Suzu Noodle House
1825 Post St
(between Fillmore St & Webster St)
San Francisco, CA 94115 (415) 346-5083
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street, Garage
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: No
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Lunch
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
10 reviews
Neighborhood: Inner Richmond
"We had a pleasant experience at Kansai Bistro. The layout of the restaurant is split into two sections. When you enter you're at the bar…" read more »
178 Reviews for Suzu Noodle House
They had the best, most clear-tasting ramen without being too bland. We had to wait for the longest time for a table to open up, but I'll just blame that on luck. The restaurant is very small, so you should expect some wait unless you can avoid peak times. But the simple, well-prepared ramen noodles were impressive. Not too sodiumy, and the balance of all the ingredients were executed with confidence. You can tell if the chef(s) know what they are doing or not. I think I had the more spicy ramen than the normal one, and that proved me right. Comparing it to my friend's I could tell mine was more impressive.
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This is sad, but I don't remember much about this dining experience...and it's only been a week and a half. I had a bite of my mom's Tokyo ramen. Ehh, it was okay. Not good enough for me to crave it like I crave Koraku in LA tho. I had the udon and unagi-don combo. Again, not too memorable. I think I inhaled it because I was starving after the 20min wait in this rinky-dink joint.
Ah yes...now I remember why I wanted to write this review. The bf found a hair in his cold udon. Not just any hair, but the kind you really don't want in your food. That was enough for me to not want to go back.
Oh and the service? Let's just say despite the hair incident, I probably won't go back for that either.
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Quaint and small joint. Definitely one of the best noodle places in town - it's all made there and fresh. They even have some sashimi and the way they present them and how it is cut is really cool. YUM! I almost always eat here after treating myself at Kabuki Spa.
I've been to Tokyo many times and Suzu is really good. Try the cold soba. It's fresh, pure tasting and delicious. Soba is tougher than it looks to make. The curry is very good as well.
Well, I thought Suzu is Korean cook but I am not sure anymore. but it doesn't matter.
I have to move 1.5 star up because:
The egg-noodle was still awesome.
and
Negi and Shio-Ramen were not too bad at all.
and
there were good waitresses.
and
The chicken-curry was pretty good.
I still don't like the soba. Ten-zaru was over cooked again, still mediocre.
Hiyashi-chuka(cold-ramen) was SoSo. But so far, Suzu is better than Sapporo-ya, Tanpopo.
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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09/11/2007
In my opinion about this place is that JapanTown is a part of San Francisco's tourists place like… Read more »
Nothing spectacular about the ramen broth but the noodles are nicely-done--chewy and resistant to the bite.
Ramen is good here but Katana-ya is better. If you find yourself in Japan Town and wanting a bowl of Ramen, this is the place. The Ramen texture is chewy and the broth is yummy. My husband tried the Udon and like it as well. The menu is limited but I think they added on a little more variety now of the way you can order your Ramen or Udon. The wait is often very long and service could be slow at time. Will I go out of my way to come here and eat Ramen......the answer is no but if I am in the neighborhood......Yes!
I got the miso ramen. The noodles were cooked just right: not too soft, not too hard. The broth was great: tasty and hot. Everything was great, except for the toppings and meat--which were skimpy (in variety and quantity). It wouldn't break the bank for them to be a little more generous in this area.
The tea was weak but free. The service was fine on my visit.
I've also been to Katana-ya and thought this was better.
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I am pleased to simply report that I still enjoy noodling around at Suzu.
They have updated the menu and offer a bunch of new dishes that look good but I am happy with an enormous bowl of basic shoyu 'Tokyo Ramen' accompanied by some delicate not at all greasy gyoza.
The broth was perhaps a tad too salty but the noodles were plentiful and well prepared - simple, tasty comfort food.
