Ponzu

Once again just had to eat here before heading to Davies Symphony Hall for the Kathy Griffin show. Food was amazing, can’t get over how good the potatoe and edemame samosas are. The chicken, yum. The manhattans, great!!! Our server Lauren, pleasant, funny and great. Could not tell she was only here for five months. So again the overall rating.
Service = Great
Food = Great
And, yup can’t wait to go back.

Please note: This review is for Ponzu’s HAPPY HOUR only. I have NEVER had a meal here.
A few months back, my company decided it was more feasible to be a «remote» workforce than to pay for the retail space. (Hey, we’re in a recession. Big surprise? No.) My co-​workers and I decided it would be a great idea to host a happy hour with one another once a month that could include both our full-​time and part-​time employees. We needed a space that was comfortable, low-​key, catered to various ages, and wasn’t too crowded. Ponzu was just that place.
The drink prices are extremely reasonable, and the appetizers are amazing. (I’m a big fan of the calamari– which I usually don’t like.) Our server, though I can’t remember her name, is amazing. She’s friendly, completely attentive to our needs, but knows when to stay away. Rather than branching out, we’ve all decided this is the perfect place for our ecclectic group (it’s close to Bart too)!
Ponzu– don’t close! Where on earth will we go!!!

Just announced, CLOSING. Last day for this hotel restaurant will be Sunday, May 29^th. Hotel plans to convert it into a pub named «Jasper’s Corner Tap».
So anyone with a
coupon to this place, u only have a few weeks left. Otherwise, after it closes you can request a credit for a different restaurant, simply by emailing a request with your certificate number to «
».

There was nothing spectacular about the restaurant or the food besides the wait.
The wait to order.
The wait for the food.
The wait for water to be refilled.
The wait for the bill after we asked.
The restaurants was at 30% capacity. And it seems that everyone else was smart enough to have a
coupon… if you must go.

Came here to try Ponzu’s infamous Happy Hour for Denise W’s birthday. We were slightly disappointed because they only had a few drink specials such as beers, champagne, and a cocktail special. I ended up ordering the Ginger Whiskey because that was the only drink that sounded fancy and possibly yummy… but I was wrong! The drink was way too strong for my taste!
The $ 3 appetizers were very yummy! We ordered almost every item off the menu… they had veggie root chips, chicken skewers, sliders, Korean ribs, parmesan cheese fries, and lots more! Ponzu’s Happy Hour is definitely worth it if you’re coming for the food!

Came here yesterday during happy hour for Denise W.‘s birthday. We were unimpressed by the happy hour cocktail menu but loved all the food! Ginger whiskey just isn’t our thing! We ordered one of everything on the menu except for three! The fries were our favorite and I liked the veggie chips too! At $ 3 a plate, you really can’t complain much!
Our server Angelyne was super sweet too!

A girlfriend from college was in town from Atlanta to manage an event at the Moscone, as she is once every couple of months. We’ve exhausted certain neighborhoods… SOMA, North Beach, Union Square, and the marina. We swung in here with the rest of her event crew from the Cisco convention since we were already in the hood (I giggle every time she comes and they put her up in «King George.» She hates that hotel). The happy hour is solid… we shared a bunch of appetizers. I believe we all just had beer. Inexpensive HH, decent food, good loungey feel. I didn’t particularly like the calamari, though… too salty or something, I can’t quite remember, but it made my tummy hurt.
People watching outside Ponzu is also superb. The out-​of-​town Moscone event crew enjoyed that.

