Amami

We walked in on a weekday evening since there was a 25 minute wait at the Thai place next door. The tables here are a bit cramped, but there are about 10 tables close together with the option to join tables depending on party size. We ordered the chicken ramen, the California roll, and the edamame. The food came pretty quickly and people checked up on you enough. The food was fine, but it was pretty standard. There was nothing really to complain about with the food, though there could be a larger variety of veggies in the soup. The California roll was pretty plain and didn't taste super fresh. I would say it is standard Japanese ramen and sushi with nothing too special about it.

To clear up a little something here, this place is basically the same as Tonton (which is right next door. What the name? Very similar sign out front.) this particular restaurant is more of a Ramen shop. Where Tonton, it's related restaurant, is more about curry and other Japanese foods. But if you go into Amani you can order from Tonton's menu and vice versa. Takoyaki was very good. The Karaage and Katsu were both very tasty. The staff was very accommodating since some of us ordered from the location next door. The place is small. We had to eat along a counter on the wall. But it was fine.

I went to the extension of this place where they just serve rolls. I got the spicy tuna and shrimp tempura hand rolls. First of all, they weren't even rolls. They cut them in 3 pieces which defeats the whole purpose of calling them rolls. If I wanted them cut, I would've ordered sushi. It was $16 for the two rolls. Pricey and it tasted so bad. Not fresh at all. And super salty. I've never had sushi where it tasted so salty. The spicy tuna did not seem fresh and smelled super fishy. I've had a good amount of sushi and raw fish and I've rarely ever had any that smelled fishy. I know that seems silly cause tuna is a fish but it smelled like almost spoiled fish. Does that make sense? I hope so. Just trying to warn y'all that this place isn't worth going to. I only ordered here cause I was hungry and wanted something quick. The seating there is bar style. Anyways, I won't be coming back.

There seems to be tons of ramen places all over SF. Amani is right across the street of the Curran Theater, where Harry Potter: The Cursed Child Part 1 was playing at 1pm on a Sunday. That meant we needed a relatively quick lunch.Amani is a small, 20-seater ramen bar with communal tables and looks clean and modern. The food is solid and the prices are reasonable. Quality-wise, we feel the noodles and broth at Ippudo SF and Ramen Hiroshi over in Walnut Creek are better. We ordered:Salmon Onigiri: Even though these are pre-packaged, they were very good. Warm, soft salty rice mixed with small pieces if salmon and wrapped in dried seaweed.Gyoza: The pork dumplings were pan-fried and had thick-skin, almost like Chinese-style pot stickers. We prefer the thinner skins with crispy bottoms which tend to be juicier.Tonkotsu Pork Belly Ramen: A-OK classic ramen with the milky broth. They give four pieces of pork belly that were soft and tender, but missing that final sear from a torch which packs even more flavor. Wife got a bit thirsty after this dish so perhaps too much umami. The cure is the Hazelnut Soy Latte from SB next door.Amani Ramen: Now we're talking - this is ramen's meat lover special analog to pizza. Sweet Beef, Chicken, and Pork Belly to go along with soft-boiled ramen egg, corn and scallions in a medium-spicy broth. That's a lot of protein to go with the carbs.3 stars overall - good place for a quick, pre-show lunch.

When my friend first suggested getting ramen at "on Geary, by Curran", I was pretty stoked. I had recently started thinking about going back to Katana-ya again, but not for the reason you might think. Rather, I'd been wanting to update my review for them and I figured this would help me determine how many stars to take off (5 stars...woof). Little did I know, she actually meant checking our Amami, also across from Curran and just a few doors over from Katana-Ya. Whoops...though still equally stoked to try something new!Considering how I didn't even know that these guys even existed, I didn't really know what to expect when we first walked in. Given their location, I knew the place was going to be pretty small though, but at least Amami makes good use of the space (they can seat about 12-15 people across the counter seating and their communal table. Similarly, the menu isn't very extensive either, but they still offer some solid choices - seven types of ramen with your choice of three different soup bases, as well as a mix of apps/sides, donburi, udon, onigiri (!), and bento box combos.While a couple of their ramen options looked intriguing, I opted to go with their AMAMI RAMEN - Chicken, Chashu, Sukiyaki Beef, Green Onions, Corn, Carrots, Snow Peas, and an Egg in a Tonkotsu Broth ($14.90). At a glance, this actually didn't look bad...assuming you're okay with it not being truly authentic (not with carrots and snow peas). Personally, I liked the chicken and corn, and the noodles and beef weren't bad, but the chashu wasn't all that tender and I really didn't care for the carrots and snow peas. As for the broth, it was both hit and miss - somewhat flavorful, but very thin and oily/fatty.Despite how conflicted the ramen left me, I have to admit a part of me is kind of curious about their gyu/beef donburi, as well as their onigiri. Yet, I can't say it's high on my list. If I were to come back out this way, I'd be more inclined to hit up Katana-Ya...just so I can write that update and knock them down a bit. And yes - there's something wrong with me.

