The Top 8 Places to Eat and Drink in San Mateo
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Rank 1. Wakuriya
Japanese
Katsuhiro Yamasaki commands the counter at this eight-seat temple of kaiseki, where each monthly menu threads classical technique with California's seasonal bounty—a silver spoon might cradle lobster in dashi gelée, soft-boiled egg, crisp kombu. The steamed black cod arrives flawless, the sashimi course assured, each plate a studied conversation between tradition and the chef's singular vision.
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Rank 1. Kajiken
Japanese Noodles
A Nagoya import serving abura soba—noodles without broth, alive instead with housemade oil and sauce—where the springy strands taste compelling on their own, though nine topping varieties invite endless tweaking. Watch the noodles being pulled through the window while you adjust your bowl with house vinegars and hot sauces, the kind of small control that makes eating here feel like collaboration.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- San Francisco Chronicle 2025 · #35 · Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle Top Peninsula and South Bay Restaurants
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- San Francisco Chronicle Top Bakeries of the Bay Area
- San Francisco Chronicle The Best Coffee in the Bay Area
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Rank 4. Sushi Yoshizumi
Edomae Sushi
Eight cypress-lined seats, a silent chef, and the methodical construction of Edomae sushi—each piece a small argument for restraint. Chef Akira Yoshizumi's nigiri arrives barely dressed, the fish doing the talking: tender bluefin, creamy ankimo, seasonal buri finished with a brightness of green onion. This is sushi for people who've thought about sushi.
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: California · Akira Yoshizumi
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · The 101 Best Restaurants in California
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Rank 6. Pausa
Venetian Italian
A bright, late-lit room overlooks the charcuterie aging behind glass while Chef Andrea Giuliani's Venetian cooking—porchetta pizza with gorgonzola, house-cured guanciale in the amatriciana—arrives with the confidence of someone who knows his region inside out. The salumi boards and wood-fired pizzas suggest a place built on a few things done very well, without pretense.
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Rank 7. All Spice
International
All Spice strings together colorful dining rooms and seasonal tasting menus with theatrical flair, favoring polished technique over novelty. A strip loin arrives surrounded by confit mushrooms and smoked kale, the kind of assured execution that justifies the prix-fixe format.