Ramen Doraku

I was weary about this place, but decided to give it a try anyways. It’s definitely not Ramen Dojo.
The restaurant is actually quite small, but it has a nice & clean décor. It has a bartop area facing the open kitchen.
We ordered the Kimchi Ramen, Chasu Ramen, and Gyoza. If you check in on Unilocal,they give you a free appetizer: Takoyaki. Our waitress wasn’t very bright though. She give us our appetizers without plates. I had to ask her for plates.
I can understand their lack of business as their broth wasn’t amazing. It was very bland.
I don’t plan to revisit.

I was weary about this place because I’ve passed by several times before and it always looked pretty empty… But now that I’ve tried it, I don’t have an explanation for the lack of business. The inside is very clean and modern, service is good, and the food is a decent pick when you’re craving something warm and hearty on a cold, foggy day in the sunset… and let’s face it, it’s always cold and foggy in the sunset.
My friend and I had the miso ramen and some appetizers from the special. They also give you a free appetizer for checking in on Unilocal – potato balls stuffed with squid or something – kinda weird, but it grows on you. Anyway, if you’re in the neighborhood, give it a try. There are certainly worse places you could end up at.

Came here with a craving for some ramen on a cold day. I’ve drove past this place many times and I’ve always wanted to try it. When I walked in, I was pleasantly surprised to see the nice modern décor. Sat down and checked Unilocal on my iPhone to see what was good here. I was lucky to see that if you check in for the first time you get a free appetizer! WOOHOO to free food!
I decided to order the curry ramen, my sister ordered the Miso Ramen and asked for it to be extra spicy and my grandma ordered the Chicken Katsu Curry.
1. Curry Ramen: The portions here are HUGE! I was pretty hungry coming in here and I couldn’t finish one bowl. The size is compatible to a large or extra large bowl of phở. The ramen quality however was average. Something about the noodles and ingredients holding it back from being one of the elite ramen houses. Lacking perfectly al dente noodles and the egg was a little over cooked.
2. Spicy Miso Ramen: Wasn’t as spicy as my sister wanted but still pretty good. Again, the portions were huge but it tasted just ok.
3. Chicken Katsu Curry: I really liked the Chicken Katsu. It was fried perfectly and went nicely with the curry. The chicken katsu also come with beef chunks in it which is weird because they also sell «beef curry.» Maybe the cook put beef chunks on accident? I don’t know but it tasted good.
4. FREE Appetizer: came with 3 fried fish or squid balls. Tasted pretty good but not something I would order. Can’t complain about something free.
Overall, this place is pretty good. Not as good as Ramen Dojo or Shoki but no crazy lines so this place can be an alternative if you’re craving ramen quick. Portions are extremely generous so come hungry! Moreover, the service is great! Our waitress was really nice, constantly refilling my water and polite with a smile. Solid 4 stars.

Imagine the clichéd American use of a torii, Japanese red gate. Materializing in a mental picture are every 80’s and 90’s cheesy karate (anything ninja, samurai, or anything generalized Asian for that matter) movie in the time and any Asian themed hole at a miniature golf. Ramen Doraku on Taravel has one in front like a clock around Flavor Flav’s neck (yeah, remember that guy). Every time I see that red gate, I think of ninjas, mini golf, and now Ramen Doraku.
At around 9:30 we moseyed on in with the waiter and chef looking at us. They had the «man, we wanted to close up shop early» look on their faces. Seeing us pull our smartphones out, the waiter had a strong inclination we’d request about the free check-​in offer of takoyaki. To expedite the process of things (so they can close early), Bun and I picked our staple choices of ramen, tonkotsu for me and miso for her. I didn’t study the menu, but the chashu ramen and tonkotsu looked eerily similar by their description. Did they want to just add another item on the menu to look more diverse?
Our bowls were near identical with the broth being the difference. The egg was soft boiled, but cold upon biting into the yolk. The ingredients minus the bean sprouts tasted prepackaged. They serve a thinner set of noodles that absorb into the soup faster. Broth had a very obvious flavor swaying on the average though was without much complaint. Best part of the ramen was the single-​sided grilled pieces of chashu. Cut off the excessively fatty parts and excuse the rough overly cooked area than you got you a good piece of cutlet. The char from the grilling did add to the formula of the ramen.
For some reason it’s really hard to find really good ramen in the Sunset. In the area, I’ll stick to Chinese and Korean food. If my ramen tank is on empty and I’m too lazy to drive (harhar, see what I did there? Yes, I know I’m an idiot.), Saiwaii on Irving easily beats this out. One thing that may have me coming back is if they consistently stay open to the time they say they do. (Closes 10:30 Saturday’s)
Ramen Doraku has improved since their grand opening. Free takoyaki will always bring a smile to my face. It maybe a bit watered down and bland, but they bring a straightforward ramen style with a Chinese touch. Eh, for the area the ramen is a pass.

