Japanese Restaurant Near Me in SoMa: Cafe Okawari's Weekday Katsu Lunch

Cafe Okawari is closed on Saturday and Sunday, so it is a weekday restaurant only, open Monday to Friday from 10:30 am to 7:30 pm. It sits at 236 Townsend Street in SoMa, two blocks from the Caltrain station at Fourth and King, and its chicken katsu curry costs $18.50. If you need a japanese restaurant near me between a train and a ballgame, this counter is built for that hour.

Cafe Okawari opened in the fall of 2019 in the space that had been Durso Cafe and Juice Bar, according to Hoodline's roundup of new cafes that October. It arrived with katsu sandwiches, chirashi bowls, donburi and a breakfast of tamago kake gohan made with a jidori egg yolk. The name means a second helping in Japanese, the word you use when you ask for more rice.

Seven years later the menu has narrowed to the dishes that sell. The Infatuation gave it an 8.5 in its 2022 review and still lists it in its best Japanese restaurants guide, updated in September 2026, and its best Japanese curry guide. The room is plant-filled and minimal, with white walls, wood tables and a counter where you place your order and take a number.

The chicken katsu sando starts at $16.50. It is a fried chicken thigh, not breast, under a neat stack of shredded cabbage, with sweet katsu sauce and mayonnaise, pressed between thick slices of soft milk bread. Thigh keeps the inside juicy, and the cabbage cuts the richness. The Infatuation's reviewer wrote that the sandwich gave her butterflies, and it is the order that most first-timers come for.

If you want a full plate instead, the chicken katsu plate costs $20.50 and the chicken katsu curry costs $18.50. The curry is a thick, mild Japanese roux, and the katsu cutlet sits on top so the crust stays crisp for the first few bites. A korroke curry with fried potato croquettes is $15.50, the best value plate on the board for a vegetarian-leaning lunch.

Beef gyudon costs $19, thin beef simmered with onion in a sweet soy broth over rice. The spicy tuna don at $17.50 is the cold option and the one to pick on a warm day. Teriyaki chicken is $15.50. Add an onsen tamago, a soft egg cooked slowly in its shell, for $8.50, or a jidori poached egg for $3, which is the cheaper way to get yolk over your rice.

Plain curry and rice costs $9, the cheapest plate in the room, and it is a real lunch when money is tight. Miso soup is $4.50, a side of rice is $3.50, and assorted pickles are $2. An honest call: skip the $12 Okawari salad unless you are splitting a sando, because the restaurant's strength is fried food and rice, not greens.

The drinks are part of the cafe identity. House-made yuzu soda starts at $4.50, a hojicha latte is $6.50 and a strawberry matcha latte is $7. Online orders can only get the hojicha and strawberry matcha drinks iced, a rule printed in the item names, so order hot drinks in person. Green tea costs $3, and a can of Mexican Mineragua is $4.

The cafe also sells beer and sake: Asahi at $6 and a cup of honjozo dry sake at $6. The sake is a link to the early days, when Hoodline reported in 2019 that the cafe turned into a sake bar on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. A fruit sando costs $12, whipped cream and cut fruit in milk bread, and it often sells out; the online menu marked it out of stock in October 2026. An egg salad sando with jidori egg costs $13 if you want something lighter than katsu.

There are no reservations. You walk in, order at the counter, and find a seat, indoors or at the outdoor tables. Between noon and 1 pm the room fills with office workers on lunch breaks, and The Infatuation noted that solo diners often settle into a corner with a book. The quietest hours are right at 10:30 am opening and after 2 pm.

Online ordering through the cafe's Square site works for pickup and is the smart move on a Giants game day, when Townsend Street fills with fans heading to the ballpark. Order ahead, walk two blocks, and eat before the gates open. The cafe closes at 7:30 pm, which covers most evening first pitches but not a late dinner after the game.

Oracle Park is about a ten minute walk east, along Townsend toward the water. South Park, the small oval green between Second and Third streets, is closer, about four blocks away, and is a good place to eat a sando outdoors on a sunny day. The Caltrain terminal at Fourth and King makes this an easy lunch stop if you are heading down the Peninsula.

If Okawari is closed, which happens every weekend, the Ferry Building and its Japanese deli counter are a twenty minute walk north along the Embarcadero. On a weekday, though, there is no reason to leave Townsend Street: two people can eat a sando, a curry and two drinks here for well under $60.

Address: Cafe Okawari, 236 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, in SoMa. Hours from the official site: Monday to Friday 10:30 am to 7:30 pm, closed Saturday and Sunday. Transit: Caltrain and the Muni Metro N and T lines at Fourth and King, about two blocks away. Ordering: counter service, no reservations, online pickup.

Prices from the official online menu: chicken katsu sando from $16.50, chicken katsu curry $18.50, chicken katsu plate $20.50, beef gyudon $19, spicy tuna don $17.50, korroke curry $15.50, curry and rice $9, egg salad sando $13. Ask the Karpo APP for a weekday lunch near the ballpark or Caltrain.