Hinata

Cuisine	Japanese
Price	$$$$$ (over 100)
Rating	3/10
Last Visit	Jan. 24, 2023
Location	SFBA: San Francisco: Downtown + SoMa

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General Notes

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I had a wonderful experience at Hinata, but at its price point ($125) I will definitely not be returning. The quality of sushi is great, but not enough to warrant its price point. There were definitely a few pieces which blew me away (the barracuda and uni come to mind), but for the most part the pieces were fairly pedestrian, and not unlike great sushi I could find at much cheaper price points (Mujiri comes to mind). In terms of style, Hinata definitely leans more towards the avant-garde side of omakase. They offer some pretty unique flavor combinations, such as topping the nigiri with lime zest, mustard seeds, or thinly sliced pickled vegetables.

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Positives

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> The service and ambiance at Hinata are delighful. I really appreciated how the server would carefully explain the composition of each dish that was presented.
> It's surprisingly not too difficult to get a reservation here. I came here on a Tuesday for their first seating (with a party of 9), and the restaurant was mostly empty for the first seating. If you're trying to get omakase with a larger party, this could be a good option.

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Dishes Tasted

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• ★☆☆☆ Yuzu Sherbet -- yuzu sherbet, blueberries, toasted rice cake pellets. The flavor combination of yuzu and blueberry is actually kind of genius, but this dessert was simply ... unsatisfying. The texture of the yuzu sherbet leaves a bit to be desired, too.
• ★☆☆☆ Tome Wan -- fish broth / miso. Pretty bland -- I guess it works decently well as a palate cleanser prior to dessert, but I probably wouldn't want to consume this by itself.
• ★★★☆ Negi Toro -- fatty tuna + pickled daikon, served like a hand roll.
• ★★★★ Zuke Chutoro -- medium fatty tuna (Nagasaki) -- great quality and delicious
• ★★★★ Kamasu -- Japanese barracuda (Chiba) -- probably my favorite piece of the night
• ★★☆☆ Masaba -- pacific mackerel (Fukuoka), served with some kind of pickled item on top.
• ★★☆☆ Sawara -- king mackerel (Shizuoka), served with grated daikon, seaweed salad, and pickled vegetables. The tartness of the dish is quite nice. Honestly would have liked a touch more smokiness on the fish; the texture of the fish was a little tougher than I would have liked.
• ★★☆☆ Buri -- wild yellowtail (Hokkaido)
• ★★☆☆ Kinmedai -- goldeneye snapper (Tokyo)
• ★★☆☆ Shima Aji -- striped jack (Kagoshima) -- served with some lime zest, which was interesting. The flavor was cool but I felt overpowered the fish a bit.
• ★★☆☆ Mozuku -- Okinawa seaweed -- pretty neat dish, served like a "shot"
• ★★☆☆ Kimizu Ebi -- shrimp w/ asparagus -- shrimp was a bit tough, but the overall composition of the dish was quite nice.
• ★☆☆☆ Goma Tofu -- black sesame tofu, ikura, dashi. Not a fan of the black sesame tofu, which has a very strange texture.
• ★☆☆☆ Kuromutsu -- blue fish (Nagasaki); not my favorite piece, pretty bland and tough
• ★★★★ Hotate -- scallop (Hokkaido), sprinkled with a touch of salt. HOLY this scallop was huge and so delightfully sweet.
• ★★★★ Ikura Uni -- salmon roe / Santa Barbara sea urchin. You really can't go wrong with these two components.
• ★★★★ Hon Maguro -- bluefin tuna (Nagasaki); their tuna really shines