Menya Inshou

Pretty good ramen place. Service is fast and there is plenty of seating — the location is kinda out of the way, behind the main Inshou shop but I kind of like it that way, not busting at the seams with people and parking is easy here, the lot is big because it’s shared with the whole Marina plaza. The serving of noodles is decent, and the tonkatsu broth is piping hot and rich — the only way a soup that rich can be had! Comes with 3 slices of pork that are thin and a little salty, and a marinated egg that is half done but not runny (for anyone who is into the runny yolks). The miso ramen (thick version) was a little salty for my taste, but also good and rich. A lot of varieties of ramen to choose from on the menu, but so far I can only speak for those two. Price is very reasonable, in the under 10 range. Overall, glad to have this conveniently right off the highway, and conveniently with bbt and Marina mart right by it.

They’ve updated their menu with some new options. So far so good.
The only negative I have about this place is that they too often overcook their eggs. Still delicious, but a solid yolk just screams «wasted opportunity» because a slightly runny yolk is a little bit of heaven.
One thing I neglected to note earlier that really should be called out because it’s hugely relevant when you’re looking for a lunch spot — you can get in and out of here in under 30 minutes. They’re not busy, so you can usually be seated immediately. And they bring your food quickly. I work 1 – 2 miles away in Foster City, and I have no trouble getting here, eating, and getting back to my desk in an hour. This place has become a staple when we’re time constrained for lunch.

Admittedly, I stumbled into this place expecting the Inshou Japanese Cuisine that is LITERALLY RIGHT NEXT DOOR. Anyhow, on to the review:
I got the Tonkatsu ramen and it was good enough to satiate my hunger, but definitely left something to be desired (and a lot of water to be drank). Roommate got the pork katsu curry, which doesn’t quite compare to Kobeya, Kaz Teriyaki Grill, or Usagi. He even described it as «feeling like this was just microwaved and served». No juicy chunks, just… sustenance.

Pros: You can choose light broth or thick broth and there is real tokyo style shoyu ramen in Showa Era (light broth) which you can feel their exquisite harmony of ingredients: bonito, anchovy, kelp, chicken bone, chicken meat, mushrooms and many more vegetables.
If you are fast food eaters, you might feel that something is missing, then you may try their stronger broth and soup.
My co-​workers like their tan tan tanmen, spicy miso ramen, curry ramen, tonkotsu ramen and rafutei.
Cons:Hiding and tiny place.
They have not obtained a liquor license yet.

I went there with high expectations because Inshou is pretty good. Unfortunately, the ramen I had there was not good at all. I couldn’t taste the umami broth. I prefer instant ramen, honestly. The Katsu curry was okay.

Stopped by for a quick dinner and was pleasantly surprised! I got the shoyu ramen with light broth and thought it was delicious and not too heavy. The menma (bamboo shoots) were very tender and the egg was cooked to perfection! In addition, iced mugicha (barley tea) was served and was a refreshing compliment to the meal. This is a no frills ramen restaurant and I would return to try the other ramen flavors offered.

3 stars for the following reasons:
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The ramen is definitely better than Santa Ramen and probably more rich than Ramen Dojo (both in San Mateo as well). One of the key distinctions is the soft shell crab blended with chicken/​pork hybrid broth with the option to add seabura (much backfat), to really inject yourself into super rich overdose.
I never thought it was possible until I tried this ramen. The various veggie components: micro sprouts, seaweed, and bamboo shoots. I tasted everything in its purity before it became corrupted with the fat. The egg was a bit overcooked to my liking and typical standard of ramen. The Soft Shell Crab pieces were slightly crispy and a different touch. The noodles were thin, not so eggy and had more bites than majority of the sub-​par ramen I’ve had here in the Bay Area. The broth was super rich and I was at fault for not worrying about it so much.
Overall, this standards probably top ten in terms of quality and distinction, but that doesn’t really say much. Customer Service was decent so there’s nothing really to complain there.
Just catching up to all my ramen reviews to make my official rankings public soon enough. Cheers!

