Kajiken - San Mateo (CA)

4 /5 Cindy Lu: Waygu Aburasoba 3 meat raw, very chewy, doesn’t meet the pricey waygu beef expectation; wish they can have a normal beef one with cheaper price; sauce creamy, not very flavorful Nikumori Aburasoba 4 dry noodles, spicy minced pork, slightly tough & chewy pork slices, green onions, poached egg, medium spicy Keema Curry Aburasoba 5 dry noodles, curry minced pork, parsley, ajitama, only half egg, super flavorful Soboro Aburasoba 4 dry noodles, soy marinated ground chicken, green onions, sesame seeds, ajitama, slightly sweet, strong onion (slightly bitter) after taste, flavorful Optional toppings: sesame seeds, garlic powder, chili oil, white vinegar

4 /5 G G: Theres always a line for this restaurant so be prepared to wait. Once seated service is relatively quick. Love the flavor of the noodle dishes. Theyre ramen noodles (not gluten-free) without the broth and you can mix different spices into your dish. I ordered the vegan and added a poached egg. However once the fried tofu gets cold, it becomes rubbery. Next time Id like to try their rice dishes.

5 /5 Spencer Q: Food: 5/5 Service: 4/5 Ambiance: 4/5 Portion to Price: 3/5 Overall: One of my go tos for ramen! The extended review... Food: Keema Curry Ramen - 5/5 - This is a wonderful dish with plenty of flavor! You have an option of egg preparation, I usually get the ajitama. Dont forget to mix the noodles for 20 seconds!! Service: 4/5 - Friendly and attentive service. Ambiance: 4/5 - There is both indoor and outdoor seating and never have I not stood in line. It is definitely worth the wait. Portion to Price: 3/5 - Pretty standard portion size for price.

3 /5 Edna G: Came here as it was highly recommended. They have outdoor and indoor seating. A very popular and busy area so of course, there would be a lot of people going to Kajiken. The ambience is very hip kind of atmosphere here in San Mateo. Staff was always running around. No service after you’ve ordered though. We waited a bit for our group of 5. We needed a quick meal as it was late and we were hungry. We didn’t want to go around anymore. It was almost closing time so we ordered right away. I ordered their Wagyu Roast Beef rice bowl. It was really good and the price was good as well for this small bowl at $13. Good thing I got full from it. Everyone else in my party ordered Homura Aburasoba with ramen. It’s a soupless dry ramen dish. It was ok with a nice kick to it. Not my favorite though. This was their number 1 dish. Some dishes were decently priced and good quantity that it still fills you up. Would come back here again if in the San Mateo area.

4 /5 Lon.food.travel: This place recently opened in Dublin. I have had tsukemen (ramen with dipping sauce), but have not had abura soba before so I had to try it. This place was super busy at noon. Probably because this place was still quite new. Good thing we went there around 11:30 so we did not have to wait. I ordered their #1 signature dish: Homura Aburasoba. Some people may not want to eat a raw egg, but I wanted it. Just hope their egg is high quality and fresh. I mixed everything up and tasted it - not bad. I added their condiments: fried garlic, sesame, chili oil and vinegar as I like heavy flavors. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also ordered an Asahi draft beer to go with my noodles. My friend ordered the Soboro Aburasoba, but substituted the raw egg with an Ajitama (seasoned egg). I am sure she enjoyed it as well as she finished it before I finished my bowl. The ponzu karaage had some grated daikon with ponzu and green onions. It added another layer of flavors to the fried chicken, but the fried chicken was juicy and hot. I would order it again. I must admit - I still like ramen with soup better as the soup is my favorite component of ramen. I also started enjoying tsukemen as my most recent trip to Japan converted me.