Tong Sake House

A sake house that doesn’t sell sake.
Raman was good but a little light on the noodles.
Not many choices.

Girls working here were really nice.
Takoyaki was definitely worthwhile to order. Normally I don’t like takoyaki but these passed the test. Crispy outsides and super soft insides. I must have not paid close enough attention when I ate the first one because I didn’t find octopus in it. The other ones had tiny pieces so I would have definitely welcomed a larger piece. I’m not too mad about it though.
Kale chips were underseasoned and very greasy. I ordered them alone as an appetizer but they also came with our chicken wings. I felt like if there was more flavor and less grease I definitely would have liked it more.
Chicken wings were delicious. On the sweeter side but still good.
Potato fries were nice and crispy. Very light. This place does a great job of crying things.
Finally the entrees! Tonkatsu broth was rich and flavorful. The pork was delicious! Noodles were well cooked and not too hard or soggy. My only issue was that the broth was too salty.
Overall execution is good. I would definitely recommend coming back. Didn’t have room to try the desserts so that’s what I would come back for.
Solid 4.

Love this place! Probably the best ramen you’ll find north of Kearny mesa! Everything is made fresh and the staff is always attentive and nice. Lunch menu is shorter than dinner menu and there are different items that aren’t offered depending what time of day you eat there. I’ve had about half of the menu and have not been disappointed yet. It’s a little pricey though.

Love this small spot. Great food from from a great chef. The staff are on point with their service. Thank you. This place deserves 5 stars.

First time having «Real Ramen», super yummy, but nothing to compare it to. Cute place, clean, friendly staff. Will definitely return.

Sake house that dose NOT serve Sake, need I say more?
Food is average at best, very expensive for poway consider it’s located behind a laundromat.
The cook must think he is an iron chef or something but most of the fusion stuff does not work and the outcome was a complete failure. The sesame ice cream was the only edible item on the menu and I bet it wasn’t made here. Been here twice, wont be back.

I have been here twice and both times during the evening. Ambiance was really nice. Japanese style décor and cozy. Its semi dark and its a nice small ramen/​sake place.
I ordered just whatever ramen they had and it was good. It was just good ramen like any other place except this place was a but pricier. I would say it was decent to go to once in a long while.
The second time I went was on a Friday I believe. Starving and looking to eat some ramen. It was 9pm and I think they close at 9:30pm on Fridays. I live 5 minutes away so I can probably eat and finish before they even close. I arrive at around 9:05– 9:10 and service was refused at the door.
Apparently, Kitchen closes 30 min prior to closing. I double check the signs outside and it says closes at 9:30. No signs about the kitchen closing at 9:00. A little irked at this kind of process but I’m probably not coming back here again anyways.

Thx my girl bring me here and having a such awesome dinner! The tuna are the one of the best in SD. Real talk.

The food is fantastic and service is great too. Never had an issue here and we keep coming back.
Note– not good for vegetarians! Wish they had some veggie options.

I really liked it here. Cozy, clean, and comfy. Came here with two co-​workers on a weekly outing for lunch, I felt like Japanese. It was great, healthy, and quite a big helping.
I was teetering on either the chicken bowl or the bento box. I finally decided on the bowl. I really liked the black rice thr accompanied the chicken was cooked perfectly. The rice was a little sticky also soft, not dry or undercooked.
The location was easy to get to and plenty of parking. We were able to get the lunch specials. I paid $ 10 for my bowl. I thought it was delicious, just enough. My co-​workers got the bento, that cost them $ 15.00 each .
I thought about trying the ice cream because it had mochi balls… Prehaps next time.
The only con, we weren’t able to get refills on the water…
If you need a place to go gor lunch, I highly recommend this place. We were able to eat a nice and healthy meal in less than an hour.

Service was great! Server was cute too!
Food was outstanding! Fresh, tasty, creative, reasonably priced!
Atmosphere was pleasant!
I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I would highly recommend and I will defiantly be returning.
Pictured below is the Ahi Poke Salad which I added avocado too and a house special sushi roll which I cannot recall the name of.