I’ve been on a ramen binge this month before I go back on a gluten-​free diet. Conveniently, Menya Inshou is a 5-​minute drive from my office and I don’t like our office lunch on Fridays.
I have very mixed feelings about my lunch here. There were some missteps along the way, while other things surprised me in a good way.
The Ramen — 4 Stars
Not the best ramen I’ve had, but it was pretty good, in the end. I got the tonkotsu and added some bamboo shoots. First impression of the broth was mediocre. I like that it wasn’t super greasy (I guess I’m still reeling from the oily, sub-​par experience at Ramen Parlor). Good spread of toppings and I was glad to not see any leafy greens in there (I don’t get the whole lettuce or spinach leaf trend…).
The chashu, I thought, was the weakest part of this ramen. You get 4 thin sliced, lean pieces. I prefer my chashu thicker and fattier. But I thought the flavor was good, despite it being so lean. If you like lean meat with your ramen, you’ll like it here.
The noodles are the thin kind, which I didn’t mind, and cooked perfectly, the way ramen noodles should be. If you like thicker ramen noodles, you should probably go somewhere else.
The egg was actually the best part, I though. The yolk was half runny, which is great for ramen. You basically get three different textures in the egg. It was also very well seasoned — such that after you bite into the yolk, you’re hit with a nice soy sauce flavor from the egg white. In hindsight, I should’ve gotten an extra egg!
Karaage — 1 Star, if at all
Wanted to highlight this… DO NOT GET THE KARAAGE. This is the reason why I couldn’t give this place 4 stars. The karaage was terrible, probably the worst I’ve ever had at a decent ramenya or izakaya. First mistake — pieces were too big. Karaage is best at bite size pieces. Second mistake — the meat was too dry and not tender at all. They should use higher quality meat. The fact that the pieces were big compounded the problem, sadly. Third mistake — not serving it with lemon. It just came with Japanese mayo and some scallions. Scallions were nice touch but completely unnecessary for the karaage. I dumped them into my ramen instead. Mayo as a sauce is fine, but when the chicken is so dry, it makes things worse.
The only good thing about the karaage was the batter seasoning. It was salty and slightly spicy. Great batter! Please re-​appropriate on some better pieces of chicken.

evening ramen dinner… menya inshou off to the strip mall side… no crowds and tables plenty… order of the tonkotsu ramen finding quite salty… filling portion, but requiring lot of water… warning about the salty tonkotsu ramen… the light miso ramen is quite better… bamboo shoots filled, so might be an acquired taste… bamboo shoots emits quite a strong flavor… roughly $ 10 ramen bowls…

This place serves noodles in water with some some meat and some meat and a bit of other stuff floating around.
This is not the worst place, not the best place. The thing I would like to mentiom is that this place doesnt actually serve tea in traditional tea cups. Instead, they serve it in the same glasses as they serve water. Great for keeping cleaning dishes easy but horrible for presentation.
The good news is that you can order food from next door and bring it in if you ask kicely because both of the japanese restaurants are owned by the same guy.
Overall, since gas is still cheap, you ought to consider driving a little further to San Mateo to get better Ramen. However, if your car breaks down here and you crave ramen, this isnt a bad place.

***3.5 stars***
i heard about this place b/​c one of my Unilocal friends received an ROTD for her review of their ramen, so i didn’t hesitate to suggest it when my japanese friend visited me.
i called in advance and was told that there wasn’t a wait, phew, so we immediately drove up and were happy to see that there were several tables available around 6pm on a sunday evening. good thing we came at 6, b/​c not long after, this place filled up, and a long line was forming when we were leaving.
both my friend and hubby ordered the tonkotsu ramen ($ 10.25), which is the popular bowl of noodles immersed in pork bone broth. both bowls were brought out piping hot, with lots of toppings, and just ready to be eaten! i had a little of my hubby’s ramen and the noodles were very good, soft, but not soggy, with just enough flavour. the green onions and cloud ear mushrooms were also very good.
for myself, i ordered the tofu salad ($ 7.50) which left much to be desired as it was a simple plate consisting of a few pieces of cold tofu, red onions, and green onions. there was a small side of dressing (guessing miso and oil mix) but that was about it. plain and simple, and unfortunately, not very filling, and certainly not worth $ 7.50.
the service was standard, they definitely took our orders quickly, and brought our food out within a matter of minutes, and were swift to bring the bill at the end of the meal, however, there was no checking in on us to see if we needed anything else. definitely a no frills place where you eat your ramen and go.
note that this restaurant is located inside the marina plaza shopping center, toward the rear of the center. parking was plentiful when we came.

Quick ramen lunch on a Thursday. Rather slow in there, but there was enough noise around so you didn’t feel awkward sitting in there by yourself.
Ordered the Tonkotsu ramen.
Portion was nice. Pork was cooked well. Egg was cook to my preferred taste (a bit of runny yoke left in the middle).
However, the noodles were average, the broth a bit too oily, and the egg was just a bit too marinated for me (too much sugar?)
Food is 3 stars. But they were playing Nujabes, and I believe that all ramen should be eaten while listening to Nujabes. 4 stars overall!

