BESHOCK Ramen East Village — Restaurant in San Diego

I try out ramen restaurants whenever I travel, from the street stalls of Fukuoka to fusion ramen of Zurich, I slurp shamelessly whenever I can. Most of the time, I just want a sense of satisfaction, but occasionally, you find some exceptional joint that you just remember your experience forever. BeShock is one of them.

I visited BeShock multiple times during my short stay in SD. The atmosphere was relaxed, with a trendy and casual vibe. I found a spot at the bar among other friendly regulars and was quickly greeted by the sake master and the bartender. I ordered Spicy Miso ramen for my first visit, but later on, I also tried Chicken Koji Ramen, and even Gorgonzola Cheese Ramen before I hopped on my flight back home! All their broth were mellow but complex. You can taste the subtle sweetness from the vegetables and mushrooms, richness from the long hours of boiling from bones and melted cartilage, and light saltiness from the soy sauce. The fact that I can have multiple ramen in my short stay without feeling fat or suffering an MSG attack have confirmed the quality of their broth. Each piece of slow-cooked pork and chicken were charred with blow torch individually right in front of you behind the kitchen glass. The noodle was always al dente. Although the Spicy Miso has oddly short noodles that confused me a bit, the texture was always on point. After all, they just consistently delivered a very solid bowl of ramen.

Their appetizers and desserts were equally impressive. Shrimp roll was very much like Vietnamese egg roll with a Japanese twist of Shiso leafs in it. Koji fried chicken was juicy and incredibly crunch. My favorite of all, Bagna Cauda. Yes. The garlic miso anchovies dip was divine. I really think they should package it as nacho dip and sell it nationwide. Lastly, I would highly recommend their shaved ice. I tried the Strawberry Tiramisu. The ice was so soft and fine, and just reminded me of my favorite shaved ice spot in Hawaii. Finally, the highlight of my visit was definitely their sake (and beer). Their sake master, Ayaka, was knowledgeable, friendly and attentive. Anyway, here is the list of beer/sake I tried. All of them were exceptional and Ayaka was able to tell the story behind each brand.

-- Tsuyu Saison. A collaboration between Stone Brewing, Coedo (Japan), and Garage Project (New Zealand). A Saison brewed with plums and shiso, and aged in Chardonnay barrels.

-- ENTER. Sake Black. Sake curated from the world famous DJ Richie Hawtin.

-- Silver Mountain. Brewed by Tedorigawa Yoshida Sake Brewery. The "Netflix sake" from their documentary "The birth of Sake"

Ramen is about the experience and BeShock delivered, and they have so much more to offer than ramen alone. Don't go in and immediately order your "usual" and compare it to your favorite spot in town. The menu can be a bit overwhelming but the overall experience is an adventure to the interesting tastes of Japan. Talk to the staff. Ask them questions about their sake and ramen. They are very proud of what they do and I am sure they will be glad to explain anything, just like...

Went to BESHOCK Ramen and showed up with 8 people on Sunday night around 7 P.M. I want to start off by saying that the food is excellent. The ramen, the Sushi ans the shrimp salad that we ordered were all presented beautifully made and excellent in flavor. When we arrived at the restaurant, we had to wait for roughly around 20 minutes for our table which wasn't bad. We informed our server before ordering that we needed three separate checks and she let us know that there was a four check maximum in the restaurant which was fine as well.

When she eventually came back we were all ready with our orders and helped her to separate the orders. Most of our group ordered some sort of ramen and ordered as an appetizer eel rolls or something simple and here is one of the places where I dropped one star.

The ramen orders came out very quickly but everything else that we ordered that should have come out first came out about 10 minutes or so after the ramen and so some people were done with their Ramen while others of us had not gotten our sushi. This is a survivable situation , although not preferable. The other reason I drop a star off of the review is because when we first got there and told the young lady that we were a party of 8, she looked around saw that she was full and then asked us in a not-so-friendly way, "Do you have a reservation??.

Well, obviously we didn't have a reservation otherwise we would have told her that as soon as we entered. We were then informed in a discouraging tone of voice that the wait "could be a while". Now if I'm an owner or manager and I see eight people come in they're going to spend roughly $20 to $40 per person I would be happy to find some way to seat them as quickly as possible or find some way to encourage them to stay but NEVER discourage them by telling them it's going to be a while.

I have worked in this business as a restaurant manager and also an owner at one time. In our case our server at no time ever tried to upsell us on appetizers or alcohol and so the restaurant lost another $100 or more in beer and wine sales. I don't attribute this failure to the server as much as I do the management. I never at any point saw a manager on the floor or at least nobody came by to greet us a rather large party But as is my practice I'll go back and I'll give it another shot hopefully with the same people and see if they can do a little...

What's crazy is I've lived in the East Village for nearly three years and had never tried Beshock until now. But I'm so glad I did.

Service was excellent (thank you, Chris!), the food was delicious, all set in a rustic, modern, charming dining space.

I went for lunch and was blown away by their lunch sets. You basically pick an entrée and then choose a side, pork bun, curry rice bowl, or temaki hand roll, priced from $15 to $25. Of course, this is plenty for lunch, but me being me, I ordered a few extras.

I started with the Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice. Delicious, although the rice could have been crispier (it was kind of gummy). The Yellowtail Crudo was excellent. Their dressing was so light it let the taste of the fish shine through, and it did. Rounding out the appetizers were their stellar Housemade Pork Gyoza, so plump and oh-so juicy! Almost on par with a soup dumpling, just incredible.

For lunch, I chose the Tonkotsu Black Ramen and a Mini Pork Chashu Bowl. In hindsight, I shouldn't have done this, it was just too much pork. Both were delicious on their own, with bouncy noodles and a perfectly cooked egg in the ramen. But together, it was overload. Next time, I'll choose something lighter to pair with the ramen. In any case, both dishes were expertly made.

After skipping most of the mini bowl, I ordered a Black Tiger Rainbow Roll, and I'm glad I did. Rainbow rolls are my favorite, and this one was up there in terms of freshness and execution. What really stood out was how crisp and crunchy the cucumbers were. Usually, they're slimy and flavorless, but here they excelled and were a major player, rather than just supporting cast.

Beshock also has a rotating IPA tap, which is great if you like trying new beers. I had the Tarantula Brewery Hazy IPA, smooth with a surprisingly low IBU for a hazy. I hope it's still available next time I visit.

Now that I know Beshock is only a few blocks from my place, I'm happy to say I'll probably become a regular. I'm looking at...