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06/12/2006
Best ramen I've had in quite awhile. I tried a version from the special menu called 'Mabo' (as I… Read more »
On a cold Saturday, my friend and I were on a hunt for a hot bowl of noodle soup. We passed by this "noodle house" because it was cheap and empty. We both ordered this iron pot dish with udon and fish cake galore. The picture in the menu was so enticing. But the flavor was not so much. Aside from the noodles being incredibly overcooked (seemed like those cheap packets of udon you can buy for $0.50 cents), there was this one fish cake with a gooey white inside that reminded me of a man's orgasm wrapped with tofu skin. It coated my mouth in a very unsatisfactory manner. Not even semi-luke warm tea could wash it away. Sure, the iron pot dish offered a variety of fish cakes but that was all it offered.
Now to the worst dish of all. I ordered some "steamed shrimp dumplings" and instead got store bought and over cooked chewy dime sized dumplings. I've eaten these before when I bought a packet from 99 Ranch because they were on sale for $1.99. They were so disgusting. Best part? They charged you $6.00 for 5 little tiny dumplings.
I won't go into the terrible service because the food says it all.
After we sat down and started eating, we noticed a huge line outside. I don't know why this place gets crowded. Oh yeah, there are like no seats in this small "restaurant." They could barely handle two parties of 5. Thankfully, they're out two customers. I'm never coming here again.
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After much ado, I finally came here to check out one of the "best" ramen places in sf. *sigh* I'm still searching.
The noodles are gummy. I don't really like this texture in my noodles, but my friend who went with me did. So to one his own. It wasn't so gummy that you could taste flour or that it would remind you of an italian pasta, but it is a gummy noodle. This is probably my one and only gripe that doesn't make this a great noodle shop. But to one his own, again, my friend thought it was great.
They have mapo ramen! Yum. I like my mapo ramen with a thicker soup (just like I like my curry udon with a thick soup) but if you can't have the real thing, I'm happy to have something in the same arena. There isn't much tofu in this mapo which was also disappointing. But th soup is very good. Just spicy enough to remind you that you're eating mapo but not overwhelming. Also not super oily. Very tasty.
We also got the agedashi. It was OK. I think I'm going to give up on the quest to find a better agedashi than gombei. Nothing seems to compare.
Will I be back? Yes! Not for their ramen, but to try the karaage curry. That just sounds so delicious. Also, I'll be back on a really hot day for the soba which I almost got, but it was a chilly night and I wanted something to warm me up.
Price was also reasonable. I'm not sure what people are expecting to pay for ramen but for being under 10 bucks, this is a pretty decent price.
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So I'm strolling around Japantown and the mall with my gwapong lalaki when we both notice the beautiful smell of curry. It just so happened we were near the entrance by Katsura Garden, so we decided to go back in to track down that smell. The maguro sashimi we had gotten at Super Mira was good, but not enough to keep our stomachs quiet.
Turns out it was coming from Suzu Noodle House. I'd never eaten here before, but suddenly I was craving whatever curry deliciousness that was wafting through the air. The wait wasn't terribly long, once we put our names on the list. It's a small joint, though; so expect a slight wait during peak times. The thing is... don't leave once you put your name on the list! A couple of guys did and they called their name about the time we arrived to put ours on. They didn't come back, until we were next to be seated; and they were bumped to the bottom of the list for missing their call.
My date had the karaage ramen and I had the katsu curry over rice (I'm spoiled when it comes to noodles, ever since Hamura Saimin in Kauai so didn't want curry udon). He said the ramen was ok, but it looked just ok to me... a little on the bare side. My katsu curry however was pretty darn tasty. Just the right amount to fill me up... a little skimpy on the katsu, but enough to keep me from feeling ripped off. The flavor of the curry was what nailed me here... plus my stomach didn't feel "questionable" afterwards like it has with some places. The tofu appetizer was decent, but I loved the hot tea they served us.
I found all the ladies working here to be really friendly towards us to be quite honest. They were quick to bring us all of our items and didn't plop the check down right away. We actually had to ask for it, as they brought us more tea and gave us a chance to talk for a minute. They could probably sense we were on a date the way we were so disgustingly cute with each other. I could see coming back here, when the craving for a dish of katsu curry strikes again.
