Waraku — Restaurant in San Francisco

My youngest son turned me on to Waraku. Told me it was "different" from our regular "ramen joint". We were first in at opening. The young lady that served us was very soft spoken so it was a lil difficult to understand her but her friendliness and level of "cuteness" made up for that. Now listen... this is "different". Their ramen is made with a "bone broth" that I imagine is cultivated the same as sourdough bread (Google the process) It was DELICIOUS! So delicious that I went in strictly as a spectator as my son was hungry and I was not... I tasted his ramen (this is very telling as he is not one to share but it was so good and different from the norm that he WANTED me to taste it)... I tasted his ramen and was so turned on by the bone broth flavor, I ordered one for myself purely for flavor and not for hunger. Here's where it gets tricky... One of the great challenges for any restaurant is consistency. I failed to mention the ramen has a roasted garlic component. On My sons dish... it was PERFECT! I guess they rushed mine as the garlic was just over the burn line. Instead of roasted, my garlic was burned. As much as I tried to muscle thru it as I didn't want a refire and really wanted to have the bone broth win the flavor battle... the burned garlic won. Shoulda sent it back. Ate half and took it home. A lil water and soy sauce fixed it right up! Meanwhile, their "MACHA FLAN (?)"?! THA BOMB!!😲. NOT TOO "MACHAY" DIDN'T TASE LIKE I WAS EATING GRASS WHICH WAS MY FEAR WHEN I ORDERED IT. really, it rocked. Overall, something special here at WARAKU!! Definitely going to give them a second try and would suggest it to anyone that asked. That's why I took the time for this. That and hopefully the owners/cooks see this and balance the garlic roast a lil better cause if it wasn't for the overpowering effect of the burnt garlic... this would 5+ stars! Give WARAKU a...

My friends and I wanted ramen after shopping in Japantown and wanted to go somewhere I haven't gone before. We found Waruku and immediately wanted to try it. The place is small and has a clean, modern aesthetic. Staff were quick to seat us and take our order.

We got a bunch of appetizers to start. The gyoza was fine, not bad but not great. The chicken karaage was very good. It was moist and freshly cooked. Dipping it in the mayo added even more flavor. We also got brussel sprouts. I normally don't like brussel sprouts but these hit different. They were fried, doused in sauce, and covered in bonito flakes. It was crisp and full of salty flavor from the sauce and flakes.

Then I had my bowl of ramen: the Black Garlic Tonkatsu DX. It looked fantastic! Filled to the brim with toppings. I was a big fan of the chunk of marinated pork. It was so tender and you can tell that it has been marinated for a very long time. The egg was perfectly soft boiled and added creaminess to an already creamy tonkatsu broth. I only wish there was an option to add spice or that there was hot oil. The spice on the table added more flavor but not enough heat.

The dessert was really delicious! We ordered the Black Sesame Mont Blanc. The sesame cream in top had a tasty roasted sesame flavor and inside was a cream and cake. It wasn't overly sweet and was a great end to a delicious meal.

I left Waruku feeling satisfied and recommend checking it out if you haven't already. Definitely get the...

Showed up around 6:30 on a Friday night and was seated immediately. Although the restaurant quickly filled up after we arrived so there may be a short wait at times. I ordered the black garlic tonkatsu DX($19.50), my lady ordered the tonkatsu DX($18.50), we also got Takoyaki(happy hour $4.50) and Age Gyoza(happy hour $4.50)appetizers. The gyoza had a nice pan fried crunchy exterior with a great bite to it. The sauce it came with was bold and soy sauce based, the Takoyaki stole the show for me with the appetizers. The octopus was well prepared and tender, the filling was exceptionally rich compared to others, don't miss this if you like takoyaki. The ramen was amazing as well, the broth was rich and had deep flavor that clung to the noodles almost perfectly. Noodles had a good balance of firmness and bite to them and never went soggy before we finished. There were also a garlic press at the table which I had not seen before and, as I prefer heavy garlic in everything I eat, I quite enjoyed. The Chashu and Pork belly were tender enough to 'cut' with chopsticks. Portions were filling, my only complaint would be that the egg was far past overcooked, it ran so tough I had to take it out of the ramen and use a spoon to cut it open at which point a hard yolk fell out whole. I may have just had bad luck there though, everything else about this place was incredible and I would absolutely...