Ujin — Restaurant in San Diego

My husband and I are ramen lovers and were excited to check out this new restaurant from when we heard about it on Eater. Also all the photos of the food looked great! However, expectations fell short.

Reading some of the other reviews, we asked for our noodles to be hard.

The single waitress was very kind and apologetic when she needed to move us to another table 15 minutes we had already been seated there.

I asked the waitress between the classic shio or shoyu and she said the shio was more for people who want it with beef and her personal favorite was the classic shoyu.

Although there was only 1 other party dining, our ramen took over 20 minutes to come out and the chicken Karage appetizer came out when we were almost finished eating our ramen.

Classic Tokyo shoyu ramen (3/5) - Solid - the truffle flavor was nice and broth was well seasoned (not too salty like commonly at other ramen restaurants). The egg was perfectly jammy cooked, chashu was tender thick and flavorful, and the chicken breast was nice. However the noodles were still soft. Some of the bamboo was a little tough.

Spicy mushroom pork ramen (2.5/5) - because these noodles were thicker, they were more firm and had nice bite/chew. The flavor was a very muted version of other ramen shop’s similar spicy fermented paste ramen.. and although it’s called spicy, it wasn’t spicy at all! And there wasn’t any spice on the side to make it spicy.

Karage chicken (2/5) - it looked amazing in photos and amazing when it came out, but needs serious improvement. The batter doesn’t stick and falls off so that as you’re chewing it, the batter separates from the chicken and you’re stuck with eating a very crunchy dry batter by itself. I agree with another review that the sauce is so salty and unusual. To me it almost had that Szechuan pepper taste to it, which I did not like. However the chicken pieces themselves were big and juicy.

Decor - modern, futuristic, and interesting to look at. They played 90s hip hop music. It got noisy when more people filled...

Japanese food is one of the reasons we love going to Japan, so being able to eat good Japanese food without having to fly to Japan is great!

This restaurant is located in a small shopping center near UTC surrounded by a few different apartment complexes.

Parking is limited and the parking spaces are small, but we've never had issues finding parking. The restaurant is located in the corner next to a Thai restaurant.

There are roughly 5 small tables, 1 larger community table, and a handful of bar seating on the inside with a few small tables outside.

Our server seated us right away and took our order after about 5 minutes. She was nice and tried to be attentive, but it became busy as the night went on, so we barely saw our server. The food took about 25 minutes to come out and our ramen came out way before the appetizer.

As for the flavor of the ramen, the Shoyu had good soy and truffle flavor and was not too salty. We asked for firm noodles and the noodles came out medium, not soft or firm. The pork, chicken, and egg were well cooked, tender, and flavorful. The spicy pork ramen was NOT spicy at all, but had decent pork and mushroom flavor. The noodles were thicker and more firm than the shoyu, granted we asked for firm noodles as well.

The karage looked really good, but the batter was inconsistent with areas of no batter. The sauce was interesting and way too salty. I had to drink several glasses of water after our meal because my kidneys were screaming hypernatremia.

Would I recommend this place if you lived in the area and had not other options? Uhhh they need to fix a few things first before I can do that. UTC has way better options, so they have to step up...

Stepping into Ujin, one is struck by the deliberate elegance of the setting—a thoughtfully curated interior that primes the diner for a memorable gastronomic journey. Despite my initial disappointment due to the absence of their acclaimed tsukemen, the choice I made instead proved to be serendipitous.

Opting for the classic Tokyo shoyu ramen, I found it to be a revelation. Though more basic in nature, the quality was unmistakable. The noodles shone brightly, their freshness and the meticulous attention to detail in their preparation resonating in each bite—a culinary craftsmanship worthy of accolade. The broth was delicately balanced, flavorful yet refined, cradling the tender, charred chashu pork which infused the dish with a distinctive, smoky essence.

While the pricing at Ujin is reasonable by local standards for a bowl of ramen, it’s a stretch to imagine paying the equivalent of 3000 yen for such a dish in Japan—highlighting a disparity in global culinary economics. This touch of realism aside, my experience has certainly laid the groundwork for a return visit. When I next cross Ujin’s threshold, should the tsukemen rise to the high standard set by their shoyu ramen, I will be ready to award that final, elusive star. Until then, the quest for culinary...