Gaijin Noodle + Sake House

This place is amazing… One of the best new restaurants downtown. The food was delicious, the eggs and bacon was especially good. And do your self a favor and order the chicken hearts. The staff did a great job fun and knowledgable. I will be coming back here many more times. You should to
By the way they are open late on the weekends … Ridiculous

Service here is a big question mark. I’m not going to fault the entire staff, but only our waitress. The waitress seemed lost at times and never really paid attention to the table. Much of the other staff seemed quite capable and went out of their way to assist. I observed the bartender actually doing A LOT of the work around here. That guy deserves much of the compliments here. He came by multiple times to ask how the table was doing and brought what we asked for.
Food wise was good. Things that were ordered:
Edamame
Miso Ramen
Chipotle Chicken Soba
Yakitori — Mushroom, Quail Eggs, and Beef Tongue and Pork Toro
Now we had ordered the edamame very early on, but only received it after requesting for it multiple times from our main waitress and after 2 of the yakitori items came. This added to the annoyance. But anyways, surprised by the soba noodles especially after not being able to get the uni green tea noodles. The chipotle chicken worked well in this dish and tasted great. Most of the yakitori items were great as well. Quail Eggs wrapped in bacon! Damn good, but a little much since it came in 4 pieces. Mushrooms were a little disappointing in texture and flavor, but solid. Also the pork toro was good, but not great. Beef tongue I rather enjoyed as it came with a nice marinade and sauce.
If I were to come back again, I think I would go straight to the bar and order skewers with the uni green tea noodles along with a draft sapporo. The bartender there is the man.

I came here on a Friday night around 2.
My friends and I checked in and we received an edamame appetizer.
It was overcooked and disgustingly salty. When you eat edamame, the outer skin should be firm, and the beans should pop out. This edamame was so overcooked that the whole bean crumpled when I put it in my mouth. So I had to use my tongue to sort through the whole mess in my mouth to eat the freaking edamame. I did all this while shit-​faced btw.
It’s really not that hard to cook edamame, I really have no idea how you could mess that up.
We ordered a bibimbap and the baobao.
The bibimbap only came with rice, meat, and an egg. It was really strange, the meat was super salty and the sauce already came inside the pot. Plus the pot size was the same pot — size that you get at tofu soup places… This dish was so gross my friends just ate the meat and egg.
We ordered a veggie, carnitas, and beef bao bao.
The veggie baobao tasted like they doused the vegetables with an overly vinegary teriyaki sauce, and then added some extra salt for good measure. The carnitas barely had any flavor at all after I ate the veggie baobao. I didn’t even bother eating the beef baobao because the other 2 baobao scared me.
I have never been impressed by a fusion place, and this restaurant has just enforced my opinion that fusion places suck.

Super trendy. If you check in on Unilocal,you get FREE edamame… not to mention the tastiest edamame I have had thus far (it had fried garlic on it and a tasty sauce). Just on the outskirts of the Gaslamp District and open late for post-​bar eats. The pig ear salad was not what I had hoped for, but generally a good place for ramen and bao.
This review is based solely on my personal experience and reflect my personal opinions. Your experience may be completely different.

What a lovely little find. Sunday night around 9pm, my residual hangover was craving ramen. So I came to Gaijin by default– the other ramen places were closed at that time– but I’m really glad I did.
The place is simple but upbeat. Wooden tables line the walls and there’s a small bar area in the front with surprisingly comfortable high top table booths. Our waiter, Jordan, was wonderfully pleasant and had one of the best haircut and mustache combos I’ve ever seen!
The food was pretty great too. I for one, really enjoyed my wasabi vegetable ramen. The broth was flavorful and just had a slight tinge of wasabi. If I hadn’t known, I wouldn’t have been able to tell, but I enjoyed it either way! My friends also enjoyed the green tea noodles and the vegetable skewers, grilled and topped with miso paste.
If I lived closer, I’d be back all the time. While I’m normally a skeptic of Asian fusion, I enjoyed their modern takes on Japanese/​Korean and look forward to making another visit when I’m back in San Diego.