So my friends and I were hungry after some karaōke (and sleeping!) at Voiz down the street and decided to grab a bite to eat. We couldn’t really decide on a place, but ramen sounded as good as anything else.
You get a free takoyaki appetizer for checking in on Unilocal and that was a pretty nice incentive to go. It tasted pretty good, but my housemate makes it better at home.
I ordered a «Tonkotsu Ramen» spicy and the broth was really really good. It was filling and there was a good balance between noodles and toppings. I didn’t run out of one or the other too soon. The noodles here are a little thinner than other ramen places I’ve been to, but they still have the springiness of freshly prepared ramen.
Now I would’ve rated this place 4 stars if it wasn’t for the waiter we had today. I had to ask multiple times for water (I drink a lot of water). I would even make it obvious I wanted water by placing my water cup at the edge of the table. However, the waiter just stood there watching the TV they have set up. He also didn’t really bring the check in a timely fashion. Both our table and another table that was there had to explicitly ask for the check after we had been done eating for a good 5 – 10 minutes already. The waiter just seemed too preoccupied with the TV to care for the customers. That is not okay.

Parking along Taraval is terrible. But some businesses along Taraval Street isn’t that terrible. But this ramen place turned me on after an intense morning run.
This is not a big restaurant. But surprisingly on a Saturday, the restaurant is half empty. An odd scene it was on a busy Saturday lunchtime in the Sunset.
For my lunch, I had the Doraku Ramen soup. For $ 7.95, the soup had thin slices of pork chops, boiled eggs, shrimp, soba noodles and vegetable in a thick and milky broth. Again many of you know I’m not an experience ramen eater. But I thought the ramen soup was hearty and satisfying; especially after a morning run. My soup:
Also if you check-​in with your mobile device, you will receive a free appetizer with your meal. I got a side of fried potato croquette with my meal. Regularly at $ 3.00 a dish, the fried appetizer had chunks of potato and curry blend in a fried ball. The dish was not bad. My free appetizer:
As I was enjoying my meal, I was watching the NASCAR Nationwide series on the flat-​screen tv. The friendly chef and the waiter are maybe a bunch of fans of the «left-​turn-​only» circuit.
A clean little restaurant with the Health Department score of 92.
Despite the mid-​rating from many of my friends, will I eat here again? Yeah… why not?

I would give it a 2.5 stars. I got the tonkatsu ramen. The broth was bland. The ramen, the portion was decently sized, The broth was definitely a disappointment. If the broth was better, it would easily be 4 stars for me. Service was good but we were very early so no one was there.
The Upward to 3 star is because if you check in on Unilocal,you get free takoyaki! I’m a fan of takoyaki but their takoyaki was hot but the flavors are not very authentic. It just isn’t a replication or an attempt for takoyaki.

My brother’s girlfriend craved ramen, so we Unilocaled what was near by. We decided to give this fogged up window ramen place a try. On a Thursday night, there were 2 other tables besides our. Service was fast considering customers were limited. They also have a fairly small selection menu but i think if its what they are know for they do not new such a large selection. I ordered the ramen with pork soup base with egg, pork, black fungus, and bamboo shoots.
The base was bland and so was the noodle. I had to add a lot of seasoning to make it taste decent. The only thing I really like was the egg. I would of gave it one star but we did get a free appetizer for checking in. It was the fried octopus balls. And that was delicious but I don’t think I would come back just for that.

