PABU Izakaya

Anna was a great server! She took care of our orders with her personal recommendations, and every dish was amazing. Thank you!

INCREDIBLE experience! Recently had a date night with a few friends, and table was beautifully set up and prepared for us. Although we were running a little late, the staff was very flexible with our reservation.

Gio, along with a few others, gave us compliments and helped us feel comfortable with that being our first time here. Very well done allowing everyone to feel welcomed, cared for, and appreciated!

Lastly, the food was off the charts! I'm personally a big fan of sea food, so when getting a mouth full of the sushi rolls, I couldn't stop myself from having more.

Overall, the group and I had a phenomenal experience, and would definitely recommend eating here if you're looking for an encouraging & uplifting night out.

Everytime I come here I wonder why I am even there.

Strike 1: Service is a$$, no one ever checks up on you and all the servers we have had are unfriendly and if they're attentive, they try and upsell you for literally no reason at all.

Strike 2: In addition to have bad servers, they NEVER give enough menus - this is the only place I've ever been to in my life where they consistently do not give enough menus and you have to share, which is fine, but also if you're gonna charge me $32 for 5 pieces of sushi you think your business could afford to print more menus? Lol

Strike 3: Everything is unfairly priced and the taste is not worth. $18 for fried rice which is supposed to be an affordable / "poor man's food" is ridiculously insane. $32 for negitoro roll is unfathomable and I can't imagine anybody being full after eating that.

Strike 4: They have recently changed their HH handrolls to not even being handrolls anymore. Authenticity is questionable.

Strike 5: They have this service charge, and most of the servers and even the bussers will try and take advantage of happy hour comers by encouraging to add an extra tip.

I understand it's hard to keep businesses afloat, but it doesn't mean that you can take advantage of every customer that walks through the door especially if you are giving below par service. It's a shame you guys have good happy hour deals, but have had it up to here with your restaurant.

Where to begin,

Thank you to the whole team for greeting me on my birthday!! It was such a special surprise, I felt so welcomed and cared for. To the hosts, waiters (Fei & Max), and the amazing Chefs, thank you from the very bottom of my heart. The birthday card and constant attention from everyone made the whole experience worthwhile.

The Omakase was absolutely phenomenal. Started off strong with a literal ocean in one bite (The Happy Spoon).

Next favorite was the egg custard dish with scallop, shrimp and caviar. I love egg custards and this was a very nice treat.

The underdog of the whole course (not pictured) was the vegetable tempura. It was so crispy and flavorful, the sauce that paired with it was like gold.

The Nigiri was so diverse, each bite was savored.

The Abalone was !!!! I cannot express into words how great it was, especially the daikon underneath it which was the true gem of dish (no disrespect to the Abalone).

The Wagyu and Wagyu Tongue...need i say more?? On a hot stone and then some. I could eat this for the rest of my life.

Last but not least, the desserts :))!! I had two, as a lover of sweets, Fei surprised me with a chocolate dessert from the a la carte menu on top of the one on the omakase menu. They had a candle and everything, I made a wish and Fei recorded this sweet memory for me.

The Matcha Cheesecake (Omakase) was everything I wanted in a cheesecake. It was light, not heavy, sweet but not overly, and the matcha and pistachio added a nice earthiness to it.

The Chocolate pudding (i can't recall the name) was to d!e for!!!! I can understand why even the staff choose to fight over first dibs on any leftovers.

If you come to eat here, expect to receive not only amazing food, but also the staff's dedication and knowledge of the menu, as well as their hospitality.

Next time I'm in SF, I'd love to pay another visit.

Hmmm a few things seem to have changed at pabu and unfortunately not for the better. Food still seem 4 stars for the most part but service and prices not so much.

We have been a regular for 7 years now. However last night my dinner was only okay.

We got our usual both were pretty good
- mushroom tempura
- hamachi Kama
Added also a few other things
- ceasar salad which was pretty good
- tuna, hotate and ikura. nigiri also good
- rainbow row was just average.

Where it was subpar was the server seems to not be paying attention.
- I asked for dressing on the side for my salad and it came dressed
- I asked for medium fatty tuna - she gave us otoro and we didn't realized until we were charged for it
- I asked for hot tea and it was burning my lips hot and omg $10.
Our hamachi Kama also took a while and when we asked about it, she seemed almost annoyed that we asked.

