Unagi Shop

The reviews are mixed on Unagi Shop, so I was intrigued to try the tasting menu before making any judgements. Unfortunately, at the price point (almost $300 per person after an exuberant 25% staff fee added for no reason), the menu lacks all the refinement that price point entails.

We were very patient and the singular person serving all tables was doing the best she could. But, the service was a bit too unpolished compared to similar priced menus. It was slow and the out of order courses came at odd times (sometimes while finishing up the prior course).

There were a few great bites - I liked the salt and pepper unagi. It has the tingly feel of Szechuan chilis and great salt balance. Also, the sweet shrimp was almost good if they didn't have so much truffle oil. The takowasa was great - sweet with a slight bite from wasabi. The belt fish was also flakey and perfectly tender. But, everything else was heavily salinated and unbalanced. The sukiyaki was almost inedible from how salty it was - I would have paid more to just have a bite of rice with that dish.

The unagi pieces were all meager and oily. All the flavors repeat themselves - truffle oil, sweet soy, and tempura fried unagi. I wish they had more inventive courses. The dessert seems like an after thought.

Overall, I paid $300 per person and it was simply not worth it. With a lot more refinement, the concept of this restaurant could be worth it but it's not even close to that caliber yet.

Was really curious when I saw that this had opened in the neighborhood! Most of the reviews look like they're for the chef's table experience, so including one here for just the $120/ person dining room. It has a lot of potential but felt like it just quite there yet for the experience to justify the cost. Service was ok - seems like there was just one staff member for the entire upstairs area. We waited 20 minutes for the first course to arrive, and waited another 20 minutes at the end of the meal to leave before we decided to just get up and track down staff to ask for our leftovers.

Found this restaurant through Tock- and there's no details on Tock, or any website to refer to for a menu, so went into this with no sense of what the menu includes. At the very least it would be helpful if they included a sample menu when you go to book (especially because it's prepaid). I've included a photo of the menu in the photos for reference.

When we dined this weekend, the $120/person menu included:
-Chawanmushi
-Unagi Teriyaki
-Unagi Shio Yaki
-Unagi Jyu
-Owan (soup)
-Fruit Dessert

It averages out to $20/ course - but it felt like there were really only a few courses that justified this - the chawanmushi and the Jyu (which was a very large portion), the rest of the courses were on the smaller side and a bit disappointing for the value.

The stars were definitely the chawanmushi course (so delicious and well done, might be one of the best I've ever had) and the Jyu- they illustrate a lot of how good this place could be with some tweaks!

Overall though, the meal could have benefitted from some more palate cleansers / contrast especially because it's a pre fix. Serving a bit of pickled vegetables or ginger - particularly with the Jyu course, would have helped immensely. To be honest the middle of the menu felt quite one-note and didn't have enough of a counterpoint for the difference in unagi cooking techniques to shine.

Even if you're an unagi lover, the menu was a bit monotonous. The first unagi course- the teriyaki wasn't a great start, it included an off cut of unagi that had many bones/cartilage and was difficult to eat (and wasn't that big). The next Shio course was much more fun and easier to consume - the feature of nori was fun. The Jyu course was definitely large - featured an entire large rice box with 4 sizable pieces of unagi on top. I'm not sure I even needed the Jyu to be that large (was definitely the appropriate portion for most adults to be full), but I almost wish it were half the size and that they did another course of something different before it to break up all the unagi courses. It looks like the chef's table menu does a better job of this and offers more variety and think that they should consider integrating some of that approach for the dining room menu.

The Owan soup felt a bit like an afterthought, was pretty light and I enjoyed the herbaceous notes in it, but it didn't seem that distinct and was served together with the jyu. Similarly, dessert was a bit of pink pineapple and half a fragrant strawberry which was nice, but a bit on the small side.

I think this place has a lot of potential to be a special experience with unagi as the star, but it just isn't quite there yet. Feels like there should be a bit more refinement of the menu and thought put into the dining experience. I'd be open to trying it again if the dining room menu is revamped, but as it stands it's a novelty experience to do once.

Overall 3.5 stars. This place recently opened up, offers a sort of niche for unagi (fresh water eel) and shows great potential, but it still needs a bit of polish.

I found this place on Tock and was lucky enough to get reservations on a Saturday. Overall place is really small, and probably only serves 5-6 people per seating-- with maybe 2 seatings per night?? I went all in and got the $125 unagi tasting which included 10 courses.

Unagi liver toast - This came out first, and was a nice balance of warm toast and chilled unagi liver. The eel liver pate was a little subdued, but overall i enjoyed the contrast of flavors. It came out fast and was so appetizing, i forgot to take a picture.. lol

Unagi Sunomono - great small bite to warm the palate, was a little surprised it came out second. The unagi head jelly had a nice jelly texture.

Unagi tail nankin - served with tartar sauce. It had a good fry, but overall flavor reminded me of a small bit of fried fish and tartar sauce.

Kaisen chawanmushi - this was probably one of the more interesting dishes of the night. It had a interesting mixture of seafood and good flavor of truffle. It was a little more soupy/runny than I am used to seeing for chanwanmushi. The scallops were also a little harder/overcooked.

Unagi tamago yaki - Very savor, overall good flavor.

Unagi shio-yaki handroll - good, lighter on flavor.

