i've had the pleasure of going to some good sushi restaurants in north america and sushi sam in sanmateois one of them. in total i have been here three times now. the first time it absolutely blew me away. what were my impressions the next two times? it just reaffirmed my belief that this is one of the best sushi restaurants not in japan. located approximately 30 minutes away from san francisco, the restaurant appears unassuming from the outside. we went this time on a friday afternoon for lunch and it was packed. as always, we sat at the sushi bar so that we could see how the chef works. throughout the lunch you could tell that he was meticulous in his preparation and his hands were very quick. he was always on the go, preparing nigiri after nigiri. we ordered the omikase to test the freshness of the fish. let's just say