Santouka Ramen
Mitsuwa Food Court
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd
San Diego, CA 92111 (858) 974-1101
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: No
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: No
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Waiter Service: No
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch
- Alcohol: None
22 Reviews for Santouka Ramen
So excited to see San Diego get a dedicated ramen place. The Bay Area and Los Angeles have restaurants dedicated to ramen, and we finally get one -- San Diego is finally on the map!
The broths are tasty and the ramen is al dente. Bamboo shoots, seaweed, and generous slices of pork come with your bowl. If we were in the Bay Area, this place would probably rate 3.5-4 stars because there are so many ramen places up north, but hey, I'm just happy these guys are here!
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Ahhh Ramen. I always have a stash stored in the pantry and it has always been a staple of my regular diet...I pretty much devour instant ramen, but I know, I know....TOP RAMEN is NOT REAL RAMEN. I don't think I've seen Ramen on the menu at the usual Japanese places I've ate at here in SD. I've seen somen, soba, udon? It's rare that I would find Ramen. On my last trip to Waikiki, I stumbled upon a lil Japanese eatery that had Ramen and I was so wanting something similar here at home...Yay! Now I can order a fresh hot bowl of Ramen at Santouka. This is soooo great *(^_^)*
So far I tried the the Shio (Salt) and Shoyu (Soy Sauce). Noodles are great and I love that it has slices of pork. I try to convince myself that this is a super healthy meal because it's soup, but I don't really know - because it has a good amount of pork, and I'm sitting there wanting MORE Pork...I've ordered the small bowl and it can really fill me up. So with a drink the total meal is about $7-8 bucks. They also have a cold ramen, which I am wanting to try....but it has to be a day when I don't mind spending $8.95 for just the meal.
With all that said....I give Santouka Ramen 5 stars - for reason that ate here twice for lunch and managed to find a seat. When I go to Mitsuwa, it's always during my lunch break - and it's always crowded.
WELL. I guess I'm not the hugest ramen fan. But I've only tried ramen at this place, so I suppose someone should take me out and show me other places? :)
The first bite of ramen was good. The 2nd good. The 5th, I was kind of sick of it. It's not like I HATED it, but I didn't love it either. Maybe it's good to eat here on cold days?
Something that really bothered me was the limited amount of seating. There are two restaurants in this food court and both are REALLY popular, so there's absolutely nowhere to sit. I went with Wilmar D., Jen W. Justin C, and another friend, and we struggled to find somewhere to sit.
Will I be back? Maybe. Definitely not craving it though.
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For my Costa Mesa Santouka review:
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Otherwise, it's pretty much the same. The Kearny Mesa location gets nicked a star because the dining area is so small, it's often near impossible to find a seat, especially if you're in a group. Also, I guess I have to agree that it sucks to have to pay for an egg because it should just be included.
In terms of flavor, I think they've pretty much streamlined it enough so that one Santouka tastes close to the next one. Maybe their special pork is a little saltier here, and their shio broth is a little less porky, but maybe I'm just being too nit-picky.
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5 Stars from me? omg you better try it....
Forget about your diet; forget about fat content... try the special toro-niku ramen with miso soup base and you'll simply crave for another bowl and wanting more. The soup base is done to perfection, and the toro-niku is just mouth watering... I am already craving for another bowl right now. :-)
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Yummm...finally SD gets its own Santouka.
In descending order of broth preference, I like the shio, the miso, and then the shoyu. The miso also comes in spicy. I find the shoyu too plain, the miso too full, and the shio, sometime too salty, the best.
The texture of their noodles is also excellent. The slices of their chashu pork are fatty enough to promise yourself you will eat healthier tomorrow.
If it's your first time, you are in line and you don't know what to order, confidently tell the cashier #1 when you get up there. If you don't like ramen, it's cool, otherwise they will make a fan out of you.
See you in line. Better yet save me a seat...
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MSG'd!!!!
Delicious and oily but the good kind of oily. I hate when I finish eating and I have to wipe my lips vigorously to remove the layer of oil but I didn't mind today. One of the best ramen in SD.. why do people go to that shit hole TAJIMA!??! UGH. Hmm, is it bad of me to make negative comments of other places? anyway, lots of chashu pork.. I gave most of it to the boy which made both of us happy :) Can't eat late here though. Mitsuwa closes at 8 which means Santouka closes at 7:30 :(
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Yes, after several years of long anticipation, I missed the SD Santouka grand opening. Baaaaaah! But that's alright I'll get over it. Besides, I was in Milan devouring a crazy-good plate of white truffle risotto.. :P
Ok, but Santouka is truly a great place to start experiencing a bowl of Japanese Ramen goodness if you ever wondered. Best to leave behind any preconceived ideas stemming from your college Top Ramen days if the words "great" and "ramen" together sound like an oxymoron.
