The Best Sushi in Berkeley
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The best sushi in Berkeley, according to the experts: Esquire and San Francisco Chronicle have both weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Fish & Bird Sousaku Izakaya comes out on top.
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Rank 1. Fish & Bird Sousaku Izakaya
Japanese
The blue-painted building with a red neon sign on Shattuck Avenue does not undersell what's inside. This is a sousaku izakaya, meaning the menu leans into New Japanese cooking, the kind you'd find in Tokyo or Osaka right now: hot pot, skewers, fried fish cakes, seasonal sashimi added only because regulars kept asking. The menu rotates constantly, which makes repeat visits feel less like loyalty and more like good sense.
The awards
- Esquire Esquire: #38 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle: Best Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle: Best Sushi Restaurants in San Francisco Bay Area
- Esquire #38 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- San Francisco Chronicle Best Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Best Sushi Restaurants in San Francisco Bay Area
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Rank 2. Tane Vegan Izakaya
Vegan Sushi
Tomato nigiri, marinated and roasted until it snaps like fish, is probably the argument you'd make to a skeptic. Tane is a vegan izakaya and sushi spot in Berkeley, a sibling to San Francisco's Shizen, where the rice is taken seriously and the plant-based fills lean toward smoked beets and pickled fruit rather than an avocado-forward shrug. The crowd skews Berkeley in all the ways you'd expect, but the food is doing something more interesting than the neighborhood cliché suggests.
The awards
- San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle: Best vegetarian and vegan restaurants in the SF Bay Area