Noms.
I came here because I was craving poke and I happened to be around the area and found this place on Unilocal.
The décor of the place is quite simple and looks somewhat hipster. I find it relaxing. The menu consisted of about 20 – 30 items and is straightforward. Being extremely hungry, I ordered takoyaki, ahi poke salad, and spicy tonkatsu ramen. The food came out at quickly within a reasonable time period, as I did not have to wait long and listen to my stomach grumble.
The ahi poke salad was delicious and large portioned. The dressing and seasoning was not overwhelming as in some poke. The salad can easily be shared between two people as an appetizer. The takoyaki tasted good. It wasn’t oily or too fried. It was just right. The spicy tonkatsu ramen was better than I expected. I was slightly disappointed there wasn’t an egg in the ramen, but I was fine with that. Unlike most ramen, the broth wasn’t heavy, and I didn’t feel like I overstuffed myself after eating all the food. I felt content.
The price for all three items came out to about $ 28. Honestly, that was a pretty good deal as there was a lot of food and the food was decent. I would definitely come back here again and hopefully try more items on their menu.

After seeing 4.5 stars on Unilocal I decided to give this place a try. Nothing special, plenty of better restaurants in the same price range around. We had 2 appetizers, spicy tuna role and takoyaki, both were average. I had ramen and it was pretty awful. Nothing special about the broth and the noodles were too soft and taste like instant ramen noodles. The only upside was the desert, we had the black sesame ice cream, it was the only solid 4 star thing this place has to offer.
Overall 2.5 stars. Nothing special, won’t be back.

1^st impression last. 2 thumbs up.
1. Clean
2. Basic udon and ramen but really tasty.
3. Service is great
4. Good ambiance
Ikagesu salad and the black sesame ice is highly recommended.

Stopped by here to try their happy hour ramen. For $ 5 a bowl it’s a steal! I’m kinda bummed that it’s only pork ramen for happy hour. I don’t eat pork! So I gave my sister the two pieces of thin slices of pork. The broth is really tasty & spicy. Minus one star for no boiled egg. I was hoping to get some protein from the egg. Oh well. The waitress was really nice and attentive. The poke bowl looked really good and I’m planning to get it the next time I come back here!
We also ordered shrimp tempura roll and it was really good. ⁴⁄₅

Went on a date here yesterday night with Mr. Wd. Walking in, there was a sign that asked you to sign up and to wait to be seated. I realize later that we should have just asked to be seated at the bar because it was a 15 minute~so wait as all the tables were taken. By the time we thought of that, there was a group that finished eating. There seemed to be only one waitress the whole time and she was walking all around catering to each of the tables. There was another person, the waiter I assume? But it looked as though he was overseeing how she was doing on her own.
They cleaned the table and then we were seated. I immediately ordered upon seating as we discussed what we wanted for the duration of the wait earlier. We got takoyaki for a appetizer, him the Kimchi Bacon and me the Udon Sauté that I have been looking forward to since Monday (I was stalking– I mean taking a look at the menu and pictures earlier this week) Ordered the black sesame ice cream later for dessert as Mr. W said he never had it before.
Takoyaki — It was good. Majority of it was the batter on the outside and the few cubes of octopus on the inside. This was my first time having takoyaki on the West Coast so I would rate it as okay. I think generally all takoyaki tastes the same as they use the same takoyaki and mayo sauce along with Aonori (green dried seaweed) and Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). Mr. W liked it as he finished the leftover takoyaki sauce on the plate.
Udon Sauté — not a good idea to get after you had Takoyaki I found out. I was disappointed as it tasted exactly like the takoyaki except with udon noodles. Guess I should have foreseen that they would taste real similar. Presentation is exactly as it is in all the pictures. So if you plan on ordering this, don’t order the takoyaki! Or if you order the takoyaki don’t order this!
Kimchi Bacon — It might just be me as I was disappointed with my dish but Mr. W’s choice was pretty good. It came out first of the entrees served on a cute little pan with a mat underneath. Had a egg smack in the middle along with kimchi and bacon in a medley with rice. Yum!
Black Sesame Ice Cream — for the finishing touch. It was served in a glass with two spoons with two Green Tea/​Matcha pockies sticking out, red bean in the middle and mochi scattered around.
I admit the place is a cute emitting the Japanese shop ambiance when walking in with the dim lighting. Service was okay in my opinion. Lots of ample parking when we went around 7ish on a Wednesday night. Might come back.

