Underbelly

I have been here several times but have not been here in a long time. There thing used to be that the broth was so flavorful that they do not serve it with a spoon because they want you to drink the broth. So back in the old days, the servers brought you the food with gloves on so the broth stays "clean" from fingers. Anyways, fast forward to know, looking at my pictures 8 years ago... and after eating at so many ramen places... the broth was not as flavorful as I expected it to be. Still very good but not as rich of a broth as other places, but it definitely hits the spot. They do have soup spoons now! This is a very casual place. Order your food, pay, sit down and they bring the food to you. We had a large group of 9 and I was very happy to see that they have a lot more seating now! We were able to sit outside on the patio where they could accommodate all of us. Inside, there is bar seating with ambiant lighting. I however, prefer to sit on the outside seating. The prices here are pretty reasonable. The underbelly ramen was $14 and even though the bowl looked smaller, it was super filling. The underbelly ramen was tonkotsu broth, an entire soft boiled egg (not half like many places), chashu belly, and adobo pulled pork. It came out hot and I am so glad they have soup spoons now! They also have veggie ramen or chicken if you are not a fan of pork. Would I come back? I would. The food is nicely priced and I do like the casual atmosphere. We ate here on a Saturday night with our big group and we were able to find parking and seating right away and the food came out fast too! Service here was great! They are also open pretty late so that was perfect for us!

We have seen this spot passing by quite a few times, LOVING the ambiance & decor and finally decided to give it a try. What a spot!! The staff were all so nice & friendly. I like the self service where you find your own seat, go up to the counter to order, pay, and then get your meal brought to you.I ordered the belly of the beast ramen with spicy miso (extra $1) and it was really yummy. I am pretty picky in terms of wanting a loot of flavor, so I could've used a bit more oomph. It came with oxtail dumplings which were the BEST part... I'd want to get those on their own with the broth I think that they also could've had a little more meat, even one more dumpling in there (only two small) and even some chili oil or something spicier as a condiment/option. All this would've brought it to five stars for me :)

My favorite ramen spot in San Diego!Service is fast and friendly. I always get the belly of the beast because it has oxtail dumplings. The beef gyoza are also delicious !

Underbelly is absolutely fire! My boyfriend and I stumbled upon Underbelly after a late night concert nearby. The neon lights and cool looking atmosphere is what initially catches your eye, followed by the amazing smells. We ordered the Belly of the Beast Ramen, Farmers Market Ramen, Spicy Edamame, Cucumber Sunomono Salad, Nashville Hot Fried Chicken Bao, Short Rib Bao, and two N/A Ginger beers. It's safe to say we FEASTED! The only reason I'm rating Underbelly with 4 stars and not 5 is because of the ordering arrangement. It's not clearly marked where / how to order. I was definitely puzzled as were other customers, even two couples ended up leaving because of the confusion. To help you out when you go: 1. Stand in line and review menu, 2. Order food at ordering counter, 3. Receive a number, 4. Be seated by someone working there. Enjoy!

I went to Underbelly for the first time on a date. I was surprised that the location was close to other places I had been before. We went in and read the menu. They ask you to order first then you will be seated. It was a nice day so we sat outside. Be weary of this though as some of the seating is under a tree and the leaves from the tree can fall right into your food. I ordered the Tonkatsu and it was pretty good! I think I would order a different one next time though just to try something new. I would say the only thing that could have been better was the service but not in such a strong way. We needed things throughout the meal and I'm thinking if we sat inside, we probably would have been addressed more frequently. I acknowledge that a lot of places are understaffed in these times so that might have been the case here too.

Fantastic little place in San Diego. I'm not a big ramen fan, so when my husband suggested going here, I wasn't planning on eating too much. But once he ordered and I tried his food, I wished I had ordered my own. He got a chicken ramen bowl and it was AMAZING!!!! So flavorful and a huge portion. We also got their wings on the side, and they may have been the hes wings I ever had.The ambience was also really cool here. You go up to the counter, place your order, then find a spot to sit. There were so many different little nooks and crannies to eat at (indoor/outdoor/bar seating/upstairs/downstairs). It was awesome! Food came out very fast and the service was 10/10.

This is a very unique atmosphere! I ordered the vegetarian ramen, with an added soft boiled egg. The staff was very friendly, and the food came out within what felt like 1 minute of sitting down. The ramen broth itself was not flavorful and was lacking salt. The egg was delicious and definitely added more flavor to the soup. It was a good ratio of broth to ingredients, and they also have the option to pay for extra noodles or broth if you like! Overall it was okay, but I would probably not come back for this ramen. My boyfriend also mentioned he loves the broth spoon as it was shallow and wide enough to allow for him to actually get a good amount of broth in a scoop!

The chicken wings with Korean BBQ sauce had a nice kick to them. And, of course, the tonkotsu ramen noodles had a nice texture, and the broth was very savory with the spice on point.

Underbelly has always been our go-to for late-night ramen due to its flavorful broths, unique ambiance, and quick service. However, this location specifically really disappointed us and will make us stray away from it.We had a party of four, and the server tried to seat us along the bar where the seats were spaced far apart. We wanted to face each other and have two sit on the outside, but the seats all along the outside were taken by a group of six at a small table. When we tried to move the extra chairs from the inside to outside, the server scolded us, saying, "You can't move the chairs around." When we pointed out that the group outside took the designated chairs, she responded, "Yeah, that's not allowed... but you can wait until they're done and I can look for chairs for you." She never did look for chairs for us. When we received one ramen, we asked if we could get some spoons. Her response was, "Oh, let me go check if we have some." Now you have to check if you have spoons?? We asked another server after realizing she wasn't going to help us, and this different server promptly brought us four spoons.Our experience was very much ruined by the poor customer service at this location.

Casual ramen spot in downtown San Diego. Parking was super hard as expected since it's right by Little Italy. The decor is really nice inside. The place is small but they do a good job with maximizing the space with bar and table seating. Our food came out in less than 5 mins, but the food didn't come out super hot. In terms of appetizers, I would get the spicy garlic edamame and pot stickers again. Solid appetizers with good flavor. I would skip out on the chicken karaage. The pieces were bigger than expected and it wasn't very crunchy. Unfortunately, the main course was disappointing. The tonkatsu ramen flavor was lacking and I thought the pork was dry. My friend got the underbelly ramen and her noodles were over cooked. The noodles were so soft and starchy. They gave her a new batch of noodles but we were thinking she would just get a new bowl of ramen. My friend had to pour her soup into the new bowl of noodles which did not go smoothly. My friends were saying the other location was better so maybe try that location if you can. Better ramen is around the convoy area in my opinion.