Tanuja Alwar

Super yummy vegetarian sushi and ramen. The host did a good job recommending dishes that we liked. The mushroom creamy ramen was not rich or heavy at all, and the vegetarian sushi was particularly good.

Rhiannon Payne

We enjoyed everything — veggie okonomiyaki, sushi, fried squid. Very extensive menu! Okonomiyaki tasted as good as Osaka. The rest wasn’t the best Japanese food I’ve ever had but yummy, no complaints. Nice hole in the wall vibe and fast service. We will be back.

Madhavan Kidambi

Great vegetarian food with lots of options. The veggie sushi was amazing since it was packed with flavor and different textures. The veggie okonomiyaki was also amazing - crispy with a lot of sauce on top. The creamy mushroom ramen was good but not the best I've had, especially in Japan Town. I'd recommend a spice level higher than 2. Service was fast and portion sizes are good, 1 entree per person is probably sufficient.

Rishil Harinath

Great food, great service, and great atmosphere. It's a really cool place with an extremely wide selection of options, and all of the ones I tried tasted delicious. The seating is pretty limited however, so make sure to come when it isn't crowded.

+1

Joshua Yuan

Small restaurant inside. Good food. Sushi was good, sashimi too. Quantity is pretty solid too. On a weekend evening there was only 1 party to wait for in front of my group and we got seated pretty quickly. The parking lot in jtown is usually full so I would recommend parking just around on the street. Afterwards (or before) explore jtown! Enjoy :)

+1

Came here cuz a nearby restaurant had a really long wait and there was no wait here. The staff was super helpful and quick. Ordered a mango nectar drink which was delicious. The ramen I had was Kinuki(?) and it was only okay. The ambiance of this place is nice and can seat a lot of people, very clean.

We had to get ramen while we were in Japantown. The ramen here was delicious. I got the Spicy Ramen with medium on the spice level. I wanted to play it safe since my friends make fun of me that I can only handle “white boy spicy.” The broth was super flavorful and complex. My friend got the Wantan Ramen since he’s a sucker for chicken-dashi broth. He loved it! It wasn’t busy since we were here on a Thursday night. They are centrally located in Japantown and I recommend coming by to satisfy your ramen cravings while you’re here. 🍜

Friendly staff, clean store and only thing I am not satisfied is rice taste not right for Japanese food, a bit dry.

Po Chiu

When you visit Japan Town in San Francisco and want some Japanese food, you may like this restaurant, it is small but I enjoyed my Lunch here

Cory Anderson

Fun restaurant, good food but lacking a bit of flavor in my opinion. The garlic noodles were great, but the ramen’s brother lacked flavor. Good for walk in.

Vincent Tang

11/16/2024 @ 1pm, friendly staff, Osaka-style okonomiyaki, not quite like Japan. Serving size and garnishment limited. Okonomiyaki is deep fried resulting in crispy top.

+18

Lisa C

Cozy Japanese restaurant in the heart of Japan town. Has 7 tables. Very small. The line to get seated moved very quickly. Food came out fast. It took about 5minutes to be seated. I arrived at 7:20. We ordered a fried appetizer which was different; takoyaki: fried batter with octopus. Tasted and felt like a cheesy consistency. Rolls were only ok. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the PinkLady roll as the crab on top was very dry. My friends volcano roll was delicious, minus more of that dried out real crab. All the fish tasted fresh. Pricey for sushi, but good sized rolls. All the ramen options looked thrilling. I’ll be back strictly to try the ramen. My friend ordered the creamy grilled chicken ramen and it did Not disappoint. Huge bowl. Tons of noodles. Silky complex broth with rich flavor. Very friendly servers.

+11

Jake

The people that work here are really, really sweet. We came during the Covid times, so obviously the experience is going to be less than ideal. That being said, everyone was exceedingly friendly and the service was super quick. We got the tempura udon and the vegetable ramen. The udon was pretty good albeit a little plain, but if you’re into that it’s dependable. The tempura was pretty greasy, especially the shrimp, but I can mostly attribute that to it being in a box. Overall, pretty darn good. The ramen was a slightly different story. I take real issue with any ramen that has corn in it, let alone lettuce. This had both. The broth was good, the noodles were better, but otherwise it was pretty unimpressive. The zucchini was only insult to injury. Overall, this place is great and I’m happy to support it. Steer clear of the ramen, but I’m pretty sure everything else here is pretty good.

