Joo Mak

The review is for two of the items we were not happy with.
The large prawn appetizer. The prawns were normal size. When the dish came, it was very smelly. I don’t know if that is normal or if it means it’s not fresh. But the most unappetizing part was the guts/​poo/​intestines were all there. A toothpick in the back can pull that stuff out.
The other item was the veggie roll. Kinda skimpy and not worth it.
Service is nice and attentive.

Once upon a night, we got too tied upon in a movie and lost track of time. We googled and only this place was open. Great food, great service and friendly

Dirt cheap delicious dim sum. Always satisfies!

A wonderful late night find, Friendly staff and good food. A mix of Korean and Japanese cuisines, the skewers are very good. Open until 2:00 AM most days. Go check it out but be sure to save me a seat at the bar.

This place was a nice surprise! Accommodated us and brought us our delicious food quickly. The Korean style medium spicy wings– so good. Definitely recommend. That sauce though. Also had Bi Bim Bap with beef, miso soup and a baked roll. All in all, had a great dinner. Plus, super friendly service. Will be back.

Went here on black friday with the boyfriend. I saw my friend post a few things photos on instagram when he went there and wanted to try this place out.
We got super lucky and found out it was dollar oyster night. Their raw oysters with whatever sauce they put in is the BOMB. its salty and tangy and they put some tobiko on it as well!
We tried the poke and it was decent. They give you a good amount of poke. There’s also cucumbers and onions mixed in.
Their sushi with quail egg had tons of tobiko, which the bf loved. It was fairly pricey and I don’t think it was my particular favorite.
Their clam sashimi was huge. Definitely gets your moneys worth and the portions are HUGE.
Our server was great as well! He was super friendly and gave honest suggestions. He was attentive but not overbearing as well.

We got lucky to have the epic size live uni! It was moving when served. Creamy but not too sweet. Not salty and fish at all.
The reason for four stars was the Budae Jjigae. It was okay.

I ordered their special of the night «Live Uni» and «Aoyaki Clam». I didn’t think it though and I was thinking I would get in sushi.
When Uni came, it was huge and in the boat. I go «Shit! What did I order!!!».
The uni was so fresh and fat. It was as good as it gets. It was the far best I have eaten for long long time. Aoyaki Clam that I forgot to take picture was huge too.
It was so fresh and soooooo good!
They had many great menu for Japanese and Korean. Service was attentive and super great.
I sure will go back soon!

Seriously awesome Korean food! The spicy rice cake is delicious, spicy pork belly is awesome, ton of black mussels (soup) for cheap $$. Terrific service! We came in on a Friday night, and they are very polite and quick. Some of the best Korean food in the city, highly recommended.

Late night hype ! 10 minutes before sushi ended (stops at 1) ordered rainbow roll and San Francisco roll. My friend ordered salmon sashimi and chicken wings. All fantastic! Great place

Nice place for some quick bites. Get in SFO late and wanna grab some food but most of the places closed. Fortunately, Joo Mak is opening!!! Lucky ^^ food was great. I like their service and food. Will back there to try others from the menu. ^_*

I’m a regular here. Amazing food, amazing service. Stumbled upon this little gem during OSL with my boyfriend. We probably come twice to three times a week. We get the skewers here, they cook each one perfectly. I prefer the beef tongue and pork belly, the mochi and enoki mushrooms wrapped in bacon — BOMB! Oh, and don’t get me started on the live uni. Amazing! And I can’t say enough about the service. Steven the bartender and sushi chef is fabulous. You can find me here every week and weekend!

I randomly stumbled in here and I am glad I did. Everything I’ve tried here so far were all very good. Potato Croquette, Dragon, Lion King, and Dynamite rolls = two thumbs up haha. The must haves are the Korean Fried Chicken (6 fairly large pieces, comes with spicy mayo and daikon) and the Kimchi fried rice with Spam.
Really nice spot to take on a date, modern looking, they play music, staff are friendly and attentive.
I gave it five stars, because they have Japanese and Korean beers (OB and Hite).

MY FAVORITE (non-​AYCE) KOREAN RESTAURANT!
Street parking is fairly easy to find at night if you circle the block.
Walking in, you’re immediately greeted with a warm welcome. It’s usually not too busy when I go after 8PM.
I’ve tried many dishes at this place and everything has been wonderful! Fresh, flavorful, and totally satisfying!
The service is amazing. So friendly and warm, I feel very well taken care of!
Great place for dinner, a date, or a group get together for soju! Open late, so very convenient when you get hungry later in the night!
Definitely becoming a regular at this place!

