Ramen Dojo — Restaurant in San Mateo

I thought the first time must have been a fluke, but nope - returning for a second time ensured that Ramen Dojo is no joke! I don't consider myself a ramen enthusiast in any way, but I rate Ramen Dojo as one of the top ramen places I have been to in my life. It's that amazing.

Located in San Mateo, Ramen Dojo is a pretty small ramen shop that specializes in their garlic pork soup based ramen. People - myself included - wait in line before the shop opens to make sure they're seated for the first wave of ramen serving. You also choose your spiciness level, and decide on whether or not additional toppings are needed/wanted.

Each bowl already comes with 2 slices of roasted pork, fried whole garlic, Kikurage mushroom, green chives, and 1 quail egg. Additional toppings of the previous items are offered, as well as corn, kimchi, egg, etc.

Both times I tried the garlic pork ramen with mild spiciness and added corn to the bowl. Ramen is a bit pricey at $10.75 per bowl with an additional $1.25 for corn. I think the biggest letdown about the ramen is that they don't have the soft-boiled egg with the runny yolk that I like so much already included in the bowl. The additional egg you add on is pretty soft, but not to the point of Benten's. The quail egg is much smaller and has a stronger flavor, which isn't bad, but once you plop it in your mouth, it's pretty much gone because it's so tiny! What I liked about the ramen was the flavor of the broth. It definitely made the ramen for me - it's not too salty, but has a thick richness of flavor. When you eat it combined with the chewiness of the noodles, it really brings out the overall flavor. The pork is also really tasty. They're pretty big slices with half thin, half fat portions. The fat gives the broth even more flavor, and even though it's not the healthiest, it IS the tastiest! And when you get portions of the whole fried garlic, the smokiness and pungent taste really adds to the overall broth taste. It's amazing. The chives and mushroom were a little lost - and I think it came with a slice of cabbage, which also was lost in the bowl. Be sure to drink the broth after you finish the noodles!

I really enjoyed the chewiness of the noodles along with the broth, but upon walking through their open kitchen to the bathroom, my dad saw that they use a store-bought ramen (which is probably typical of most ramen stores). It would have been nice if they hand-pulled ramen themselves! but they probably don't have that time.

tl;dr - Service is decent. Like most SF places - due to the drought, you're supposed to ask for water. The second time I came, we had to ask the waitress three times before we were given our cups of water. When I came back with my family they agreed that it was tasty, but not completely worth the price. Make sure to arrive early as there's usually a wait. No take outs. And Gong Cha is only a mile or so away! Perfect for an after...

Doors opened promptly at 5:30pm. There was no line forming prior to opening (like at Ramen Dojo or Santa Ramen) but when immediately after the doors opened, people crowded around the door to get in. There was no good system for people sitting down - just seemed like you can sit wherever you want. I feel like there could be some flow optimization here.

Anyway, the food. I ordered the takoyaki (was really craving some after seeing so much of it at the cherry blossom festival) and the garlic lobster pork ramen, no additional toppings.

The takoyaki looked mediocre but tasted better than it looked. I'll explain. Normally, takoyaki come with requisite sauce, mayo, bonito flakes, and aonori. Ramen Parlor serves takoyaki with a lot of sauce, some mayo, and aonori. Where's the bonito flakes?? The best part about eating takoyaki, other than eating it, is seeing the bonito flakes dance in the steam. Bummer. There was also too much sauce. Otherwise, they were gooey (the way I like it), with a good sized piece of octopus inside. A little on the expensive side (3 for $4), but might be a good appetizer while waiting for your ramen.

The ramen was polarizing. On one hand, it's awesome that there's a quarter of a deep fried soft shell crab -- nice touch. But I thought the spinach was a bit weird. It's like how Ramen Dojo adds a leaf of romaine lettuce in its ramen. What gives? Other default toppings are two quail eggs, kikurage mushrooms, two pieces of nori, and two thin slices of chashu.

With the name being garlic lobster pork ramen, I didn't think there was a lot of garlic or lobster flavor. The broth was tasty, but wasn't as rich as I thought a pork ramen should be. On top of that (like literally), there was a thick layer of oil. Not grease, per se, but oil. Not sure if that's intentional or if the broth is just that oily. It was more oil than any other ramen I've had, even Kintaro in Vancouver on the heaviest grease setting.

The pork was somewhat lackluster too. It was pretty fatty, not a problem, but the thinness of the slice bothered me. The best part about biting into a piece of well cooked chashu is the texture. By slicing it so thin, that opportunity is completely lost.

Bonus points for having a private lot, though I imagine it gets pretty packed after opening. Street parking is easy an ample just down the...

When it comes to ramen, I'm definitely a broth guy. Delicious ingredients are great, but the broth is what really makes ramen pop. The broth at Ramen Dojo is just okay -- it has a faint pork bone flavor, mixed with tons of additional oil that makes every bite way too salty and way too oily (and not natural pork bone oil like it's supposed to have). Also, there's way too little broth in each bowl.

I will give it credit for its ingredients, though. The ramen noodles were phenomenal -- a perfect al dente. The other ingredients (pork slices, pork belly) were tender as hell. I didn't really understand their use of quail egg (it just didn't feel significant at all), so I would definitely add the regular boiled egg if I ever go back.

The chicken wings were actually pretty good too. Nicely fried and very moist inside.

The service was pretty bad, but I don't really care about service that much anyway so it's fine. They rushed us in, rushed us out (we got our check before we took our second bite) like we were intruding on their home. This would be fine if the food really was THAT good, but it's not, so then it just seems a bit arrogant.

Not sure exactly what everyone sees in Ramen Dojo, because I think it's pretty mediocre, especially for the long wait. It's DEFINITELY better than Santa Ramen and most ramen joints in SF (San Francisco is the absolute worst city for ramen, by the way), but Ramen Dojo definitely needs to work on its broth in order to compete with the best.

I would probably consider coming back if there was no wait, but since there always is, it really...