Sakesan | Our Story
A small ceremony on Clement Street
Sakesan — 酒山寿司 — began as a single considered storefront in San Francisco's Inner Richmond, built on the Edomae tradition of quiet hands, fresh fish, and rice pressed with intention. Two locations later, the ceremony remains the same.
The storefront at 626
On a foggy block of Clement Street in the Inner Richmond — a neighborhood that has always known how to eat — a small restaurant opened and started feeding people the way they deserved to be fed. The kind of block where you recognize the person behind the counter, and they recognize you.
Edomae: the old way
The tradition that guides this kitchen is Edomae sushi — each piece built for two bites, the rice pressed warm, the fish chosen with care and cut to balance it. Chef Andy Fan and the team work without fanfare, letting the ingredients hold the weight.
Room for personality
Tradition, it turns out, leaves room for the 49ers roll — salmon, lemon, a wink at the city — and the Cherry Blossom, flushed pink with tobiko, arranged on the plate like it earned the moment. Precision and playfulness are not opposites here.
More than a sushi bar
Robata skewers off the grill, bowls of black garlic tonkotsu ramen, homemade gyoza, horigotatsu seating where shoes come off and the evening slows — Sakesan was always a full Japanese kitchen, unhurried by design. The karaoke room at Clement Street has sealed more than a few friendships.
A second door on Ocean Avenue
The Ocean Avenue location — 分店 — came into being during the pandemic, discovered by a new neighborhood and held close ever since. Same care, same ceremony, new roots: the omakase sashimi and the Volcano Roll have made it entirely its own.