Santa Ramen

One of the more established ramen restaurants in the Bay Area, Santa Ramen started serving their authentic ramen soup well before it became trendy. Their garlic pork ramen has been consistently good for the past two decades, and the service has always been friendly and efficient. Parking lot is shared with several other shops and restaurants in the strip mall, so it can get crowded especially during peak meal hours.

I got the pork cheek ramen with extra noodles. I thought the taste was good. It's a smidge pricey ($18 base + $2 noodles) but all the tables were filled when I went, so maybe this is market rate. I had an issue with the clover payment system- the QR code was a dead link on my Android phone. Not sure what was going on, and I consider myself relatively techy.

Order Kirin beer, kim chi, chicken karaage, and pork belly with garlic pork flavor.

Portions are huge! The tonkatsu is pretty rich and the Yokohama (tonkatsu + miso) is even more filling, so you won't go home hungry. The chicken karaage was way bigger than I expected too, in a pleasant way, as we got a full-size dinner plate full of chicken. The staff was accommodating of our kiddos, bringing extra bowls for sharing and a high chair. And there was no wait on Sunday evening at 6pm!

Wonderful ramen in the most flavorful broth. Note that they close on Tuesdays and has limited hours. Very busy for great reasons

The ramen here is solid. Probably in the top 5 on the peninsula. The broth is super rich and creamy and packed with umami. The noodles are firm and al dente, just slightly undercooked. The pork belly is meaty and flavorful. Our biggest complaint is that the last couple times we've come here, the kitchen was suuuuper slow. The food took forever to come. In our most recent visit, we waited nearly an hour for our food to arrive. This seems pretty ridiculous. One of the staff is incredible - super warm and attentive. The other staff seem like they'd rather be somewhere else.

I haven't eaten ramen here for a long time. Today I stopped by to eat while shopping at nijiya supermarket. The noodles were cooked to the right texture and the soup was rich, but the pork was too soft and greasy. Service is friendly