Sushi Ran
Fresh, imaginative Japanese cuisine!Location
On Public Trans- Sushi Ran is fairly removed from the main drag in Sausalito at 107 Caledonia Street. It's a bit of a hike from the ferry landing (about 1 mile). If you choose to walk the Ferry arrives from San Francisco about once per hour. You can check the precise schedule here.
Driving- Street parking is not bad because Sushi Ran is on a Sausalito back street. You will completely avoid the galleries and tourist shops in downtown Sausalito.
Food
The main restaurant of Sushi Ran has earned a Michelin Star so it's hard to say anything about the food that hasn't already been said. The dishes are indeed praise worthy. But, what you might not know is that the Sushi Ran wine bar, just across from the main restaurant, has an excellent menu, terrific selection of wines and sake, and does not require a reservation!
The Wine Bar
The Wine Bar has a great, full menu. The executive chef has accomplished a delightful melange of Japanese and Pacific Rim cuisine. You'll find such delights as seared Ahi with a pungent mustard sauce and Bread Pudding with green tea.
At the top of my list for don't miss appetizers are the Sushi Ran Oysters. The Sushi Ran oyster dish is an ingenious spin on Oysters a La Florentine with the substitution of Nori for the buttered spinach. The result is a light, flavorful, briney oyster dish that is a delightful kick-off for the meal. If oysters are not your thing dig into the squid salad instead. The squid is lightly marinated and combined with a Thai Sweet Chili sauce. The seasoning strategy is light and complex hitting notes of sweet, sour, and spice. The squid remains tender with a pleasing resistance not unlike al dente pasta. The dish is presented in a tall martini glass which is both fun and functional. If you're not so great with your chopstick skills having a wide mouth glass rim at near mouth height is a great advantage.
A trip to the Sushi Ran Wine Bar would not be complete without having the Vietnamese Shaking Beef entree. This powerful dish combines the salty potency of dark soy sauce and the sweetness of cane sugar. The dark, black sauce envelops the rare, tender beef cubes marries deliciously with the tangy, lime dipping sauce.
To wrap things up, consider indulging in the 3 custards dessert. Intensely, flavorful sake cups of custard deliver on satisfaction without overfilling a satisfied belly. I prefer when desserts taste really good and there are not 3 pounds of it. This dessert is perfect in my mind. Chocolate, vanilla , and green tea in shot glass proportions. It's a fine accompaniment with a last cup of coffee before heading home.
Service
Just a quick word about the dress code at Sushi Ran. You will feel very out of place in a t-shirt and jeans. Men make sure you wear a collared shirt (a tie is probably not necessary, and you might get away with a really nice pair of jeans, but slacks would not be overdoing it). Women I think the sky is the limit. I have seen women with designer jeans and cool boots, and I have seen furs at Sushi Ran. Someplace between those two marks and you'll feel comfortable.
As for service, I have always walked away without any complaints. Pretty consistently I have to wait just a little longer than I would expect for a top restaurant. But not aggregiously so. To get a drink at my table will take the full 5 minutes from the time I sit. And I'll just about finish that drink by the time my waiter takes my order. Sushi Ran is not breaking any of the good service "rules" but, they are on the edge. Don't expect to be wow-ed.
Space
Sushi Ran is a very unassuming restaurant nestled among book shops, the theatre, and a tiny bamboo forest on the Caledonia street neighborhood. Caledonia street pedestrians are largely local and not the throngs of tourists you'll see in downtown Sausalito.
Ask to sit outside (near the water sculpture if you can). The exterior seating is comfortable, heated and the Sausalito street life is entertaining to watch pass by your table. It feels spacious, natural, and calming as compared to the interior seating.
Inside the wine bar is busier, noisier and more crowded. Still quite pleasent but you will feel like you are in a top Bay Area restaurant; 8 inches between tables, a line out the door, customers 2 deep at the bar, and wait staff whizing by in the frenzied nightly ballet of good service. Fun, but in a different way.