Saiwaii Ramen

This is the Best Ramen spot in the Bay Area! I'm not even joking.Totally under the radar, kinda hole in the wall, but the vibes are immaculate. I've had my share of good ramen, but their spicy ramen gave me the best feeling. Like a pure sense of peace and well-being in the eye of a hurricane.

I ordered the Spicy Garlic Tonkatsu to go.Only got Spicy Garlic.No ground Pork, no slices of pork as described on the menu in my meal. Avoid this place.

My go to restaurant when craving for some Japanese food.Tonkatsu ramen and fried calamari are delicious!

I had the Spicy Garlic Tonkatsu ramen and it was delicious! I had "medium" heat, but next time will go full spice as medium wasn't very spicy at all. Great service, but the restaurant wasn't too tidy as I would expect. Nonetheless I highly recommend going. The broth in my ramen was a meal in itself- so warming and delicious!

This is a small but cute family ramen shop that can cure any ramen craving you may have. Usually, my go to is the spicy tonkatsu ramen (regular) as its has a healthy kick of spice but still delivers a delicious savory pork flavor. Noodles are chewy and bouncy. Chashu is smoky and meaty in all the best ways. Will definitely comeback if I'm ever craving a quick ramen fix and near Irving St. Service is quick and fills your water glass fast (especially when that ramen spice be hitting).

Love love love this place. Their vegetarian ramen is some of the best that I've had. I like to add an egg to it. I also love their potato croquettes. The sauce that comes with them is so tasty! Very lucky to have such a great spot in the neighborhood.

Pretty good spicy vegetarian ramen. I got the Vegetarian Spicy Garlic Miso Ramen and thought the spice level was perfect and actually spicy! The flavor could have been a little more there, but overall felt good to eat this on a cold SF day. Packed with tons of noodles and veggies too.

If you type 'Saiwaii Ramen' in Google Translate, it comes out as 'Fortunately Different Ramen'. Glad they didn't go with something like 'Kawaii Ramen' which would translate to 'Cute Ramen'. I actually thought THAT was the name, so I was relieved it wasn't a Little Kitty bowl of wet noodles. It looked to be a locals' place because i had not heard about it like Mensho Tokyo or Marufuku.I was just walking on this stretch of Irving and saw it was open (FYI, they close between 2:45-5PM). So why not? They offer a pretty robust menu and not just ramen - plus they had lunch specials. I went with the $14 Lunch Special A, which allowed me a bowl of ramen and an appetizer. I chose the Shio Ramen which provided a good amount of chashu in the creamy, salty broth (photo: https://bit.ly/3XWI38f).In the mix was the requisite wakame, menma, kikurage mushrooms, bean sprouts, green onion. garlic, and the addition of ground pork. The result was quite satisfying without the richness of tonkotsu, which wasn't necessary for me. For the appetizer, I decided to have a Vegetable Croquette, which was quite huge with a surprisingly light crispness to the panko (photo: https://bit.ly/3rr35PZ). With a rich tonkotsu dipping sauce, it was a true guilty pleasure.Croquettes were big in old Yasujiro Ozu movies where Setsuko Hara would eat them alone late at night to show the isolation she felt from her disapproving family. To offset the carbs, I felt a compulsion to order the $5.75 House Salad, a simple mix of lettuce, cucumbers, and grape tomatoes with a housemade miso dressing (photo: https://bit.ly/3rAb3GE). It was just fine, and so was the server who checked in on me frequently.FOOD - 4 stars...pretty solid shio ramen though it was the croquette that stole the showAMBIANCE - 4 stars...comfortable spot, no frills and no airsSERVICE - 4.5 stars...felt taken care ofTOTAL- 4 stars...it was a 'fortunately different' experienceRELATED - Exploring the Sunset? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2EI8eIJ

Omg so goodMy bf got the tonkatsu ramen and i got the spicy garlic tonkatsu ramen. We split the takoyaki. All the food came out hot and the takoyaki was perfectly crisp and not soggy. Lots of noodles in the bowl which is so appreciated compared to other restaurants. The service was very good as well. Wish i lived closer

I have yet to dine inside but when I ordered online, I had a great experience! Food was still hot when it came to my door and everything was packaged well. Portions surprised me as they were bigger than I thought they'd be! It's definitely your moneys worth. I got the spicy mala ramen, chicken karaage and the torikawa which were all seasoned and cooked beautifully. Would definitely recommend going here or ordering from there! I didn't snap any pics but I plan to come in person so I'll upload the photos onto yelp when I do :)