Unagi tempura - i thought this was really perfectly cooked, not too oily, and the eel was very moist and flaky. It was a little on the bland side for my companions. I would have like a little bit of tempura sauce to dip.

Unagi Jyu - this took a while to come out. I'm assuming this was the anchoring dish for the course, but while the eel was very fresh and juicy, it completely missed the mark for me on what I would normally expect for a grilled eel over rice dish. I would expect a stronger eel sauce and for the eel to be burned to create a little more umami flavor. This eel was grilled on an indoor gas grill, and lacked the richness of flavor and texture.

Owan - The soup was on the lighter side, and for some reason came out before the unagi jyu.

Dessert - couple of small fruits and some complimentary crackers.


Place is right next to the public Izakaya, and its a bit nondescript so quite easy to miss. Parking is pretty challenging in the area, so opt for other modes of transportation.

Service is friendly and attentive. Food came a little out of order, and there was a long delay before the unagi jyu and owan.

Compared to the unagi omakase I've had in Japan, the flavors here are more subtle. Portion size overall (excluding the unagi jyu) was on the smaller size, but getting 9 courses for $125 was a pretty reasonable value imo. The place has potential, and will look forward to seeing the next update of the menu.

Best food I've had in SF so far! I've been looking for a good Unagi don and this is it. The eel is cooked perfectly and melts right in your mouth. However the best dish is actually their seafood chawanmushi, the truffle mushroom pairs perfectly with the ikura and egg, soul-warming stuff.
Food is actually not that expensive considering the quality of ingredients. They're omakase is around 125 whilst the surrounding restaurants sit around 200-300. I don't see how you can get better uni than the ones they use.
The bar counter seats were super comfy and the owners were super nice. They'll be adding Chinese-inspired eel dishes soon too and I'll be back to try that out.

Shop is kinda hidden tho with no obvious banner, here's a photo so u don't miss it.

Went for NYE dinner and had the NYE menu.

Their omakase is unique and something that you don't run into very often. While their main focus is unagi, there are other dishes that come along before it and were very well thought out. The flavours of the dishes before the unagi didn't overshadow the namesake of the restaurant, and in fact reflected the delicate profile of unagi - just using the word "umami" as the only description would be a disservice to the layers of subtle flavours each dish had. When the unagi dishes were served, it was clear that they knew what they were doing with the ingredient and still stood out as the main star even if it was served after the other flavourful bites before it. Everything was on point and prepared with intention and the people there were generous and thoughtful. Highly recommend this place and hope to see the evolution of it in 2023!

About halfway through the meal, we already know we'll be coming back. For the eel and pretty much everything else too.

The Sakae Oyako with Baby Amaebi was my absolute favorite. The delicate sweetness of baby amaebi on top of the rich and buttery flavor of salmon was just decadent.

Chawanmushi is one of the things that we always enjoy since it's so silky soft and quivers like pudding. After trying this popular dish at many places (one of them even served it with a gold chawan), I have to say this Kaisen Chawanmushi with generous amount of REAL GOOD uni is the ultimate winner. The flavor is unbelievably rich and the uni melts in your mouth. It's like the ocean decided to put all the umami-ness into one chawan and added some extra love. You could tell how much they care about their food just from the little details like making a perfect side dish. Look at all the crazy good uni! I just had to ask for some pictures so I could use them as wallpaper.

Great unagi restaurant! Very unique place in the city. This isn't your typical Unagi . The unagi is soft and lighter than other Japanese restaurants. It is not marinated in a heavy sauce. I hope they keep this concept and don't shift to a Chinese restaurant. My favorite dishes were the chawanmushi and the unagi jyu. The unagi jyu had a light sprinkling of sansho pepper, which gave it a little numbing sensation on the tongue.

This was not "fraud" but simply an advertisement that your restaurant has a specific order that costs $259.50, supported through Tock. I've attached a screenshot. Please don't pretend you are not aware of your own promotions. My point is, please stop deceiving your customers by saying this is a "Full Dining Experience" and then charge an extra $320 for 2 people. The food was not worth $560! Thanks

I had the $125 10-course unagi omakase. They specialize in fresh water eel so if you set your expectations right, it is a really good deal and an amazing meal. I must admit I was a little skeptical at first given the negative reviews on Google and Yelp, but now I think they're coming from people who don't really understand the menu and just looking for the usual methodical Japanese omakase. Fresh water eel is very difficult to prepare and a delicacy. I had the most unique dinner here.

OMG this place is AMAZING!!! Legendary unagi kabayaki chef Mike is here to present the very first fresh unagi omakase restaurant in SF. This place is right next to another Japanese izakaya restaurant and had no sign for the restaurant name besides a black door, it is a small restaurant with only 6 seats at the counter and few tables on the second floor dining room, we are very lucky to be the very first customers to try out the tasting menu during the soft opening, five pieces of nigiri considered to be one course? You don't find that in other omakase places in the city lol, we are SOOOO full after the whole tasting menu especially they give you a full order of fresh unagi don ( their specialty) as the entree, so it is totally worth every penny! Also they have a very nice aged sake menu from 3,4 and 5 years aged below ice temperature which is pretty unique and some outrageously priced sake that's over $1000, overall service is great and my favorite dish is the seafood steamed egg and ankimo shokupan toast, also the sake steamed Ezo abalone with soy butter liver sauce, this place is very new on TOCK and seems like they gonna be another hip spot for SF omakase dining...