The restaurant was pretty average. The small plates and dishes they gave us weren’t very clean, which was a bit off-putting. The ramen was decent—not great, but not terrible either. The staff were really friendly and attentive, which was nice. The atmosphere was okay, but I personally didn’t like the lingering old smell. There was no lid for the water they provided. The hygiene could be improved.

To be honest, the ramen here is not very special and you can make it at home. Ordered the Yamadaya ramen $18.50 , the noodles are thin, but the texture is not very good, you can even taste the raw noodles. The soup base may have fish flavor, I was thirsty 30 minutes after eating so I think the soup base should mixed from condensed soup base . For topping , here is the pork belly instead Chashu . Service is average , they did their job , that’s all !

Went here because it's my son's favorite Ramen house, but I found just ok. Located in the heart of J town, I'd imagine it gets a lot of traffic. My son ordered gluten free noodles, but they messed it up and he had to wait until it was resolved. I thought my bowl was extra tasty and sadly I was right for the wrong reason. After we finished and I was driving away, I got hit with an MSG rush starting in my lower spine up my back into my head. Leaving a headache for about an hour. Warning.... if you're sensitive to MSG, order something without the broth or just don't drink it : )

Piccolos Daughter

Cute little place that feels like an authentic Japanese restaurant. The food is just okay but they have good deals.

Kien Lam

We eat at a lot of sushi restaurants, and this one in San Francisco Japantown is merely okay. Prices and selection are fine, but the rolls, for example, are somewhat smaller than what I'm used to and the sauces on the rolls are a tad overwhelming.

+5

S

Incredibly mediocre food. Okonomiyaki was good though. Also their “spicy beef curry” is not Japanese curry at ALL. It’s a bland beef stew. It’s a shame because I was really craving Japanese curry today! We ended up spending $40 per person (yikes) and enjoyed pretty much none of the food. Service was good though

Wook Chung

If it wasn't for being within Japan Town and getting the benefit of doubt of being authentic as well as the spillover foot-traffic, I think Kui Shin Bo would have a tough time surviving. What was really confusing about this joint was that certain dishes were completely authentic and well done, while others were bastardized with whatever pan-Asian influence. I can absolutely see that the original menu and the chef must have been Japanese but it has slowly and surely been fusioned with the chef drift. Whoever is cooking today really isn't "Japanese" for sure. Now for the highlight - I loved the croquette. I would have to say this was one of the best croquettes you can taste in all of SF. I just wished they had more variants. Just for this, I added a star to the food. The yakidori and the beef skewers were prepared poorly with tough cardbord like meat. The zaru soba was another shreded cardboard with senseless dipping shoyu, bland and uneventful. The mackarel dish was dry, tasteless, and souless. The okonomiyaki, although tasty, had no grace. Thankfully, the prices were reasonable for SF standards. But we won't be returning here any time soon,

+5

Been visiting this joint for years for good ramen near Japantown. To be fair, I have not tried the other ramen houses within the japantown complex itself but this place compares favorably with similar eateries on the peninsula. On my most recent visit in Dec 2023 the quality of the food seemed to have gone down a little from years before. Nevertheless the ramen broth is flavorful, the chashu and stewed pork are soft and flavorful and the egg well done (firm outside and soft inside). The ramen texture is not great. Appetizers are fine - portions are big but the quality is so-so. We had the fries with cheese, geso karaage and house salad. Extensive menu beyond ramen. Sep 2025 update - not sure what happened but the food quality has plummeted since we ate here a year ago, and definitely nothing compared to what it was years ago. The tonkutsu broth is tasteless, the noodle texture was off and the tsukemen was terrible. Will not be returning.

Tourist Trap. Go somewhere that values your hard earned money. Do not get the coconut curry. They randomly tossed in a lemon and carrots in it. It wasn’t even listed in the ingredients. Broth was diluted and watery. Service is average, nothing that sticks out. Ambiance is dark and dingy. No music and smells of cheap commercial chemicals like Fabuloso.

Came at the end of the lunch rush nearing 2pm. The place felt convoluted and people didn’t receive their full orders having some people start before others. The broth in my Yamada Ramen was bland and the egg upon biting it was cold, it felt like I was eating it raw. Granted I will not be coming back.

