Ramen Yamadaya

Been visiting this joint for years for good ramen near Japantown. To be fair, I have not tried the other ramen houses within the japantown complex itself but this place compares favorably with similar eateries on the peninsula. On my most recent visit in Dec 2023 the quality of the food seemed to have gone down a little from years before. Nevertheless the ramen broth is flavorful, the chashu and stewed pork are soft and flavorful and the egg well done (firm outside and soft inside). The ramen texture is not great. Appetizers are fine - portions are big but the quality is so-so. We had the fries with cheese, geso karaage and house salad. Extensive menu beyond ramen.

This place does Ramen right. The Black Garlic is the heavy hitter on the menu. Service is good but can be a bit hectic around dinner rush. It is also quite loud in the main dinning room. I know this is a chain but the quality and service is outstanding and easily in the top 5 of ramen spots in the city worth checking out. The ‘experimental ramen’ section of the menu has some really interesting options as well

Gluten free ramen! My partner has a gluten allergy and this is the first place where we've seen gluten free ramen available. We ordered the Yamada ramen (fully gluten free) and the spicy miso ramen (medium spice - spicy but enjoyable). The broth was tasty and the noodles were good. Pork was a little too fatty for my liking.

I love that they have gluten free ramen! That is so hard to find! The pork belly is quite fatty for my taste (but that's pretty standard for pork belly). And I'd say the gluten free noodles are good but not great, but when it comes to gluten free ramen, options are slim and this is a great choice. Very friendly staff too!

This was my second time eating here and it was just as delicious as the first time. Four of my friends ended up getting the Yamada Ramen and we were pleasantly surprised by how good it was. The service was quick and friendly and we all really enjoyed the meal. We also were not ostracized for wearing banana bucket hats on our way out.