Wakuriya

Katsuhiro Yamasaki's black cod takes whatever shape the month wants: steamed under fluffy grated turnip for the MICHELIN inspector, under a sake lees broth with taro and coins of mochi for Michael Bauer.1 3

Why go

Yamasaki cooked at Kaygetsu in Menlo Park before this.4 He and his wife Mayumi, who is the only server, opened here in 2008.5 The dishes change every month and the nine categories never do: starter, zensai, steamed, sashimi, deep-fried, granité, broiled, rice, dessert.5 That is the kaiseki frame. Mandy Erickson ate three of those menus in three months for the Chronicle.4

Order this / avoid

Order: the black cod, whatever shape it takes that month. MICHELIN's inspector had it steamed with fluffy grated turnip.1 Bauer found it under a sake lees broth with Japanese taro and coins of chewy mochi.3
Order: the sashimi course, even though this is not a sushi bar.1
Avoid: planning it on short notice. The book opens a calendar month ahead to the day. Their own worked example: On June 20th, start taking for July 20th.10
Avoid: Monday and Tuesday. The room is dark.1

What locals & experts say

Michael Bauer, then the Chronicle's restaurant critic, on getting a table: Everyone talks about how difficult it is to get a reservation at the French Laundry, but getting in to Wakuriya in San Mateo can be just as challenging. He gave it three stars overall. The food took three and a half.3
Mandy Erickson, in the Chronicle a year after it opened: Wakuriya is slow food at its finest. A nine-course dinner runs two and a half hours. She rated the food three stars.4
MICHELIN's inspectors: Innovative, serious and well-established, Wakuriya successfully blends a deep respect for the kaiseki tradition with a contemporary touch.1
Adrienne Mitchel, of Palo Alto Online and the Peninsula Foodist, on what surrounds it: No two- or three-Michelin-starred restaurants currently exist along the Peninsula.8

Good to know

Booking: call and leave a message. The line takes messages around the clock. There is no email and no online route.10 1
The star: one MICHELIN star in the 2026 California guide, and the only San Mateo room on that list.2 6 It held the star in 2025 too.7 The Peninsula list carried it back in December 2022.9
The door: a strip mall on De Anza Boulevard, out by Highway 92 and Interstate 280. A Safeway is the neighbor.3
Sit at the counter if there is a seat. Erickson wrote that the cooks hand the plates straight across from there and answer your questions about each one.4
What it cost, and when: Nine courses ran $95 in January 2013, which Bauer called the deal of the decade, considering the care and quality of the preparations. Treat that as history. The restaurant publishes no menu.3
On how fresh this is: I have not found a review of a meal here newer than Bauer's, which ran in the Chronicle in January 2013.

Verdict

must-visit — It is the only San Mateo kitchen in the California star list, and the star is one man's. Locals who cannot get through on the phone turn up anyway, and Bauer saw them seated on the fly.