RAKIRAKI Ramen & Tsukemen — Restaurant in San Diego

Hello ^^. Just tried this restaurant. I will start by saying that I have been to 100+ Ramen/Tsukemen restaurant in the Tokyo area since I lived there before so i am pretty harsh when it comes to this! Got the Tsukemen with the black soup but it came as a separate container that you pour in. I have never seen this before! I expected the soup to be black already like many restaurants in Japan so maybe a heads up on the menu would be good. Also tooth picks at each table would be a nice touch ^^.

Time to be served: (1/10) Around 40 minutes! 🫠 if you are in a rush this ain't the place.

Taste: (4/10) Tsukemen was alright. I would say it is a good baseline but nothing too unique or special about it that makes it stand apart. Also it would be very nice if there was an option to have 冷たい vs 温かい. I really like always having my tsukemen cold noodles so when it came hot noodles was a bit disappointed!! I think there's not really a point to sell tsukemen with hot noodles if you can just get ramen 😅

Atmosphere/service:(8/10) pretty cool interior and staff were nice.

Price: (4/10) Very expensive for the portion of noodles you get. Would say the portion is on the lower scale compared to most other places I have been and for the price should be a bit more generous!

I know that yall just opened so gonna come back later and remake my review to hopefully be better. I will try the Katsudon next time.

Edit: I tried the Katsudon and it's the most mid katsu I ever had in my life. ...

Declining quality is unacceptable for the premium they’re commanding.

We ordered spicy tonkatsu ramen and a signature shoyu and chicken katsu don. Both of our ramen orders came with very dried-out thin slices of kurabuto pork belly. They were not fresh and moist as one would expect of pork belly. They were thin yet firm in texture and a few steps away from jerky. This is simply inexcusable when you’re paying $25 for a medium bowl of ramen. I don’t know what the deal is, but the meat texture was clearly well past its prime and hardly enjoyable. It ruined the bowls of ramen. Also the signature shoyu was too salty I had to add a half cup of hot water to dilute it. Also one of the bowls I paid extra for “dipping” noodles however they were identical to the other bowl so what was that extra charge for if it was the same darn noodles? I’m beginning to thing they’re trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

Anyway I’ve eaten here at least a dozen times and have noticed a steady decline in quality.

The only reason I actually kept coming back was because my company was footing the bill. Otherwise this place is way overpriced for this quality of dishes.

Given the lack of selection in my area, I have hopes they take my criticism constructively and do better to consistently deliver the level of quality customers expect at such prices. Because for tonight’s meal, I’m feeling...

A rather small venue for a restaurant, they had about 20 customers when I arrived. I expected to be called from the wait list rather promptly. Instead we waited for a half hour, did not get contacted when a table became available, so we went in without invitation, but were seated thankfully.

Hereafter we were informed that only Ramen could be served and nothing else was available on the menu in case our group had anybody with dietary restrictions as the kitchen was ‘overwhelmed’. I hadn’t realized that it was overwhelming to serve a rather small venue. Two of our group members were elderly diabetics, so ramen and noodles were no an option. Instead I phoned the Mira Mesa location to be informed that they have space and are serving everything on the menu.

I’ve had fantastic experiences at the Raki Raki’s I’ve been to, specifically the Kearny Mesa and Mira Mesa locations. They have a reputation for serving great food and quickly.

I don’t expect this branch to find success, perhaps because of it’s tucked away location, however more so because of the limited space they have available for a smaller group of customers that they seem incapable of serving. Poor form for an otherwise very...