micado

2126 irving Street, also known as irving and BFE, or, the outer sunset.

motivation: to celebrate pinky's completion of test 2 of 9 for his architectural license. go pinky! we thought to try some out-of-the-way surprise spot named edo, out on 44th avenue. unfortunately, edo does not exist (at least not in san francisco. there appears to be one each in san rafael, fremont, woodland hills, san diego, baltimore, and new york. google d'oh!). lost in the fog, we wandered past xiao sushi house (send me a note if you've been there because the bright lights scared me!) and found ourselves at micado. though there were more cute kids next door at Quickly, we gave it a shot anyway.

we made a mistake.

the quality was low: the saddest hamachi ever; cold, stiff maguro (i like my drinks that way, not my fish); sake so hot it burned my tongue; mealy-textured white tuna; grey-tinged saba with camouflage lemon that hid nothing. pinky posited that the fish was cold likely because 1) it doesn't get busy enough there to keep it out at room temperature, or 2) it was still frozen. even their signature "no problem" roll was problematic with its sandy tempura coating.

there was no flirtability at all with sweet matronly servers and inane chico-state conversations (seriously) floating around us amidst the KOIT "lite rock". the television commercials projecting behind the sushi bar competed with the mirror wall for annoying-me-the-most-with-ugliness. pinky's design sense was offended by the bland standard wood decor and double awning outside. to their credit, the owners were really japanese and it appeared to be a mom-n-pop enterprise, which i will always support. if it's good, that is.

the prices were pretty cheap, which made the bill easier to swallow, but not the fish.

my belly complained as we left, gypped and empty.

go eat somewhere else and itadakimasu!