Hokkaido Ramen Santouka — Restaurant in San Diego

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka – Hearty Hokkaido Ramen Inside Mitsuwa

Located inside Mitsuwa Marketplace, Hokkaido Ramen Santouka is a popular ramen stop, especially during weekend peak hours, drawing in a steady flow of customers. Despite the crowds, seating is usually available on weekdays, and the system is efficient and self-service—order at the counter, grab a number, and wait for it to be called. The cleaning staff works quickly, resetting tables almost immediately after customers leave.

While the menu may seem extensive, it’s essentially a combination of different ramen broths (salt, soy sauce, miso, spicy miso) and topping sets—Regular (2 slices of cha-siu), Cha-siu (extra pork), or Toroniku (pork cheek). Bowl sizes include small, medium, and large, and there are side dishes like rice bowls and extra soft-boiled eggs. Rice bowl toppings range from plain, natto, negi, sake & ikura, mentaiko to char-siu.

I ordered the Spicy Miso Ramen (medium) with a natto rice bowl combo (#106). The broth was rich, hearty, and flavorful, with tender noodles, black fungus, and bamboo shoots. The cha-siu portions felt a bit small compared to the generous amount of noodles. The natto rice was flavorful, though the natto seemed slightly over-frozen and icy at first. However, pairing the rice with leftover ramen broth worked surprisingly well.

This is a carb-heavy meal, especially if you go for both ramen and a rice bowl, so a small-sized ramen might be a more balanced choice. One limitation is the lack of appetizers like karaage or gyoza, likely due to the shared food court kitchen.

Overall, it’s a solid spot for rich, comforting ramen with efficient service and reasonable combo pricing. Ideal for a quick, filling meal while...

Located in the Mitsuwa Market, this is one of two Japanese eateries to the side. This one has ramen and a few rice dishes to complement the ramen. They have the plastic food in front, but it's a little confusing on what the menu exactly is. At the register, there's a les overwhelming list of items, but it either comes down to if you only want a bowl of ramen and which size, or if you want a ramen combo. The portion size is reasonable.

I got the #73 combo ($13.47), which is miso ramen, the soy sauce egg, and a rice bowl with fermented beans. It came out in less than 10 minutes, and the quality and presentation of the food is very good. The rice bowl was quite tasty, the rice is cooked well and the beans were not sour or too bitter. The ramen has great taste, the broth was not too salty, but still is a bit, and there's a good portion of noodles and the other ingredients.

I think this is a great try, it's one of the better tasting...

Nice little ramen spot located inside Mitsuwa Market.

Ordered the Shoyu Ramen with Ikura rice bowl. The broth was rich and flavorful. Noodles were nice and chewy and paired well with the rest of the ramen. Definitely no complaints when it comes to that. The Ikura was also great.

The toppings were also quite good for the most part. The pork chashu cuts while nice and fatty was just a bit too chewy. Egg was seasoned well but just a little too hard boiled to my taste. That's just my personal opinion but I'm sure most people will still love how delicious the rest of the ramen is.

Even though it's not my personal favorite I would still highly recommend this place if you're craving some quick tasty ramen.

Update 3/24 Their Toroniku ramen is my new favorite. Pork cheek meat was very fatty and flavorful when soaked in the hot broth. Paired well with the rest of the toppings and noodles.

Broth 5/5 Noodles 4.5/5 Toppings...