A cute little Japanese place that’s perfect for date night or an intimate outing with a couple friends.
The atmosphere is especially evident at night, where the food finishes give it the air of a late night Tokyo sushi haven, forgiving the nail salon and banh mi shack on its flanks.
The selection is a bit limited but delicious. Not a true sushi or Japanese restaurant; sake is their namesake and they do it pretty well. They have a good variety and have some selections of sake you wouldn’t think had existed.
The Japanese food on offer is small plates style (save for the Ramen which is huge!) and is perfect for appetites that are demanding but not too ravenous. The happy hour is a bit short but you can’t beat a big bowl of ramen for $ 5, especially at this quality.

Not bad for a random spot in a strip mall in Poway.
Bummer that they only have 1 kind of ramen, but they do seem to offer a solid happy hour special that ends at 6pm. A bowl of ramen will run you a mere $ 5 if you’re able to catch it (essentially half off). It’s decent in size and flavor, the noodles are okay but at least they give you a good amount. Don’t recall an egg or an abundance of meat sadly. You can get the tonkatsu ramen spicy, or just ask for the chili oil and flake when your food comes.
Garlic edamame was good, and they have a few beers on tap, including the expected Sapporo, but also some local brews like the Duck Foot blonde (albeit somewhat pricey at $ 7).
Service is friendly, they have a nice gastropubby décor theme going on, and there are plenty of tables. A lot of families frequent the place around dinner time, even for a Wednesday so they seem to be doing well. It’s located right by Union Bank if you’re lost.

After playing in the snow at the Poway Community Park (Winter Festival), my husband and I were searching for some ramen. We were driving so we didn’t really look thoroughly before picking this place. It turns out they only have 1 type of Ramen which is the Tonkotsu ramen. Disappointing.
We got parking right up front, there was a sign in sheet and we stood there waiting. It made me excited to see the line, I thought maybe this place would be outstanding. We got seated and then were told to move to another seat since we were at a table that seats 5, and they have a table that seats 4. So we moved, not a big deal.
We finally see the menu and of course, only one type of ramen. The ramen wasn’t very impressive either. It was good, just not up to par with what ramen should be. Maybe we’re just ramen snobs now ever since we ate ramen 3x a day in Japan for 3 weeks. However, even for San Diego, I felt like it was a little lacking.
My girls got the california rolls for dinner and kids, they love anything that allows them to eat with their hands. They were doing so well with the sushi, I decided to order the black sesame ice cream for them. However, our waitress never came back to check on us so we got tired of waiting to get her attention and asked for the check instead. No ice cream. Sad face. Oh well.
The menu was rather limited and maybe we should have ordered the udon instead, but the ramen… not worth it. Go somewhere else for ramen.

Being new to Rancho Bernardo, we’ve been seeking out restaurants that could possibly be comparable to Convoy. We’ve been missing the Japanese restaurants there terribly. We ran a search and decided to give Tong Sake House a try the other night.
We ordered:
California Blonde Ale– my husband really enjoyed this drink
Takoyaki — not bad, a little doughy, but still good!
Tempura Udon– a little small, very average taste
Oyster Jalapeño Udon– had a very bold seaweed flavor, compared to the size of the Tempura Udon, it was huge!
Black Sesame Ice Cream– this was a great ending to the meal, loved the mochi topping
The meal was very average. Nothing was showstopping to us. It seemed like a nice cozy restaurant. The service was good, although there was only one other table that was occupied. The prices were a bit high from what we’re use to paying on convoy. Still, I’d like to come back and try their ramen.
The search continues for yummy RB/​Poway eats!