Santa Ramen
| Address: | 1944 S El Camino Real, San Mateo, CA 94403, USA |
| Phone: | +1 650-344-5918 |
| Rating: | 4.2 |
| Working: | 11:30AM–2PM Closed 11:30AM–2PM 11:30AM–2PM 11:30AM–2PM 11:30AM–2PM 11:30AM–2PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 8
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A Private User
First of all, Ramen Santa introduced me to real ramen a few years ago and I thank them for that (back in their old location). Yes, their ramen is good. Infact, it is so good that there is no equal in all of San Francisco, and arguably in the entire bay area (the south bay is notably superior to San Francisco itself, which has no good ramen to speak of). Ramen Santa is good enough that it will satisfy a ramen craving from even experienced ramen eaters, and is certainly top tier in Northern California, but not comparable to the best ramen shops of Japan. Ive had all 3 soups and I would rate them #1 Pork #2 Soy Sause and #3 Miso, which seems to agree with the popularity of these soups (no hard numbers here mind you). Unfortunately I am unable to put into words why Santa is good yet not truly GREAT. Youll have to go to Tokyo (or at least outside of Northern California as of this writing) and try superior ramen for yourself. If you go to Tokyo, my favorite is Ramen Ichiran which I would rate as a truly GREAT bowl of ramen. Ramen Santa, Im glad its around because otherwise I would be deprived of good ramen where I live in San Francisco. I would rate Santa at 7 out of 10. For those of you who simple cannot leave the city, the best ramen in SF in my opinion is Katana-ya, which I would rate at 5 out of 10. Every other ramen shop in SF is pretty terrible. Particularly bad are Tanpopo and Sapporo-ya, both in SF J-town.
KA
Karen V Chin
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 Santa is located.
CI
Cindy Toh
Woah! Yummlicious ramen and great portions. Its now in my permanent bookmark. Surprised that this was not within my radar until recently. == Food == Stewed Pork Belly Soy Bean Ramen (4/5) Classic Soy Bean Ramen (5/5) For both, the broth was so gooooood, warm and tasty. The noodles were perfectly done and the meat were delicious. == Service == Service was slow thus the 4 instead of 5 stars. There was a line when we arrive around 12 noon. We were in the line for approx 10 minutes before we were seated, considerably ok for party of 2. For larger groups, be prepared to wait for much longer. 10 minutes is not really long, but it feels super long when you can see empty tables! They have quite a few staff working the sizeable restaurant. However, they lack planning to get patrons seated as soon as the table is clean and emptied, they could turn their tables so much faster but perhaps they do not need to. Spent my time in the line debating how they could possibly plan to turn tables quickly. I think I played too much of Restaurant time management game :P Anyway, this is going to be one of my to go list of ramen shop in San Mateo.
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Richard A Pico
Busy as all get-out, with a queue hanging out the door, there is plenty of staff to handle this busy ramen house. Time of visit was 102415, Saturday @ 1130. My garlic ramen, (3X) spicy was delicious, heavenly and wonderful. There was a hunk of pork shoulder that was tender, juicy and spiced nicely. It brought out the carnivore in me. One of the best bowls of ramen Ive eaten in a long time. Cold tofu was fresh, cold and good. Finally, my six pieces of chicken karaage almost stole the meal away from the ramen. Batter was just right. Chicken was fresh, moist, tender, bursting with flavor. This deep fried chicken is so good. Very yummy. Santa Ramen is a wonderful ramen house. Check came to $25.40; one person who sat at the counter. This is a highly recommend restaurant. Thanks, Santa Ramen for filling my belly.
RO
Rob McQuade
The stewed pork belly in garlic pork broth was good but not amazing. My pork belly was moist and tender, my dinner partners was dry and chewy. I ordered regular spicy which had barely noticeable heat (admittedly I like spice so I was disappointed). The broth and chasu were good but not great. My dinner mates enjoyed the chicken karage but I was unimpressed. The service was disorganized and we had to prompt our servers to make sure everything arrived at the table. Also disappointing was the fact that our group of nine had to be split into two tables that were nowhere near each other so I wouldnt recommend for a group larger than five or six. Id go back for a second try and hope that it was a fluke, otherwise Ill stick with Ramen Dojo.
TI
Tina Romero
The best of the three sister shops: Santa Ramen, Ramen Dojo, and Ramen Parlor (in order of my preference) but they all have their own thing that I like at each one. Santa is my fave because of their pork belly. Dojo has incredibly buttery roasted pork slices that melt in your mouth. Parlor cooks all their eggs perfectly medium and eggs any other way are an atrocity lol! Either one you go to, they each have absolutely delectable broths and amazing noodles. My go to order at Santa: Pork Belly Garlic Pork Ramen, extra roasted pork, extra belly, mild spicy- regular spicy if Im feeling dangerous, extra spicy if Im sick.
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A Private User
As soon as we sat down, the waitress wanted us to order. Desnt matter if we had time to look at the menu. Pack them in and move them out as fast as possible. Not a place for a comfortable bowl of ramen. The worst thing about this joint is the soup base is full of MSG. Half way through eating I had a terrible headache and my tongue was buzzing...a reaction to MSG. I complained to a waitress and she said "yes" we use MSG. I would have given it "no" star but I am required to give it at least one...and I wont go there again. I vote it the worst restaurant in San Mateo.
WI
Winson Wong
I travel around the Bay area to get good ramen and Santa Ramen was decent but not amazing. I still enjoyed it. Ive tried different flavors and I think the garlic pork flavor is the best. I had the miso ramen the other day and there was just something missing. You know when you taste the soup and you can tell by the flavor whether its cooked long enough for the flavors to come out. They also give you tons of noodles and the stewed pork was pretty good. Disappointed that they dont have the onsen eggs with the noodles though, that would have made it even better.