Im a fan of their other business around the corner .Good to see they’re doing well. this strip mall has always been somewhat cursed for many businesses. It’s small and at the time unmarked so you’d not know ramen was in here. Got asolid kara age and oolong tea to start. The tonkotsu ramen was ok. For some reason the depth of flavor isnt quite there and the noodles are not as chewy as I liked. However for the price it’s still a decent value and on this side of the freeway there’s no other place except on the way other side of Foster City. Folks are really friendly to boot. 3.5 stars

The ramen wasn’t that great. The noodles could’ve had more bite to them and the thick shoyu broth was salty.
From what I noticed the thick had a little more flavor and had little things floating around in the broth which I believe tasted like chicken fat. I think the server said that the thick broth had chicken broth whereas the light broth did not.
The miso ramen tastes a little like the Korean doenjang paste.
The chicken karaage was nice and crispy but I wouldn’t come back just for that.
Some of the staff do not speak English well so you may have to repeat yourself. The restaurant is located off to the side around the corner from Inshou fusion tapas.

My fiancé and I were craving ramen on a cold day and discovered Menya Inshou thanks to Unilocal.They are located in the Marina plaza so there is plenty of parking at night and they are open late — good start! We were a bit confused about the location at first because there is the original restaurant located at the front of the plaza called Inshou. I thought the address was just wrong on Unilocal,but then we looked at the menu posted outside Inshou and didn’t see any ramen listed. That’s when we walked around the corner and found that Menya Inshou is located at the side of the plaza. Btw — the two restaurants are indeed owned by the same person — thus the reason for the name.
It was super cold inside and we were sitting in the corner by the thermostat so we saw that it was set to 65. Brrr!!! But maybe that’s because of the hot ramen. I did warm up after getting some hot tea in my belly. Note: they give you iced tea, but you can ask for hot tea if you prefer. I ordered the shoyu ramen and my fiancé ordered the crab ramen. He was hesitant to order it at first because it was $ 18! But then decided he was craving crab and went for it. Mine was standard ramen price — about $ 9.
The ramen wasn’t bad but just wasn’t the flavor I was craving. Mine tasted a bit bland so I ended up adding a bunch of dried onion to it (or I hope that was dried onion — whatever was sitting on the condiments plate). The meat slices were also thin so I felt like I still craved some meat after I was done. I added corn to my ramen — wasn’t bad but wasn’t sweet. And the bamboo was also plain. My fiancé actually felt that his soup was too salty. The crab was good but I’m not sure if it was worth $ 18 for the bowl. Overall, we both felt the ramen here lacked some flavor.
I will say the service was good and they were attentive. They also have the option to give you extra rice and lemon at the end to mix with your leftover broth if you still want to munch some more.
Not sure I’m a fan of the ramen but on another note, their main restaurant seemed to be quite busy so I think we’ll be back to try their sister restaurant!

Still figuring out which ramen I like best, but this was a great GRAND OPENING deal at 30% off everything throughout November. No signage saying «MENYA INSHOU» right now, just look around the corner from its sister restaurant «INSHOU» near the bank.
What we ordered:
Rafute with rice was really good!
Gyoza were too astringent for my taste. Also, a bit oily and given there were only 5, somewhat pricey. Then again, they’re housemade so up to you.
Shoyu base was a bit light, but delicious. Noodles were perfectly al dente (wavy style), and I loooove the toppings: naruto (fishcake), flavored egg (not runny, but still soft and lush), green onion, bamboo shoots, chashu (roasted pork roll slices) and nori (seaweed).
Tonkotsu base was definitely better than the shoyu base, and tasted even better with the garlic chip condiment. It does not come with a flavored egg, so you need to add it on at $ 1. It also comes with bean sprouts, which I hate in my soups. Teehee. And, they use straight noodles, which I thought were too flour-​y and soft relative to the wavy noodles in the Shoyu one.
Besides the menu selection, you have the option of choosing a light vs. thick broth. I’m not sure which one is better since I’ve only tried the light ones (above), but given that it was slightly bland, I assume the thick one is better, and would recommend that one. Also I think this is what I like at other ramen joints, though it depends on how flavorful the broth is to begin with.

