Hana Izumi

I was so happy that we were able to celebrate my wife's birthday with her and her friends for lunch. Everything was prepared really well and came with a reasonable price tag.

On the day that we dined here for lunch, the appetizer was a duck salad with radish and soba noodles. I think the duck was cooked with a Sousvide. It was insanely tender and flavorful. The salad dressing was a yuzu vinaigrette which worked surprising well even with soba noodles.

The next dish was a combination of savory appetizers. My favorite was this sesame tofu which had this really great chewy texture. Another memorable small bite was what tasted like a cured or dry aged ocean trout; the texture was quite unique.

I opted for the sashimi addition which was good, not very unique. I may skip next time. There was tako, hamachi, chutoro and otoro.

I got the unagi and tempura bowl while my wife got the chirashi bowl. I preferred the unagi and tempura bowl by far. The shrimp tempura was well fried and the sauces in the bowl worked really well. The egg told sauce really brought the dish together.

Saturday May 25th 5:30PM was my visit and it was during dinner time. They have two seatings, 5:30 and 7:30pm, for dinner. I HIGHLY recommend you call ahead of time to make reservations. They do accept walk-ins but it depends on if the restaurant is full. They only have about 9-10 tables, so I personally would call ahead to make sure you have a spot saved and you don't waste your time. Calling them and booking a time was a breeze.

Great location in Millbrae where there's all the restaurants and close to 101 freeway entrance/exit. Parking is free after 6PM. 2hour parking otherwise everywhere, except Sundays free all day. It took me less than 1 minute to find parking.

Food was excellent. For $98 per person for a kaiseki dinner menu is not too bad given Bay Area Prices. The chef changes up the menu from time to time, and sometimes it's different for lunch I've heard (cheaper too!). I would consider coming back to try their new menus. The creativity is pretty evident in the dishes and I adore the time the chef took to plate the intricacies of each dish. My absolute favorite was the Refresher Hotate Mizore-su. I don't know what's about it but the cucumber vinaigrette was amazing on top of the nori tempura boat.

Service was great! Appreciate the waitress (wife of the chef), taking the time to come by every table to explain the dishes. It makes it personable. I'll have to visit once again in the future!

The best place for Kaiseki in Millbrae! There are some parking spots available in front of the restaurant or you can usually find street parking. Reservations are required, so make sure to make them in advance!

The menu changes monthly and includes an amuse bouche, sashimi course, refresher, fried dish, steamed dish, and entree. Dessert is available for an additional cost. Service is lovely! The owners are very sweet, and one of the owners comes out to explain every course to each table personally!

All of the dishes were creative and beautifully presented! The amuse bouche offered during my visit included a sesame pudding with wasabi and steamed uni, smoked duck breast with dijon mustard and chives, and fried octopus. I especially loved the octopus--super tender with a slight crispiness from the outer fried batter.

The sashimi was so fresh! I really enjoyed the different presentations within this course. Along with simple cuts of sashimi (blue fin tuna, yellowtail, and sea trout, so good!), there was also a small dish of cut blue fin tuna with mountain yam, Japanese pickles, and wasabi stems. I didn't even know you could eat wasabi stems! There was also a scallop dish with Taiwanese dehydrated egg millet and a red snapper with rice dish. Loved the variety! The Hamachi Daikon Salad was another favorite from the menu. It was so refreshing with the ume plum ponzu sauce! I enjoyed the fried soba pieces on top too!

The fish katsu was perfectly crispy and freshly fried. On the side, it also came with yummy dungeness crab, all deshelled, so I didn't even have to do any work! I love chawanmushi, so I was super excited that this was part of the kaiseki menu. This steamed savory egg custard was tasty and so smooth! For the entree, we had a choice of Negitoro Chirashi Bowl (a DIY presentation to make your own hand roll) or Tempura Chazuke (a kakiage tempura over rice that came with an ochazuke tea broth on the side that you pour over).

Would definitely come again to explore another one of their kaiseki menus!

Made a reservation here for Mother's Day, and we all got the $65 sashimi menu. The inside is small but cozy, and the owner was very nice!

We started off with a duck soba salad, the duck was cooked perfectly and refreshing. We then had some sashimi, and some homemade tofu with uni. The tofu was super soft and silky, and all the sashimi was very fresh. We then had a chawamushi and a chirashi bowl, all really great!

I think that especially for the price, everything was great quality and delicious! We were all quite full at the end. Would come back to try their dinner menu!

Highly recommend trying this place, the food was extremely tasty. It's a fixed menu with fixed price that changes monthly so check to see what's being served. You always get the choice of one of two entrees and there's usually a wagyu dish. The balance of price and taste was great compared to omakase, and we felt full after the experience. I recommend trying the sake sampler and/or the dessert as those were nice add ins we enjoyed! The ambiance has a very traditional Japanese style and the hosts are very knowledgeable and kind.

There are two options of lunch menu: kaiseki vs sashimi

I tried the kaiseki menu w/ sashimi add-on:
Everything tastes so good and I love the varieties of small dishes. It's perfect for a person who likes to try little bit of everything.

