Ramen Club

wish Koji-​San the best in his next venture in Santa Cruz.
it was a great Ramen joint, not sure if it’s the competition or new lease rates that drove him out, but will miss the Ramen Club.

Very Very Disappointed!
I been there most of my ramen time, but since last week we went everything change. No favorite, service is getting worst. This will make the end of my visit.

I took advice from a fellow reviewer and did NOT attempt to order the sushi. I went for the Miso Ramen. The hot broth and chewy noodles was right combination for a cold night. However, I found myself looking for another level of flavor to excite my ramen experience. I should’ve gone with my gut feeling and tried the Spicy Garlic with Kimchee. Oh well… unfortunately there probably won’t be a next time since we noticed that they are closing their doors soon and re-​opening under new ownership.
If you have the time and don’t mind driving to San Mateo, definitely try Ramen Dojo instead! Now that place hits you with all kinds of flavor levels!

Ramen. What’s the big deal. Noodles and broth. Get it at the local grocery store for 99¢ a package. Or find a 5-​star gem, put your name down, and wait for 2 hours on a Friday night. Sacrilege.
You’d think there’s a happy middle between the two. And in some ways, Ramen Club fits the bill – it’s neither super awesome, nor super awful – but it was a little uninspired. The noodles did have a good bite, but where as in a great bowl of ramen, you’re looking for the broth, the toppings, and the noodles to sing together with once voice, you just don’t get that here.
My wife had the miso ramen, I had the shio, and the baby had barely any room for his baby seat. On a positive note, we did get a California roll that had real crab meat. But overall, I’d say Ramen Club is mediocre at best.

I ordered the garlic and kimchee ramen and added corn and boiled egg, my friend ordered the asari (clam soup) ramen, and shared a poki deluxe. The service was okay.
I thought my broth was plain and boring, didn’t really taste the garlic in it. the description said it was spicy shio broth but it was not spicy at all, i added a lot of the chilli powder. The good thing is that it isn’t too salty like most ramen places, but not bland where I needed to add more soy sauce or salt. I also didn’t like my boiled egg. When I ordered it, I asked the server if it was a soft-​boiled egg, he said yes, but it was completely hard boiled. It was also kind of sweet, which I didn’t like.
My friend’s clam broth ramen was a lot better than mine. The soup was really hot and it actually tastes like clams. At last my friend really liked his bowl of ramen.
The poki deluxe had WAY too much onions !!! More than half the bowl was occupied by the onions. If the onions were cut down by ¾, with more seaweed salad, it’d be better. And it didn’t really have a lot of fish. They were cut really small and contained very little of it. not worth $ 12!

Decent ramen, but not great. The tonkatsu broth lacks potency and richness and tastes a bit watered down. The noodles are supposedly from LA, that likely means from a distributor and they lack the fresh chewiness that really puts a Ramen place over the top.
They serve sushi, but for the price, it was a bit small and mediocre. To top the experience off, we were charged more than we should have been. The waitress had the price wrong for our noodles. And though I had asked for extra half noodles, they gave me an extra full serving of noodles and charged more for that as well.
It is an okay option, though I would venture a few miles down to San Mateo to one of the other ramen options down there.

If you value your time, DO NOT ORDER TAKE OUT from Ramen Club!
After you order on the phone, they will tell you it will take XX minutes but they won’t start making your food until you actually arrive to pick it up.
They have done this to me on MULTIPLE occasions! They say «ready in 25 minutes» and when I get there I wait another 15 minutes while they actually make my order. I’ve literally watched them make my order and put it in to-​go boxes while I’m waiting 15 minutes for it. There are too many sushi places around Burlingame for me to waste my time at Ramen Club for take out!

For the bay area, this is a solid 4 stars.
not sure why they bother doing sushi… (no OG Ramen restaurant in Japan sells Sushi with Ramen, just FYI)
We finally made it here– I’m glad we did. We shared the gyoza, tuna poke (yes, there are other kinds of poke), and their pork ramen.
Gyoza– why are they so smooshed? I’ve never seen gyoza that have been flattened to oblivion. No matter. they still taste super yummy. Not as crispy as I’d like, but good for the bay area. We were hungry, I almost considered putting in a second order. but for $ 4.50, kinda pricey for 5 gyoza. (prices are much better in SoCal for better Japanese food!)
Poke– Not authentic Hawaiian poke by any means, missing the limu seaweed which, to me, makes it by definition, poke, but still pretty tasty, good flavor, and fresh tuna.
Ramen– again, not amazing, but my mini gourmet enjoyed the broth (and yes, he is picky and knows his broth!
Great service, clean bathrooms, easy parking. For the bay area, this adds stars, as well.
Sorry, this review kinda sounds like I’m super hatin’ on SF.

