A friend brought up Maruya a few months ago, which I had never heard of before. After that, though, I started reading about it left, right and center. Finally made it out there last night!
We took the BART since it's the best way to get to 16th and Mission without dealing with creepy people standing around the streets, worrying about whether they will smash your windows in with a hammer. Also fastest, maybe 10 minute BART ride from Embarcadero to 16th and Mission. Walked on 16th to find the restaurant, which was mostly unmarked but looked Japanese. We were unsure but then I saw the small paper menu posted right outside the restaurant, confirmed that was it, and then went in.
The restaurant itself was simply furnished. A bar that seated maybe 12, and a few small tables in the dining room. I heard the bathroom sink seems like a spa, with some kind of scented steam coming out when one washes one's hands, but my aversion to public-ish restrooms prevented me from visiting.
At Maruya, one can get the Maruya omakase for $85, which is a combination of cooked food, sushi and sashimi, or the chef omakase for A.Q. (gotta love this), which is mainly nigiri, or the sashimi moriawase (choice of $50, 80 or 120), which is mainly sashimi. For the latter 2, you can tell them if you want more or less pieces, compromising or promoting the quality of fish, but otherwise it is about 10 pieces of nigiri and I counted about 15 pieces of sashimi on my other dining friends' plate(s). One can also get an a la carte sushi menu with a minimum spend of $80/person, which no one at my table of 4 opted for.
We each started with a persimmon and pear appetizer, with cinnamon and lime salt. The salts were great! The persimmon was not as sweet and juicy as I had expected/hoped for, but the salt made up for me.
On to the Maruya omakase, which is what I got. I had some trio of vegetable dish (so so and the thick dip whose consistency resembled hummus was fairly tasteless), prawn (amazing) and truffle tofu (not bad). Then I had a fried eggplant topped with some greens and tiny little fish-looking things, I enjoyed this. The cooked fish was rather dry, I would pass on this. The sashimi was mixed - tuna was really great and super fresh, salmon was good, and the last fish, not sure what it was, tasted like wet socks (yucks). Then I had 8 pieces of nigiri, for me the most memorable being the last 2 of 8 - chu toro which was fatty enough without grossing one out, and the uni (of Santa Barbara) which was the most creamy decadent uni I think I've ever had which grossed me out thinking about it but was really SUPER yummy.
2 people of the 4 at our table ordered the chef omakase, at A.Q.. They had an oyster with uni and roe, which they liked. Then there was some vegetable wrapped in some pickled cucumber/vegetable of some sort, which I got to try a bit of, and it was very meh. The next raw fish dish was so so, it's a fish whose consistency I do not love anyway, a bit chewy and springy, so that's just a biased opinion. They had a few nigiri courses which Lingon enjoyed. The second nigiri in this picture was mine, they had something that looked similar but I think I forgot to take a picture. However, their uni was from Japan, which initially pissed me off because I felt I was getting inferior uni. Upon eating mine though, nothing mattered, because I just went to uni heaven. I'm sure theirs tasted good too, but without trying theirs, I would never have known. So, the one thing about this was that when the bill came, there was an additional $50 (for 2 people, so $25 each). I wanted to know what on earth this was for, and apparently it was the cost of the first 3 cold dishes. Totally not worth it since it was nothing special or particularly delicious, so I would recommend to specifically request NOT to get this. Waste of money, though not a fortune, can still buy you 3 cheap meals in the Financial District.
The last member at our table got the sashimi, requesting no mackerel and shellfish. She had a cold dish or two, and then her sashimi bowl came. Beautifully presented, the fish looked very bright and of high quality, and she enjoyed it.
We all then had a clam miso soup. The clams were fat (that's a good thing) and I thought they were rather fresh tasting, but then I detected a strange after taste which told me either they were not super fresh, or I was being hyper sensitive.
We ended with a yuzu lemonade which was a nice surprise, well appreciated, and frankly really good. I love yuzu, and this was a refreshing end to the meal and was even a bit fizzy!
I doubt I will be visiting Maruya again. For some reason cooked fish has not been all that great lately in restaurants for me, and we can get great raw fish at Akiko's which is a walk vs a BART ride away. As usual, I'm glad I visited, and some of the food was good, but it was not consistent enough for me to make the trek (yes, I'm lazy) out to the Mission. Oh, but if you visit, don't forget, do NOT get that cold dish stuff if it is extra $!
