Kamei Kitchenware Store on Clement Street: Closed Sundays

Kamei Housewares & Restaurant Supply is the Inner Richmond kitchenware store where a restaurant's dish order and a home cook's single rice bowl share the same aisle. The shop sits at 525 Clement Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues, and the store stretches across a wide double frontage on that block. It opens Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and stays closed on Sunday, so plan a weekday or a Saturday visit.

Clement Street is often called San Francisco's second Chinatown, a stretch of produce markets, dim sum counters, bakeries and bookshops in the Inner Richmond. Kamei fits that block well. It is part housewares shop and part restaurant supply, with shelves that serve noodle shops and cafes as readily as they serve someone furnishing a first apartment. Yelp files it under restaurant supplies, while its Google listing calls it housewares and restaurant supply.

Reviewers describe the store as a place you walk into for one item and leave with several you never knew you needed. Its Yelp page shows more than 450 reviews and was updated in 2026, and the Google listing carries more than 200 reviews averaging 4.4 stars. The consistent thread across them is range: Asian and Western plates, bowls and mugs in volume, plus the odd kitchen tool you would struggle to find anywhere else in the city.

Tableware is the heart of the store. Reviewers point to aisles of plates, bowls and mugs in both Asian and Western styles, and Google reviews single out the extensive white tableware and Japanese ceramics. White dishware is the restaurant standard for a reason: it shows food well, matches across years of replacements and survives commercial dishwashers. Buying a stack here lets you build a matching set without paying boutique prices for each plate.

For a Japanese or Chinese table, look for the smaller pieces that general department stores rarely carry: rice bowls in several sizes, shallow dipping dishes, small sauce plates and lidded bowls. Check each piece for chips and glaze runs before you carry it to the register, since high-volume stock means occasional seconds slip into a stack. Buy one or two extras of anything you plan to use daily, because a matching replacement may not be on the shelf next year.

The restaurant supply side of the business shows up in the cookware. Google reviewers mention restaurant-grade stock pots and giant whisks, the kind of equipment that turns making broth for a crowd from a chore into a routine. A tall stockpot that holds bones for pho or ramen broth is one of the best upgrades a serious home cook can make, and this is a store where sizes go well beyond what a mall kitchen shop stocks.

Before buying a large pot, measure the space between your burners and the cabinet or hood above, and lift the empty pot to feel its weight, since a full commercial stockpot gets very heavy. Heavy-duty whisks, ladles, strainers and sheet pans are the other easy wins, as are rice-related tools for anyone cooking Asian staples every day. Restaurant gear tends to be plain and sturdy rather than pretty, which is exactly the point.

Part of the fun is the oddball inventory. Shoppers on Google mention sink drain covers and plastic fake food displays, the glossy replica dishes that restaurants put in windows to show the menu. Older coverage from 7x7 recalled rooster-shaped cookie cutters and giant rice dispensers on the shelves. Inventory turns over, so treat these as examples of the store's range rather than a shopping list.

These finds make Kamei a good stop for gifts as well as basics. A small set of matching Japanese ceramics, a novelty mold or a replica dish for a food-loving friend costs far less here than at a design shop. Give yourself time to walk every aisle, because the most memorable items are often stacked on a low shelf or tucked behind larger boxes, and the store rewards anyone willing to look carefully.

Our honest take: skip the knife case if you are after a serious Japanese blade. Several Google reviewers note disappointment with the knife selection, and a dedicated cutlery shop will serve you better for an expensive knife. Kamei's strength is volume tableware, pots and kitchen tools. Some reviewers also describe uneven customer service, so arrive knowing roughly what you want and be ready to find it yourself.

Weekday mornings right after the 10 am opening are the easiest time to move through the narrow aisles. Saturday is the only weekend day the store opens, so anyone who works weekdays ends up shopping then, and the floor feels busier as a result. If Saturday is your only option, come at opening and do the bulky items first. Bring a sturdy bag or a box for ceramics.

Clement Street makes it easy to turn a supply run into an afternoon. Green Apple Books, one of the city's best-loved independent bookstores, sits a short walk away on the same street, with new and used titles, including cookbooks. Produce markets along Clement sell Asian greens, herbs and fruit at low prices, which pairs naturally with a new wok or rice pot from the store.

For a longer walk, head south down 6th or 7th Avenue for about ten minutes to reach Golden Gate Park, where the de Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences face each other across the Music Concourse. The 2 Clement bus runs along Clement Street itself, and the 38 Geary on Geary Boulevard, one block south, connects the neighborhood with downtown.

Address: 525 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA 94118, between 6th and 7th Avenues in the Inner Richmond. Hours: Monday to Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, closed Sunday. Prices are not published online, so budget by browsing in person. Bring your own bag for heavy items, and allow at least 45 minutes to walk the full store. Pair the visit with lunch on Clement Street and a stop at the produce markets on the same block.