We were on our way home from Gilroy Family Gardens and driving toward home on 280, when I had a craving for ramen. Stopping at the rest area, we checked on Unilocal to see what was close to our proximity, and decided on Ramen Club. After a jog through Hillsborough, we quickly found ourselves in Burlingame. It was easy to find and parking was plentiful.
There were two other parties seated in the small restaurant. After we were shown to a table, we hungrily studied the menu. We ended up ordering the Shio ramen and Tonkatsu ramen. We also ordered a sushi roll listed on the board at the back of the restaurant. For drinks, I had a tea, hubby ordered a large beer.
We expected to get the sushi roll before the ramen, but it came all at once. The noodles were perfectly slippery and chewy, and both broths (yes, once again I helped myself to hubby’s order) were quite tasty. In retrospect, we could have done without the sushi roll, there was so much food.
You should know that their large draft beer is the size of a one quart mason jar. I was commenting on the price (something like 7.50 $) and how we had spent about the same for a beer at Gilroy Family Gardens earlier that day and the beer was maybe a 12 ounce glass. So, if you’re a beer drinker, this is a deal.
I think we were there 45 – 60 minutes and the dining room filled up as we ate. Customers seemed to know each other, so it must be popular among the locals. They also seem to have a brisk take away business.
While I would like to try some of the other ramen shops we spied on Unilocal,knowing that this place is here, I wouldn’t hesitate to stop again when passing through.

You guys have seen my check in’s into ramen places… But you know my love for Himawuri in San Mateo’s 2^nd Ave…
This restaurant is small, and service needs improvement.
I ordered Shio Ramen, and came out disappointed… Broth had no flavor, but the meat and fillings we’re good as well the noodles we’re just perfect.
We also ordered some sushi rolls, and their a bit expensive for so little.

If ever in an Asian mood, this is my place.
If I ever have a cold and am acting like a baby, this is my place.
If I’m feeling lazy and feeling like making a right outside my front door and not left, this i my place.
Try the gyoza. Don’t be afraid. It’s just pot stickers but by a different name.

Ramen Club was one of my first experiences with love (of ramen) so I used to think it was new and exciting. Since then, I’ve moved on to other loves, but I found myself reminiscing about the good old days so I took a trip to see how she’s doing. When I saw her again, it wasn’t how I remembered. Were the noodles always so undercooked? Didn’t her broth have more flavor and less oil? Wasn’t her chicken karaage bigger? Why did I use to think this was the best thing in the world?
Because I was an inexperienced kid who didn’t know that there were better, more flavorful ramen fish in the sea.
So goodbye Ramen Club. It was nice catching up with you. Maybe I’ll see you around if Im in the area.

