Nozaru Ramen Bar — Restaurant in San Diego

The decor and food were great but the layout / process of the restaurant detracted from the dining experience. First, the check-in counter is located at the back of the restaurant so in order to check in, a guest must pass through the dining room. I was told by one staff member that there would a 30-40 minute wait and to put my name on a list and then immediately told by another staff member that there would be a 15 minute wait, and the staff would call me when the table was ready. As I was contemplating the wait time, I was immediately told that I couldn't wait at the counter and I needed to wait outside. I put my name on the wait list and went next door to wait. After 20 minutes, I returned to check on my wait status and noticed the restaurant was less than half full and patrons were walking in and being seated. Upon inquiring, I was promptly seated. While seated, I faced a table in the center of the dining room that was clearly the focus and priority of the restaurant operations. It's where all the take-away orders were placed. People from delivery services were constantly coming, going, and milling about in the dining room (even though I as a guest was told I couldn't wait in the restaurant), which unfortunately killed my dining-in vibe. The restaurant needs to be re-organized to separate the dining experience from the check-in and take-away processes. The check-in counter should be at the front of the restaurant, along with the food to-go storage. This will allow the dining room to once again be a dining room and until then I won't dine at Nozaru...

After two visits, both ordering to go, we've had a fairly mixed bag experience. The biggest perk of this place is their celiac-friendly options both in ramen and sushi. The different types of ramen are nice to mix your flavors and textures. Noodles are thick and full. Broth is deep in flavor and savory (tonkatsu/pork). And the additions are a nice shape and size, balanced quantity as well.

The second time, I found a short, thin, curly black hair in the bottom of my ramen. Do with that what you will, but I'm glad it was at the end because I was done anyway. Service staff at front desk were rushed and seemed grouchy, but it can be forgiven considering the holiday hours we visited. Its not the best situation to have to work.

Not sure if we'll order out again after hearing both on the phone as we ordered and in-person complaints about that portion of their business. We would hate for the staff to be the reason we don't come back. Hoping this is an anomaly considering how rare such occurrences in our broader visit of...

I wanted to really like this place. If you see I give the food a solid 3 stars. This was my issue.

I along with some other customers came in at 8:30 pm. So that is a whole half an hour pre-closing time listed.

We were told by the guy behind the counter that they don't take orders for sitting after 8:30...nowhere did it state this. People that followed me in line who arrived at 8:45 pm were told they couldn't order because the kitchen was closed.

In all the restaurants I've cooked at the ordering process doesn't end until the front doors close and then the kitchen can close. Sure the breakdown can start before it. Yet, I've never gone to a place where the kitchen closes down half hour before closing time.

I think this is a great place but the manager or whoever owns the place has to put a hard rule in place. If you want to close at 8:30 then put that on the front door and lock the door at 8:30 pm

My two pennies. I just found it rude and lacking professionally. I hope this...