Having a ridiculous addictive personality, especially when it comes to food– the bf and I have eaten here the past 3 weekends. Too much? Maybe? With reason!
When you dine in, they start you off with a kimchi cabbage salad? which is absolutely delicious and simple. Real palate quencher.
The Yakitori is amazing. Our choices are usually the beef tongue, bacon wrapped quail eggs, and we once had the chicken hearts which are my favorite! Just grilled to perfection.
A few other favorites—
–Crying Tiger: you can never go wrong with the sourness of tamarind & mint!
–Gaijin Dirty Fried Rice: so many different ingredients in this! Chicken + bacon + beef + tomatoes + zucchini = YUM
–Gaijin Drunken Noodles: Sophisticated ramen noodles
Drinks of Choice are–
–Green Tea Lychee Sangria
–Mao’s Mule
Service has been exceptional each time, can’t remember the gal’s name but she has earned every single tip!
Okay Gaijin– I guess I will see you next weekend?

Early dinner. Arrived during happy hour, yay! Got the carnitas bao bao, which is like a taco with a soft steamed dumpling wrapper instead of a taco shell. Yummy. I got the sake flight, which lets you choose any three sakes you want, and picked three more or less at random. The sparkling was delicious (the only one they had).
I had the drunken beef noodles, which is veggies (red bell, carrots, onions) chopped up finely with beef, chicken. I mean diced very very fine. I am not sure I’d get this again because the meat/​veg is not very substantial.
Luckily I came with the husband, who had the seven samurai yakitori, so I got to sample his, too. His favorite was the tongue, but I found it to be too salty. I liked the bacon wrapped scallops– smoky and perfectly cooked.
Also, the eggplant. Not only was it gorgeously purple on the outside, it is smeared with miso. This is how my mama, who was from Kyushu, cooked it for me, so of course I loved it.

Um, I’m sorry — Even «GAIJIN» should not eat here. In case you were wondering, «Gaijin» is a questionably derogatory word that Nihonjins use to say «Foreign People». So I though to myself, Ok this place must have really good stuff to appeal to the masses. Plus it has a 4 star rating. I was starving and craving noodles and thought this place could do the trick.
Oh my word! The food was terrible, like TERRIBLE! Edamame with furikake on top, then this disgusting green tea noodle with uni cream that didn’t taste the way it should, awful kimchee, and sodium infested broccoli with tofu. That sh*t was sooo salty! It just sucks cause the menu has an array of tastefully sounding dishes yet the real thing does not meet expectations. Be aware that whatever you order, it IS tapas style so you will get a baby sized portion. YES. Those price tags reflect small portions.
We ordered a beer and the waitress wasn’t attentive enough to notice that the beer was waiting for 15 minutes at the bar, opened and warming up. Yes, we were waiting for our beer to get delivered and we can WATCH it open and waiting for delivery at the bar… A bit torturous if you ask me.
Gaijin or not, don’t come here unless you’re OK with loud ambiance and SUPER-​MEH food, waitresses who forget you, and a check that is way too much for what you’re getting.

