Menya Shono — Restaurant in San Rafael

I’ve been going to Menya Shono and Mensho for years so a review is long overdue for this San Rafael location. Chef and owner Tomaharu Shono opened Mensho in 2005, and the first U.S. location was opened in 2016 in San Francisco. 5 years later, he opened a location in San Rafael, then Union City and Oakland in subsequent years. Clearly Chef Shono has some affinity for the Bay Area. And the Bay Area is fortunate for it! His ramen is some of, if not the best outside of Japan.

The San Rafael location is much larger than Mensho SF with vaulted ceilings and an open kitchen. It has a large stainless steel bar back with many taps for beer with about a quarter of them actually in use. Perhaps it used to be a brewery space. There are crates printed with Mensho and large wall-painted explanations their farm-to-table approach and the properties of the grains used for the noodles.

Starting from the appetizers, there are the Corn Ribs which are buttery, roasted, and cut into bite-sized strips. Then there are the Enoki Chips, an airy mound of delicately thin and fried enoki mushrooms. Perfectly fried chicken karaage with a slice of lemon. There’s also Mentaiko Takoyaki, Nori Calamari, Chashu Rice and Vegan Karaage.

Then there’s the ramen. Chef Shono is known for his signature Tori Paitan, a thick and creamy chicken broth, fried garlic, chashu, sesame and burdock. The SF location has a matcha variant of it, but San Rafael does not. It is unique to the U.S., where Tonkotsu pork broth is the most common ramen-style you’ll see at Ippudo, Santouka, Nagi, etc. There is also Mazesoba, Tsukemen, Miso Ramen, and a vegetarian Tantanmen. But my favorite that I just drove 2 hours for this weekend was the Chintan Shio Ramen. There is so much craft that goes into it from the chewy and thin wheat noodles, roasted duck medallions, smoked chashu, perfectly marinated and custard-like ajitama and clear flavorful complex and sublime broth, it’s as good as it gets outside of Tokyo. If it takes a bit longer than the average ramen place for it to get to your table, it’s because they are taking extra time to make it perfect. Sadly, the much closer Union City location’s Chintan Shio does not compare favorably to the San Rafael location. Me and my partner both felt that it doesn’t taste as fresh, and the broth and noodles of the Shio there have somewhat of an oddly packaged ramen taste.

I have traveled for a few weeks to Tokyo and Kyoto trying different kinds of ramen in Ginza, Roppongi Hills, Shibuya, Shinjuku and Harajuku. Menya Shono holds up well to native Japanese ramen. It’s the most authentic Japanese ramen you’ll find in the U.S. I’d reckon many San Rafael residents don’t know how lucky they are to have one of the best ramen restaurants in the country. I wish we had one in the South Bay, except that the lines would be ridiculous. It would definitely thin out the lines at Ramen Nagi...

Firstly, the service here always sucks. Super slow and anytime you need a waiter you literally have to get up and walk over to him or yell across the room to get his attention. While I'm grateful there is a vegan ramen on their menu here but it smells like gym socks and the only especially tasty part is the mushroom garnish. Unfortunately my most recent visit and what will be my last time eating here my experience was much worse for other reasons.

I came here for dinner and I asked specifically for the Vegan Karaage and the Vegan Tantanmen Ramen. The waiter said,"that ramen is vegan, do you want to add something, maybe an egg?" Which I thought was strange so I declined, saying "no, I'm vegan and would like the ramen to be vegan."

When the waiter brought the Karaage I took a bite and realized it wasn't vegan. I tracked down the waiter down and asked him if he had brought me the vegan karaage or the chicken karaage. He didn't apologize and said oh I can bring you the vegan one instead if that's what you wanted. A few minutes later he comes back and says they actually don't have the vegan version.

This was a very upsetting experience for me and no amends were made to me besides not charging us for the chicken karaage that we did not order, which was the absolute bare minimum. A genuine apology would have made such a difference here, but I didn't even get a cursory one.

I wouldn't come here if you are expecting to get what you order. If they can't even ensure a vegan item is served when a vegan item was ordered I wouldn't put a lot of faith in any other order...

UPDATE: Updating my review to 5 stars because they did inform me of an online reservation system through Carbonara app. I will repeat again, I have had my fair share of ramen, nothing has come even remotely close to Menya Shono's quality and taste. They are arguably one of the best in the country, if not the best.

Their food is excellent. I always get the toripaitan ramen which comes with perfectly cooked eggs, toppings, well cooked pork and a fantastic, thick and creamy broth. It also comes with 4-5 types of garlic preparations which imparts a unique flavor to the broth.

My only complaint is that it is VERY hard to make reservations. They do not have any online link to make reservations (there's one on Yelp but it's a broken link) and if you call their number NO ONE EVER PICKS UP. Funnily enough, even though they don't seem to have a robust system to make reservations, they will ask if you have a reservation when you arrive, which is ironic and slightly annoying. If you go there without reservations, you scan a QR code to join the wait list which is usually a wait time of 15-30 minutes. You order on your device by scanning another QR code and they bring you your food once it's ready. Another big drawback is that they seldom check on you, so in case you need anything you'll have to flag a server down. They have incredible food but they really need to work on an app or atleast add a phone number where someone answers and be better at checking on customers. However if you can get a table, the food is...