Best Pre-Theater Restaurants in Civic Center / Hayes Valley / Van Ness

This is our 4th year going to John's for the holiday season and it never disappoints! Lovely time, good food and so love SF.

Everything is perfect here in every way except the table vs. tableware sizes. Their service plates are beautiful and of generous size. The tables are just barely large enough to seat either 2 or 4 persons. If you order more than 2 0r 3 items at once things get tight immediately. Item number 3 or 4 appears and if you find the food is so good that you have taken a little time to savor and appreciate each just a bit, the runner is not prepared to cope and just stands there, holding the new dish and looking non-plussed. Our runner was not prepared to move items around on existing plates to reduce density. So the diners had to do it and messy plates were produced. Clearly the space is already filled with tables, so larger ones are not an option. On our future visits, we will order only 2 items at a time and order new ones when service plates can be removed timely. BUT the great food is the thing, after all. We both judged this to be the best sushi meal we have eaten outside of Japan, so we are more than willing to drive in from Marin. FIVE STARS in every category that really matters! We shall return soon and often.

Ours was a party of four. Our server, Zamire was exceptional and attentive. We went with her recommendations and enjoyed everything. Highly recommend and will return.

Service was really great. Very attentive and dirty dishes were removed quickly. Pork salad was divine, Caesar was superb and dinks were perfect.

Everything was perfect except a bus person tried to clear the table before one person was still eating.