Wow pabu prices have gone up a bit but seems to be losing its charm. Disappointed

AHHHH my first time here and for only HAPPY HOUR. I wasn't feeling alcoholic drinks this evening so I went to look at the NonAlcoholic options. My coworker chose the Spritz and I tried it, WOWOOWW. It was the best thing I have ever tried. The foam on top of the citrus' drink was amazing. I could drink tons of this. I liked it so much I asked for the foam on top of another drink which was good but not as good as the first one.

Our group of 6 ordered some HH sides and I really enjoyed the fries, it had seaweed flakes on it and make it 8273x better. The chicken was soft and good as well.

It got busier as the night went on but felt that sitting at the bar was easy to get waiters / servers attention so that was great. I will definitely come back for HH'

A high-end Japanese restaurant in San Francisco perfect for hosting small and large parties. Vast interior with table, bar, and private room seatings. Relaxed atmosphere and welcoming staff.

Raw dishes were decent while cooked dishes were hit or miss. Some of my favorite raw dishes included: miso-cured yellowtail, rainbow roll, and kohaku roll. For cooked dishes, I enjoyed the okonomiyaki and grilled sweet miso eggplant. We tried all four desserts, but everyone at the table agreed that the Japanese cheesecake stole the show.

Come check out Pabu! Sharable dishes and plenty of options for vegetarians, pescatarians, and non-seafood eaters.

PABU hasn't changed one bit.

I've many fond memories here in the last decade: a fancy Yelp Elites Only lunch, Birthday celebration with my BFFs and now recently, Happy Hour. On a Saturday.

HH on a SATURDAY? you read that right. PABU offers HH Monday through Saturday from 4 - 5:30pm. You'd have to make the trek to the Fidi on a Saturday to get the amazing prices, which all ends in "88" signifying luck in the Asian culture. The happy hour menu changes somewhat, but the reliable staples to get are the: chicken kaarage, the PABU fries with a garlic miso dip, the spicy hand roll and the Old Fashioned, of course!

I don't need a 3 course meal these days to get full and these happy hour bites are the best way to satiate my appetite and it doesn't break the bank either.

PABU, you're still a winner in my book!

Bigg fan of Pabu!!! Prices are definitely pretty expensive but the food quality and service were both pretty phenomenal. Really enjoyed their sushi rolls, drinks, and the short rib (kalbi). Their brussel sprouts and poke were also stellar appetizers. Was pretty packed on a wednesday evening so definitely make a reservation in advance :)

I'm so excited to see that they are open for lunch! I walk by it every time I go in and out of the office and when they use to open for HH/dinner only, I could only longingly walk by and see the servers debrief before opening.

I made a reservation for lunch yesterday and they did not disappoint the excitement I had walking in. Love the modern, upscale decor and the servers were lovely. I wish I remembered by server's name but she was great yesterday.

That said, this was a solid 4 star experience for me. I'm leaving one star out because I didn't see a sushi menu (which I was hoping to try) but saw other tables getting sushi. I will have to ask next time since I saw the rolls come out after I placed my order.

That said, the lunch menu was delicious as is. Items I highly recommend are the happy spoon (note that the price of $14 was for ONE spoon (without caviar), so I recommend each person get one and not share) which was uni, ikura, tobiko, ponzu and creme fraiche. My server told me we can make it a happier spoon by adding caviar and we decided, "why not"? It was DELICIOUS. The Uni and oyster was super fresh and the flavors were a true explosion in the mouth - highly recommend. The other dish I highly recommend is the miso-cured yellowtail $26 (hamachi) with avocado, roasted onion and truffle vinaigrette. This was very tasty and fish was fresh. This plate is definitely shareable so one is plenty and I feel like this is a must get.

That said, the lunch combos were also very good, combos served with rice, soy cabbage and soy pickles. The prime short rib ($28) was very high quality beef and the morro bay black cod ($27) was cooked perfectly tender and moist.

This is NOT a cheap lunch by any means but it was worth it to me. Great food, great ambiance, and excellent service. I plan to come back for a sushi lunch (which I will have to inquire about) soon, and will post an update!