Majikku Ramen — Restaurant in Daly City

It's honestly a wonder to me that this spot has 4.2 stars. I don't really think they should call themselves a ramen place because it doesn't feel very ramen focused to me. There's a ton of stuff on their menu that I think they should probably just cut. I believe a short simple menu is the ticket to success. Do a few things very well. They're trying to do it all and it shows in their ramen quality (or lack thereof). It is fine in terms of sustenance but it was bland, sad, generally lacking the rich experience I crave from ramen.

I ordered the tonkatsu ramen with extra egg, black fungus(kikurage mushrooms), and seaweed.

I'll go through each ingredient:

Tonkatsu broth: Bland, sad, not rich or flavorful as I expect tonkatsu to be. As if it were prepackaged almost. Needed to be hotter.

Noodles: Again, bland, overcooked, and screamed prepackaged dry (think top ramen) at me. I suppose prepackaged is fine under the right circumstances but I know you can get fresh noodles in Daly City, CA there's no exuse. I will also say, I cannot actually prove their noodles are prepackaged. It just seemed like it to me. If they are fresh, they're not cooking or handing it right. Their noodle quality is one of two main tells that this place is a Ramen spot in name only.

Kikurage Mushrooms: They were fine if not cut a little big for my liking

Tamago: These are typically made in advance then served in the ramen to my understanding. It was simultaneously overcooked and lukewarm in the middle. They had no distinct flavor. This, in my mind, is the most egregious offense and the second tell. Don't mess with the tamago.

Seaweed: They forgot to put it on. Hard to mess seaweed up though so I'd imagine it'd have been fine.

Green onions: Fine

Pickled ginger: Surprisingly these were the only glimmer of good flavor and excitement in this dish. Pretty sure they were prepackaged too. Not a big deal

Bambooshoots: Sad, just sad. They taste like they were trying to get rid of these for several days. Horrible.

Pork cutlets: Fine, if not a little bland.

The atmosphere was no frills, and kind of bizarre if I'm being totally honest. It wasn't horrible but it felt wierd for sure . The wait staff is the only reason I give an additional star. They were polite and fast. Nothing special but no demerits.

Honestly if everything else was more flavorful I could have forgiven the broth being bland but everything in harmony was sad. Don't eat here unless you're sad or...

So we opted for Ramen noodles today and were not disappointed. Cozy and clean interior with an expansive menu from rice plates to different types of noodle bowls.

Customer service was a bit lacking but, adequate. As for most Asian restaurants usually English is their second language and is understandable. We had an issue because we ordered a seafood pancake entree and did not see or taste much seafood and the staff had a hard time explaining to us how the seafood was presented within the dish. We won’t order that item again though...total rip off...IMO The Curry Katsu Ramen was delicious!

Due to the location of being next to the 99 Ranch supermarket and other restaurants parking is a complete nightmare. So if you plan on visiting here or any other establishment in this shopping center plan accordingly.

Forgot to mention, if you come Monday thru Friday they have lunch specials that include a choice...

We were shopping at the skyline plaza and saw this restaurant inside the mall. But most importantly, they had both okonomiyaki and ramen. We ordered beef modan okonomiyaki and tonkatsu ramen. The okonomiyaki was good but a bit bland. It was loaded with bonita flakes, had a runny egg in the middle with a lot of noodles and the beef pancake. We did enjoy it but it just didn’t have the intensity of Okonomiyaki in Japan. Similarly, the ramen was adequate and the noodles were fresh and chewy. The broth was a bit bland and one dimensional. The service was excellent and attentive. If I could rate the food to one decimal point, it would be 3.8 with service a 5 and...