An incredible array of textures and flavors comes thru in all the food here. Absolutely delicious!
Shizen is a small vegan sushi restaurant in the Mission District of San Francisco. As someone who has never had sushi (even before I was vegan), I was somewhat hesitant to have something that reminded me of something I've had such a hesitation towards for so long.
We were lucky enough to get seated at the sushi bar. It's the perfect spot to see your food being prepared and to get special recommendations straight from the chefs themselves.
On the menu, a few pages consisted of more simple rolls. Some delicious sounding standouts were the green mango roll, sweet tofu roll, Philadelphia Roll, and Okra Roll, of course with more common rolls like the California Roll and Avocado Roll.
Since we were visiting and wanted a more "unique" experience, we opted for some of the Specialty Rolls.
Our first choice was Boddy and Soul, which was incredible all-round. It had declicious flavor, an amazing spicy aioli drizzled on top, and a crunch that left you wanting more.
Boddy and Soul Roll from Shizen: tempura roll with spicy tofu, green onion, shichimi togarashi, sesame, spicy aioli, sweet soy
Our second roll was the Perfect Alibi which consisted of a more fruity build, including tomatoes, pickled mango, and aspargus. With a more pastry like outside texture, slightly bread-like, and the crunch of the rice crackers juxtaposed with the sweet mango, it made for an incredible meal.
Perfect Alibi from Shizen: ginger shoyu tomato, pickled mango, sweet mustard shoyu, shiso, marinated shiitake, asparagus, wasabi mustard, rice crackers
Our favorite roll: Boddy and Soul.
Best seating: At the bar! You get to see the chefs prepare all the food right infront of you.
Advice: Plan ahead!
We arrived at 8:00, a bit before our check-in time for our 8:30 wait-list reservation. We were told to be back within 30 minutes so went to grab a drink at a super chic brewery down the street.
Because this place is poppin, the easiest way to eat here is to put your name on a waitlist via Yelp a bit before you plan to go eat. On their Yelp page you'll see a "Join Waitlist" button - just click it and it'll give you an approximate timeframe for your table. It's recommended to do it before 7:30pm because they do cut off the amount of "Waitlist" customers sometime around then as witnessed by the "we cannot take any more waitlist customers" sign we saw when we walked into the restaurant. Luckily, we were on the list.
Check out Shizen at:
370 14th St, San Francisco, CA 94103