I also say start because the varieties of ramen are as many as there are pokemons. And once you're hooked liked me, you'll want to taste and collect them all. Weee!
Oriental or Beef flavor?? Neither! Santouka's soup base is a richer Tonkotsu style which looks white due to the extreme long simmering of pork bones.
The three sub variations of soup they offer is a blend of this Tonkotsu with either a Salt Syrup (Shio Flavor), Miso, or Soy Sauce Syrup (Shoyu Flavor).
The Shio may be the most mild and whitest in color. The Shoyu and Miso would have a tint to it, but all in all the full-bodied Tonkotsu will always be the dominant flavor. I honestly don't have a favorite. Today, I choose you! Shio/Tonkotsu! *pop-poof*
The Chasu pork slices here are quite the guilty pleasure. In fact the fatty and melt in your mouth "ton-toro" are served separately when you get the Special because they will Melt in your Bowl over the hot soup.
For about 10 bucks, you can get a "teishoku" lunch set which includes a small bowl of rice with a topping of your choice and flavored hard-boiled egg. If you have trouble choosing between the Salmon Roe, Fermented Beans, and Grated Tororo Yam, look at the great fake renditions in the glass case. It may taste similar to what they look so go with your gut! At least I think so, but my gut is part Japanese.. just a disclaimer.
So all this and your food is usually out in 5 after you place your order. If there isn't a line, you can be in and out in 20. Awesomeness! 5 stars!! White Truffle Risotto! Not Enough Stars!! (Italy has made me a Romantic..)
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WOW this place has been packed since two food counters opened.
plus I'm so stoked that they have a yummy ramen joint that's almost equivalent to shinsegumi or santouka up in Costa Mesa!
I ordered the salt ramen;
sure, it's oily and fatty, but that's how it's supposed to be with white pork broth soup, creamier the better. I love it with soup with sweet pork oil, juicy cha-siu, non-soggy, just-right-firm noodles, perfectly flavorful.
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MMM..... definitely a tried and truly delicious ramen place.
Very interesting that it's in Mitsuwa, I remember eating ramen all the time here when I was in high school. I'd come to shop for groceries with my mom and grab a bite to eat afterwards.
Bf came down home to SD with me and we both tried Santouka and we were both very satisfied with what we got. The broth was deliciously rich, the noodles were perfect, and their regular bowl was plenty. I had shoyu and the bf had miso. PACKED full of people on the weekends but it's rather easy to find a seat because someone is always eating.
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Opening FRI Apr 18 11:00am.
*first 100 customers each day of 4/18 & 4/19 get a FREE RAMEN coupon*
One of most anticipated ramen chain...... the ones up in LA/CostaMesa are sooooo good... the original stores in Japan are very good too!!
I no longer needs to drive all the way up to Costa Mesa for a bowl of Santouka Ramen!! :D
Link to their Japan stores (website in Japanese only):
http://www.santouka.co.jp
Some reviews of LA's stores, with photos:
http://www.rameniac.co...
Costa Mesa one's Yelp:
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
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*additions*
OK, I just came back from Santouka San Diego. And as expected, there was a LONG line, ended up waiting at 20min before getting to order....
The choices are VERY limited, but as expected. Even their stores in Japan are like this.
4 basic ramens:
- Salt (Shio)
- Soy Sauce
- Miso
- Spicy Miso
Then you can choose "More Pork" (Chashu) for each of the above, the "basic" ones will give you 2 pieces of pork/chashu, and if you do "more pork", they will probably give you 5 or 6 pieces.
On top of ramens, they have 4 choices of rice bowls:
- Veggie
- Ikura (Salmon Roe)
- Natto (Fermented Soybeans)
- Pork
You can add one of these rice bowls to a bowl of noodle and make it a "set".
Lastly, they have a "special pork" ramen, which is pork/chashu on the side, with a plain bowl of noodles.
That's it!
Now for the food review part.
The Chashu is VERY good, soft, favourful, and heavenly.... just like a nice piece of thick beacon...
The Soup is VERY good, very deep, pleasant and memorable favour. Very hot too.
The Ramen is a little to the soft side, and I think it is not crispy enough, even after I order "hard" noodles. But I think it will improve.
So, I give it a 5star, it closely resemble Santouka LA/CostaMesa stores. I will definitely come back a lot. It is certainly the BEST ramen in San Diego. (Period)
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*additions 2*
I went back on SAT!! Insane....
This time, I tried Miso Ramen and their Special Pork w/ Salt Ramen.
The difference between their soup depending on what they add to their "base", "Salt/Shio" is basically their "base", which is a rich, pork bone soup. "Soy" is with Soy Sauce added to it, to give it some color and fav, while "Miso" is with Miso Paste added ot it.
