Kirimachi Ramen — Restaurant in San Francisco

We visited this restaurant on a January night in 2018. We asked the waitress if we could move to a different table that wasn't right behind the door so we wouldn't have to have a gust of cold air blown in our face every time someone left or entered the restaurant (Remember: It was January when we came here). There were a lot of open tables at the other end of the room, ones with good views and without doors opening and blowing gusts of wind, but the waitress simply told us that the tables were 'closed'. She didn't even specify if they were reserved or not; if they were reserved, there was no reserved sign on them, and I doubt that all twenty tables would be reserved. When we tried to say 'Okay', she interrupted us saying 'You can go to the other restaurant next door if you like'. Stunned, we sat down. I always consider grumpiness of staff and think 'maybe they've had a bad day with other customers'. So that's what we did. Also, the bathroom is in a whole different building where you have to walk approximately 150 feet, and go up a spiral of stairs. I know it doesn't sound that much of a walk, but consider. If you had to go to the bathroom really badly, hastily walk into a restaurant, get ordered by a waiter to sit in the table closest to the door, have to walk 150 feet, go up a spiral of stairs, then let it out, it wouldn't be ideal. 150 feet doesn't sound a lot, but picture this: The average US house is 971 square feet. The square root of 971 is 31 (approximately). So 31 is the length of the average US house (Its dimensions are 31 x 31). 150 is (again, approximately) 5 times 31. So imagine you had to walk through 5 HOUSES before you could use the restroom, AND have to walk up a flight of spiral stairs. Or you can do it in your pants, which I strongly don't suggest (especially if you're dating here) Plus, the waiters would have to clean up the seat that you sat on afterwards, and I don't think they would be very happy with that (maybe that's why the waiter was so grumpy in the first place). Then another innocent customer comes in (me), and gets snapped at by the waiter, and possibly smells wafts of urine and poo (the smell of NYC Subways) drifting amongst the closed tables (maybe that's why they're closed).

In conclusion, I give this restaurant a 4/5 rating

5/5 for the great design on the walls, great ramen noodles (I suggest you order the miso or sake), nice style of the table, decorative little trays of bamboo, etc. -2/5 for bad customer service -1/5 for faraway bathroom That's a 2/5. I forgive the waitress for the grumpiness because this restaurant does not deserve a 2/5, and hey, maybe someone did have to do it in their pants, so +2/5

That's a (VERY...

I don't want to sound like a ramen snob, but the ramen here just isn't that great - I've definitely had better. I had so much faith coming here, that I would finally find a decent ramen house in SF, but I guess the search has to continue. Why are there no good ramen houses in SF? If you know of one, PLEASE let me know! My only standards are that: 1) tonkatsu broth must be creamy, bold, flavorful, hearty, and basically a nicely liquified heart attack in a bowl, and 2) ramen noodles must be chewy. Is that so much to ask for....? :(

I've been eyeing this place for awhile, ever since it opened up and saw it on ScoutMob. Initially wanted to go to Umami Burger, but when we found out that it was closed during the holiday season, the bf and I decided to come here to give it a try. Called the place ahead of time to see how long of a wait it will be, and to find out that there's no wait at all. One annoying thing is that it's cash only, so we had to stop by an ATM to pull out cash. I don't think there's a store sign, so it was hard to locate the ramen house. When we arrived, there were only two tables being occupied. The owner (I believe) told us that only the tonkatsu broth was the only choice left, but that wasn't a problem because it's my go-to broth anyways! The chicken karaage was alright - it was a bit oily, but had nice flavor to it.

But who cares about anything but ramen at a ramen house? Let's cut to the chase... First, the broth was not flavorful at all to be considered "tonkatsu". It was just not fatty/meaty enough. You know you have some authentic tonkatsu broth when it quickly solidifies into fat when you're halfway through with the bowl of ramen. In addition, the spiciness totally masked the tonkatsu flavor, if there was any to begin with. Though I must say that the noodles weren't too bad, it was chewy at least.. and tasted a bit eggy? But it could've been better. The runny egg was cooked to a good consistency, but not impressive.

Ramen House Rankings: Daikokuya (Los Angeles) Butao Ramen (Hong Kong) Ramen Dojo (San Mateo) *

*There is a large enough gap between Ramen Dojo and Butao/Daikokuya that it's kind of unfair to place Ramen Dojo as 3rd. I'm just looking for that ramen house to fill that #3 spot! Will try Orenchi in Santa Clara next! Hope it won't disappoint! Listed in:...

Ramen in SF sucks. Bad. I've been to countless ramen joints in SF and they've all been meh (especially the ones in Japantown). Even Katana-ya's quality has deteriorated over the years. In fact, the best ramen in SF isn't even from a ramen restaurant, but rather an izakaya (Izakaya Sozai).

That's why I wasn't really expecting much from Kirimachi Ramen. Maybe my low expectations helped its case, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by how good the ramen is here. Don't get me wrong, it's nothing like the ramen in the Pennisula (e.g., Ramen Dojo) or the South Bay (e.g., Orenchi), but within the borders of San Francisco, it's pretty good.

The Tonkatsu Ramen had a good pork bone flavor. I wish the broth was a bit more piping-hot and I wish the noodles were a bit more al dente, but it was a good bowl of ramen nonetheless. They included shredded pork rather than pork slices, which is kind of weird, but the pork is definitely tender. The soft-boiled egg had the perfect gooey yolk.

Kirimachi should definitely be open later in the night, since the location is perfect for afterhours grubbing in the North Beach area. I mean, what better than a nice bowl of ramen for after getting dirty lapdances from Chlamydia-infested strippers or dancing all night at...