A really delicious tasting menu with diverse dishes! I came with a few friends and we all tried the tasting menu. One friend has a gluten sensitivity and they were able to accommodate her with the one dish (katsu) that contained gluten. Each dish was unique and very tasty. The meal was extremely filling. Service was wonderful. Overall a great experience!

Really between 3 and 4 stars. This place has a great ambiance and excellent service. The menu was also creative and the sake pairing was fantastic. However, each food dish from the $75 set menu was disappointing to me. The flavors were bland and I was overall disappointed. Would not recommend. Bon Nene is much more delicious!

Great Izakaya for date night! I would recommend the chrysanthemum greens with duck and the sardines, paired with a fantastic sake that was recommended by our server. Absolutely loved with hojicha dessert and would come back for that alone.

Hands down my favorite Izakaya spot in the city! A good variety of food selections- everything was fresh, carefully prepared and delicious!

Lively casual spot serving prix fixe dinner. Portions are small, but balanced & subtle flavors. Wait staff was very attentive; knew exactly when to serve the next course. Aesthetics are as mindful as the cuisine; staff's denim attire & restaurant's wooden interior makes this a special dinner destination in SoMa. (5/5) Bamboo naturally sweet and crispy. Lightly dressed on thin sliced cucumber with notes of soy, sake, dashi. (5/5) Sashimi: clean fish, snapper was falling apart. Wasabi was subtle, fresh & fibrous. Yuzu Kosho adds an interesting fermented citrus flavor that leaves a floral, burning sensation on the palate. (4/5) Mochi kinchaku: Meiji fried tofu pouch stuffed with mochi was a surprise. Daikon was soft, but intact. Broth balanced soy, radish, sweetness. Fish cake had the texture of tofu. Fish corn ball least impressive. (3/5) Yakitori: minced chicken and lemongrass, light season, sweet soy glaze, bit char, togarashi. Reminded me of Viet shrimp ball on sugar cane. (4/5) Udon: al dente, fun to chew in balanced broth. Simple and well done. (3/5) Dessert: layered strawberry jello & strawberry mousse topped with whipped cream was plain.

Had the chance to dine at Rintaro last week, and it was a blast of char-licious proportions. The karaage was light, ultra crispy and had a rich umami flavor to it. The star of the show for me was their yakitori - their grilled trumpet mushroom blew me away - so juicy, with such a good char all around that I had to place a second order. Pannacotta with hojicha syrup was perfect to round up the evening :) P.S. they’re no longer serving their set menu, so everything is ala carte

So good!! The owner is from Japan so he’s particular about details which I truly appreciate. The ceramic dishes, oden cart from Japan, quality ingredients - all create the full experience. Everything we tried was delicious and the staff was friendly and knowledgeable. My mom (from Japan) thoroughly enjoyed it! 😉

The Food Returning to Rintaro for a second time. First time I got to experience the lunch menu, but this time for the dinner menu. My friend and I ordered their - San Ten Mori - Yakitori Tsukune - Yakitori Sori - Yakitori Momo Sansho - Mabodofu Don The San Ten Mori is a sashimi plate with San Diego bigeye tuna, konbu-cured S.F. halibut, baja kanpachi and Half Moon Bay wasabi. The halibut and kanpachi was good, but the tuna was a bit lacking. For the price, I was expecting a better cut of tuna. The yakitori were pretty good, I enjoyed the Sori (oyster) and Momo Sansho (thigh) more than the Tsukune (minced) though. The Mabodofu (or mapo tofu), is meh, not really worth it in my opinion. The Miscellaneous Rintaro is along the neighborhood streets, so you will need to find some street parking (or you can test your luck with Foods Co parking lot). The restaurant has two sections, one outside, one inside. The interior design and decor is quite interesting, it does give off a traditional Japan vibe. Their staff were sincere and professional. The service is good, with reasonable order time. They have a variety of items on their menu, from sashimi to yakitori, to other Japanese dishes. I haven't got a chance to try, but they also have sake, beer, wine, and non-alcoholic drinks. When you choose to come, you should already know it is more of a classy place with a classy price. But with the high price, the quality is a bit lacking in my opinion.

Would definitely recommend getting the “carbonara” udon and the yakitori (we tried mushroom and chicken). The creamy + umami flavor in the udon was really unique and the yakitori were perfectly cooked and so well seasoned. We also really enjoyed the chicken + cheese katsu and karaage but they stood out less. Wouldn’t get the silken tofu, potato croquettes, or sashimi again but they were all solid. The Japanese beer was surprisingly fun to taste and came in really cute cans + sake made for a fun meal :)

Delicious food, nice ambiance and good service. Great quality ingredients but definitely not cheap. Ordered a few items to sample and share. The skewers were nice, the tofu great, and the sashimi was fresh. Sat next to the soba noodle prep area and chatted with the owner who was prepping and cutting soba, and was so nice to give us a dish to try on the house.

My dinner companion was running a bit late. The hostess was kind enough to help with sake selection while I waited for my friend to arrive. The place is deceptively bigger than it looks from the outside. It was one of those rare hot evening in SF. The meal was perfect as it want too heavy. We ordered 5 plates and shared. It was so good that I’m going back again with others.

We got the set menu with maguro. Everything was really tasty, but my favorite was the dessert. My only complaint is that the courses come out quite slowly.

Really great Japanese izakaya spot in SF. Their plates are quite beautifully presented and the flavors incredibly delicate and refreshing. The one miss of the night was the salted seabass share plate, which just felt very ordinary compared to everything else we had tried. Otherwise, the ambience was lovely and we would definitely come back!

I brought a friend from out of town to demonstrate the great Japanese food in SF, and wow did Rintaro show up! From picking the perfect sake to please a "prefer dry" and "don't like dry" to the expertly done skewers, we enjoyed every part of our dinner. Eager to go again to try more dishes!

