wanted to have a nice meal and conversation with my man. many places you go for the experience or the unique quisine or scene. for instance, at oyaji, you really have to pay attention to the sushi chef. or at genki ramen, my man ends up watching one of the freaking tvs so yes, i like it here. read more

Solid sushi, probably the best I've had in the Richmond. Will definitely be my go to sushi spot now. Chefs are super friendly too and do a great job of explaining the rolls, fish and everything in between. So tasty and fresh. read more

Came here the other day to celebrate a friend's birthday. Our experience from start to finish was amazing. All of the fish here is super fresh and fantastic!! The Scottish Salmon Nigiri, the Tataki, and the 49'er Roll were my favorites. We also ordered Unagi, Butterfish, and Uni Nigiri. All delicious. We were a table of 5 so ordering Nigiri can be a problem because it's usually 2 pieces per order. Our server, David, who was truly the best, offered to make all of the nigiri 5 pieces. David was also kind of enough to send out a very nice bottle of Sake to our friend who was celebrating her birthday. He also was kind enough to allow me to bring in the cupcakes I had made for my friend. The sushi here is top notch!! Lots of places to choose from in this neighborhood and this spot does not disappoint. Absolutely Delicious! But the star of the show, hands down, is the service. David, his Rock Star Sushi Chef Dad, all the sushi chefs, and the whole service staff here made this day truly wonderful and unforgettable. Thank you all so much for your kindness and hospitality. Can't wait to come back! read more

I really love this place! When I used to go to Ebisu, Jin was always an awesome sushi chef and one busy night when I was at the sushi bar, he looked up and said I feel like I'm a sushi machine and thus me and my husband has coined him " The sushi machine". We have been going there regularly and every time, it's great. The waitresses are so nice and attentive especially with the tea-I love that. The sushi is soo yummy especially one night-the hamachi was like butta! And the specialty rolls like the godzilla is deep fried sushi goodness!The grilled mackerel appetizer was so good too. It does get packed pretty every night of the week so go early. Sushi machine is my man!:) read more

I was rather looking forward to trying this place tonight because of their chirashi selection but was I able to? NO. The fiance and I went tonight for some grub after a long week of work. Everything was good until i placed an order for the Ariake Chirashi, no rice sub for more salad or something - not difficult right? WRONG. Our waitress came back a few minutes later and was like sorry we can't make it that way. Seriously you can't sub out rice for more lettuce? it's not like its a maki roll or something. Literally you are just adding more lettuce and then putting the fish on top. I think this is the first time ever i was told that can't happen which frankly mind boggled me a bit. This pretty much annoyed me to no end and kinda turned me off from the place. The second thing was the wait for the good. There was a rather long gap of time between each dish that was brought out instead of it all being together. I ended up getting the sashimi combo and a salad and the fiance got one of the mango rolls and one of the taco rolls along with a house salad. The rolls were ok but nothing out of this world. The sashimi was typical sashimi and rather pricey personally. The chirashi thing just really annoyed me... read more

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This is the best sushi in the city! The quality of the fish is unequalled. The service is always friendly with a personal-touch. Simply the best!! read more

this is my favorite japanese restaurant of all time! Delicious!!!! I love their giants roll and spider roll. I always order the same dishes so I don't know how the other dishes taste. All I need is a couple fantastic tasting dishes and I'm sold. I always order spider rolls or rolls with unagi and most other restaurants make it pretty crappy. This place makes them so good that I'm totally stuffed when I'm done. read more

Love this place. My recommendation: sit at the bar and shoot the shit with the chef. Order nigiri from the wall behind him. Those are often the freshest fish. If in doubt, ask. They are really welcoming and will give you great food. read more

I came here because it was getting late and my guy and I were craving sushi for my pre-birthday meal (everyone celebrates that, right?). It was a Wednesday night and we found parking right away. We entered the restaurant and were immediately greeted by a very kind hostess. There were two tables full and a couple people at the bar. We chose to sit at the bar. They had the Giants game on TV and everyone was watching. We ordered some sushi rolls and were recommended the chef's choice so we went with it. The chef's choice was honestly the best part of the meal. We got to try every fish on the menu and they were all fantastic. Butter fish was PERFECT. Like how have I lived my whole life without trying that?! The Lion King roll was okay but I think I've decided I prefer cold sushi over warm. It wasn't that fantastic. The highlight of the experience was the Giants winning the game and everyone in the restaurant getting a complimentary shot of sake! So fun! Overall everyone was so nice, the service was great and we enjoyed our meal. We'll definitely be back! read more

excellent, family-owned restaurant serving up quality sushi at a reasonable price. don't expect anything too fancy from the decor - this is "old SF." read more

I was not at all impressed with the sushi. For sushi that is $12 a roll, I would expect pretty fresh fish. The fish was not fresh and one of them came with a large lump of mayo sauce that did not go down too well. My friend had the beef teriyaki and he said he had had much better before. The service was not good either. The waiter never asked us if we wanted anything to drink so we finally got his attention after 15 minutes of being there. Then he also messed up on one of the orders. I do not plan on going back. read more

LOVE THIS PLACE TO DEATH! If you know what great sushi is, come to this place. Get the Moondog or Hamachi Mango. This is one of the freshest fish I've ever had! I seriously can't go to another sushi rest after this place... Everyone is so nice and welcoming. So if you plan on going here get the sushi rolls! The bento box is good too but their SPECIALTY is the sushi guarantee!!!! :) And GET THE GREEN TEA CHEESE CAKE! THEE BEST! read more

Jin is the man. Have the aji if it's fresh. I believe he gets orders in on Tuesdays and Fridays. Service and food are superb. For a unique dish order the "Hit Do Bop"(sp?). Say it like that and they will know what you mean! read more