S’okay. It’s open until 10pm on Sundays so if you just stepped off a plane at SFO and it’s your birthday and your friend picked you up and you’re starving,
it’ll do.
S’okay.

I think this place still needs a lot of work. Sat by the counter today, and witnessed all the craziness that ensues. They are definitely not organized, and don’t have a system down. It looked like complete chaos. I feel ramen should be like line cooking; one person does the noodles, one person does the soup, then toppings. voila. They also don’t have a system of remember which bowl goes to with table, the paper slips get passed all over the place. There should be a centralized location for the tickets after it’s printed off the machine. So to the food:
Ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen. It was decent. Soup was hot, noodles were hot. Soup had a nice flavor, but I think too much msg because I was super thirsty afterwards. Chasu was a-​ok, nothing to rave. Toppings = bamboo shoots, scallions, naruto and fungus/​mushroom (meh). Overall not a lot of dimensions to the bowl. Definitely not my fav, and definitely not better than Izayaka Sozai.
Gyoza didn’t look good because it was frozen, and store purchased. The ramen were store purchased too, but I guess it would be too much to ask for home-​made-​alkaline-​ramen noodles, no?

I’ve been on a ramen blinge lately so when I ran out of salad for lunch the other day, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to try ramen doraku.
We ordered the miso ramen and shoyu ramen (which is basically the same thing, but only with a different broth). The lady assembled our to go neatly and nicely.
However, besides the nice presentation. I was not at all impresses with the ramen. Both the Miso and the shoyu broth were overly salty! It tasted like someone poured in a gallon of salt! Even after I poured in a cup of water into the broth, it was still too salty!
The noodles weren’t impressionable at all, it tasted like the prepackaged kind you get at the supermarket, the chashu was flavorless and fatty while the bamboo shoots were weird tasting.
I wish I could give this place a higher rating, their store decoration and take out menus are just too cute! but I don’t think I can handle overly salty broth for the time being. Since it is a new restaurant, I’ll come back and try this place again when they work out the kinks.

Looking for something on the lighter side to eat? Ramen noodle soup may be the answer.
Hubby and I walked up to the restaurant from our house. Fortunately, the blocks eastward and westward are on the shorter side. Went for lunch the other day.
Restaurant holds about 25+ people. 4 tables of two, and 4 tables of 4, and some counter space.
I had the miso ramen and hubby had the butter ramen. I thought the miso broth kind of salty. Hubby enjoyed his. Both came with char siu, a marinated egg with a runny egg yolk, seaweed, bean sprouts, thin slices of fish cake, etc.
We both had iced water. As with some places, they charge you for hot tea $ 1.95.
If you’re hungry, you may want to reconsider coming as there’s a bit of wait. The kitchen is very slow. And skimpy on the paper napkins. Shouldn’t there be more than one since you’re prone to a runny nose when having hot soup?

A new ramen joint on my side of the city? That alone makes them worthy of a visit! Not that they could easily replace Saiwaii as my neighborhood favorite though; Doraku would have to be pretty amazing for that to happen.
Usually, whenever I try a new place, I like to order whatever their house ramen is since I figure it would probably be their best offering on the menu. After all, I’m sure most restaurants wouldn’t put their name on one of their worst ones. Or at least, I would hope not. However, after seeing the Tonkotsu listed on their menu (and hearing it was one of our server’s preferred types), I went with that instead. In addition, a couple of my buddies and I decided to share the gyoza and croquette while we waited for our other friends to arrive.
The gyoza was pretty good — fairly standard in taste, but I liked how the bottom was crisp while the skin stayed soft. The croquette was fine and kinda tasty, though I’m beginning to realize that I’m not as much of a fan of them as I used to be. As for the ramen, I thought it was just okay as a whole. The noodles were average and the broth was decent, though it could have used a little more flavor. However, I was pretty disappointed with the chasu (roast pork); my bowl only had a few pieces that were both small and thinly sliced. I did like the marinated soft boiled, half egg in the ramen though. Certainly better than what most places give, but not enough to make the entire order stand out.
Not a terrible ramen spot at this point, but not amazing either. Considering they’ve only been open for about six weeks or so though, I’d come back again to see if they’ve changed at all. For now though, it looks like Saiwaii’s spot is secure for now.

