Shizen Vegan Sushi Bar & Izakaya

Wonderful flavors and very creative dishes, good service, though it's gets pretty noisy as it's a popular dining spot (for good reasons!)

Don't miss the opportunity to go, the place is an oasis for sushi and vegan food lovers. This charming restaurant combines the freshness and creativity of traditional sushi with creative and delicious vegan options. Its cozy and elegant atmosphere makes it the perfect place for an intimate dinner or a get-together with friends.

Shizen got me hooked to sushis and there's no turning back! They are hands down the best vegan sushi restaurant you could find ever. They have a bunch of variety when it comes to sushi - be it the tradition ones (vegan of course) or the specialty rolls.
My go to sushi rolls here are Boddy and soul (a must must order), hidden agenda, candlestick and proud peacock. The gyozas are good too!
It's a cute little restaurant with bamboo walls and ceiling and has a nice vibe to it. Make sure to have reservation prior to your trip.
Their servers are helpful and attentive to our needs and make sure we had a great experience.

I love this restaurant! It is a terrific place for special occasions. Everything I have eaten here is delicious, meticulously prepared, and beautifully presented.

You've got to do a bit of advance planning if you want to eat there because usually every seat is taken and it's not easy to get a reservation.

It's on the expensive side, but worth it if you want a treat and can plan in advance.

Made a reservation for a table for 4 on a Wednesday night at 8. Highly recommend reservations as this place seems to always fill up!

We were seated within a few minutes of arrival. The menu was very elaborate with a lot of different options.

Enjoyed my time. As someone that hasn't had real sushi but has had a lot of alternatives, I wouldn't say these are the best vegan sushi rolls I've ever had. I found overall the lack of protein variety (most were tofu based protein options) to be underwhelming. However the vegetable dishes (Brussel sprouts and yuba salad) were phenomenal! My favorite roll was boddy and soul.

The ambience is very pleasant and you can tell Shizen takes pride in their rolls. I think for someone craving real sushi alternatives this place can hit the spot! I'd definitely love to be back

Wow! So good! A vegan sushi spot wouldn't be my first choice but after dinner there last night, I can't wait to go back. It was a very easy menu to navigate for gluten allergies, and our waitress had fantastic recommendations based on what we were craving (anything with mushroom).
The restaurant itself was a cool atmosphere right off Valencia. Dinner here would be a great choice for any kind of night out!

Let me just preface this post with the fact that I don't tend to eat vegan food often- but I could literally eat here everyday!

Here we are highlighting things like pickled mushrooms instead of fish with this sushi. The rest of the ingredients on the rolls are kind of the same- cucumber, avocado, etc. but with some really inventive fermented treats- we can't wait to come back! We especially enjoyed the Secret Weapon. Delicious.

We were able to snag a table when they opened. The service was great and the space was efficient and zen with some cool looking moss art!

What a pleasant surprise.

I really had low expectations but this meal blew me away. I didn't miss the meat at all and the flavors were so exciting to taste. Secret weapon was outstanding. Just so. much. flavor. Skip California rolls unless you really like them - I just wanted them as a backup if something else wasn't great (everything is great). The mushroom appetizer is so bomb. I can't wait to come back and try the ramen, ceviche, peacock roll. Everything!

We live super close by and we're able to be seated at 5 right when they open. There was already a line but we didn't have to wait at all on a Wednesday night. Good service.

Loved coming here again!

Favorite was Boddy and Soul. Great combo of a variety of different dishes. Also enjoyed Prime suspect and candlelight. Not as big of a fan of the suspense one with the spice, but the actual suspense was fun to figure out which would have the spice!

Experience: Tried this place out on a Monday evening around 6pm. My friend who had ate here once before shared that it was really good. We decided on it around 5:45pm and saw online that it had just opened at 5, so went straight over. When we walked in we waited a few minutes before anyone greeted us, they made eye contact but not a smile or anything, kind of strange, but once the host came over, he walked us to the two open seats at the bar. Once seated, the attentiveness kicked in from the staff, and had our order placed and delivered very quickly.

Food: The food was extremely flavorful, I was impressed. Really excellent pairings, creativity, and presentation of rolls and dishes. We started off with the kaiso and suomo. Then, the eggplant nigiri, okra nigiri, and yuba nigiri. For the specialty roll we had the missing piece, which was made of marinated shitake and tempura asparagus topped with ginger shoyu tomato, pickled mango, sweet shoyu, garlic aioli, shichimi togarashi. My fave was the missing piece and eggplant nigiri. Highly impressed. We did ask for a roll that was more"fishy" in flavor, but the server stated that none tasted like fish but there were a few that had the fish texture, most of the tofu rolls. By the time we thought it over we were quite full. A great meal it was.

Staff: Okay. Not the friendliest at first but then once you're seated they take care of you.

Interior: Upon walking in, you have to walk down a few stairs to get to the ground level. The roof has soft wooden beaming, space is clean and minimal. I didn't walk into the restaurant since we got seated at the bar. The bar is long, tightly spaced, but comfy. You feel relaxed and at ease inside. A good vibe.

Parking: Street parking on 14th street, a one way. Found parking directly in front of the doors.

Verdict: Would def go back! So good.

Amazing experience! Perfect for vegan/veg sushi lovers. Need a resy ahead of time, as this spot is quite busy. The service is quick.

Go for the Russian roulette if you're not afraid of . You won't be disappointed . Street parking on the side. If you line up at the door right as they open at 5 pm, you may get a seat without resy at the bar or even a table if you're lucky. Must try if you're visiting bay area!