I know that Comic-​Con creates a lot of chaos and wildly erratic service scenarios, but it’s not like the restaurants and businesses around the city don’t know it’s coming. That being said, I ate at a bunch of different places during my week out in San Diego, and if I had to declare one of them as the worst of them all, I’d have to say it was this place.
To their credit, they were expedient about getting my group of five seated, but that was pretty much all that was expedient about the experience. All throughout the meal, water glasses went empty, and our waitress was often nowhere to be seen. I’m not saying she was mean, quite contrary she was pleasant and nice, just not very attentive to our table.
The décor of the place is dimly lit, and trying to be all modern and sophisticated. The bar looks nice, but the rest of the place is just dark tables and chairs. Playing martial arts movies on the screen seems a little cliché for an Asian food establishment, but that’s just me.
Considering this was more of a late lunch rather than a dinner, I figured that ordering off of one of their Comic-​Con special bento boxes would be more time-​efficient and economical than ordering off of their tapas menu. I guess it was naïve to assume that pre-​planned bento boxes would be easy to present, because for whatever reason, mine was the last to arrive at the table, despite it having no real hot (temperature) foods involved in it.
And the food was just not good. The pork was bland, the cold noodles under them even moreso. The salad was almost entirely onions, and there was just one piece of gyoza. I guess I shouldn’t have expected more from a $ 10 box. My friends seemed pleased with their gyoza and the edemame, but to me that’s kind of like going to a steakhouse for the baked potato.
The check took forever to arrive, and most places were good to separate them for us. But considering how long we anticipated it would take, we simply just opted to empty up cash (beer/​tip money) and get out sooner rather than later.
Take this review for what it’s worth, for it was during Comic-​Con. I’d just really hope the quality of this place is better on a daily basis otherwise, but I can’t really say that I’d bother coming back if the opportunity presented itself.

Did someone say Sake House??? Sign me up and TAKE MY MONEY!!!
I love me some sake, so the idea of a sake house makes me all tingly inside.
The Gaijin Noodle and Sake House is located in a great (not too crowded) part of Gaslamp in San Diego. This could be a bad thing, depending on how trendy you like your restaurants. When you enter they give you this nice (somewhat spicy) coleslaw thing.
I, however, went just for the sake! The best part is that they have sake flights! How fun is that! They even have sparking sakes, which I tried for the first time and loved (they’re sweet — kind of like a moscato almost).
Our bartender was also really cool and made some good suggestions.

Came here on a Friday night at 2:00 am after Stingaree and loved it! Ordered the Bao and some drunken noodles. The service was very friendly.
Loved that they are open so late:)

Been coming here regularly for the last 6 months and as small as the menu is, I have not been able to try everything because I am stuck on my favorites.
Jidori Chicken Karaage (paired with the Gaijin Salad is awesome)
Gaijin Salad (crushed wasabi peas enhances the textural and flavor compostion)
Yellowtail Poke w/​Okinawan Potato Chips (uncomparably delicious)
Shrimp Bao Bao (excellent play on a shrimp taco)
Carnitas Bao Bao (the red rock sugar makes me want more)
Oxtail Tortelloni (one of the best fusion dishes I have ever had)
Uni green tea soba noodles (very rich yet very simple)
Don’t come here looking for traditional japanese cuisine. Fusion is in, so have an open mind, throw some sake back and enjoy yourself. KANPAI!

We’ve been in here a couple times since it opened. We first went during Comic Con, when they opened for lunch (I guess they’re not normally open for lunch, which seems like a shame.)
Anyway, we started off with an order the Carnitas Pork, Beef Tongue & Cheek and Karaage Chicken Bao Bao. Because it was during Comic Con, the outside of the Bao bun was decorated with Batman’s logo. Points for creativity and fun!
Of the three, the Beef Tongue & Cheek was the best by far. The meat, cilantro, jalapeño and the salt all make for a delicious flavor. We were seriously considering ordering another round of the Beef Bao, it was so good. The other two Bao Bao were also good, but they weren’t «knock-​your-​socks-​off» good.
The rest of the meal was okay. Not spectacular at all, but not terrible. We got a noodle dish and a fried rice dish (a special at the time), and they were tasty, but they didn’t stand out at all. The winner of the first trip was definitely the Bao.
Our next visit, we went in for dinner. Of course we started with an order of the Beef Tongue & Cheek Bao Bao, and it was just as delicious as we remembered. It wasn’t decorated, since they weren’t playing up to the Comic Con crowd, but it was still very good.
The rest of the meal, however… not so much. Okay, let me rephrase that. The food was decent, but it certainly didn’t wow me. I ordered the soba noodles, and my husband ordered the uni soba noodles. The portions were tiny. Teeny, teeny tiny! Like, you lick the plate clean and look around for the rest of the food. And those were entrees!
We were pleased that the bao is a part of their happy hour menu, but I don’t know that we’ll be going back in the future. Our last meal there was kind of disappointing — we spent a good amount of money on the meal, but left feeling hungry. We should have just filled up on appetizers and bao — I think that would have been the route to go.

