Best Ramen Restaurants in San Diego

What’s Hot in San Diego: Menya Ultra

Warm up with a bowl of goodness

San Diego has been going through this popular food movement with bursting Ramen shops all over the county these past few years. Ramen is a classic Japanese dish served with wheat noodles and toppings like meat and vegetables in a long-simmered broth. And this "Ultra" delicious Ramen house in Kearny Mesa has been consistently drawing crowds ever since it opened in March 2017. With 9 stores in Japan and 2 stores in Taiwan, they chose San Diego as the first U.S. location. This National Award-winning Japanese Ramen house offers the highest quality ramen with their housemade noodles, slow-cooked broth with no MSG and fresh vegetables prepared daily in the kitchen.

The owner and master ramen chef, Takashi Endo uses the largest amount of Wheat in Japan, making 80,000 noodles per month. His first visit to the U.S. was in San Diego, and he decided to deliver his masterpiece to this beautiful city he fell in love with. He shares his approach to success: "freshness is the key to a good bowl of Ramen". Their noodles are made daily with special wheat imported from Hokkaido, Japan. This particular wheat made with minimal ingredients possible has a smooth texture and distinctive sweet fragrant. In addition to their fresh noodles, their rich and silky soup is also made fresh daily in order to keep out the bad oil. They use break time to do prepping ingredients like green onions, red pepper, and bean sprouts.

Their signature menu, Paiko Tantan men are made with a special recipe of pork broth, housemade miso and sesame paste topped with your choice of pork or chicken cutlet. Red pepper and chili oil add a nice kick to the smooth and milky broth. Another popular menu is their Tonkotsu Ramen with a special housemade recipe of pork broth, soy sauce and fish flavored oil with toppings of one slice of pork chashu, boiled bean sprouts, green onion, and mushroom. Proving their emphasis on freshness, the broth stays fresh until the last bite. In addition to their delicious Ramen, they have a nice array of small bites such as Fried Gyoza, Fried Chicken, Edamame, and Ice Cream Tempura. Keeping up with their busy business, they keep their original menu and have winter and summer specials. Mr. Endo usually does menu tastings with staffs both in the U.S.A and in Japan.

This charming ramen house is planning to expand within California starting with their second store in San Diego. This new location will have an upgraded menu with Tsukemen and vegan options. They will keep their mission of "Staff first and appreciate the customers" by constantly delivering good food and service. They are open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch, and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. for dinner, Tuesday to Saturday. Make sure to come ahead of time in order to enjoy this hearty, warm bowl of noodles before the soup sells out.