Soul. It’s one of the most treasured qualities to see (and feel) in a restaurant, and sadly it’s also one of the most elusive. It’s a feeling that sneaks up on you—you don’t walk into a place, plunk down, and upon placing your napkin in your lap, proclaim, “Damn, this place has soul!” It needs to unfold. — Tablehopper
The food at Yuzuki is the food of ancestors, and the result is a meal rich in attention and detail. — SF Gate
This is not a restaurant review, but a chef’s night out. It was such a unique experience that I felt that I should share it with others, because it would be a damned shame for any serious “foodie” to miss out on such a rare dining experience. I have a tremendous appreciation for restaurants that produce personal cuisine, especially when it is great. — Dennis Lee at Num
It’s striking how often we now rely on restaurants to provide us with a sense of the homemade. Not just “house-made” salumi or pasta, but base ingredients whose production has been industrialized so long we’ve lost the collective knowledge of how to prepare them at home. Pickles. Butter. Miso paste. Once chores our great-grandparents did throughout the year, now they’re professions of authenticity. The more effort the chef puts into each dish, the truer his or her food is.
By that measure, the fare at Izakaya Yuzuki, a 2-month-old restaurant in the Mission, are as true as Raymond Carver stories. — SF Weekly
As at other izakayas, you can down your share of chicken skewers and sake here, but this lovely, low-key restaurant provides much more than just another platform for getting stuffed and soused. — San Francisco Magazine
What sold us? Well, the pristine, delicate house-made tofu, for one, presented in a woven basket. “I tasted it against the stuff at Safeway,” says our server, cutely, “and ours is way better.” It tastes prominently of legumes, good on its own or gussied up with soy and filaments of scallion. — Tasting Table
This is a special place. The food is genuine Japanese cooking. The menu includes but does not stress raw fish. The appetizers and the grilled, fried, steamed and braised dishes give the overall meal a more hearth-like than shore-like feel. The ingredients are fresh and pure, and the chef’s touch is light. The presentation is artful, and tends more towards the serene than the fancy. The result is a cuisine that tastes refined but feels comfortable. — Chowhound