We took the BART since it's the best way to get to 16th and Mission without dealing with creepy people standing around the streets, worrying about whether they will smash your windows in with a hammer. Also fastest, maybe 10 minute BART ride from Embarcadero to 16th and Mission. Walked on 16th to find the restaurant, which was mostly unmarked but looked Japanese. We were unsure but then I saw the small paper menu posted right outside the restaurant, confirmed that was it, and then went in.
The restaurant itself was simply furnished. A bar that seated maybe 12, and a few small tables in the dining room. I heard the bathroom sink seems like a spa, with some kind of scented steam coming out when one washes one's hands, but my aversion to public-ish restrooms prevented me from visiting.
At Maruya, one can get the Maruya omakase for $85, which is a combination of cooked food, sushi and sashimi, or the chef omakase for A.Q. (gotta love this), which is mainly nigiri, or the sashimi moriawase (choice of $50, 80 or 120), which is mainly sashimi. For the latter 2, you can tell them if you want more or less pieces, compromising or promoting the quality of fish, but otherwise it is about 10 pieces of nigiri and I counted about 15 pieces of sashimi on my other dining friends' plate(s). One can also get an a la carte sushi menu with a minimum spend of $80/person, which no one at my table of 4 opted for.
We each started with a persimmon and pear appetizer, with cinnamon and lime salt. The salts were great! The persimmon was not as sweet and juicy as I had expected/hoped for, but the salt made up for me.
On to the Maruya omakase, which is what I got. I had some trio of vegetable dish (so so and the thick dip whose consistency resembled hummus was fairly tasteless), prawn (amazing) and truffle tofu (not bad). Then I had a fried eggplant topped with some greens and tiny little fish-looking things, I enjoyed this. The cooked fish was rather dry, I would pass on this. The sashimi was mixed - tuna was really great and super fresh, salmon was good, and the last fish, not sure what it was, tasted like wet socks (yucks). Then I had 8 pieces of nigiri, for me the most memorable being the last 2 of 8 - chu toro which was fatty enough without grossing one out, and the uni (of Santa Barbara) which was the most creamy decadent uni I think I've ever had which grossed me out thinking about it but was really SUPER yummy.
2 people of the 4 at our table ordered the chef omakase, at A.Q.. They had an oyster with uni and roe, which they liked. Then there was some vegetable wrapped in some pickled cucumber/vegetable of some sort, which I got to try a bit of, and it was very meh. The next raw fish dish was so so, it's a fish whose consistency I do not love anyway, a bit chewy and springy, so that's just a biased opinion. They had a few nigiri courses which Lingon enjoyed. The second nigiri in this picture was mine, they had something that looked similar but I think I forgot to take a picture. However, their uni was from Japan, which initially pissed me off because I felt I was getting inferior uni. Upon eating mine though, nothing mattered, because I just went to uni heaven. I'm sure theirs tasted good too, but without trying theirs, I would never have known. So, the one thing about this was that when the bill came, there was an additional $50 (for 2 people, so $25 each). I wanted to know what on earth this was for, and apparently it was the cost of the first 3 cold dishes. Totally not worth it since it was nothing special or particularly delicious, so I would recommend to specifically request NOT to get this. Waste of money, though not a fortune, can still buy you 3 cheap meals in the Financial District.
The last member at our table got the sashimi, requesting no mackerel and shellfish. She had a cold dish or two, and then her sashimi bowl came. Beautifully presented, the fish looked very bright and of high quality, and she enjoyed it.
We all then had a clam miso soup. The clams were fat (that's a good thing) and I thought they were rather fresh tasting, but then I detected a strange after taste which told me either they were not super fresh, or I was being hyper sensitive.
We ended with a yuzu lemonade which was a nice surprise, well appreciated, and frankly really good. I love yuzu, and this was a refreshing end to the meal and was even a bit fizzy!
I doubt I will be visiting Maruya again. For some reason cooked fish has not been all that great lately in restaurants for me, and we can get great raw fish at Akiko's which is a walk vs a BART ride away. As usual, I'm glad I visited, and some of the food was good, but it was not consistent enough for me to make the trek (yes, I'm lazy) out to the Mission. Oh, but if you visit, don't forget, do NOT get that cold dish stuff if it is extra $!
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