Wanting to try a new place for delivery, the roommate and I decided to order from Joo Mak on Sunday, May 24^th around 6:45pm through Eat24 (
). We had a $ 2 off coupon code. Delivery took a little longer than normal. Around 1.5 hours instead of the usual 1 hour.
A2. Pot stickers ($ 7)
The roommate ordered this. I had a couple and they were good.
B13. Assorted skewers (choice of 6 skewers): Pork belly, Kalbi — beef short rib, Chicken liver, Beef tongue, Chicken heart, Fish cake ($ 16)
I liked the beef tongue the best. It was nice and soft with great flavor. The pork belly, kalbi and chicken hearts were also good. I didn’t care for the fish cake as it was completely dry. And and sauce wasn’t very good either. The liver was a little too much. It wasn’t very seasoned and just had an overwhelming irony liver taste to it. This was the only skewer I didn’t finish.
C7. Deokbokki: spicy rice cake ($ 12)
The roommate loves rice cakes. I don’t, but I enjoyed the fish cakes that were in this dish.
E1. Garlic chili chicken wings ($ 14)
These were good. Some bites had a huge amount of garlic, but in general, they satisfied my wing craving.
E2. Korean-​style fried chicken ($ 14)
This kind of reminded me of karaage. Very crispy and arrived steaming hot and fresh. Comes with a sriracha aioli I believe.
F2. Kimchi fried rice: with spam ($ 10)
Portion was larger than I thought. I liked the fried rice. I just wish there was more spam as there wasn’t much meat or kimchi in the fried rice.
Joo Mak satisfied my fried chicken craving, but nothing here really stands out as being amazing. More or less, everything was just okay. Maybe they are more of a sushi joint, but their Korean food was very average.

Saw that this place is open pretty late and had great reviews so we went in for a try .
We ordered a couple of rolls, the wings, and the beef dish. The only thing good out of all that was the wings, they are pretty amazing. But one item doesn’t make up for the 4 other things we ordered tasting so bad, on top of that the price is pretty high.

**Disclosure: I’m a fan of Joo Mak and have been coming here for over a year.**
Basics:
Joo Mak is a drinking house that serves both Japanese and Korean cuisine. This includes sushi, nigiri, izakaya, anju, sake, soju, and more. Like the bottles of Asahi (Japanese beer) and Hite (Korean beer) lining their cooler, the Japanese and Korean dishes rightfully stand on their own. At Joo Mak, the Japanese and Korean elements are less about fusion and more about cohabitation.
Food:
On the Japanese side, chef Sam leads the sushi bar, with his energetic apprentice Steve taking the helm from time to time. While the sushi is pretty good, the nigiri and sashimi are the stars.
Why? Sam is trained as an Edo-​style chef, which emphasizes is a zen-​like balance between freshness of the ingredients, and proper knife-​cutting technique. Simple and pure, you won’t find inferior ingredients hiding behind a layer of neon-​mango-​Sriracha-​aioli. If this isn’t legit enough for you, Sam won’t cut an eel by its belly, because of taboo dating back to samurai tradition.
Make sure to check their dry-​erase board on the right side of the sushi bar for their daily specials: JM focuses on availability, so one day they might have live deep sea harvested uni, and another day they might have uni from Mendocino. If you get lucky, there’ll be stuff flown in from Japan.
On the Korean side, which mostly focuses on dishes from the kitchen, they have modern favorites such as Korean Fried Chicken and kimchi fried rice. They’re decent, but the star of this menu is their wet dry fried wings. These sweet, crunchy savory pieces of perfection laced with a bit of spice are as addictive as crack! If you’re feeling like something less contemporary to accompany your soju, see if their dobu kimchi (stir fried pork, kimchi, and tofu) is available. Speaking of soju…
Drinks:
Joo Mak has the standard Korean options (soju, flavored soju, Korean beer), with the addition of makgeoli. Makgeoli is «farmer’s wine;» a slightly sweet, milky alcoholic drink made from rice. It’s real good in their maksa (makgeoli and cider) to wash down fried dishes with. Joo Mak has their bases covered here, but it’s nothing you can’t get elsewhere locally.
Where Joo Mak really shines is their rotating sake selection. They have frequently changing bottles of mid-​range junmais, honjozos, and quirky bottlings. (Ever have sake out of a can, or a glass jar? How about a bottle with demon slayer artwork?) It’s definitely worth checking out what they have available.
Atmosphere:
Joo Mak has a modern interior, with two wide screen TVs usually set to sports. Kpop comes through the speakers, and the mixed crowd is casual. Group size varies from single patrons gracing the sushi bar, to large groups combining tables to pre-​party before going downtown to hit the clubs.
As this is a drinking house, budget about an hour for your stay. While extremely friendly and accomodating, service can be slow when they’re slammed on weekends, and you’ll have to remind them of drink orders sometimes. I’ve also come in later at night (~1:00am) to find their sushi bar closed. Nowdays I call to check. From the take out orders I see them prepping, I believe they also do delivery via app (Eat24/​Grubhub?).
Pricing:
The fish is a steal, given their quality (the large sashimi boat is about $ 55 and will feed ~4). With the seafood specials like live uni, clams, etc.; I personally think they’re spendy at $ 20−25+, but once in a while it’s nice to splurge and try something new. My tip would be to ask Sam about the specials first. He’ll try to get an idea of what you like, and if the special will be worth it based on your tastes.
Some dishes are a few bucks more than local competitors. I figure the mark up on some items is to offset the leisurely atmosphere (i.e. they’re not slamming plates on your table trying to rush you out).
The soju and beer are about the same price as local competitors, but the sake is a good deal for restaurant service (sometimes I see them at Asian marts being sold for about the same price point, and even more online). Expect premium small cans of sake (~4 shots) to be about $ 10, mid-​sized bottles to start around $ 35 – 40, and the really large sizes to start at about $ 90 – 100. The brands and labels are usually in Japanese, so it can be hard to differentiate between that $ 38 bottle and a more expensive bottle. I’ve made the painful mistake before, so it’s a good idea to confirm pricing first.
I usually spend from about $ 40 – 70 per visit on for food, drinks, and tip. While Joo Mak is definitely not cheap, it offers an excellent blend of quality and value.
Overall:
+Good fish selection
+Knowledgeable, skilled sushi chef
+Rotating live specials
+Korean and Japanese options
+Those chicken wings!
+Interesting sake variety
+Open late
+Relaxed, leisurely environment
–Slow service at times

