Barely three months after it shuttered, San Francisco’s gone-too-soon sushi sensation Ko is back from the dead — this time in a former pizzeria across town. It’s now called Party Pig, and its $25 all-you-can-eat-and-drink menu is nearly identical to its predecessor’s, right down to the warning to finish your food. 

Somehow, however, Party Pig is even cheaper than Ko — $19.95 per person during happy hour — and there’s hotpot, too.

Enticed once again by the promise of near-infinite bounty at an impossibly affordable price, The Standard visited last week, when Party Pig had been open for just six days. We noticed numerous resemblances to the much-missed Ko, which won such a cult following during its brief run on Mission that superfans routinely queued up before 4 p.m. for a seat at one of its seven tables. 

Party Pig has no website and no social media presence, but the owner, Eric Chen, is the same. And in contrast to Ko’s quirky interior, Party Pig’s new home is in a former Round Table, which you’ll know by the faux-neon “Fresh Salad” sign over what used to be a salad bar that has been slightly repurposed to make room for fish balls, fried tofu, and other tasty bits to dunk in broth.

Hotpot is, arguably, the star of the show, with soup base options that include kimchi miso, hakata tonkotsu, and vegetarian golden kabocha. Party Pig isn’t skimping on the meats, which lean toward upscale options like American wagyu and Kurobuta pork belly (“party pig,” indeed). There’s also “princess” chicken, which Chen says is merely a tongue-in-cheek Chinese term for free-range birds.

In terms of sushi, Party Pig is similar to its spiritual forebear, a smorgasbord of not-quite-omakase delights like rainbow and unagi avocado rolls and more premium items like bluefin tuna sashimi and hamachi toro nigiri. Don’t miss the Happy Spoon, a decadent trio of uni, scallop, and ikura in one slurpable bite. Takoyaki comes four octopus balls to an order. Yes, there is cheese corn.

There are a few key changes, however. To prevent people from over-ordering yakitori skewers and hand rolls — a habit that allegedly led to finger-wagging from Ko’s staff — Party Pig limits patrons to four items per customer per round. Instead of one happy hour, 4:30 to 6 p.m., there are two: Guests must either arrive for that first seating to snag the under-$20 deal or return between 9 and 11 p.m. At all other times, it’s $29.95 per person — incidentally, still cheaper than Ko’s $32 price point during its final days.

All of which begs the question: Can the Party Pig prosper where Ko could not? Chen believes he’s landed on the magic combination of location, square footage, and efficiency. Comparative lack of ambience be damned, Party Pig’s kitchen and dining room are both much larger, and Geary Boulevard is easier for more of his core customers to get to. A $20-per-person charge for exceeding 90 minutes and an unspecified levy on uneaten food may boost the margins, too.

After only a week, business is booming. “Yesterday was nonstop,” Chen says. “We had to cut off the line at midnight.”

Still, he admits, his partners are skeptical that the all-you-can-eat model is a dependable way to turn a profit. Chen, who owns several izakayas, as well as Nono Baru on Fillmore Street, is determined to prove them wrong. He’s offering a good time for people on a budget — something that never goes out of style. Plus, you no longer need to fake an illness and ditch work at 3:30 just to get some. 

Hear that, San Francisco? It’s once again time to pig out.