IZAKAYA RINTARO

Authentic, thoughtful, and delicious Izakaya food in SF. It is an upscaled experience for the food you get on the streets in Tokyo like oden or yakitori. The atmosphere is definitely more private and classy than on the streets. The flavor and the quality of food is definitely more refined as well. We enjoyed the Hamachi collar, oden, tsukune, and pretty much all the savory dishes. However, the star of the meal is the Hojicha Pana Cotta. It is incredible how can they find the right spot for the creaminess and sweetness that make you slurp the whole thing with pleasure yet without guilt, while the hojicha aroma has strong presence yet no tea bitter flavor? Definitely a place to try if you love Japanese food and are willing to pay extra for incredible food.

Dinner here never disappoints. Everything we had was uniformly fantastic and I'm confident everything on the menu is equally good. Rich, flavorful, beautiful. One of my favorite restaurants.

Tldr: solid, forgettable Japanese classics

Rintaro was on my radar, but I had no plans to dine here during my week long trip. After seeing their cookbook EVERYWHERE in town, I felt like splurging for my last dinner in SF and made a same day (Thurs) 9:30 pm dinner reservation.

I spoke to Kay, the hostess, 2x. Got to meet them in person, which was nice. Friendly, helpful.

???? ????‍♂️The other waitstaff was... Average. It didn't help (1) the kitchen was closing soon after my order was placed, so I felt rushed, and (2) I was seated at the bar. My water glass was empty for a long time until a server dropped off a pitcher. My server didn't take my jacket/bag or point out there were hooks under the counter, but I figured they must be *somewhere*. I was much better taken care of at a mom-N-pop restaurant in Central Richmond than here.

I was really excited for the housemade yosedofu and the udon "carbonara".

????⬜ The tofu was forgettable. I've had this many times and wish they added myoga or shiso to make it special. Go all out since it's elevated Japanese food and the same ingredients are also used for the udon (grated ginger, scallion, katsuobushi). The little pitcher of soy sauce leaked on the table and didn't taste of shiitake. The server brought a serving spoon and plate for me to eat from, which didn't make sense as I was a party of 1 ???? Both spoons provided were a bit awkward to eat off of.

???????? The kama tama udon "carbonara" description is misleading. There's no rich creaminess you'd expect from a carbonara-like dish. The housemade udon had a distinct, firm chew I appreciated. The bowl was also warmed, nice attention to detail.

???????? The star was the hojicha panna cotta, which was a late add on. At first bite, the hojicha was very pronounced. Very creamy. I didn't use the syrup it was served with.

????????The surrounding area is not very well lit, bit industrial, so it has less foot traffic and it's creepy at night, even for the 5 min walk from the bus stop.

????????️The interior atmosphere is nice for a date, but the bar stools weren't very sturdy/weighted. The open kitchen is nice and heard lots of Japanese being spoken. The only perk to sitting barside is watching everyone work.

It's obviously expensive, but man the food is delicious, sashimi out of this world and the katsu and chicken skewer so freaking juicy and the pana cotta, wow, just freaking amazing. Recommend the sake pairing

Mediocre - tried set menu because thought it would highlight their menu. It is substantial but hella boring. No balance to the menu.