Santa Ramen — Restaurant in San Mateo

The food here was great. We had both the Santa Ramen (pork broth) and the Lobster Meat Ramen (miso broth), which were straightforwardly put together and delicious. The chicken karaage was extremely crispy and fresh. We also tried the fried tofu appetizer, which was pretty interesting compared to variants at other restaurants. Unfortunately, the 2 stars is because our karaage order was forgotten 3 times and the staff did not care to take ownership of it and attempted to just excuse it with "sorry, a lot of people ordered karaage". We are both patient people and we totally understand when restaurants are busy, but our main issue with the situation was because of the following: 1) the first time we raised our hand, our waitress said she'll check and never came back to give us an update, 2) the second time, she said it'll be out soon - throughout the next 5 batches of karaage that came out, none of them were ours yet I noticed they all went to 5 new tables that came in about 15-20 minutes after us, 3) the third time, she said 1 more minute and "sorry a lot of people ordered karaage" despite our trying to explain that it's fine to be busy, but everyone that came in after us managed to get their orders before us. By the time it arrived, we were practically finished with our meal, and despite the karaage itself being delicious, the experience getting it made it...

The noodle was ok... when I was done, I found that my wallet was in the wind jacket in the car, so I spent 25 seconds to hunt down the waitress, and waited 45 seconds for her to finish the business, and told her I will get the wallet and come back. Nope. She said I will have to leave my iPhone there as a collateral. She didn't realize that if I wanted to walk away, I would have done that, without standing in front of her for 45 seconds. So I had to lock up my iPhone, but she said, "No, you don't have to lock your iPhone". But there were personal info on my iPhone, so I had to lock it. So I told her, no, I will have to lock it first. She said, "trust me, you don't have to lock it." I then said, "Well, since you don't trust me, then why should I trust you?" Since I usually don't lock my phone, I had to spend 1.5 minutes to lock it. Then I walked out the door and came back within 35 seconds and paid for it. And then I haven't been to this place for 7, 8 years now. It is sad that people don't trust people. And it is also sad she didn't understand I could have walked away if that was what I wanted to do, instead of hunting her down and waited for her... oh well. The...

This is my usual go-to place for ramen. During the year, I eat here at least twice a month. Santa is usually a 4 star with my usual order - Classic Ramen with the Garlic Pork broth, Non-Spicy. I really like garlic. When you get it spicy, you lose the garlic taste and your tongue focuses on the heat in my opinion.

Last night, I decided to mix it up. I ordered the Stewed Pork Belly Ramen with my beloved Garlic Pork broth. The presentation was pretty, but looks are (and definitely was) deceiving.

BIG MISTAKE! The broth had no garlicky flavor (or taste for that matter). The chunk of pork belly was beautiful to look at, but was actually slightly dried and chewy. And the half sliced hard boiled egg, the yolk was dried and a slightly green on the edge. Not at all the gooey Japanese hard boiled egg you are supposed to be served.

The pot of green tea tonight was watery. The tea bag needed to be replaced with a new one - no green tea flavor whatsoever.

We normally go here during weeknights between 7:30 pm to 8:00 pm to reduce the chances of waiting in line (Santa does not take reservations). Ample parking in the strip mall parking lot where...