Himawari — Restaurant in San Mateo

The place: There seems to typically be a pretty decently long wait here. The place is big, but there is usually a wait. The menu is pretty vast with different types of ramen, appetizers, and rice dishes. Service is pretty quick as well.

The ramen: They have a lot of menu options, and don't really seem to have a specialty, so I got the Deluxe Tonkotsu. Overall, it was good, but I wasn't blown away and wouldn't wait in a large line for it. The Broth: The broth was fairly light, but had a fairly pure Tonkotsu flavor. I could see some fat (usually meaning they cooked it for a fair amount of time), but I wouldn't say it was really rich, and could have used a bit more seasoning. The Noodles: The noodles were a thinner hakata style noodle typically used for Tonkotsu. They were good and the portion was quite large. The Toppings: The deluxe version came with a lot of negi, some chashu, kakuni, mushrooms, and an egg. The chashu and kakuni were flavorful and well cooked, but the egg was overcooked.

Appetizers: I got an order of gyoza. The outside was crispy, but they definitely needed more (or any)ginger, they tasted a little dull.

Overall, I found this place to be alright. The appetizer was alright, and the ramen was alright. For that price, I would expect a lot more. I'd be willing to go back and try another ramen broth, to see if it's a bit better, but I don't think it would be worth waiting in...

There's something about Himawari that feels a bit tilted and imbalanced. This is a ramen place so let's just talk about the ramen. The broth I think is solid. They did not skimp out on the quality or substance. The miso broth was creamy and structured. The shio broth was a bit more clear, but again, stood its ground. The butter corn ramen - which has to come across as silky smooth - however did not hit it out of the park, despite the fact that a lump of butter was dissolved into the broth. Something felt a bit to punchy for the buttery taste to form and I couldn't put a pulse to it.

What Himawari falls apart though is the noodles. It almost feels like a somen and not a regular ramen texture. Especially with the butter corn ramen that goes for the buttery smoothness, you need a chewy texture with the noodles and that simply wasn't the case.

At Himawari, each and every thing itself feels right. But they just don't come together. And it's tough to really say what that may be.

The interior is interesting with vinyl records as decor. A bit out of place but I guess it gets the job done. The service was fast. Nothing wrong there.

In any given city in the US, this ramen joint would've well received 4+ stars from me. But not here in the Bay Area. The competition is too high and you have some phenomenal places like Ramen Nagi that set the bar high. Himawari has potential. But it just doesn't come...

Indoor dining 4/9/2021. Tonight I had the snow crab omelette ramen with added pork $18.50 and a pork salad $11. Bad news, they no longer have the +$4 fried rice or gyoza combo add on for dinner. It is only available during lunch now. A bowl of ramen usually will not fill me up. The combo had a smaller version of either their fried rice or gyoza which was perfect as an add on. Tonight, I had to resort to ordering a salad. The pork on the salad tasted like the ones from a nabe (hot pot) with a sesame dressing. It is pretty good for a salad. The snow crab omelette ramen had more carrots than snow crab pieces. The broth tasted like a shoyu (soy) based broth with only onions as a topping. I added extra pork pieces to make it less plain. It was meh and I probably won't order that again. It was really cold eating indoors tonight. All I heard around me were people complaining how cold it was and trying to move to a different table away from the opened door. I'm sure it was to allow air flow so that COVID won't spread. So good job on Himawari's management for doing their part to keep employees and us safe. Service remains excellent. They are nice people. My meal tonight was $40 with...