Wow, where did you guys come from!!!
They take the best of Korean, Izakaya and Sushi and are serving anything your heart might desire untill 2AM. Does it get better yes!!!
They have super special stuff, like live Uni and Lobster. Live octopus that I have yet had an opportunity to try, but cant wait to be back!!!

Came on a Monday night with the hubs. We were craving for good sushi and this was the only place we know of that opens late til 2am. So glad it opens late. Tables were empty except for one other.
We ordered toro fatty tuna, Sam Francisco Roll, Joo Mak Roll and Sweet Shrimp Nigiri. Wow, the fatty tuna was delicious. It’s soft and melts in your mouth. Very fresh. The Sam Francisco roll & Joo Mak Roll were bombz. Everything on it were perfect. The sweet shrimp nigiri was very good. They deep fried the head and set it as another plate. Now that you can tell, it was freshly cooked. Yum.
Food was authentic. Yes, high quality. The staff were nice… but one thing that did set off our mood was that our cup of water never got refilled and we had to ask for our check, trying to get her attention. While she gave us the bill and collecting the plates, she asked if we want more water… we said, «we did.» Other than that, we were satisfied with the food. Altogether, total bill was $ 71 plus extra for tip. Would definitely come back again for late night cravings.

Friend was in town visiting last night and we made the ambitious and spontaneous plan of dropping by Lands End. Of course we mutually agreed that eating dinner first was obviously the way to go. We Unilocaled for a Korean place along Geary and ended up at Joo Mak!
SETTING
–Dark inside but has spotlights for each table.
–We went in around 7pm and it wasn’t crowded — no wait time, my favorite thing ever!
–Friendly staff — it was one of the waitress’ first day and she was in training while taking our orders. The person training her let us know and they were both very nice about it.
MENU
–For appetizers you should definitely get the Assorted Skewers, choice of 6! We ordered the chicken, chicken heart, bacon wrapped rice cake (dukbokki), mushroom, kalbi, and pork belly. Everything for $ 14 which is probably more than I would normally spend on an appetizer but you will not be disappointed. I wouldn’t have chosen the chicken heart skewers on my own but they were pretty tasty! Mushroom skewer was juicy and complimented all of the other meaty choices.
–Bulgolgi– thin sliced marinated beef plate, comes with rice if you want. I was so hungry and thoroughly enjoyed my meal. Came with a tiny side of salad and spicy mayo. Yummmmm.
–Sashimi Salad. My friend ordered this one. Kinda pricy for $ 18 but hey, it’s sashimi! A nicely sized bowl of fish, lettuce, seaweed. Comes with a side of red sauce.
PROS
–Not crowded on a Friday night
–Serves hot green tea
–Open late! Til 2pm
–Take your time! We probably sat for 25 mins after we paid the bill and weren’t rushed out.
I had a great dinner last night! :) Would recommend this place to a friend!