SF Peninsula: Ramen Dojo

One of T's favorite stories is how she went to Ramen Dojo with her cousin only to be told "No ramen for T" after waiting for a good while.  The disgruntled look on her face every time she tells this story makes it totally worth the gazillion times I've had to listen to it.

T was going to get her ramen if it was the last thing she ever did.  Slightly frightened by her ferocity, AF and I really had no choice but to say yes when T "suggested" we stop by Ramen Dojo before meeting up with CL and her friends to celebrate CL's birthday.

The original plan was to get to Ramen Dojo about an hour before it opens at 11:30am.  Hah.  Instead, we got there about 20 minutes before and the line was already ridiculous. 

We waited patiently until the door finally opened and people started filing in.  Our excitement built as the guy right in front of us in line stepped out because his friend hadn't shown up yet (make sure your party is complete, people!)...only to be shattered when we reached the threshold and the hostess let in the party BEHIND us.  Because the last available table was for two.  Not three.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

It's all T's fault.  Ramen Dojo hates her.  That's the only reasonable explanation.  

So for the next 30 minutes, we glared hatefully at the front door:

Though the restaurant is small (tiny, really), ramen doesn't take very long to assemble or to eat.  Thank God.  Before we knew it, we were inside:

There aren't that many options to choose from.  There are three soup bases: soy sauce, garlic pork, and soy bean.  You decide whether you want it spicy or not.  Then you figure out if you want to add any extra toppings.

All three of us went with the garlic pork broth and skipped on the extras:

The only difference is that we each chose varying degrees of spiciness.  No spicy for me, please.  The basic bowl of ramen comes with two pieces of roasted pork, fried whole garlic, kikurage mushroom, green chives, one quail egg, and chicken gravy (ground chicken, chopped shittake mushroom, and chopped ginger).

Delicious.  I'm no ramen connoisseur.  To be really honest, all ramen taste kind of the same to me after a while.  I care most of all about the egg.  Quail eggs are cute, but Orenchi's onsen egg is still the best.

The most important question of the day was whether T was finally satisfied.  Unfortunately, it seems like her Ramen Dojo experience was rather anticlimactic for her.  I think she had more fun waiting in line (and complaining about how much Ramen Dojo hates her) than actually eating.

I kind of agree.


Ramen Dojo
805 S B St
San Mateo, CA 94401
(650) 401-6568