My friend Miki called me up and said, "Hey! There's this really good ramen place in Japantown! I'll be there in ten minutes." She says it was as good as Katana-Ya.
So off to J-Town I went, hoping that delicious ramen was a mere five minutes via footmobile from my front door. It wasn't quite so.
After a fifteen minute or so wait (this place is tiny, and they had a line), we were seated, and given about two seconds to look over the menu before the waitress came to take our order. We ordered some plum wine and tea, then decided on our entrees: I got the Shio Ramen, Miki got the Tokyo Ramen (shoyu based), and we decided to split an order of gyoza.
The Shio ramen was good, and the gyoza were actually really good. But the thing is, the service was ridiculously slow. Perhaps they only have one person in the kitchen, but damn....ramen is usually a pretty quick deal...and we waited almost half an hour for our food to come out.
When we were done, the waitresses appeared like a flash to hustle us out the door. Hmmm. The final verdict? Katana-Ya rules ramen in SF.
Period.
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I'm jonesing for some serious ramen and I can't seem to find it in San Francisco. In Hawaii, I was spoiled by the amazing noodles and broth at the local ramen houses. Here, it's like searching for a straight man in the Castro. In other words, IMPROBABLE if not IMPOSSIBLE.
However, Suzu did manage to satiate my craving for now. My bowl of miso broth and ramen was a step above good, but not quite at eye-rolling levels. I can't say I was blown away, but I was happy.
I can say that anything fried in a Japanese restaurant is usually delicious. I don't know what exactly it was I ate, but it was brown, crispy, and covered in sweet sauce. It might have been mashed potato croquettes, or chicken katsu. Either way, I hope it was something food-esque, but if it was a place mat dipped in batter and deep fried, I won't complain. DELICIOUS!
The waitress was charming and sweet...although when I made the dumb joke about, "WOW, you sure are thin for working at a place with such good food!" she said, "Oh, I'm FAT compared to other Asian girls! You know Asian girls are supposed to be so much thinner than others!"
I had a mouth full of noodles and was twice her girth. So that makes me Kirstie Alley to her Valerie Bertinelli. Yikes.
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The Broth was wasn't special, but the Noodles really were special. The Broth was good, but the noodles had more of a chewy texture so it was better. I like Suzu Noodle House!
So... by now, if you had a chance to see my other reviews, you know that I love to eat ramen. I fell in love with ramen at a young age and have always been looking for the perfect ramen... It is a hard quest, I have traveled half the globe to find that ultimate taste that brings you closer to heaven with each bite... ok I lie... I think I rip that off a manga somewhere, but makes a great introduction eh? Anyways, this place is pretty basic, exactly what a ramen house should be. I had mapo ramen which was delicious, every single bite of spicy tofu beef made me euphoric. :) The major pet peeve that this place is tiny. Like 20 people tiny. :( I was almost dead with hunger by the time I was seated, and I slurped down my ramen without having a chance to enjoy it. Maybe I should go back next time after snaking first. :P
Uh.........no.
I'm pretty upset about losing my 11 dollars (including tip) over this, I can't really even explain myself.
I could've bought 11 packs of shio ramen and had this crap 11 times over. Sad.
I had the Karaage ramen, waitress said she really liked it.... she was obviously blowing smoke up my big ass... thereby making my hole bigger. Thanks.
Service, besides continuous pouring of tea, was not what you usually expect from Japanese establishments. Every japanese establishment I've ever gone into always had a very courteous, friendly, and polite waiting staff. Obviously, what I'm getting to, is that this place wasn't like that... at all. The waiting staff all had this kind of "ugh, i have to be here again," face. Really annoying.
It was pretty empty today, and yet, they were rushing me the check and trying to shoo me out. WTF.
They probably knew I was going to write a bad review. HAH! you guessed right.
Anyways... you can buy this and cook it in a pot yourself. Just go buy those shio ramen packages at mitsuwa or some japanese market. 99 cents man, 99 cents.
