Sakura

Yummy Musibi and Onigir ! Their sandwiches and bento boxes look good. Will definitely return.

Cute little Japanese food and market spot.

Cute establishment.

I got spicy tuna onigiri. It was wrapped incorrectly that I just opened the darn thing as it was. It was flavorful but dry. Good thing I had kewpie mayo on hand.

Katsu sandwich was okay.

Support local!

Very cute little store with tasty bento boxes with just the right amount of food. Only $11 for a box with salmon, some veggies, and tofu. All was pretty tasty, but the Salmon was a tad overcooked/dry.

The store is bare bones but also a cute spot with food and gifts.

I hear that the bento boxes run out pretty quickly, usually by noon.

I've walked by this Japanese gift shop many times, but honestly, I was never motivated to stop by until recently when I heard through the social grapevine that they were selling packaged housemade food. In particular, I heard they had sandoitchi, Japanese-style sandwiches, just like a Family Mart or Lawson's in Japan. They had closed to renovate the space into more of a grocery store.

When I heard they finally reopened as a convenience market, I was so there. Now it didn't really turn into a Family Mart. That would've been wonderful, but they now have a refrigerated section with quite a packaged food collection. Prices were quite reasonable, so I scooped up my lunch to take into Golden Gate Park where I found a quiet bench in the AIDS Memorial Grove.

I bought the $8.50 Egg and Pork Katsu Mix Sando which had egg salad on one side of the sandwich and on the other, a huge pork katsu with shredded cabbage and tonkatsu sauce (photo: https://bit.ly/45B7HSi). They used Japanese milk bread which lent it the authentic soft texture I was expecting. I also treated myself to the $5.50 Mitarashi Dango, three skewers of glutinous rice balls (photo: https://bit.ly/45B7Jto).

They were covered in a sweet soy sauce glaze. It was all good stuff, quite welcome - though I prefer the more streamlined style of Japanese native sandoitchi, and while I like egg salad, tamagoyaki would've been nice. Still, when I closed my eyes, I felt I was next to the big pond in Ueno Park on a brisk day. But then I opened them and saw a homeless man urinating in the bushes. Welcome to San Francisco.

FOOD - 4 stars....good sando and dango, made me want to catch the Shinkansen
AMBIANCE - 3.5 stars...looked like they're still organizing things, no cafe seating
SERVICE - 4 stars...friendly
TOTAL - 4 stars...good to know I now have a source for sando

RELATED - Exploring the Sunset? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2EI8eIJ

Sakura is so cute!

The owner always seems to be donning a big smile and her selection of freshly made Japanese pastries, sandwiches - in addition to her well curated selection of pre-packaged Japanese sweet and savory treats - is truly lovely.

Having spent my Freshman year of high school in Tokyo - I can distinctly remember making a daily trip to a close by local patisserie and picking up my favorite after-school treat - a freshly made Japanese-style Mont Blanc. A Mont Blanc cake, if you're not familiar with it - is "composed of a sponge cake covered with spiraling vermicelli of yellow chestnut puree, and topped with a yellow preserved chestnut." (taken from Wikipedia).

That Mont Blanc excursion in High School was a special ritual for me and I used to love unwrapping the stunning cake and admiring its perfection before indulging in its sweet bliss.

I was excited on my most recent trip to Sakura - to spy a lovely looking Mont Blanc cake in their freshly made refrigerated section. It was nestled among some delicious looking carefully made Japanese sandwiches and pastry delights.

It made me smile and a wave of nostalgia rolled over me.

If you're in the neighborhood and looking for some delightful picnic fare for Golden Gate Park, or enjoy stocking up on fun Japanese products and treats - definitely stop into Sakura.

Trust.

the sushi was delicious! it was ordered and made within 5 minutes. I was very impressed

Sakura recently had a grand opening and kinda changed to more of a japanese convenient store. during grand opening week, they had a TON of sales!

A bunch of plushies on sale for $5 - I got two cute pandas! I went back the other day and it looks like they're all sold out.

I am excited to try their food though - i've only tried their salmon onigiri so far and it was ok. A bit dry for my liking and too much rice, but they seem to have a pretty good size of selection for other foods that I'm excited to try in the future. They do sell out fast on some days so try to go early for fresh food.

// edit 8/23/23
came back again to Sakura to try out more food items.

Got their (1) chicken katsu sando (2) strawberry sando (3) onigiri again

Chicken katsu - a bit disappointing; chicken was relatively dry and overall flavor kinda bland

Strawberry sando - cream was super good, bread was dry, wish it had more strawberries because I think the whole sando only had about 4 strawberries

Onigiri - was ok; i've had it before. see my onigiri review in the 3rd paragraph.

Cute little Japanese store with lots of cool goodies. Vibes inside are really great as well and people at cashier were super friendly!

Love the combination of discounted Japanese goods and freshly made Japanese meals, snacks and now sweets. The owner is very nice and has very competent staff.

I wholeheartedly recommend Sakura if you're interested in Japanese snacks, drinks, and bentos! I stopped by last week and picked up a chicken katsu bento, yuzu soda, and shrimp chips. The bento was delicious. One slight drawback was the bento was somewhat pricy (around $15 or so). But it was reasonable considering the amount, variety, and quality of food (chicken katsu, rice, egg, spinach, squash, and pickles).

The shopkeeper was friendly and asked if there was any other merchandise or food items they should consider carrying. I'll stop by again in the future!