Best Fun Restaurants in Japantown

Absolutely incredible meal! Everything about it from start to finish was near perfection! Firstly, the hospitality is on point. A server is always right there when you need them to be and they made the amazing suggestion to get half an order of each of the pancakes rather than a full order of one. The servers that come around with the trays of food also know what they’re doing. When I ordered a single oyster for myself and my partner made a comment about not liking oysters, the servers gave us an extra one for free just so my partner could try it. This was an absolutely amazing opportunity to show not just above-and-beyond hospitality, but also that the restaurant truly believes in the quality of its food. And you know what? My partner did say it was the best oyster he ever had! They’re known for their quail however, I just think it’s not meaty enough of a bird for how it was prepared (Most parts were more breading than quail). As for everything else I tried, I just can’t think of any criticisms at all. I guess I could complain about my glass of rosé but that’s entirely my fault. I went with sparkling when I should have gone with still. The hit of the night were the blue corn-pepita pancakes with braised bacon and coffee butter. I wasn’t even going to order it until the server made the suggestion and I’m glad they did! The pecorino and ricotta pancakes are good too just not as good. The wedge salad is all the right balance of flavors with a nice crunch of lettuce to feel extra bright and fresh. The fried brussel sprouts are paired with an incredibly deep cashew satay sauce. The umami richness is impeccable. The almond financiers with duck liver mousse are another example of perfect balance in flavor. The financiers are light and fluffy and the mousse is smooth and delicate. I thought the burrata and bread dish came a too late into the night for us to fully enjoy however the peanut milk was the perfect cap to our evening.

Food was so good. Novel takes on cocktails. Accommodating to food allergies Good overall service. Service great until it got super busy then lagged a bit. Not a big deal. We sat at the high top in the window next to the door. Cold tonight. We would have been better off, making a reservation in further in advance and getting a table in the dining room proper.

Outstanding food, particularly the signature duck and the Guinea hen. Kai is a superb waiter. He should own his own restaurant. Price reasonable for San Francisco.

Shawn was awesome, went to celebrate my partners birthday, amazing night

We really enjoyed our dinner at Bansang! We were here as a party of 6 celebrating a friend’s birthday. With a group our size we were able to try a lot of items from the menu, since everything was meant to be shared as tapas. Highlights were the uni scallop toast, mulwhee noodles, jellyfish salad, sunchoke and truffle, rice cakes and chorizo, and the cod. Our favorite dessert item was the banana ice cream. The dishes were all full of flavor. Service was excellent and the ambiance was warm and relaxed. This is a great spot for both date nights and group dinners!