Broth = not flavorful, but salty. Heart attack salty. Almost like.. sea water. "MmMm!" if i was a fish. Sadly, I am not.
Fried Chicken bits = only 3? And one was only batter + fatty bits! Cheapos
Green onions = Man, they really are stingy. There were only like 5 little hula hoops in mine.
sea weed = same amount as you would find in a tiny tiny bowl of miso soup.
The only good thing I can say, is that I'm SO glad I didn't waste my monies on gyoza and dessert; that would've sucked.
What they could improve on? Better recipes and being less skimpy.
I don't pay 11 dollars for people to show me their "ugh" face and noodles I can make at home in less time.
1 star! i wish I could give it 0....
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Great prices. No frills, solid ramen. Don't expect that fancy add-on's you get at the other places. This is old school.
Only thing that made it get 4 stars? Really really slow service.
My office hates me. They hate that when I ask them what the best place to get ramen is, they start craving it. My bad. Seriously.
I've been a ramen virgin until this place. I've never had REAL ramen before. Just Top ramen. If that's even close. I had all these preconceived ideas about real ramen. I assumed you eat just the noodles, not with broth. I'm crazy okay?
This place had decent reviews so I tried it out for lunch. It took me 15 minutes to put my order in. They didn't understand what the heck I was saying. Next time I'll go there and order by number like the Americans do.
Chewy and fresh ramen. Soup was rather plain, but wasn't overpowering or oily. I loved the idea of the mushrooms in it. Will eat here again for lunch. I'm too turned off by the idea of waiting for a table here. The place is SUPER tiny.
$8 for a combo lunch which includes ramen and a rice plate. Good deal for starving fat people like me.
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The itty bitty noodle house that could. This petite corner spot was very impressive in both service and presentation We ordered the salmon sashimi/ udon noodle combo and were not disappointed. Fresh, buttery sahimi with perfectly textured rice and rich udon broth (loved the crispy onions in that bowl). Feeling really spoiled right now as I've been to J-town 4 times within the last 2 weeks. I could go there every day.
Great noodle joint for quick weekday dinner.
Reasonable price, fresh noodle, and good variety of choice.
Order tempura or croquette as appetizer before you dive into noodles. They have one of the best fried concoctions, and croquette taste very home-made.
I never waited in the line. Then, I always go rather late during weekdays.
There was a line. After my suggestion that "it's ABSURD to wait in line for ramen!" is rejected, we wait. And wait. And continue to wait. Finally, a table opens up and we sit down for some good old ramen.
On first opening the menu I notice something a bit odd -- $9 vegi ramen. Really Suzu? You really want to have me pay 9 bucks for vegi ramen? Really? When it's just some carrots, potatoes and noodles? Really?
Ok lets try it, maybe it'll lead me to the greatest epiphany known in the western world. Needless to say my ramen was oily, overly chewy and simply not worth $9. Maybe $5.50, maybe $6, but surely not $9.
The other fun little aspect of Suzu: the food itself is SLOW to arrive, yet our happy little check came before my bowl of oil was half empty.
Will not be coerced into returning again.
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its ok. average, clean inside, that sink seems out of place.
nice presentation when your food arrives.
seems to be getting more busy.
Listen all you ramen snobs! Did you ever think that it's hard to make AUTHENTIC Japanese ramen because the ingredients are limited in the US? You guys piss me off!
This noodle house makes a really great curry udon and even if the ramen is average, it doesn't mean you can't try their other dishes. My girlfriend and I love the area, the atmosphere and the service we get from this charming noodle house in J-town and I'm sure anybody who isn't a stuck up "This isn't like the ramen in Japan" a**hole would appreciate what they do offer.
Again, try their combo special with the salmon sashimi don and curry udon. Their soba is delish too if you don't feel like ramen or udon.
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I'll start off by saying how shocked I am to be seeing so many positive reviews for this restaurant. We ventured in because it was abnormally hot day and the rest of the complex with stuffy and unventilated.
