Ramen Yamadaya

 

In America the nation's noodle soup is chicken noodle soup. That is what I am assuming and I might be pretty accurate. It's comforting, it's what moms make, and it helps you through the season of sickness everywhere. Well I learned something about myself, living by myself, I'm not a chicken noodle soup kind of gal. I'm a pho,egg noodle soup, and ramen kind of gal. My current obsession, ramen. Oh how I love to eat ramen and before we went to Plentea we had Ramen Yamadaya in Japantown!! I was beside myself going over the Bay Bridge and then getting into Japantown. It wasn't the same feeling leaving, which was horrifying.

I was like a kid going to Toys 'R' Us for the first time. When we got to this plaza there were so many ramen shops. Initially we were planning to go to Tan Po-Po but Alyssa said we should try something new.

At the front was the display of the foods they sell. It was like Japan! It was fake food representing the food they serve. We walked up a flight of stairs and signed on the waiting list. Soon we were seated and by that time we all knew what we wanted. I ordered the Yamadaya Ramen (tonkotsu) and the Kara-age. Kristina ordered some gyoza and the Yamadaya Ramen (tonkotsu spicy).

As we were waiting the gyoza came out piping hot. We inhaled the gyoza and we burned our mouths a little. Then we waited for a very long time. At this point Kristina was regretting come here and mentioned how Tan Po-Po would have been a much more better experience. The kara-age came, what a nice crunchy appetizer before my ramen. It came with this coleslaw-esk salad which paired wonderfully with the salty kara-age. 30 minutes before closing we finally got some ramen!! We arrived about almost and hour and 15 minutes before closing and there was a ton of people still. I thought we would never get our ramen but it came, what took them so long?

My ramen was super good!! It was so much more flavorful than Isshin Ramen but as I continue eating the ramen my excitement of finding  my perfect bowl of ramen started dwindling. The pork was cold! The soup started to taste starchy as I started to reach the bottom of my bowl. Kristina's spicy ramen was not the spicy she was anticipating and we all agreed the whole starchy soup was a big turn-off. Between all the bowls Alyssa's was the best one, the soy base ramen.

The service was pretty good other than the lack of communicating how long our ramen was going to take. We never have to task them to fill-up our waters but it did take a long time. It felt as though other people were being served before us. The atmosphere was pretty cool too; they had a semi-open kitchen but it could  have looked a little neater. If I anything was eye-catching it was their faux food display in the front.

The total damage for Japantown ramen, around $51 dollars. . . worth it, kind-of. The appetizers were a sure winner but the ramen needs to be re-examined. As someone who has watched "Mind of a Chef" with David Chang, I expected my ramen soup to be clean; it was not. Thanks Ramen Yamadaya for kick-starting off my journey to the perfect bowl of ramen. It wasn't meant to be between us. . . please heat up your chashu for future reference.



Ramen Yamadaya - 1728 Buchanan St
Value- 3/5
Food- 3/5
Service - 3/5
Atmosphere - 4/5
Overall- 3/5