Their "Miso" soup is VERY good, with a very high quality miso that you can totally taste it and it enhanced their base very well.
If you want to try just their "base pork bone soup", then "Salt" is the way to go.
Lastly, the "special" pork is to die for.... the pork literally melts in your mouth....
*** check out my pics ***
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Santouka Ramen no shioramen wa oishikata desuyooo! Which means the frigin noodles were tasty, man! I haven't had ramen this good since the last time I was in Sapporo. Thanks for the recommendation B G, and you're so right! The shio ramen is excellent and pretty authentic, and a good deal for lunch!
If you've never been to Japan and want to taste a bowl of ramen closer to the real thing, visit Mitsuwa Japanese Food Market and order up some noodles at Santouka Ramen (not the other one).
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This place makes a really good shio ramen, but I didn't care much for the miso ramen broth because it lacked flavor. Will go back to try the spicy miso ramen. The service is very prompt, and the noodles are perfectly al dente. I think my only real complaint is that you have to order a set in order to get an egg. Ramen should come with an egg automatically. Otherwise, this place definitely makes one of the best if not the best ramen in San Diego.
*edit* I went back to try their spicy miso ramen and although it is slightly better than the plain miso ramen, I still think shio is the best.
Honestly
I don't see a big deal with this place.
First of all, It's 7.99 for a regular size bowl?,
The regular size bowl is like Half the amount of tajami's, but I'm not complaining because i could never finish a bowl of ramen at tajami's.
I guess the reason I didn't give it five stars is because, there were so many flies there that one cannot eat in peace and also I think the broth was way too oily for me. Maybe I'm just a picky eater, or maybe it was just a bad day. I think i prefer the ramen place next to it.
But I'll find out the next time I visit.
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I would say this is place is authentic and very moderately priced for some good ramen!
I had the shio ramen (salt ramen), the chibi version to be exact and it was delish!
To add to the Japanese ambience there was a booth in the middle of the store making Okonomiyaki.
Oishi!
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I just tried this today and it was a grand time. Skipped out on class because I woke up at 7:53 today :\ and I went to go out to eat. Got a large chasu miso ramen for 9.50 and Joanne L got a small chasu salt ramen for $7.50. They both were amazing. They both gave like 4-5 pieces of chasu, which had just the right amount of fat and meat. The soup base was super fatty and oily. However it was full of flavor and taste... amazing soup base with garlic and everything.
The sizes were very generous. Just the right amount of noodle:soup:meat ratio. Perfect amounts. The large was pretty huge, and I would have felt full off of a regular. The size differences are pretty big between a small, medium, and large. With only a buck difference, you want to get the larger one, and it is well worth it.
A little weird cuz its in the Mitsuwa market, but its still great. I haven't eaten at that many ramen places, but this is by far the best place for ramen in San Diego. A little steeper with the prices, but well wel worth it.
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I tried the miso noodle soup and the soy-flavor miso noodle soup. For some reason I couldn't tell the difference between the two (although I was eating them at the same time). But both soups were pretty tasty, although not the best I ever had. The chashu (bacon) tasted exquisite and probably the best part of the soup.
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The San Diego ramen scene will never be the same. Tajima, step aside. There's a new big boy in town and his name is SANTOUKA!
It's the best damn tasting broth in the goddamn world.
One of my many weaknesses is a good bowl of soup. When I heard that Santouka was some incredible sex-in-your-mouth action and would be coming to San Diego soon, I had to go and check it out. Lauren L. got me really psyched when he reviewed the place yesterday - I was going to go last night but he convinced me to go when it opens to get a free ramen coupon!
My girl decided not to join me on this particular culinary adventure, so I drove out to Mitsuwa by myself on a cloudy, chillier-than-I-was-expecting Saturday. Got there at about 10:50, with the place opening at 11:00 - there was already a line out of the building! I queued up with everyone else and gave myself a silent bout of props for having the foresight to bring my DS! I'd say the wait was about a half-hour - that's how many people were fiending for this ramen! It has to be special, right?
I overheard some Yelpers in front of me talking about the Aero Club and the Waterfront and someone getting faded; I would've introduced myself but I was hungry, cold and getting my ass beat in Puzzle Quest so I just decided to take the scene in by my lonesome. When I finally got into the Marketplace, there was a vendor set up smack in the middle of the walkway selling Okonomaki Yaki - Japanese Pizza, as the cook was shouting, available today & tomorrow only! I might go back and check that egg foo yung lookin' thing out tomorrow.