Ramen Doraku, no thank-​a-​you.
The two stars are lenient because the place is new. Here’s to hoping Ramen Doraku just caught the grand opening bug.
Came here last month, and out of the six of us, we ordered five different ramen options (one guest hadn’t been feeling well and didn’t eat. We were told that in the future, there will be a minimum per person charge, but since this was not yet indicated on the menu, we were given a free pass this time), and no one walked away satisfied. Although the noodles were plentiful, the broth and toppings were not. Also, I actually don’t like ramen (yes, I can hear you gasping, but it’s true), but I can appreciate a flavorful broth (Santouku, Ramen Nakamura, Ramen Dojo). Ramen Doraku’s broth? Meh.
Furthermore, service was not something to be commended. After receiving our orders, we were pretty much neglected and literally had to wave a server down for more tea on more than one occasion.
To put it simply, nice décor, poor service, non-​tasty ramen.

Ramen Dorafu has curvy walls, murals.
menu: 10 ramen, 1 yaki soba and appetizers, dorafu has pseudo japanese décor.
sampling: tonkotsu ramen (7.95)
*contains chashu, pork borth, softboiled ½ egg, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, black fungus, green onions, slice of fish cake, roasted seaweed.
–chashu was boiled pork, not bbq pork, tender, no fat
–pork broth very thin, not so tasty. sesame oil more pronounced
–ramen thin, chewy, looked more like chinese quan dan mein (whole egg noodle) then traditional ramen. ramen was bland.
–minimal amount of toppings in ramen.
–ramen didn’t feel/​taste right
temaki:
–kitchen staff spoke cantonese/​manarin (chinese)
–only chinese female customers seen.
–doubtful return.

A nice, hot bowl of ramen can really hit the spot on a rainy day. A lukewarm bowl of ramen can ruin one’s day. Unfortunately, Ramen Doraku falls into the latter category.
* Kimchi ramen ($ 8.95) with pork borth, scallions, red pepper threads, one slice of fish cake, nori sheets, bean sprouts, thick slices of cha su (good, not dry), and a ½ a soft boiled soy egg. They do pile it on, so it’s a good value. The bowl had too many noodles and plentiful toppings. I had to hunt for broth probably because the noodles were soaking up so much of the broth. I don’t like bean sprouts in my ramen but these were okay. I was surprised that the kimchi (standard napa cabbage variety) was served on the side and not present in the bowl of ramen. The homemade broth was light (not oily), slightly sweet and porky… but it was lukewarm. The noodles were standard, firm and slightly curly.
Lunch came with complimentary tea and a dish of crunchy pickled cabbage and carrots that I liked.
Ramen types include curry, miso, tonkotsu, butter, etc. It’s surprising that they don’t offer that many ramen toppings. The menu also features donburi, appetizers and Japanese drinks.
The setting is pleasant — shades of red, black and white with an open kitchen, TV, lucky cats and wooden plaques with menu items.

Pretty happy with the new place.
Nice clean décor. Cute bartop table facing the open kitchen. Nice service.
Ordered Tonkotsu Ramen. Well flavored soup. Noodles were good. I am always afraid of soggy noodles, but this place did not have soggy noodles. I always like my piece of egg, and they had it. Soup was not bland and pretty tasty. I have to give them thumbs up for the amount of food. It was so much. I never had a ramen place serve me almost everything that belongs to a ramen noodle. For $ 7.95, they gave me chashu, half boiled egg, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, red onion slices, chopped green onions, fish cakes slices, and seaweed. It is not listed, but they also had strands of chili on top. I tell you, the toppings were overflowing.
I totally recommend ordering Tonkotsu Ramen for $ 7.95. You will be so full and not disappointed.

