Sushi is one of my favorite foods but I rarely eat it as good quality fish is expensive.

Sushi is one of those foods where I won’t compromise on quality which means only a few places are worth trying. Many of the sushi restaurants I want to try are high end omakase spots that don’t offer an à la carte menu. Sasa Japanese Restaurant in San Francisco is a mid tier priced restaurant where sushi is the star but they have other Japanese specialties.

Sushi Counter at Sasa Japanese Restaurant.

Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura (7.5-8/10).

I love tempura and their assortment had shrimp, sweet potato, pumpkin and shishito peppers. My only criticism is that the batter could have been slightly crispier with that shattery texture which I like.

Chicken Karaage (8.5/10).

Since Tommaso would never get full off of just sushi, he got the chicken karaage and it was very solid with crunchy pieces with a classic mayonnaise dipping sauce.

Mini Uni Ikura Don (9/10).

I could have easily eaten a huge bowl of this deliciousness. The sweet uni with the marinated ikura and a little bit of fresh wasabi was just divine over the warm rice. Perfection.

Spicy Tuna Maki (8/10).

This was a maki with spicy tuna, shiso, and avocado. Simple but still tasty.

I’m a nigiri girl so I picked a variety for us that were all great quality and most were already seasoned so soy sauce wasn’t necessary. My favorites were the slightly torched kamasu (barracuda), the zuke chu toro (soy cured medium fatty tuna), and the buttery king sake (salmon).

Kamasu Nigiri (9/10), Umi Masu Nigiri (8/10), Hamachi Nigiri (8.5/10), and Hotate Nigiri (9/10).

Unagi Nigiri (8/10), Zuke Chu Toro Nigiri (9/10), and King Sake Nigiri (9/10).

Dragon Roll (7.5-8/10).

Tommaso likes the more untraditional rolls as they are typically more filling so he picked the dragon roll with shrimp tempura in the middle with cucumber and topped with unagi (eel) and more shrimp.

The highlights for me were definitely the various nigiri because the fish can really shine. Sasa Japanese Restaurant is a solid spot for good quality sushi and other Japanese dishes so my rating is an 8/10.