3.5 STARS
Opening earlier this month, Menya Inshou is sister restaurant to next door, Inshou Japanese Cuisine (Fusion Izakaya). Menya is a ramen joint and they use no msg in their broths (yay!). Considering they’re Chinese owned (Japanese waitstaff) and how prevalent msg is used, this made me a happy girl. You have a choice between light or thick broth (except Tonkotsu) with the latter being much more flavorful according to the waiter. For their grand opening month in November, it’s 30% off your entire deal which is a super sweet deal. They’re currently awaiting their liquor license so no beer or sake for now.
Menu page 1:
Menu page 2:
For apps, we initially ordered the Ratute Pork Belly ($ 6.95) and Chicken Karaage ($ 6.50) but our waiter returned telling us they were sold out of both (2^nd lunch wave at 12:55 pm). Hmmm ok, so we ordered the Housemade Gyoza ($ 4.25) and the Takoyaki ($ 4.25). I would pass on both. The gyoza had an ⁸⁰⁄₂₀ ratio of green onions to pork:
. They were more like a green onion gyoza. The takoyaki balls were very mushy in the center and two octopus pieces were still frozen:
.
Among the five ramen selections, I went with the Tonkotsu Ramen ($ 10.25):
. The tonkotsu (not «tonkatsu») broth was rich and creamy but had no depth of flavor. I doctored it up with lots of togarashi chili and fried garlic. The noodles were waaaayyyyy overcooked to the point there were zero bite to them. The chashu was über tender but bland. The egg (+$ 1)? Sadly, close to hard boiled with no liquid gold oozing out:
. If they increase the seasoning and get the cooking times down, they can potentially have one solid bowl of ramen.
Mr. NSS ordered the Miso Ramen (light). I had a sip of his broth which was super salty. Unless they gave him the «thick» broth by accident, the «thick» broth would be insanely salty.
Service wise, as with their recent opening, there’s a lot of kinks to work out. For one, they need to stock up on their supply. If they’re running out of things at lunch, how are they going to make it to dinner service? =/​Then, they need to better train their line cooks. Kindly stop overcooking things.
There was one male staff member who held down the entire fort. He was very sweet and apologetic when our order was wrong (they forgot the corn in my ramen) and the kitchen forgot our gyoza (comped). The other younger lady seemed completely lost and would wander around not knowing which orders went to which table.
Décor was sparse other than the flat screen TVs playing some sort of animé. The dining area is small with 12 two-​top tables and 12 counter seats. Tables were awkwardly close to each other.
Shared parking lot in the Marina Plaza.
Overall, the food at Menya was about 3 stars but service was really kind so adding half a star. Rounding up to 4 stars because our bill was ridiculously low with the grand opening 30% discount. Two apps, two ramen bowls with extra chasu and an egg, and two sodas was only $ 17!!!
Now that was one h-​a-​p-​p-​y e-​n-​d-​i-​n-​g for Mr. NSS’ wallet!

Tasty! I really liked it.
I had miso with Kotteri soup.
Soup has great flavor coming from seafood. Noodles are like Hakata ramen.
My friend had tonkotsu which was also decent flavor.
I also had tofu salad that was with mizuna and kaiware raddish. It was great.
Gyoza was home made style.
Every flavor can pick kotteri or assari flavor.
Now just opened and 30% off until the end if November. Great deal.
My only complaint was the backkground music. Japanese songs that sounds outdated.

OK, so yes, you can probably see that I’ve been here multiple times now. It’s so close to me, so I wanted to give this place multiple chances! I can truly say I’ve gotten the full experience. Lunch, dinner, and takeout
This place is conveniently located in the Marina plaza (pull around closer to Denny’s actually). They don’t currently have a sign except a handwritten paper sign on their entrance door.
Went here with a friend during lunch and it was decently crowded, not bad for not advertising! Service was fast enough to get me back to the office in under an hour.
Tonkotsu Ramen ($ 10.25, not including their soft opening disc.): The broth was savory and had a decent amt of pork flavor, it wasn’t too salty the first time, but was saltier the 2^nd time. The pork was sliced but not pre-​marinated.
Shoyu Ramen ($ 9.95 thick broth): The broth is a little thicker, but it didn’t seem super noticeable. However, the broth was unbearably salty, I dumped it into a dish that they took away.
Braised Pork Belly Rice Bowl ($ 4.95): Came with a decent amount and is perfect for a small girl like me, but was not as saucy as I would’ve wanted. It was placed over some rice and was mostly sauce-​less.
Takoyaki — They ran out for dinner… on a Tuesday night.
Chicken Karrage (sp) — Came out hot, perfectly cooked with dark meat. The pieces were semi large, and only really came with ~4−5 pieces on a plate. + green onions and mayo
Siracha ($.50): That’s right people! You get charged for something that comes standard at other restaurants. They do have other condiments out, how confusing. $.50 pays for ¹⁄₆ of the retail cost of the bottle. Just bring your Siracha keychain! :(
Egg ($ 1): the staff was kind enough to tell us that one of our dishes came with an egg already, so allowed to cancel our initial order. The egg was medium boiled. Not soft and runny, not hard boiled, medium.
P. S. This place does takeout orders
P. P. S. This place takes Amex!

New Ramen place behind Insho. It’s just around the corner to the right, same parking lot. Nice clean open space with 5 counter seats and 6 4 seater tables.
Intrigued by the house special Ramen but today we’re having some basics, shoyu and shio. The taste is decent. The broth isn’t too oily and the ingredients are good.
A nice touch is that they provide deep fried garlic, all you want, with ramen. Also we were given mugi cha.
We had chicken karaage and it was tasty. Not too oily, crunchy outside, moist inside.