Kitcho: Contains Sushi-Porn

Once upon a time not too long, I went to Japan and back to San Francisco in 90 minutes. Like once a week..

And once upon a time.. I ate this:

Once a week, for three weeks.

I’ve probably gotten Kitcho’s sashimi boat at least 5 times already. We came here so often, we were taking sake shots with the waitress’s because we were such familiar faces.

(as usual – for tips on parking, location, and wait time just scroll to the bottom)

 

Their sashimi boat is amazing – aside from the fact that they were having a $50 chef’s special for this sashimi boat (so – amazing for the price I guess).  The boat comes with 8 pieces of the chef’s chosen roll (could be california roll, or a vegetarian roll, up to the chef), 4 oysters, 10 piece nigiri, 5 different types of sashimi with 4 pieces each.

The main part of the boat, of course, is the sashimi. I didn’t care for the oysters too much. But each piece was like butter. Don’t expect the best sashimi everrrrr, but this I can live with this and you can’t beat the price. I haven’t had a “bad” piece the 5 times I’ve gotten the boat.

I know, the sushi boat is just eye drooling.

But the oysters. They’ve got oysters and they’ve got Kaki Special Oysters. The perfect combination of salty and sweet and creamy. It’s oysters combined with uni, ikura, & quail egg. I can eat these ALL DAY. Add the lemon and you’re golden *thumbs up*

And what is this we have below? It’s their live uni special. Live. Uni. Special. You can literally pet their spikes and watch them move. The uni is just creamy, although some might find it “slimy”. This was my first time eating uni like this – all alone and pure. The uni was not at all fishy. And I’ve had really fishy uni before.

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Other dishes I’ve gotten – and recommend:

Hamachi Kama – yellowtail collar w/ sautéed onions & green onion, ponzu sauce. This is realllllly food. the yellowtail just melts in your mouth and the flavor just soaks into your tongue. It’s really good with the next dish I’d recommend.

Unagi Fried Rice – stir – fried rice w/ eel, egg & sweet onions. This is a delicious spin on the typical fried rice.

Miso Seabass – pan seared chilean seabass marinated in miso & mirin. Another melt-in-your-mouth dish. The fish just flakes off and you can taste the savory goodness of each piece.

A lot of their specials are on separate boards and you wouldn’t find it in the menu. The service overall is extremely friendly. But my opinions might slightly skewed as we kept taking shots with them every time they passed our table – “HEY, let’s take another shot!” “Where is yours?! No more?? LET ME GRAB YOU GUYS ANOTHER BOTTLE REAL QUICK”.

Everything else:

Wait time: I think we’ve only had to wait once for about 5 minutes. The restaurant is usually consistently pack but I’ve never had to wait excruciating long. You can also call ahead and let them know you’re coming.

Parking: San Mateo has street parking and lot’s of parking lots. But San Mateo Downtown is also where everyone comes to eat, so there’s lots of cars and people everywhere. I come out here to eat pretty often so parking is a hit or miss. Sometimes you’ll find parking easily, other times you’ll be circling the block and parking lot for a good 10-20 minutes.

Ambiance: This place is pretty huge and spacious. Well lit and very fun atmosphere. It’s not anything too fancy or too “traditional”.

Menu: They’ve got a pretty large selection of items. I’m surprised I didn’t order any of their specialty rolls, but it was the one thing that didn’t really scream “eat me Serena!”. Check out their menu here.

Coming back? I came here so many times, I think I’ve worn this place down! I’m definitely coming back here eventually, but I’ll wait until I miss this place.

Warning: If you do get their Groupon/LivingSocial deal, you can’t use it on the boat. The boat is considered a promotional item so therefore the coupon doesn’t apply.

Just to end it on a fun note:

http://instagram.com/p/uZTwuHk3Mh/

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Kitcho
204 A 2nd Ave
San Mateo, CA 94401
(650) 348-6388

website: http://www.kitchosm.com/
Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/kitcho-japanese-restaurant-san-mateo
UrbanSpoon:

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