Short history of ramen in the SF Bay Area:
There were a very small number of modest ramen shops in SF Bay Area going as far back as the 1990s (one or two maybe even before that). This was before the days of douchebaggery, hipsterism, David Chang, and basically everyone else jumping on board the ramen bandwagon, turning what was basically cheap quick fast efficient food, into gourmeh overpriced mediocrity with no fire and soul (or brimstone). Oh yeah and way before pork bone soup ramen (tonkotsu, not tonkatsu) became vogue, but not in an old haggardly Madonna kind of way. I would say Ramen Club is one of them (and Santa in its prior location where Ramen Dojo sits being another), which is kind of like Ryowa in Mountain View… does the job in a pinch, but not mindblowing.
The owner/​head chef is a Japanese guy, who runs basically an open kitchen (you see all the action if you sit at the counter, giving this small place a pseudo izakaya atmosphere) with around 2 assistants, and depending on who’s working that day, perhaps 2 waitstaff serving and doing cashier duties. So you will either hear Japanese or Cantonese and of course English, but not by the same sets of people.
The house broths are more or less shio, miso, or shoyu as well as variation of the three on a theme or more, and you can consider them basically as flavoring agents for the stock. Although I have yet to try the miso or shio broths just to compare.
As of Saturday they were still offering some Halloween themed ramen, «devil’s nest» which looks like black squid ink noodles (although Chris Cosentino and other old world Italian restaurants have nothing to fear), and I kind of dig the Halloween décor they had lingering around.
$ 7 for a standard bowl is reasonable, tho things could have been better.
Yuzu citrus shoyu ramen: Pretty much saw the whole thing. Assistant took out a bowl, squirted some lemon looking juice inside, then scooped up a giant ladle of stock, added some shoyu (not straight from the bottle or pour but from another source) for darkening the broth, cooked the noodles separately and drained water out (like fast food line for pasta), then by hand added wakame (seaweed), two sheets of nori, some corn, and two pieces of chashu (cold and presliced).
Noodles: typical curly yellow like type. Not my kind
Broth: Nothing exciting about it, and nothing where I would want to drink it all up.
Default condiments: There was one small piece of menma, but it was uninteresting and probably not prepped in house. Don’t really like corn in the ramen unless it’s in miso broth. Wakame? A little spinach would have been fine (like Ryowa), and more good quality menma. Chashu had to be immersed in the broth immediately for it to soften up. Not bad, but this was obviously not a roulade/​pork roll prep which would have made a bigger difference in taste/​texture. No ramen pepper lying around either.
They have some funky rolls on the specials menu (e.g. spicy tuna, california) for those who prefer not to eat at Isobune, or feel the need to have variety with their noodles.
The momentary verdict is that this place does indeed do its job in a pinch if you are hungry, and there are definitely worse places to go have ramen (like the Chinese run yakitori joint up the street, but they do have pork bone soup ramen, and it is rather romantic in there if the divey décor at Ramen Club doesn’t score you points with your cheap date).

This past Saturday was most definitely a Ramen day. It was cold, rainy and just plain gross outside. Ramen Club is in my new ‘hood, so why not give it a try (vs. waiting in God awful lines at some of the joints in San Mateo)?
+1 star: they seated our party of four within minutes!
+1 star: giant mugs of Kirin for $ 5.50
+1 star: DELICIOUS pork fat in my traditional soy sauce broth
+1 star: Amazing homemade stir-​fried noodles
Portions here are HUGE so if you’re not a heavyweight, order the mini size of Ramen. Wish I had done so, ’cause I left more then half of the meal in the bowl. But really, who finishes that whole thing?
Maybe I’m not enough of a Ramen snob, but I thought Ramen Club was pretty darn awesome…

Too many good to great ramen places to come back, despite their friendly service. The soup was too watered down and the noodles were average. The curry was strangely acidic.
What else is there to say? Pass.

Did you know Santa Ramen and Ramen Dojo are closed on Tuesdays? I found that out the hard way by eating here. I don’t want to start rambling with a list of complaints, but rather softly discuss what led us to this place.
As usual, Bun wanted ramen. So we drove out to Santa Ramen (her favorite!); we purposely got ready earlier to beat the lines during their lunch period. Out of the car, I stood up thinking. Man, we got here darn early because the lights are still off! Another two potential customers walked towards the restaurant and then walked off back to their car. They couldn’t wait a few minutes? We walked up to the restaurant and see the sign that says. Tuesdays are closed. As the great Homer Simpson oft says in his greatest moments: «DOH!!»
Off to option B we went. After realizing Ramen Dojo was also closed, Ramen Club was our plan B. This place isn’t hard to find, but parking may be a little hard due to the fast traffic in that area during busy times. We parked about three blocks away, and we arrived during the heat of lunch. We sat at the bar with the view of the cooks consisting of a couple Hispanic guys and what appeared to be a Japanese dude leading them.
I’m an equal opportunist, I don’t care who’s in the kitchen. Make sure it’s good I say. Unfortunately it wasn’t. We both ordered bowls of ramen. Bun’s had a bowl of miso, and mine a special spicy garlic ramen under their «specialized» menu. We both watched them make it. Something of a joy to watch until actually served to us.
The appetizer plate of gyozas we ordered were overdone with the superficial similarities of something ran over by a car. Now to the ramen! For a place using the words ramen and club in its name you have to assume they boast a hefty tasteful bowl of ramen. They do not. The broth was bland and the pieces rubber-​like in texture. For something that’s supposed to be a specialized and spicy, they just squirted some spicy sauce in the middle of the ramen and dashed a couple sesame seeds on top (you’ll see it in the picture I posted). The noodles were fine, but everything else was less than that.
If I want ramen on a Tuesday and am in the area, I’ll tell myself to wait until Wednesday when Santa or Ramen Dojo are open. Heck, there are other choices within the vicinity I rather try. From the looks of what everyone was eating, everyone in the restaurant at the time ordered the bento boxes. For a quick lunch that’s perfectly OK to get by with. Unfortunately, bento boxes are boring to me. I tried Ramen Club on the expectation this could be another winner to put on the list of ramen locations to choose from in the future. That’s a no go.