The first time I tried this place I used a
coupon. We were staying in the city at the Serrano to celebrate graduation and Ponzu was right next door. We made a reservation for 5 and got a nice booth/​table in the back. I loved the décor of the place.
We ordered a few appetizers including the kalbi ribs, root chips, and paprika fries. All were delicious, but I particularly loved the kalbi ribs! We ordered the Ahi tuna, pork chop, angus flat iron steak, and chicken for our dinners and all were great! Even the rice that came with the Ahi tuna was fantastic!
The brought out a complimentary dessert to congratulate me on my graduation and the presentation was wonderful. We were already stuffed, but we all took turns nibbling on the dessert.
As we were leaving, I noticed the happy hour sign that was posted advertising their bar bites and made a mental note to come back for just the happy hour. That didn’t happen for quite a while, but in the meantime I dined at Ponzu a few more times for dinners with family and friends.
Finally I made it to Ponzu for Happy Hour. They have smaller portions of their appetizers for about $ 3 to $ 5 and the kalbi beef is one of the choices! We hung around and relaxed after a busy day in the city and ordered several of the bar bites. Then we ordered more. Finally we’d had enough and the tab for 4 of us for enough bar bites to make a meal was only $ 48! That’s about the best deal I’ve found in SF.
A few other notes: the braised Asian greens are fabulous! Calamari is done to perfection. I’m not a fan of the potato and edamame samosas but I’m sure someone is.
Now I want to make another trip to the city for the kalbi ribs and braised Asian greens!

We had an 8:00PM show at the Curran Theatre on a Friday night, and was looking for a nearby place for a pre-​theatre dinner. My resourceful wife noticed Ponzu was one of the restaurants that offered a complementary small plate if we showed them our theatre tickets.
Why not? We haven’t been here in a while, so we’ll dine here.
The restaurant wasn’t full when we entered the restaurant. There were a few tables with diners, but there were a lot of people sitting at the bar. We were seated along the window, but only got a view of the scaffolding from the exterior renovation that was in progress.
As the hour progressed, more people trickled into the restaurant, some theatre-​goers, others guests of the hotel.
The first of our dishes came out less than 10 minutes after we placed our orders:
–Tartare Duo (
): tuna with white soy vinaigrette on top of diced avocado with pickled onions, served with taro chips. This was topped with tobiko, which gave the tuna and avocado a nice crunch with the taro chips. Not bad
–Kalbi Short Ribs (
): kiwi marinated beef, cilantro-​lime kimchi salad, red leaf lettuce. Not sure what the kiwi added to the marinade. The meat was tender, medium, but not overcooked. It was good, but a bit pricy for what I’m used to pay for kalbi.
–Brussel Sprout Petals (
): Brussel sprout petals, stir-​fried with thick strips of bacon and hazel nuts. Nice and warm, and I liked how the bacon fat nicely coated and flavored each sprout.
–Kurobuta Pork Chop (
): This thick-​cut pork chop was placed on top of Iacopi farm butter beans, spicy braised Asian greens (what kind of greens?), then topped with a ginger-​apple sauce. The pork chop was tender and not dry. The beans added a nice, starch as a side, the the apple-​ginger sauce wasn’t overly sweet, but complemented the pork chop. I thought the «Asian Greens,» however, we a bit on the salty side.
–Salted Sesame Chocolate Cake (
): This was a nice surprise for my wife. It’s a flourless chocolate cake with a Valrhona chocolate truffle center, maldon salt, and served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Very nicely presented. Nice warm center. The salt was a nice contrast, but after a while, it was overwhelming, and believe it or not, I didn’t finish dessert.
Our servers were quite attentive, and efficient, timely clearing our plates when we were through.
Overall, the food was solid, good, but nothing really spectacular

Happy Hour review (til 630pm): $ 3 for all dishes! And they are incredibly delicious:
–calamari (tons of meat & fried to perfection)
–calbi (korean ribs, 3 pieces of greatness)
–sliders (high quality meat and two dipping sauces, you get 2)
–parmesan and paprika french fries (good quality & different, but made me too full from the cheese)
-$ 5 margaritas, really well made
–staff is very friendly as well
My new fav SF happy hour spot!