A hidden gem in Union Square. I haven't always been the biggest ramen fan, but this place might have just changed that! Due to the limited space inside, the seating is bar-style and they can accommodate about 15-20 people at once if dining in. They did a great job of seating everyone and being as efficient as possible. The ramen was delicious. I ordered the house ramen with Pork which is less than $10!The tonkotsu broth was so savory and creamy, and if you'd like it spicy (or the spicy sauce on the side), they charge a $1 extra. The noodles are very fresh and we're cooked to perfection. I loved the corn and half boiled egg toppings. If you're looking for a quick ramen fix that's great for the price, this is the place to be.

Meh. This is not Japanese ramen so if you're expecting some of that, walk on. If you're expecting just noodles with soup, go for it!I ordered the spicy veggie tonkatsu ramen. They need to account for the water in the veggies because it ended up watering down the broth...either that, or the broth was very bland to begin with. Either way, the broth had no flavor and was pretty much inedible. The rest of the dish was mediocre.The spam musubi was pretty good but...when is spam not good?I think this place is one that can be skipped in the midst of everything else in the area!

First visit. Like in Japan, this is a small 20 seat place. Basic ramen, not bad, it will make do for $10-$13. The ASK if you want it spicy, if you say yes, be prepared to pay $1. Doesn't sound like much but it's 10% more to ADD SPICE, WTH! Even if you want lightly spiced. I say that's a rip-off (first time I've ever said this)! The owners are from Japan, but the staff are anything other than Japanese, which is no wonder the ramen and soup is mediocre at best. If you want a quick bowl of ramen, come here. But, if you want GOOD, or GREAT ramen, go look around town, there are plenty, but of course, you will pay for the 4-5 Star ramen eateries ($15+).I don't know about recommending this place, but it's worth at least ONE try on you To-Do list if in SF. Will I return when in SF, maybe.Happy Ramen and Fight On!

I don't usually go to this area in town, but since I was, I decided to give this place a try. I came here with my bf and he ordered Bento A, which had beef, egg, potstickers, fried chicken, and croquette. Everything inside Bento A was pretty good, the egg had a sweet flavor to it, kinda like tamago. I had the spicy miso chicken ramen. The chicken is oven roasted, it kind of tastes like 5 spice chicken. It was pretty tender. In my opinion, the ramen was just OK. I think it might have been better if I got regular broth instead of spicy so that I can taste the miso broth more. I didn't really like the spice flavor that they used, not sure what it is, but it is a $1 extra if you make it spicy, I should've just stuck to regular. The service was pretty good, but then again, not much service is needed. You order at the register, they give you a number and you seat yourself. The place is pretty small and definitely not suited for larger groups. There is one table that can fit about 4 people and a larger communal high table.Next time if I am in the area again, I would like to try a non spicy flavored ramen or get another one of the bento boxes. I actually enjoyed my bf's bento box over my spicy miso chicken ramen!

*** In Short ***Okay ramen that doesn't really surpass the shop it replaces.*** In Depth ***Taking over the old Katana-ya space (who themselves moved just next door), Amami doesn't offer up anything more notable than their predecessor, aside from quick service, low(er) prices, and a pretty extensive selection of ramen options.Peruse your options, order up front, pay, and nab yourself a seat somewhere. The tonkotsu I tried wasn't particularly flavorful, but wasn't terribly bland either, and similar to some of the instant tonkotsu ramen I've tried in the past. Noodles were okay, but the provided veggies were a bit sad and droopy.If you're looking for ramen that's a good 30-40% less than what the rest of SF charges, Amami is a good option, but I personally don't mind paying more for much tastier choices. They get a solid 2.5 stars from me.***Accessibility Info***Venue - Even smaller than Katana-ya now that they've added a huge island bar for seating, there's only one just-barely-not-really accessible table towards the front.Bathroom - Didn't check them out.