They seem to have lost their touch. The menu got bigger, but the quality has slipped a bit. Then again, they do offer more of a Japanese Hawaiian fusion twist versus other ramen places. I ordered their SpicyMiso Ramen. The broth was bland, and had a small kick to it. Definitely spoiled by another Ramen spot that specializes in spicy ramen. We had their tuna poki (ok), kids ramen (good portions), and shortrib dinner plate (even had a side of ramen).
I have to give it to their friendly service. The place is small, so make you sure have time to wait if you are coming during the main dinner hours.

3 ½ stars for this small hole in the wall spot
Um they got Ramen well I hope they would because it is in their name haha
the Ramen to me was ok, it was everything else that was ordered that made the experience lasting, so lets start we ordered alot because everything looked really good.
we tried there Takoyaki (Japanese deep fried Octopus Dumpling), Ebi Shumai (steam shrimp dumpling), scallops spicy roll, Mini ramen bowl with wontons & a spicy ramen choice
the Takoyaki was interesting, piping hot so take 2 bites not whole or you will be sure to sear your tongue, texture it was mushy the outside was a lil crisp inside super mushy and hot kinda like eatin a small mini cake with crust hardened outside and the inside still raw, taste wise it was ok I would order it again just to make sure the first time around was not a flaw,
The ebi shumai was very good, this was not your regular shui mai look wise and taste wise, 6 pieces that sit on a lil spiced sauce no soy sauce needed folks this piece comes with all the flavor already intact.
The Spicy Scallop roll was a first for me been to several other sushi spots have not seen this as a choice, there was a lil sauce kinda of a mix of heat and tartar made the rolls come together more
The mini ramen bowl was decent, I like ramen but I like Phở more so for this time around I would have to say the ramen was just average no big whoops just more or less veggies there, wontons, there, noodles there, again no big whoop from me, I added more soy sauce didnt seem to make a difference on taste.
The wife had there spicy ramen soup I think it was the jarjar or jurjur bowl I dont recall the name but she liked it lots, huge bowl of ramen and the ingridents came on the side so you can add as much as you want at your own pace. the soup was yellow in color with the ingridents added was a bright orange, my wife didnt think it was spicy enough so she added some more heat with the peppered flakes offered on the side
in all i would probably visit this place again not for the ramen but for the choice of sushi they have
also they have green tea cheesecake, one word wow, yep you got to try it, creamy not hard, punch in the face flavor portion is small because it is so rich haha
food *** ½ sushi jess ramen for me maybe a 3
price $ not bad at all
service **** it gets packed in there quick
ambiance *** small (literally small you got to squeeze by to get to the bathroom in the back)

Been here a few times the past week or so. Can’t seem to get enough of the spicy miso ramen. This is my favorite so far and is the only dish i ordered. I am itching to try something different. Maybe the bentos
It is a small cute little place. I have been fortunate to not have to wait in line. Service is good although there is always room for improvements. They never seem to remember to refill our teas.
Hopefully by the tenth times, they should have it down.

Why didn’t I print out or save on my blackberry Ramen Boy’s (Nobu K.) review before going to this place so I knew what to order???
I debated hard between shio and shoyu ramen… went with the latter and regretted it after one sip of the broth. There was something missing there, and to remedy the lack of flavor, I was tempted to add extra soy sauce in there myself!
My husband got the miso-​ramen, which tasted better. The broth had more depth. I was tempted to swap our bowls, but decided to behave…
The noodles were the yellow, curly kind… and they felt somewhat overcooked. I started missing the Santa’s noodles, which I find to be nicely chewy. Also, we had an issue with their sliced pork (chashu). It was oddly sweet.
So we ended up walking out of the restaurant rather disappointed…
But wait, THERE IS STILL HOPE. Next time, I am definitely getting the asari sho-​ramen and gosh, if I have enough courage, I’ll go for the Karaage Curry Ramen that sounds so WRONG, but hey, I will never know unless I try it, right?
I like the restaurant ambiance (cozy and less hectic than Santa), and the chefs behind the counter looked friendly. (Too bad we were at a table far away.)
SUM: 3 stars for now. Definitely must go back.