3.5 stars rounded up! This place is literally down the street from me, and I finally had a chance to come here when my good friend came to visit for the weekend.
We ordered four small dishes:
* Dungeness crab cakes (liked this a lot, tasty sauce, a little spicy)
* Calamari (couldn’t resist this, tasty, a little spicy)
* Pork spring rolls (liked this a lot, tasty)
* Fried chickpeas (loved these spicy little snacks!)
* Dessert: ice cream sandwiches with strawberries on the side (good finish to the meal)
It was a great meal and place to catch up with my friend, and the service was impeccable and ever so patient with us coming by filling our water glasses and bringing the dessert menu by when the time was right. Thank you!

My experience here was definitely a disappointing one. Fortunately we were able to use our
gift certificate for our dining. It definitely would not have been worth it if we had to pay the total price of our bill. So let’s review why my experience was worth a 2 star rating:
Ambiance and Service:
–The negatives were that I didn’t really like the décor they had… not very modern for a restaurant aiming to be more upscale. We were also strangely seated at a table right next to a hallway leading to the kitchen. The positives were that our server did provide us with great service and the food came out quickly.
Food:
–This is the part that deserved all the point deductions.
For appetizers, we ordered the Calamari-​$ 12 and Root (taro and sweet potato) Chips-​$ 4. We also ordered the Kalbi Short Ribs-​$ 14. I’ve definitely had better calamari elsewhere. It was way too oily, too breaded, and a bit too salty. The dipping sauce for it wasn’t great either. I did enjoy the Root Chips though. They were freshly prepared and was not too heavy. They were made with just the right crisp and was generously portioned for $ 4. The worst one out of the three was definitely the short ribs. They were way too salty and the marinade was not tasty. It didn’t resemble short ribs you would get at a Korean restaurant at all. The kimchee on top of it was also just salty and not spicy. The meat was tender but not of the best quality either. For $ 14, 3 – 4 pieces of mediocre-​tasting short ribs was definitely not worth it.
Our entrée was probably the best part of our meal. We ordered the Pork Chops-​$ 23 and it was very tasty. Marinated with a light sweet and tangy sauce, the pork chops were tender and juicy. It also came with a side of collard greens and butter beans that I enjoyed.
The restaurant had a good amount of people for Saturday night dinner. I’m assuming they receive a lot of business from the hotels in the area since it’s located near Union Square.
Honestly, I probably would not give them another try because the food was just not good and the prices of their dishes were a bit on the high side-​entrees average $ 20-​$ 28. I really think they should read these food reviews on Unilocal to try to improve some of their dishes because the reviews are quite accurate. If I had listened to all the reviews about the salty short ribs, then I probably wouldn’t have wasted my money on that dish!

It’s a pretty cute and small restaurant, parking is almost impossible to find, the service was great, but for its price, the food was okay.
The dishes we had were the pork spring rolls and kalbi short rib appetizers, and the flat iron steak, angus burger, and tempura nori wrapped ahi tuna for entrée. The pork spring rolls were very meaty and tasty. The short ribs were a little too salty and the kimchi tasted old.
The flat iron steak was very tender and full of flavor. The angus burger was nothing special, just like any other burger. The ahi tuna was really soft, but lacked taste. The red rice and vegetables that was under it had more taste than the main component.
Prices here are pretty steep and you don’t get very big portions. I think the food would be much more worth it for happy hour, but my friends and I came here for dinner and the
certificate I had was not valid for happy hour deals.

Ate at Ponzu last week and had a nice dining experience.
For my appetizer I ordered their Paprika Fries. The fries were pretty good, like pomme frites and the truffle sauce complimented it very well. For dinner, I ordered the Kurobota Pork Chop w/​persimmon chutney, Iacopi Farm butter beans, and spicy Asian collard greens (see pic —
). And it was yum all over! The pork chop was cooked very well and the greens and chutney gave it some kick. Finally for dessert, I had their crème brûlée trio with espresso, vanilla, and pumpkin spice. Typical crème brûlée texture and taste, but that’s a good thing.
I was really surprised how big their portions were for a fine-​dining joint. Even the small plates that my friends ordered, the calamari and the egg rolls, were really filling.
When you have a chance, it’s a great idea to look for them on
where you can score a $ 25 off coupon for $ 10 w/​minimum food purchase of $ 35. It’s a really a great deal and slashed my bill in half. Overall, great restaurant and good food. Would dine here again!