My sister, food adventurer that she is, suggested that we try this new ramen place that just opened up in the sunset. I liked the renovation of the place and the waitress actually speaks Japanese.
I ordered the Ramen Doraku, and after watching 7 minutes of Wheel of Fortune (I should totally be on this show btw. sorry, off tangent) the ramen was finally waiting in front of me, telling me to eat it. Of all the ramen places I’ve been to, this was the most loaded bowl of ramen I ever had in my life. Seriously, there were scallops, squid, shrimp, pieces of pork, corn, bean sprouts, egg, etc… Needless to say, I could not finish the whole thing. Part of that was attributed to the fact that the broth had maybe a little too much miso paste in it and started thickening after a while, bleah. Or maybe it was especially difficult to finish because of all the food that was in it. Ramen seems to be best when there’s the least amount of crap in it with as much flavor as possible. Sadly, they missed on both these counts.
Overall, great effort for first opening, but definitely needs some work.

I came here for lunch today and I was excited and hyped!!! A new ramen place in the sunset!!! A much needed ramen place might I add. I saw a couple of guys that I haven’t seen for a while from Taraval Okazuya. Michael and Ben were there helping out or are they the new owners?!? Ben told me to review this place and let them know. So… here it goes.
The portion was perfect. The broth needs help. It does not have that full bodied, intense bone in flavor to it. One Unilocaler said it was salty and bland. You might ask yourself how can it be salty yet bland? That was how it tasted. As weird as that sounds it was salty yet bland. The egg and chasu were cold. I understand how the heat from the broth should warm up the pork and egg but it just didn’t work for me. The broth wasn’t hot enough. I would understand it if the egg had a running yolk but it was hard boiled.
They gyoza and surprisingly the curry tonkatsu were good. They should have like Japacurry run a curry house versus a ramen house. We ordered a side of chasu which was around 5 slices for 3.95. Didn’t seem worth it to me.
3 bowls of ramen
gyoza
curry tonkatsu
side of chasu
44 dollars
I would definitely come back after a month or so. Service was good. For one person to run 7 to 8 tables is a little much but she was a pro.

I came to sample the ramen at this new shop in the Sunset district. The exterior is adorned with a red gate,
and menu items scribed in wooden planks. This was formerly the space of Moon Fung Herb Co.
The renovations look good, the bright interior is spacious with white walls and comfortable leatherette seating. There’s a flat screen TV
above near the entrance. The kitchen counter area is also heavily decorated,
and includes a few stools. There’s additional tables in the back next to the bathroom. Everything looks clean and modern.
The menu is simple, just a handful of appetizers, 10 ramen, 1 pork yaki soba (fried noodles),
and 3 donburi (2 curry + 1 mapo tofu).
Each bowl of ramen includes all the basics: chasu, fish cake (naruto), half seasoned soft boiled egg (hanjuku tamago), green onions (negi), sliced black fungus (kikurage), bamboo shoots (menma), seaweed (nori), plus bean sprouts and sliced red onions — that last item is unusual but no big deal. Also had red pepper strings as garnish. No extra toppings (don’t have buta kakuni), other than more noddles ($ 1.50), extra egg ($ 1), and a side order of chasu ($ 3.95).
I didn’t experience any of the problems mentioned by others — neither salty nor bland broth. My tonkotsu ($ 7.95) broth had good flavor,
but it wasn’t oily or fatty (which standard tonkotsu should be). So in a way, it seemed a bit Americanized. It’s definitely a homemade broth, and the chasu was delicious.
Also I didn’t mind the egg being cold, that’s normal. All hanjuku eggs are made in advance, and not reheated otherwise the soft yolk would overcook. Normally in Japan the ramen broth is served scorching hot, so u don’t notice that the egg was cold. It’s a tricky matter to keep the food hot in a ramen shop, when u first open and don’t have enough customers yet. Too hot and the soup will evaporate before u get to sell it to customers (becomes salty too). If they can keep a consistent quality, the place might become popular.
Note: there are 2 separate ramen chefs who work different shifts. One seems more skilled than the other, so your experience might vary.
Service was excellent, very friendly and helpful.
Hours: daily 11am-​4pm, 5−10pm (Fri-​Sat until 11pm)