Overall: 3.5 Stars
Uni green tea ramen pretty good but noodles were over done but broth was good 6 pts
Free Unilocal check in edamame was good but natural sweetness of edamame was overwhelmed by sauce drizzled on top of it 3 pts
Free sake shots every hour (they hit the gong & pass out sake shots to everyone. +1
Service was great, very a tentative & helpful. +1
In summary, the décor & ambiance of this place was nice but I prefer authentic Asian cuisine not fusion stuff so the food wasn’t as good as I expected it to be.
Menu is pretty limited too.
Some of the fusion of foods that they tried to make here was just trying to hard but they couldn’t decide what they wanted to make the foods to turn out to be.
This is more of a place for tourists & impress the date kind of place to go to.

Queue the Unsolved Mysteries music… UPDATE!
Rest in peace, Robert Stack.
Okay, it’s no secret that I love this Gaijin. It has turned into the kind of spot that I dip into for a drink or sit down for a full blown feast. Either way works for me.
Last night I popped in not even realizing that they were participating in SD Restaurant Week and the place was boomin’! No reservation needed and we grabbed a comfy booth tucked in the corner. I was going to bypass the RW menu and go straight to the good stuff until I realized all the good stuff is on the RW menu! Probably one of the best deals around town right now… get it while it’s hot!
My Restaurant Week selections:
$ 20
1. Tongue and cheek bao-​bao — My favorite bao. Super tender with a little bit of bite from the fresh jalapeño and freshness from the cilantro.
2. Pork kimchi — Just try it. You will not be disappointed. Not too spicy and melts in your mouth.
3. Spicy noodles — Add bacon as the «compliment» and order a soft boiled egg in the broth. Slurp away, they don’t mind!
4. Strawberry mochi — You just cant go wrong with mochi. I am not a super sweet lover so this portion is just right.
5. Two Sapporos and a shot of sake.
See you soon, Gaijin. Maybe tonight?

Update 10÷6÷13 — officially closed down. Boo ! Hope they relocate to another location.
— — –
GOOOOOONNNNGGGG !!!
Happy New Year !!!
This place rocks !!
You like classy? You like rubbing happy Buddha’s belly? You like cute chefs? You like hitting gongs while making drunk speeches? You like good food? You like sake? You like goooooood sake? You like strong sake? You like strooong sake? o. O
If you answered ‘YES’ to all of the above then ‘Gaijin’ is the place to be.
My bro has been dragging me out here for the longest time. He’s a regular and raves about the place. Heck, now I know why ! Cool manager, wonderful staff, flavorful food, and all around an awesome hangout spot.
Well, I finally decided to pop my Gaijin cherry and came here on NYE with some gfs for dinner and pre-​drAnking.
So glad we did !
Setting:
–Dark toned furniture, dim lighting, romantic vibe, and very classy chill atmosphere. You definitely get the eastern vibe !
–Restaurant/​bar — If you sit on the bar, you get a full view of the chef cooking up a storm on the grill while you take shots ! shots ! shots ! shots ! Dining area is great for groups and there is also stools for seating on another end.
Service:
–Chef was accommodating and prepared me vegan versions of some of their specialties
–The manager was also friendly and welcoming.
Menu:
–Everything tasted great and beautifully presented
–Yakitori veggie skewers (okra, portobello mushrooms, zucchini)
Food for thought: «Yakitori,» or Japanese– style BBQ, has been a part of traditional Japanese cuisine for centuries. Get your sizzling skewers hot off our bincho charcoal grill.
–Sauteed sugar snap peas with red quinoa, honshemeji mushrooms, and red onion –Warms up your belly good !
–Steamed bao-​bao –vegan style — Cute presentation. The texture of the sandwich was nice, warm, soft, and chewy. A delight to eat !
–Deep fried yam chips — a Nice unique take on an appetizer. Better than your average potato chip in my opinion.
I had 4 bottles of sake (Sparkling being my favorite) + plus every hour you get a round of free sake after you ring the gong– The most I’ve ever consumed in one night.
Definitely a HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
Verdict: 5 GAIJIN KICK ARSE STARS !!!