This is place is average at best. My friend just moved to the neighborhood and she’d wanted to try it. I’m all for trying something new.
The menu is a bit pricey but then again it caters to tourists and the theater crowd so it gets away with it. (But a vegetarian udon noodle bowl for $ 14… Really?). We ordered the short ribs and nori wrapped ahi. Both were just nothing spectacular. The ribs were served warm. When our friend’s ribs came (as her main dish) they were cold. Our server never checked on us until after the food was taken away. No one even walked by us even if we *did* want to complain.
A few stars for a fun cocktail menu. Minus a few because it took 15+ minutes to get our cocktail with an empty bar and a not-​so-​busy bartender in our direct view. The drinks showed up after our apps. No bueno.
I would skip this place. Save your pennies and head to Osha up the block if you want tasty/​fancy Asian cuisine.

I have heard of this place before but never got a chance to try it until last night. We were a party of 8 and it was great because of how low key and quiet the restaurant was. The waitress was very attentive but she was a bit overbearing in my opinion.
We all tried different things. I had a chance to taste the roasted chicken, the kalbi beef, edamame, salmon, the tartare and the crème brûlée.
All of the dishes were very tasty. My favorite was the salmon. It was grilled and laid ontop of some type of rice patty. Nothing tasted fishy or old and the presentation of the food was very nice. Simple and elegant.
The crème brûlée dish was a combination of 3 different kinds of crème brûlée. One was the regular, one was espresso and the third was a mango. All of them were pretty tasty. I really liked the espresso one because of how sweet it wasn’t.
I would not come here on a daily basis, but I would come back to try some of their other dishes.
They seemed to have a fairly extensive alcohol list but the prices were more on the high end side.

I made reservations here with my boyfriend for Valentine’s day dinner. We got there and were seated at a very small table behind the register, in front of the side door. People kept leaving through that door (and it’s February in the city… it’s not warm). Our drinks (just sodas) came a while after our appetizers (which were incorrect… twice). It was my boyfriend and my first Valentine’s day together and although we’re 18, we came with money to spend and I felt that they did not treat us the same as the other couples there.
The food and atmosphere was good, but the service killed it for me.

3.5 stars in my book.
Came here after someone else in our group picked the place… after checking out the website, I was looking forward to a cool Asian fusion meal. Ambiance was nice and location is convenient. Don’t know what the meal came to since someone else picked up the tab, but it seems to be mid-​range at about $ 25 an entrée.
Service was slow and inconsistent — we had to ask to get the sparkling water refilled a number of times, and there was a gap in between the appy and main that was longer than usual. Bread could be improved.
Food was decent overall. I went with the green salad with grapefruit and quite liked it — nice taste and light dressing. My main was the flat iron steak served medium rare. The meat was nicely done with some mashed potatoes and broccolini that were okay but not great. I didn’t care for the shittake sauce that was served with the steak. For dessert, I had the chocolate cake… it was a bit different from the usual lava cake. It was served warm with a molten centre with ice cream on top, but with a touch of a salty twist just as you let it sit in your mouth… light raspberry drizzle on the side to finish. I enjoyed the taste of it and it reminded me of the salty chocolates now on the market… excellent way to end the meal with a cup of coffee.
I thought the menu was solid although not especially creative. Doesn’t make the cut for me to return the next time I’m back in San Fran.

