Momosan Santana Row — Restaurant in San Jose

A longtime favorite that truly let us down tonight.

This is my first Google review ever, and I wish it were under better circumstances. I’ve been a huge fan of Momosan since it opened on Santana Row—my mom and I have been regulars here from the start, literally watching the restaurant go up brick by brick. It’s one of her favorite spots, so we made a reservation for Mother’s Day dinner without hesitation.

We were seated promptly and placed a simple order: two Diet Cokes, a hot tea (which never came), a Coke, water, one edamame, one soft shell bao, and five ramens. Drinks and appetizers arrived without issue, and as always, they were delicious. But then came the long wait.

We noticed three tables seated after us received their ramen before we did. We stayed patient, assuming a delay—but then our server came by to ask if we wanted dessert. We politely reminded her we hadn’t even gotten our main courses. She rushed to the kitchen and returned to tell us the ticket had been lost. Ten more minutes passed, and still no food—while a fourth table seated after us got their ramen.

By then, the moment was gone. My mom’s special dinner was ruined, and we decided to leave. When we asked for the check, our server threw it at us—for $60, covering only drinks and appetizers, with no apology. It was shocking. Only after expressing our frustration did the manager, Angel, come over to say we wouldn’t be charged. He explained the cooks were on break and only one person was in the back.

At 7:30pm on Mother’s Day weekend, being told the cooks were on break and only one person was in the kitchen doesn’t read as an unfortunate slip—it feels like a serious lapse in planning. I don’t say this lightly, but that kind of misstep points to mismanagement, not just a busy night. Mistakes happen, but this wasn’t just a mistake—it was a breakdown in basic service during one of the busiest weekends of the year.

We left hungry, disappointed, and embarrassed—especially since we had close friends with us. I used to recommend Momosan to everyone, but after tonight, I won’t be doing that for a while. If anyone else has had a similarly deflating experience here,...

Carlos was one of the least attentive waiters I've ever had, and especially for a Morimoto location. My wife and I have been to Momosan and Morimoto Asia dozens of times at various locations across the country to include, Miami, Disney Springs, NYC, etc. It's been our go-to and this was the first time at the San Jose momosan location. It was a birthday dinner around opeing at 5pm on a Wednesday and we were highly dissappointed. Every other location has always been amazingly consistent in the peking duck and sticky ribs that we always order. For starters, our waiter, Carlos, was very inattentive and after getting us water, it took 10-20 minutes to finally get back to us to order. He was busy talking to the manger or person that was behind the bar. Once we got our food, the 3 orders of Sticky ribs weren't hot. The taste was off as well from the usual. When we received the duck, the skin was more golden brown than the darker brown we usually get. The meat itself seemed overcooked and rubbery with no pink in it. It seemed like the hot stone was almost pointless this time because of how overcooked it was already. During our whole meal, Carlos did not check on us once. My wife had to get up and ask another gentleman for utensils. I would understand if it was busy, but we were one of four parties around 5/5:15 on a Wednesday. I thought at the very least he would've been the one to bring us our check. Rather, two other colleagues were the ones bussing the table, checking in, and another male brought us our check. Carlos didn't even check us out or bring my card back. The only service he provided was taking the order in the beginning, and that even took long. We noticed the other parties even looking around when they were getting ready to ask for the check or to ask for other matters, but he was just stuck behind the bar chatting it up. We were hoping the food would've made up for the lackluster, or nonexistent service, but even that was just not the typical morimoto/momosan experience. My wife and I would rather drive to the morimoto in napa next time rather than come to this location...

Not what we expected. Our party of 4 was really looking forward to dinner. Our waiter was friendly and helpful.Menu looked interesting and huge with many yummy dishes.. We ended up ordering a whole bunch of non-ramen dishes that sounded good. Some generous portions. But then: Food came out piping hot, but inconsistently. Long waits when only one or two people got dishes. Two dishes never did arrive. Tried to deliver us someone else's dish. our waiter was busy and did not check in with us. As far as the dishes were concerned, they had no finesse in how they were conceived and cooked. The fried chicken was tasty but heavily fried with huge gobs of seasoned flour and mostly fatty, for example. Flavors were hit-you-in-the-face strong. Just no finesse at all. Prices were fine. Just wanted quality of the food to be iron chef quality. And then the noise when certain events happened in the kitchen, big Japanese cries (maybe a chicken was being executed, I don't know) We wanted an outside seat in shade but hostess said she couldn't guarantee it. Ten minutes later there was full shade on the side patio--so she obviously didn't pay attention to the dining atmosphere to serve her customers better. Finally, and this is a big one--NO DINNER NAPKINS. Tiny, flimsy cocktail napkins and a wet wipe each. It was mystifying. Sometimes you want to wipe off your fingers after a bite of ribs so you can grab chopsticks for a different bite--is it cost saving? Those "cocktail napkins" wouldn't even dry a baby's mouth. Overall a sadly disappointing experience. We went right before opening so we didn't have a long wait in line, but would not be worth a long wait. We'll try again and do noodles next time.I know they just opened but some of this, like no napkins, and lack of cooking finesse is hard...