Ramen Parlor Restaurant Review, San Mateo

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Ramen Parlor 901 S B St San Mateo, CA 94401 (650) 344-9728

Why did we dine here? – Ramen Parlor is the second location in San Mateo from the legendary  original owner of Santa Ramen, Kazunori Kobayashi. It is located one block from the original Santa Ramen, which now houses the very popular spicy ramen oriented Ramen Dojo. Both are owned by Mr. Kobayashi.

This restaurant uses the same noodles as Ramen Dojo but adds some lobster oil as well other toppings. In the evening, they have additional items on the Ramen Parlor menu including more appetizers. We have been here for both lunch and dinner with our last visit was in early 2023 when we noticed prices had gone up, portion size down.

Insider Tip – This is the least busy of their 2 restaurants.

Cuisine – Japanese Ramen
Location – San Mateo
Opened – 2011

Service – Ramen Parlor had adequate service, but nothing exceptional.
Verdict – Ramen Parlor serves up solid ramen with interesting toppings in a nice environment. Ramen fans should definitely give it a try. They also have a much more wide ranging menu with skewers and more.

Signature Dishes – Ramen

Ramen Parlor’s Menu features classic ramen, parlor ramen with lobster flavor, as well as several house specialty ramen dishes. You can choose the spice level not spicy to extra spicy. Extra toppings are also available. A good variety of side dishes is available at dinner time.

Ramen Parlor Picks:
All Ramen Topped with soft boiled egg, Aburi Chashu (Pork) (2pc), Bean Sprout, Mizuna, roasted seaweed. This is different than their original configuration.

Classic Ramen Garlic Pork Soy Sauce Flavor ($15.95) Cost $8.95 in 2013! The noodles were cooked somewhat al dente and were pretty close to Santa Ramen’s version. The pork had a ton of fat on it, making it hard to eat unless you don’t care about fat. This version also includes nice crunchy bamboo shoots. We’d swear there is less ingredients in 2023 compared to years past!

We prefer the classic ramen pork flavor with Kikurage mushrooms.

Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab ($7.50) – Looked terrible and was fairly small, but ended up tasting pretty darn good.

Parlor Ramen Lobster Miso Flavor with Lobster Oil ($17.50) includes Chili Powder to give it a slight kick – This broth is a bit thicker and more robust than the other ones. This also includes corn. Frankly we prefer the pork flavor. Medium spicy is pretty hot.

Parlor Ramen Lobster Garlic Pork Flavor ($17.50) includes Black Sesame Powder – This broth was our favorite, a little more meaty than the others. Also includes soft shell crab.

We added Stewed Spare Rib ($7.50) which was full of fat and tendons, but pretty tasty.

OK: (Order if you like this dish)
Kirage ($9.95 for 6 pieces) was nice and crispy. Eggless batter but a robust soy sauce drowned it out.

Pans: (We would not reorder these dishes)

None

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