First off, service was extremely slow. How long does it take to cook two bowls of ramen?
What is even more shocking is when you see the contents of the bowls of ramen. We had one order of the Shio Ramen where there was 1 tiny slice of pork, half an egg, half of a bok choy, and a few pieces of bamboo shoots. The other order was for the Karaage Ramen which came with 3 pieces of chicken that were soggy despite being in a separate bowl and it also had the fried fatty parts that i wouldn't even feed to a dog. Seriously though, how much does the other half of an egg or bok choy leaf cost? They can't spare enough to put in another piece of pork or chicken? I seriously doubt the noodles cost a lot to produce....
I also noticed how many people have raved about the ramen. Well our noodles came out all clumpy making it very obvious that it was not fresh. The msg soup was also SO salty that I suffered from thirst for quite a while after I had the meal. I usually prefer the cloudy, natural broths.
When we finished the meal, i also felt the feeling of being rushed out. I barely even had the chance to put my chopsticks down and the waitress was already clearing my bowls away.
One little side note, we noticed there was a sink in the corner of the dining room. It seemed very out of place being out in the open so close to a dining table.... but yes... this will be our first and only visit. There are way BETTER ramen restaurants in San Mateo.
I guess it's PMS time because I'm craving salt. When I crave salt I CRAVE ramen. It's like a ramen demon enters my body and all I can think of is ramen.
So far, I have not found a place to satiate the demon that is PMS. I thought Suzu would do it, but no. The noodles were nice and firm, but the broth was pretty bland. I got the chicken karaage ramen so I can't judge them on their pork in the ramen. The chicken karaage was good, they serve it separately in another dish.
I also ordered the gyoza - pretty good, nothing special though.
Hubby got the oyako donburi - man that was awesome! Good sauce. It's on the sweeter side but it was really good. If it hadn't been for this I would have given it two stars.
The bill came out to around $30 not including tip. For ramen I guess that's expensive, but for a dinner out in San Francisco not bad.
Service was good and quick. Would I go back? I don't think so. The search goes on.
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Never been for dinner, but the lunch is hard to beat. I've never been much for soup in the morning, but this place sold me on the idea. The ramen combo with unagi! So cheap and so good. Be careful if you show up when its busy and you're not asian.. you may get served last but its worth the wait.
I really loved this place back a couple years ago when it first opened. For months, it seemed like no one (but me) dared try this tiny little Ramen house. It was seriously like a ghost town every time I showed up. And that worked out perfectly to my advantage. It was so great being able to just walk in on any night of the week, sit down, and be instantly served some fantastic Miso Ramen.
Those days are unfortunately long gone. For the brave souls that eventually stepped away from overhyped spots like Mifune and gave this place a shot...They were surely rewarded with some really great Ramen & Donburi. And thanks to those who chose to Yelp about their positive experience...this place has subsequently blown up. Much to my dismay, there is now a line on almost any given night. I'm happy that this place will likely stay in business for a long time to come...but I selfishly miss the days when I could slurp my Ramen in peaceful solitude and get lost to the sound of crickets in the background.
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3.5 stars to be exact
I like the curry karaage over rice
I like the chewy ramen noodle, minus the soup
I like the clean simple space and service
0.5 - nice alternative to Tanpopo with a smaller healthy portion
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The boyfriend and I try to come here on a weekly basis, since we live right by it. Suzu's is amazing! The food is delicious and the service is pretty good (especially that old Japanese lady who's always wearing an Armani Exchange shirt - she's awesome). There is always a wait when we go (since this place is teeny tiny), but we never have to wait long - and besides, it's so worth it!
Their udon noodles are especially tasty - I recommend the tempura udon. Or the combinations where you get udon (or soba) noodles and a rice bowl. Oh - the portions are quite generous.
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I love these noodles. I'm surprise Suzu has such low ratings. I thought the fresh ramen with veggie and tofu was excellent. Also, fried tofu appetizers were delicious too. Not much service, but seems like a quick bite to eat kind of place. Sit down, order, eat, and leave.
