Pip's Plate

This place was a last minute switch-up and I am soooo glad we changed plans. Sushi Groove, located on Union St at Hyde in Russian Hill, was excellent – some of the best sushi I’ve had.

We also had an excellent server- Robin. Ask for him if you go. I think he was a little surprised how much food we ordered, but he did want to sit down with us and eat…we must have good taste.

We ordered a hella sushi. It might’ve had something to do with our lack of eating for a cool 6 or 7 hours. Jamba Juice doesn’t cut it, but it does get you through.

We started with Yaegaki Junmai “Black Bottle” sake – it was dry, smooth, light, delicate and a little floral. It was excellent. I will definitely be looking for this again. Also tried an unfiltered sake which was also good. As Robin put it, “it’s like sake from a cow.” Ew…

As for sushi, we had quite the array, as you can see:

The hamachi was outstanding. I feel better about the quality of hamachi on this trip versus the one last year. Sushi Groove also had an excellent selection of specials, including Hawaiian butterfish – Walu. It was soooo good. This is why I feel like sushi is like a drug – whenever I have it, I have to have more. It is addicting to eat something as good as that walu. It was melt in your mouth delicious.

Also, the ivory salmon was outstanding. We had it nigiri style and I sure felt the burn on that one- the surprise of extra wasabi was quite unexpected but welcome. We also had the aji sashimi (that would be the fish in the picture). It was pretty good with the mashed ginger they served with it.

We tried a few rolls and they were pretty good too- dynamite (which they put dollops of Sri Racha on – LOVED it), eric’s maki (scallops with tobiko and avocado I think), gari saba (ginger and mackerel), and kamikaze (yellowtail, avocado and tobiko). Yummo.

Overall, it was a lot of fun and we enjoyed all of the sushi.

Sushi Groove

1916 Hyde Street

San Francisco, CA

415-440-1905

They are also on open table for reservations.