Okina Sushi

Pin It Now!

Okina Sushi is a hidden gem in the Richmond district of San Francisco.  This tiny sushi restaurant is only open for dinner Thurs - Saturday.  The sushi here is super fresh and reminds of being in Japan.  Okina keeps it simple and sticks to the basics with mostly nigiri and a small selection of basic rolls.

The place only has a couple tables and seats at the bar so I suggest calling to make reservations.  I love how the sushi is made super fast with precision.  The pricing here is really affordable and I helped myself to almost all the nigiris on the menu for around $80.     

The sushi menu.

The rolls.

The ginger and wasabi along with some small shreds of daikon radish are placed on the counter.

The maguro was one of the nigiris included in the omakase.  I'm not ususally a fan of maguro, but it was fresh and better than what I've had in the city.

The hamachi here is buttery delicious.

The very light tasting kampachi has a small shiso leaf that gives it a peppery kick.

The hirame also had a small shiso leaf for a nice fresh flavor.

The toro wasn't as fatty as I usually see it, but it was still delicious.

No ammonia smell or taste here.  The uni's custardy texture and taste are key indicators of how fresh it is.

I always order tamago in hopes of something similar to the warm tamago I've had the pleasure of tasting in Tokyo.  The tamago here is soft and eggy.  Delicious.

Surprisingly, they don't have sake (salmon) here, but they do offer a smoked salmon nigiri.  Lightly smoked and salty, it's a nice alternative.

They don't fry the heads here, but the amaebi is still slimy and sweet.

The scallop here was good, but not one of the stars of this meal.

I love the chewy texture of ika.  The ika here was crunchy with a sweet aftertaste.

Shreds of finely, sweet, fresh crab meat made this nigiri a nice change from the usual fake stick of crab meat  usually found in most sushi restaurants.

Uni-Tama.  I only order this when I know the uni is fresh and its very fresh here.  Uni topped with a quail egg gives this a fresh taste.

I don't usually eat much unagi, but the unagi here is tender and delicious.  They prep it fresh upon order. Also, no surprising tiny bones!

    

Address:                 Okina Sushi
                                 776 Arguello Blvd.
                                San Francisco, CA
    

Type:                       Japanese/sushi

Popular chomps:        omakase

Chomp worthy:           omakase