The only ramen I knew before Suzu was Cup o' Noodles. Sadly, based on my disgust towards instant ramen, I hated ALL ramen until one of my lunch buddies introduced me to SUZU! Since that day, Suzu has not only been my go to place for lunch (BooHoo! No more Suzu for lunch since I left the Filmore-CA area!) but also my go to place with the BF when I have those awful hangovers on Sundays.
My favorites: corquettes, ramen w/ the salmon sashimi-don, and chicken karaage.
The only thing I don't like about Suzu is that it leaves you feeling greasy and sometimes smelling like food...
Totally yummy and super cheap!
Our office ordered to-go from here last week. It was quite an ordeal as I think they get really busy and don't always answer the phone so it took a number of tries to get through. Very reasonable lunch prices. I got the lunch combo of ramen and unagi bowl. The unagi bowl portion is pretty small but they give a very generous container of ramen. The ramen was so-so. I think maybe one of the reasons is that they didn't separate the noodle from the broth, thus leaving the noodles to just soak. Hopefully, they are fellow yelpers and will consider separating the two after reading my review.
Exactly what I needed on a cold sick day...some warm ramen with very tasty broth!
It was my first time trying this place and I think it's pretty good. I ordered the Tokyo Ramen which came with chicken and pork broth, half an egg, 2 pieces of pork, green onions and one veggie. The bowl was a decent size since I got full off it, but it was mainly noodles and broth, not much meat or veggies. We also ordered the gyoza which came with 5 small potstickers- nothing that really amazed me though.
This place may be a bit skimpy on the meat and veggies, but the broth is sure good and satisfying!
This is one of my favorite noodle house. I would have given it a five stars had they given better service. The place is decked out with Ikea lightings and seem minimalist. The soup was not oily and was very flavorful. The servers moved extremely slow as if they don't care.
The food here is really good. I usually like to get the combo with ramen and curry since I'm quite fond of their curry there. The noodles here are really yummy. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the broth but my siblings love it. The place is cramped though and wait times can get pretty bad. Service is a bit lacking since there's only two waitresses and at times they do forget things.
Pure Crap. How disappointing. I keep looking for ramen that even resembles anything in Japan and not a thing has come close so far. Someone recommended Suzu so I tried it and I'm sorry but this is not good ramen. Uncooked noodles and bland soup. Meh. The people waiting there clearly have no clue what good ramen tastes like. It's frustrating. True Japanese ramen would clearly take over the city if someone offered it. Why no one does is beyond comprehension
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This place has some good ramen, I went wit a buddy of mine and we both got combo lunches. I had the Ramen wit Curry and man was the Curry great. I loved both tho. It is good for small groups but not huge groups since it is a little cramped
Small place but it gets busy at lunch time
not too pricey and the portions fill you
only disadvantage of this place is the wait time
We got to the restaurant at 6pm tonite, before the dinner rush. The restaurant is essentially a single room, so seating is tight. We got an order karaage (japanese fried chicken) to start, and I got the Tokyo Ramen and Tony got the Shio Ramen. According to the menu, the soup is a chicken and pork broth. Both dishes had a piece of fatty pork, some baby bok-choy, some pickled radish, half a boiled egg, and some seaweed. The ramen was ok. The soup was very salty, which didn't balance well with the saltiness of the pork and pickled radish. They flavors didn't blend well. As you all know, the soup is a huge part of teh ramen experience. In J-Town, I prefer Tanpopo or Iroha (for their gyoza ramen), or even Sapporo-Ya.
Such an adorable, cute, cozy little noodle house! It's look like a cabin from the outside filled with wood. No reservation of course but the wait isn't that long since hey, can't take people that long to slurp the noodles down. LOL.
I never been to Japan so do not know what authentic ramen takes like but I liked what I had there. The soup based was tasty - chicken/pork broth. I also had their fried oyster - yum! Light and crispy that comes with this interesting aioli like sauce. Service was great -- quick and attentive.