Visited Gaijin twice now.
First is for an Elite event:
The staff at Gaijin — AMAZING — very friendly and personable. We held up some convos with several of the staff members and they were very easy going and super cool. The management team was so inviting and very personable. Kudos to the entire staff!!!
The food — YUM!!! I don’t think I got to taste everything that was served, but I did get full, which is a rarity at these elite events. What I remembered the most were the yummy pork carnitas bao bao and the yakitori/​skewers (skirt steak). I would love to try the noodles upon return.
The drinks — WOW! Very creative with the snow cone! Spicyyyyyyyy and I don’t even like spicy!!! My first time trying HOT SAKE and boy was I buzzzzzzzzzed after having 2. (Was it hot in there or was it me?!) SAAAKKKKKKKEEEEEEE!!!
Second visit is during Restaurant Week and tried the following items:
–Comp Edamame: Warm edamame… MMMM…
–Carnitas Bao Bao: I tried the beef cheek and felt that that was the better bao bao. This was a little on the dry side.
–Chicken and Beef Yakitori: Firstly, the yakitori had too much pepper. We all like pepper, but there was just too much that it took away from the flavor. On a positive note, the chicken was tender and we enjoyed both kinds.
–Drunken Noodles: I really enjoyed the flavor, however, I felt the dish had too much veggies. If I were to order this again, I would request easy veggies!
–Mango Mochi: Only 1 mochi was given. What a tease!!!
–Bacon S’more: Different… Really different. Sweet and salty? I would order it once as a taste, but wouldn’t order it again.
–S’more: Typical camp s’more. Get if if you’re craving something sweet at the end of your meal.
–Comp Hot Sake every half hour!!! I had 2 and I was done…
Cozy little restaurant and what’s awesome is that they’re open super late (3am on weekends). Couple blocks from Horton Plaza, which validates parking for 3 hours.
Note: What I appreciate is the fact that management cares for their customers. They like to round as well as comment on Unilocal reviews. Who does that nowadays?

We had a Unilocal Elite Party here (had tons of fun) but I decided to return to see if they were consistent with the service and food preparation.
Atmosphere:
Nice hangout environment with friends before enjoying a night out in Downtown Gaslamp or a place to sober up. They’re open till 3am on Friday and Saturday.
Service:
Jeannette our server was really personable and friendly. She remembered me from the Unilocal event. Small world-​we found out how we crossed paths in the past.
Food:
Brandt Beef Skirt Steak, Portobello Mushroom, Jidori Chicken Wing and Drunken Noodles. ALL GOOD…
The food is a little on the pricier side but if you’re in the Gaslamp area it’s worth it.
Very tasty and I like it that they serve free SAKE every hour.

This place closes at 1am, which was perfect because there aren’t too many places that open late in downtown. Our waitress was very friendly– not to mention pretty. ;)
She gave us some recommendations and so we ended up getting a lot of things, since the portions are small.
What we got:
carnitas bao– so good and crunchy… i wanted more…
beef tongue– after one bite, i realized what i was eating and decided that i didn’t like the texture lol
uni green tea soba noodles w/​an egg and spicy miso– good, but too much garlic
also, our waitress thought there would just be a spicy paste for my noodles, but it ended up being a spicy miso soup on the side…
Gaijin salad– this was on the house and it was aight…
yakitori sampler– it came with 7 skewers for $ 21. not bad, but we were getting full and wanted to save room for dessert. :)
s’mores– they grilled it on their stove. :)
snow cones– we ordered them virgin style! one spicy mango and one black sesame
The black sesame won us over, so creamy and different.
I’ll probably want to try the snow cones with sake next time!