The décor is cool and it’s nice that a lot of the tables are along the window. Comfy chairs, pretty chill. The drinks and food are pretty good too, my only complaint is that I don’t think the happy hour menu is THAT great of a deal. There are other restaurants where you can find the same quality of food (and probably bigger portions) for the same price you pay here for happy hour.
The bonus for me was that I discovered a cool drink, a tropical storm, basically, OJ, pineapple juice, some other stuff and vodka. Yum.
Overall, not bad, but I wouldn’t need to come here again… unless someone really, really wanted to go. I will continue my search for a great happy hour place in SF. :)

Best service I’ve ever received! They were very accommodating and they even gave us some free food.
There were 3 of us and the total was over $ 100. We ordered insane amounts of food though.
My friend and I are vegans and they didn’t have anything on the menu we could really eat but I saw some tofu dish online that wasn’t on the menu anymore so I asked about it. The waiter said they could make it for us anyways and it was delicious! We both loved it.
For dessert my friend and I shared the sorbet. I only liked the yellow one (I think it was lemon flavor or something) so I asked if I could have one with just that flavor and they said it wasn’t a problem.
My friend accidentally ordered some virgin drink when she meant to order an alcoholic one and they let us keep the virgin one free of charge.
Don’t order the crab cakes!

Do you Ponzu? Do you have Ponzu?
Dieses Motto verwirrt beim Betreten des Restaurants Ponzu in San Francisco ähnlich wie die Beschreibung der Küche, oder ist sofort klar, was mit Asian fusion gemeint ist. Zumindest ist dies noch Neuland in Europa
Das Ponzu ist zentral gelegen in der Innenstadt in der Nähe des Union Square und des Theater-​Districts neben dem historischen empfehlenswerten Serrano Hotel.
Der Speise– und der Loungebereich sind offen gestaltet, und man wird in eine Fantasy-​Umgebung entführt.
Außen findet man eine Lupe als Wandleuchte, die aus dem Hintergrund angeleuchtet wird. Innen sind drei große Aquarien mit tropischen Fischen, deren Beleuchtung ein warmes Gefühl macht. Man sitzt bequem im Plüsch Loungebereich oder in Wildledersesseln im Speisebereich.
Auch gibt es mehrere Nischen mit großen runden Tische, die teilweise mit dicken Vorhänge abgesperrt sind, und so eine gute Privatsphäre für Gruppen schaffen.
Wie das Interieur bestechen die kreativen Speisen durch die Liebe zumn Detail. Allesamt haben einen asiatischen Touch in vielen verschiedenen Geschmacksrichtungen, die bekanntes mit exotischen vermischen, und ein Fest für Augen und Gaumen sind. Es gibt kleine Portionen oder auch große, mit einem Einfluß japanischer, Thai, chinesischer und vietnamesischer Küche.
Interessant ist das Konzept, kleine Proben von den verschiedenen fettarmen Gerichten zu haben. Am besten man teilt sie am Tisch. So kann man den explodierenden pan-​asiatische Geschmack kosten mit Knoblauch-​Naan, und die Kombination von Wassermelone und Radieschen, kandierte Walnüsse mit asiatischem Gemüse, und Entenbrust mit scharf gewürzte süß-​saure Kirschsauce und Beilagen wie weiße Rüben und Spinat, oder aber Tintenfisch, Rips, Thunfisch-​Tartar, und Hähnchenflügel, Manila Venusmuscheln mit chinesicher Wurst und chinesischer schwarzer Bohnen-​Sauce, Hummer-​Knödeln mit Sesam-​Soja-​Dip, Thai-​Meeresfrüchte-​Eintopf, Hühnchen geröstet in einer Chili-​Zitronengras Marinade, serviert mit chinesischen langen Bohnen, und vieles andere mehr.
Das Publikum setzt sich aus Theaterbesuchern und gut gekleideten Business People zusammen.
Ein Insider Tip ist, das Restaurant wochentags zwischen 16:30 und 18:00 Uhr aufzusuchen, denn dann sind Vorspeisen und spezielle Getränke für den halben Preis zu erhalten. Für den Cocktail-​Liebhaber ist der White Tiger eine Erfahrung, Sake mit Cointreau.
Das Ponzu verspricht einen erinnerungswürdigen Abend, der wohl nicht als sehr billig einzustufen ist, aber der Preis wert — we do Ponzu