We were out checking out the Blossom Festival and ended up in line at this spot—mostly because everything else was packed and this seemed like the best of the options. Big mistake. What followed was one of the worst dining experiences we’ve had in a long time. You know that feeling when a good meal brings people joy? Yeah, this place doesn’t deliver that. Every dish we tried was off. The gyoza tasted like it came straight out of a Costco freezer bag—bland, rubbery, and weirdly artificial. Ever had something so oddly “pipe-flavored” that you start questioning not just the plumbing, but your life choices? That was us. I ordered udon and my partner got the spicy ramen. Both were terrible—easily the worst ramen I’ve ever had. And trust me, I’ve had instant ramen that puts this to shame. Honestly, second place in the “worst food” category goes to Dumpling Time in San Jose—just to give you a sense of how low the bar is here. The shishito peppers were a whole other offense. They should be grilled—smoky, blistered, and tender. These? Crunchy like they were trying and failing to be bell peppers. And serving them with a side of mayo? That’s not just wrong—it’s a betrayal of everything good and holy about Japanese small plates. Service? Painfully slow. We waited forever to be helped, and you could just feel the awkward energy around the room—people nodding like they were all in the same boat of disappointment. The water was lukewarm, no ice, and tasted like it had been sitting in jugs all day. Not a great first impression. To top it off, the waiter basically tossed the receipt at us and clearly didn’t know how to handle our complaints. Thankfully, another staff member came by and comped our ramen and noodles, which we appreciated. Moral of the story: if you’re in San Francisco and craving ramen, do your homework . Don’t be fooled by the reviews—this place is not it. I’ve had better ramen at gas stations.

Ananya Mahesh

got take out here, and i got the creamy mushroom ramen — i felt like it lacked flavor and was just a little bland! good portion sizes and they packaged it well but was lacking flavor. also wish it had tofu (some kind of plant protein). service was good but it did take a minute for them to make the food! my friend got the volcano and caterpillar roll and loved both! would not go back for the ramen tho haha

This is by far the worse ramen I'd ever had. Firstly, the service I received was terrible, server had a massive attitude and was borderline throwing our food at us. But surely it's fine because the food is good right? Wrong. Out of the 4 ramens that we've order, I only would've willing eaten one. They put looks over taste. None of the broths were creamy and was served like it was heated up. On top of all of that the broth is for some reason bitter. I'm sorry but this is just one gigantic tourist spot. If you want some good ramen just go to Marufuku 2 blocks away cheaper and better.

Edited 7-6-24: hate to say it, but a lot of what I used to love about this spot in no longer present. I understand that inflation is brutal right now…. But….Portions have gotten cut in half despite the price being the same. I’m not being dramatic here…. My bowl was 50% full when dropped off at the table. Not to mention that the ramen had the chintzy’est portion of pork…. it was laughable. The chicken karrage is still awesome with its different style options…. But as a whole it’s evident they’re trying to save money downsizing. Its was so obvious that I’m stuck with ‘voting with my wallet’ and not coming back. Que Serra Serra…. Change is the only constant. This place does Ramen right. The Black Garlic is the heavy hitter on the menu. Service is good but can be a bit hectic around dinner rush. It is also quite loud in the main dinning room. I know this is a chain but the quality and service is outstanding and easily in the top 5 of ramen spots in the city worth checking out. The ‘experimental ramen’ section of the menu has some really interesting options as well

I gave it a one star because I can't put down a zero star. I am a lover of Asian cuisine and let me tell you, this place is a tourist trap. It's terrible and a waist of your $$$$$. We love ramen soup but it was watered down, no flavor or taste. There's no way it took 20 hours to make the broth. My braised pork rice bowl was 99% rice that tasted old, 5 very small thin pieces of very dried up pork and a table spoon of shredded cabbage with some mayo. There's no sauce what so ever on the meat or rice. My recommendation, don't go.

The Korean chicken karage I ordered was undercooked and gave me food poisoning. The other food was crisp but had such a weird consistency in the inside. On top of this our server forgot to give me our melon soda until I asked at the end. Would not recommend.

Everything tasted left out and reheated. Waxy and chewy karage, waxy bao buns, soggy tempura left sitting in the seafood ramen, over cooked noodles and barely warm broth and very little seafood. We specifically asked for the sea food ramen to be boiling hot, and was told that “all our broths are boiling” nothing was even close to hot. House ramen lacked flavor, bland broth and overcooked noodles with very little meat and bamboo and cold egg. We did not finish the ramen. Wanted to give them the benefit of doubt after reading the reviews and waiting a while. We asked more than once for napkins, water cups and chopsticks. There were a few groups of 4 but by no means were they slammed! $87 down the drain. Unfortunate because it’s the perfect weather for ramen. Let’s hope things improve and maybe today was just an off day.