Excellent service from the host, wait staff and runner. Skip on the yakitori, they did not have the “char” I expected. Everything else was amazing, especially the Matcha dessert with almond cookies.

Very nice and cozy place to hang out with friends and family. Food is good and specials. This is one of the restaurant you should try when you visit San Francisco. The reservation takes long time. I will suggest you visit the restaurant during the odd hour.

A splendid small-medium sized restaurant off the beaten path. Definitely a destination restaurant with contemporary Japanese cuisine done right. We were fortunate to have a member of the restaurant staff as our dinner guest, and we asked him to order an array of dishes (probably 2-3 times more than a typical guest might). Everything was exquisitely prepared! Favorites included the sashimi plate; yakitori (we had all the different ones); black cod (wow!!); soba; and the squash croquettes.

Surprise after surprise—every dish we ordered was amazing. Some are due to good tastes of course, but some are simply comforting with quality ingredients. Our love for the night was definitely Knee Cap Yakitori (special), Oyster Yakitori, Kama Tama Udon, and Duck Salad. The dessert Hojicha Panna Cotta is probably the best panna cotta I’ve had in a while. The hojicha honey has a strong hint of hojicha’s aroma and bitterness which I love a lot, and it goes so well with panna cotta’s creamy texture. Chiizu Tori Katsu is the only thing that doesn’t impress me much (but it’s still good). The portion is a little small though but hey who needs big portion in an izakaya anyways. Loved this place and will come back for more!

Every dish was amazing (my favorite the Monterrey Squid) including the Sake recommendation. The Staff was extremely nice and skilled, every single one of them! Next time I am in SF I will definitely come back.

Great ambiance and the set menu was a lovely experience. The only dish that was slightly underwhelming was the tanuki udon compared to the high caliber set by everything else!

I was truly impressed by everything at Rintaro from the food, to the ambiance, to the staff, and everything in between. We made a reservation for a small group to celebrate a special occasion, without even telling the restaurant, the day of the staff and owner went the extra mile to make it a special one. While the tasting menu looks great, we ordered off the menu instead and opted to try almost one of everything family style. The sashimi tasted super fresh with local touches and garnish. The yakitori chicken cuts were definitely the star of the night, each one tasting better than the last. For dessert, the hojicha panda cotta was heavenly. The drink menu perfectly matches the entrees, my favorite being the house made plum wine. I’m amazed at how quickly the Rintaro team brought the restaurant back online after the flooding in SF without missing a beat. Thanks!

Had a great first experience here. The service was excellent along with the food. I recommend coming with a party of at least 4 so you can try a variety of their dishes.

Love love love this place. The foods are good, service is good, atmosphere is good, sake is good, what else more to say? It’s a bit pricey though but well worths the money spent. Will definitely come back here when I’m in SF next time

It’s a really cute restaurant with indoor and covered yard. Food is in relatively small portions so it’s recommended to order multiple and share. The rice and noodles dishes are all pretty good, but nothing stood out. They also didn’t have oden for that day which was a huge bummer.

Best sushi in the bay, the pairings with sides like yuzu kosho etc were really outstanding. It's izakaya food but super elevated.

Really good izakaya place. I like the little garden area they have going on. Their interior is nice as well. The ambiance is very chill. Overall nice place for an intimate date. Or just hanging out with a small group of friends. Staff is very nice and efficient. The food is really good and the staff is great at explaining pairings. Their sashimi “sauce” pairings are really good. Wasabi is made locally. Their plum wine is nice and refreshing. Usually plum wines are too sweet for me but this one was really good, refreshing and a little tangy. The chicken tonkatsu was our favorite. Definitely a little on the pricier side, reason for the missing star.

Overall pretty delicious, we really liked the chicken calf yakitori. The skin was super crispy. The duck udon was great too, but the soup base was a bit salty for our taste. The pork katsu was a bit dry and bland for our taste. Panna cotta was really good. The strip cut through it perfectly.

upscale japanese izakaya tucked away in north mission. all of the dishes were well made but nothing stood out or was necessarily top tier. service was friendly. would recommend avoiding being seated in the back room though since it took away from all the ambiance. overall, worth going once but wouldn’t rush to come back. kamo sarada: good salad with nicely smoked duck breast. the pluot & duck combo was surprisingly really good. bluefin sashimi: best dish of the night. the tuna was top tier and fresh with the right amount of fatty. loved the fresh wasabi. chicken sansho yakitori: really enjoyed this dish, chicken cooked well and juicy. chicken karaage: not typical karaage and the first couple pieces were amazing but something you’d need to share since flavor gets a little salty and tiring. udon carbonara: hand pulled noodles were superbly made but overall dish was a little flat. hojicha panna cotta: top tier dessert and second best dish of the night! the hojicha flavor came through and loved the texture.

We went here for our anniversary and it exceeded our expectations! All the staff we encountered were so friendly and informative. We sat at the counter (highly recommend) and the chef's were so much fun to chat with and knew all about every question we asked. The food was AMAZING. We got a full meal, with items from each section of the menu. The fresh wasabi was like nothing I've had. I don't normally like duck, but their duck was so tasty!!! We got to watch the bbq do his thing, which was cool, and everything we got from him was perfectly cooked. Mushrooms, chicken oysters (which isn't on the menu, but you should definitely get them!), and shishito peppers. SO GOOD. The udon and garlicky rice were also both delish. We went all out and were not disappointed. The exterior and interior are so beautiful, clearly well thought out to be a traditional Japanese architecture. It definitely didn't feel like we were in the middle of a bustling city, but rather in a nice, romantic and enjoyable atmosphere. I highly recommend this restaurant.