Ozumo (San Francisco, CA)
High Style, High Prices, Mediocre Food
My original plan for this evening was to have dinner together as a family at Kokkari Estatario, a Greek / Mediterranean restaurant that possesses a gorgeous interior. With its inviting fireplace and excellent reviews, I had been eagerly awaiting our meal tonight. Unfortunately our plans fell through and Mom and I opted to eat locally to our hotel at Ozumo due to my love of Japanese and Asian Fusion cuisine. We drove over to Steurt Street, glanced longingly at Boulevard (the site of an upcoming lunch) and walked into Ozumo.
The restaurant is extremely chic, with primarily young and well dressed clientele. The décor is highlighted by high ceilings, modern wooden tables and chairs, and dark lighting. Our service throughout the meal was attentive but our server was pushy when it came time to order our dishes. Such service was very reminiscent of my recent meal at Okama at the Wynn Las Vegas Casino in Las Vegas. Many parallels can be drawn between these two restaurants with the notable difference being the quality of the food (Okama is vastly superior).
We started off with an order of edamame and ginger tea. The tea was some of the best ginger tea that I have ever had with a bold and very fresh flavoring. Curious as to what made the tea so good, I opened up the tea pot cover and was surprised to see pieces of small, diced herbs and ginger as opposed to the traditional assortment of loose tea leaves. The fresh herbs and ginger undoubtedly contributed to the overall freshness and beautiful golden color of the tea. Although I tend to feel that most edamame is similar, the edamame that we received tonight was disappointing. The soy beans lacked crispness and suffered from a dearth of salt.
Our first dish was the tempura crab salad with butter lettuce and a julienne of apples in a spicy garlic miso sauce. This was my favorite dish of the evening due to the outstanding tempura preparation. The crab pieces were delicately covered with batter and deeply fried resulting in crab tempura that was light, crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside.
I was very disappointed with the next dish, the hanabi, which consisted if slices of hamachi and avocado drizzled with jalapeno ponzu. The portion of hamachi and avocado was generous and the hamachi itself was fresh and delicately sliced. However, the accompanying salad was flavorless. The jalapeno ponzu was likewise bland and lacked the kick that I had been promised by our server.
Our third dish was Tanabata, which was Dungeness crab, scallop, salmon and cream cheese yuba rolls with a wasabi aioli. Our final dish was a fairly standard dragon roll. It must be noted that the presentation of all of our dishes was very good.
Overall, I do not recommend Ozumo. The hip décor and attentive service is not enough to save a kitchen that is hit or miss. With its extremely expensive dishes, such lapses in quality are not acceptable. However, the restaurant is a fun place to eat and watch the affluent young clientele commingle.
The Facts
Name: Ozumo
Address:
161 Steurt Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone: (415) 882-1333
Website: Ozumo
Cuisine: Contemporary Japanese
Price: $12-$18 Appetizers, $9-$18 Salads, $14-$45 Robata-Yaki
My original plan for this evening was to have dinner together as a family at Kokkari Estatario, a Greek / Mediterranean restaurant that possesses a gorgeous interior. With its inviting fireplace and excellent reviews, I had been eagerly awaiting our meal tonight. Unfortunately our plans fell through and Mom and I opted to eat locally to our hotel at Ozumo due to my love of Japanese and Asian Fusion cuisine. We drove over to Steurt Street, glanced longingly at Boulevard (the site of an upcoming lunch) and walked into Ozumo.
The restaurant is extremely chic, with primarily young and well dressed clientele. The décor is highlighted by high ceilings, modern wooden tables and chairs, and dark lighting. Our service throughout the meal was attentive but our server was pushy when it came time to order our dishes. Such service was very reminiscent of my recent meal at Okama at the Wynn Las Vegas Casino in Las Vegas. Many parallels can be drawn between these two restaurants with the notable difference being the quality of the food (Okama is vastly superior).
We started off with an order of edamame and ginger tea. The tea was some of the best ginger tea that I have ever had with a bold and very fresh flavoring. Curious as to what made the tea so good, I opened up the tea pot cover and was surprised to see pieces of small, diced herbs and ginger as opposed to the traditional assortment of loose tea leaves. The fresh herbs and ginger undoubtedly contributed to the overall freshness and beautiful golden color of the tea. Although I tend to feel that most edamame is similar, the edamame that we received tonight was disappointing. The soy beans lacked crispness and suffered from a dearth of salt.
Our first dish was the tempura crab salad with butter lettuce and a julienne of apples in a spicy garlic miso sauce. This was my favorite dish of the evening due to the outstanding tempura preparation. The crab pieces were delicately covered with batter and deeply fried resulting in crab tempura that was light, crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside.
I was very disappointed with the next dish, the hanabi, which consisted if slices of hamachi and avocado drizzled with jalapeno ponzu. The portion of hamachi and avocado was generous and the hamachi itself was fresh and delicately sliced. However, the accompanying salad was flavorless. The jalapeno ponzu was likewise bland and lacked the kick that I had been promised by our server.
Our third dish was Tanabata, which was Dungeness crab, scallop, salmon and cream cheese yuba rolls with a wasabi aioli. Our final dish was a fairly standard dragon roll. It must be noted that the presentation of all of our dishes was very good.
Overall, I do not recommend Ozumo. The hip décor and attentive service is not enough to save a kitchen that is hit or miss. With its extremely expensive dishes, such lapses in quality are not acceptable. However, the restaurant is a fun place to eat and watch the affluent young clientele commingle.
The Facts
Name: Ozumo
Address:
161 Steurt Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone: (415) 882-1333
Website: Ozumo
Cuisine: Contemporary Japanese
Price: $12-$18 Appetizers, $9-$18 Salads, $14-$45 Robata-Yaki
posted by Mike at
8:30 PM
