Ramen MENMA
Rating: ★★★★★
Address: 509 Mission Ave, Oceanside, CA 92054
Hours of Operations: Monday – Tuesday: Closed, Wednesday – Sunday: 11:30 AM – 2:30 PM, 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Ever since I moved to North County, there’s one thing that I’ve missed the most: ramen.
To be honest, the ramen in San Diego is a little lackluster in comparison to LA and the Bay Area. Ever since I went to Japan in 2015, I’ve been looking for a place that would properly satisfy my ramen craving. When I found out that there was a legit Japanese-owned ramen shop opening up in Oceanside, I was stoked. Oceanside isn’t exactly known for its Asian cuisine (you gotta go to Mira Mesa or Convoy for that!), so I was concerned that it might not be as authentic as they were selling it. Not a huge deal, but definitely a disappointment if that were the case.
I went here with a friend on a Saturday morning and we ended up parking at parking garage nearby, about two blocks away from Ramen MENMA. The day was beautiful, we were right by the ocean, and the breeze felt so nice. It was nice to stretch our legs and burn some calories in preparation for all of the food we were about to eat.
When we got to the restaurant, it wasn’t too busy. There were a few families already seated, but we were able to sit at the bar with no problem. Ramen MENMA opened about ~3 weeks or so ago, so when we were given the menu, we saw that there weren’t too many options. Tonkotsu ramen (which is my absolute fav) was not an option, but we could choose from shoyu or spicy shoyu ramen. Seeing as it was hot outside (and not being a fan of spicy food haha), I opted to get the shoyu ramen with extra soft boiled eggs. My friend got the same order.
It was interesting to me that we didn’t get many options when it came to our ramen. Most ramen shops will have varying soup bases and give you the option of having thick or thin noodles, etc. I’m not sure if this is because Ramen MENMA just opened and they are going to keep their menus simple for now, but it isn’t a huge deal breaker. It would nice if they added this in the future, but not something to get upset about. We noticed on the back of the menu that there were some dish options marked as “COMING SOON” so hopefully that’s the case!
My only gripe was the paper we had to write our order on. The text was incredibly hard to read as it looked like they had made copies of another copy. I had to look at it several times to make sure I was reading the directions/text correctly lol. Again, not a huge deal breaker or anything, but definitely a mild annoyance.
Service was prompt and quick, however, and that definitely made up for it. The employees were incredibly friendly and more than happy to help us with any questions that we might have had. Once we got our orders in, they warned us that it would take a little bit for our food to get to us. Perfectly a-ok with us and we happily browsed the internet on our phones/chatted until our ramen arrived. I’m glad they were upfront about the wait, but it wasn’t even that long to be honest. Maybe ten minutes tops?
Anyway, when our food arrived, we were pretty stoked.
To start off, the meat looked different from what I usually expect. I’m much more used to the stereotypical pork chashu cut (which is large and round), but this pork chashu looked more square and small. Even though they looked different, it still looked great! The pork chashu was soft and melted the moment I put it in my mouth – all great signs. They definitely seared it as there was a smokey flavor. This, mixed in with the pepper, was great.
Broth was very flavorful, but didn’t feel oily or heavy at all. There were a lot of bamboo shoots that they added to the ramen and they tasted great. I wish it didn’t have as many, though, because towards the end I was just chewing a lot of bamboo shoots with nothing to help it along lmao.
The eggs were also great. The yolk was still runny when I cut ’em open – just how I like it! Overall a pleasant experience with delicious ramen. I’m really happy that a ramen shop has finally found itself in North County and I can’t wait to come back.