If you want to eat a bowl of salt, look no further.
Usually things tend to taste better when you’re drunk, however, the four of us who ordered Ramen thought it was wayyyy tooooo salty! We all wanted something brothy, but after I took my first bite, the taste of the sodium was overwhelming. I couldn’t even make a dent into my bowl. I’ve been here once before and I don’t remember the ramen tasting like that. Mind you, I was completely sober the first time. They tweeked the flavor of the broth and the noodles this time around. The only improvement that the ramen had from the first time I had it were the actual egg noodles.
I also ordered the «Dirty» Fried Rice which was also on the salty side, but it was bearable. Gaijin, seriously? I don’t like giving out negative reviews, but I just spent $ 12 for a bowl of disappointment.

$ 10 for ramen is pretty steep, and all the add-​ons can get a bit ridiculous — but the noodles are made fresh and are sooo delicious! I’ve had ramen in quite a few places — but I seriously cannot get over how fresh these noodles are!
Here’s the skinny:
— Complimentary salad good for two to share.
— Curry clam: It’s OK. It was a little watery and I think of Japanese curry I think of a thicker consistency.
— Chicken thigh yakitori: It’s YUMMY! (maybe the best I’ve had in a long time!). FYI — Yakitori pieces come in 2.
— Green tea uni noodles: served warm, delish!
— Green tea tiramisu: it’s light, but too bad the only ‘green tea’ part of it is the powder on top. Served in a small tea cup perfect for 2 to share.
— 4 noodle options, 2 of which are ramen.
— Vegetable ramen: it is
— for real! The broth is flavorful and i just cannot get over the noooooodles (:
Two ramen options (spicy and vegetable). Comes with the basics (bamboo shoots, green onions, seaweed, etc) and you can add other items for an additional fee (most of which are $ 2 = mushrooms, egg, pork, etc).
There are so many reviews about ‘free’ sake — but unfortunately I didn’t get to experience this. maybe next time. I just wish they had more noodle options.

Word of mouth has been spreading like wildfire about this place! My friend told me about this amazing jewel of an eatery and invited me to the opening night to try some of their potentially addicting dishes. I will start off by saying I’m a little bit of snob when it comes to Japanese food as I lived in Japan for a few years, but I still decided to give it a try since my friend who recommended the place had also lived in Japan previously and was raving about the menu.
Upon entering the place, we were greeted by red lanterns and a very contemporary Asian inspired palette of décor. The seating was organized and easy to navigate throughout and the ambient feel made it very fun yet still intimate enough for a night out with a date or just with some friends and good conversation. The name «Gaijin» means «foreigner» in Japanese, which is probably what the name lends itself to… more Asian-​inspired dishes rather than authentic.
We tried many dishes, from yakitori, ramen to the delectable garlic edamame and even SAKE SNOW CONES (yes, they made it happen!), but by far my most favorite was the Uni Green Tea Soba Noodles!!! They are made with a uni butter sauce and flavored with lobster dashi. I have never had anything like that before and needless to say, it was the fastest entrée that disappeared off our table! I can honestly say that dish is going to be one of their best sellers and money makers!
Also, every half hour or hour or so, the restaurant does a «community sake shot» where they pass out sake shots and everyone yells «Kanpai!» and then… bottoms up!
Another excellent plus is that they are open until 3 am!!! I sometimes frequent Hong Kong Restaurant, but this is most likely going to be my new «go to» place after a night out. Reasonable prices, friendly staff and amazing food… one would be a fool not to go!