By now I was at about the half-way point in line... the line moved quickly enough, though I'm sure I would've lost my mind had I not had my videogames to keep me occupied. For as long as I can remember coming to this place - even back when it was Yaohan Market - it never seemed like they utilized the space where Santouka is sitting properly. There were sticker machines during the height of the craze in that spot, sitting their unplugged and collecting dust once the novelty wore off... so it's nice to see the little food court area with a storefront look that you would find in, say, the Japan Center mall in San Francisco. When I got close enough to see the little taxidermied bowls sitting there behind the glass (how do they do that?), everything was laid out very orderly and in an 'order-by-number' type fashion. I decided to go with the regular Miso and a Pepsi (which the countergirl adorably spelled "Pepshi" on my ticket"), then grabbed a spot at the counter, facing out the window. Got my ass kicked in Spades on the DS - this was not a lucky morning for me, y'all - then, almost mercifully, I heard over the loudspeaker: "Santouka Order 41, 42 and 43", then repeated in Japanese. That's me! Made my way through the elbow-to-elbow crowded dining area and grabbed my order.
The bar was raised very high! I was almost afraid to take the first bite. I stirred the broth around a little, and noticed that the steam seemed to be trapped in the bowl, instead of rising off of it - just like they said on www.rameniac.com! Kept the soup nice and warm the entire time I ate it - which wasn't long, after I took that first sip. Incredibly rich broth, whoa! Now, I happen to love Chopstix and I'll get into the comparison later but my friend who introduced me to Pho was not that impressed with Chopstix, said that the broth was awfully watered down for him. Now, -I- don't agree with him, but I've gotta take him here and see what he thinks, because this broth is very, very rich indeed. The lil' accouterments floating around in the bowl helped set off some complex flavors, little slices of mushroom mixed in with the noodles, the standard fishcake, and some long, thin slices of something I'm not familiar with and didn't really care for - but no big deal, I just pushed them to the side and worked on the ramen!
Oh, the ramen - sooo damn good, y'all. Perfectly al dente, just how I like it. Just the right amount of chewiness. I've heard these noodles are hand-made on a daily basis - don't know if that's true or not but they were definitely tastier than most ramen I've ever had!
Finally, the Chashu - Oh. My. Goodness! I'm already having a ramengasm, but then I bite into this delicious, delicate, buttery piece of pork... now I'm all having multiples and quivering and just trying not to embarrass myself. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice as I sipped down every last, incredible drop.
So: Santouka versus Chopstix. With Chopstix, you get more variety, better prices, and beer & sake. Both places are usually crowded, though Santouka gets the lead in parking (there is more parking, but you gotta be careful - this is one wild ass, poorly designed parking lot, y'all). Santouka has the more authentic bowl or ramen. Santouka definitely has the creamiest, butteriest chashu I've put in my mouth.
I don't regret giving five stars to either of 'em. San Diego, let the ramen wars commence!
By the way, I got my "Regular Free Ra-Men Ticket" - #171!
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pros... finally a nice little ramen shop in san diego, and our mitsuwa is all grown up now, cause it finally has two places to eat. after years of waiting and being jealous of other mitsuwas which have a super food court area, we finally have one. this place is pretty ok, the service was good and the food looked delicious. and the first day it opened there were people out the yin yang. we came back cause the lines we so long. still long a week after they opened. my wife and i ordered the shoyu cha shu ramen. one small and one xtra large. took a couple minutes of waiting but then it came out. the ramen noodles were just right, al dente, some bite without being too hard. the extra finishes were delicately placed on top of the noodles;
cons...the broth was super salty for my wife and i. i didn't much care for the super dead sea like salt content, seems like they could tone it down a bit. but then it matches the salt content of all the other packaged ramen, have you seen them, look next time at the back of on of those packets, average of 1400mg of sodium. that's like two days worth of sodium! the most i have see was 4500mg of sodium.
i have had ramen at other places and this has to be one of the most saltiest broths ever. the cha shu was good, but the texture was inconsistent and the bamboo shoots had a plasticy taste. but perhaps we will try the other types of broths to check them out. all in all glad for us that we have another food choice in san diego. we seriously lack good ramen shops.
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found the shio ramen not quite as good as the culver city location. broth was a bit watered down.
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a couple of words that catch my eye: coupon, discount, opening, and the best of all: free!!
little did i realize that the first 100 people who show up here get a coupon for a free ramen on their next visit. good thing i had some cash on me, otherwise i would've gone home on an empty stomach.
got the salt ramen, and it was delish! i must say the bamboo shoot tasted a bit different than what i'm used to. not bad, just different, so i wasn't expecting it. other than that, everything else was great.
i couldn't wait to get my ramen while standing in line, i swear watching everyone eat is such torture! there were these kids enjoying their ramen, and you can tell b.c they weren't giving an ish that soup was spilling down their chins. another kid would pick up his ramen with the chopsticks then put the noodles in the palm of his other hand, and eat it that way. it looked so good, i was tempted to ask him to feed me some. i wonder what his mom would've thought if i actually did.
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