My top favorite is the soft cold tofu, eel w/ tempura bowl, the duck salad and chawanmushi.

Service is very good as well. I love how the owner dress in traditional Japanese clothing and she's super sweet.

*Apparently they change their menu monthly. I'll be sure to visit next time for their dinner menu too!

The best of the best Goma tofu I have ever tried!!! First time to try Hana, but I really highly Recommended this!! I know Goma tofu is hard to make, also it takes time to make it!!! looks easy to make but it is hard!!!
Definitely highly recommended this!! Must TRY!!!

SUBLIME this is the best meal I've had. Each bite was so heavenly that my date questioned if I was even on earth anymore. Each savored bite was like a massage to the brain. I'm usually a fast eater but here, I definitely took my time savoring each bite or my brain could just not handle it.

My boy found this place on Instagram, read that the chef owner worked at Japanese embassy, and made a reservation via text. We celebrated early Valentines lunch here. And woow we were both so impressed with the food!! Automatically, Hana Izumi became our favorite restaurant in the bay.

Ok, on to the food!! We both had the Sashimi Menu ($65) which had:

SEAFOOD SALAD
It started off of an incredible high-note. I took a bite of the octopus and omg this is the best thing I've ever tasted? So crispy, flavored extremely deliciously, and so tender. The seared shrimp was also a standout - like just so plump and perfectly cooked. The veggies were crisp and refreshing with a hint or sweetness.

ASSORTED SASHIMI
Omg first of all, it comes with homemade sesame tofu which is silky soft with a lingering slightly chewy bite. So good and wonderfully flavored. The seared pressed sushi was so unique. Had another heavenly moment of peace while eating the salmon and toro sashimi. The salmon tasted like it was slightly cured - I mean how did they know, that is my favorite way of eating salmon. I melted too when the toro melted in my mouth.

CHAWANMUSHI
By this point I'm not even surprised this is the best chawanmushi I've had either. It came with crab and scallop - so incredibly tender with sweet ocean taste.

IKURA DONBURI + MISO SOUP
This looked simple but also once again, exceeded expectations and surprised me in the most delightful way. The salmon that was in the sashimi is now seared!! So good! The radish was slightly pickled in tororo I think so it was slightly slimy which it made the dish super unique and just added a new layer of texture.

Food is absolutely divine, the restaurant is cute and clean with peaceful soft music. The service was polite and the owner lady was so kind!

It's just pure bliss. I could not stop smiling after the meal. Absolutely rejuvenated. This meal was so good for your physical and mental health, seriously. I've never experienced something like this, but I'm definitely coming back for sure.
note: 20% auto tip

I found out about Hana Izumi from a food influencer and had to make a reservation because they had raving reviews about it. Now that I've tried it, I completely understand why!!

I was transported back to Japan with the decor and the place settings. We were here for their famous $99 kaiseki set meal. It is a combination of 6-7 dishes that is presented beautifully, with each dish encompassing a different food style / flavor.

They started us off with an appetizer plate with a tofu that had the most interesting and soft bite. Loved it. Reminded me of a custard consistency. The sliced semi raw beef was my favorite on the plate. It had great flavor and wasn't chewy at all! We then were served a plethora of more dishes- including miso soup, a plate with different sashimi and rice balls, the most tasty fish and eggplant (my favorite of the night), crab and tofu, then the choice of a deconstructed tuna handroll or wagyu beef bowl.

We also ordered the sweeter sake flight that included an amazingggg yuzu flavored sake. I want to go back and purchase a bottle to go.

$99 for a kaiseki set was more than worth it. The experience was spectacular! I also thought the service was outstanding, where they would bring the next dish as we're finishing up the previous one. My party was slow at finishing each dish but they didn't rush us at all.

I would recommend this place to anyone for a nice dinner. You have to book a reservation in advance, and it's through simple texting. I can imagine this place getting discovered and harder to get a reservation over the next upcoming months!

It's a great place for a date night/ celebration of some sort. Inside space was pretty tight w/ live music during dinner (not sure if I'm a huge fan) but the food is delicious. They have a fix menu but it does change every month. For a quick breakdown of what we ate: amuse bouche, sashimi, refresher, braised dish, steamed dish, and an entree. One server, who is very kind and friendly goes to one table at a time to explain their menu and dish. If I'm not mistaken, she's the main person for front of the house. Energy, attitude, and service - she nailed it all.

I have nothing negative to mention about the food because from start to finish, it was so tasty! Presentation was absolutely beautiful! Don't expect a huge portion but you'll definitely be satisfied at the end.

We were lucky to be seated at a table right by the main door (as it is further away from all the other tables) which gave us a little bit more privacy. However, I do wish that the second group of people of reservation would wait outside as opposed to cluttering and hovering inside. W/ such a small and tight space already, it's just not ideal to have people hold conversations right over your shoulder and try to talk over the live music, on top of watching you eat. Some common courtesy pls!!