Gunco Ramen

I had the Spicy Ramen! Came at lunch time and sat right down. friendly staff great service! The Ramen had a kick to it! It’s what I needed on a cold day! Will defiantly be back!

Ramen was good and sukiyaki was on point though smaller in serving its the best option if you dont like driving 20mins going to Convoy for some japanese ramen.

From all the great reviews on the ramen wanted to try it. And as I walked in there was no body to greet me or to sit me down. Weird but there’s two entrances. Finally after 5min a lady said asked me what I wanted to order and I wasn’t feeling good so I wanted to do Take out. Found out that the soups are not for take out bummer. So didn’t get anything. But the service I can only imagine the worst

The food was delicious, but the Spicy Ramen lacked vegetables and meats. Wish I would’ve picked the curry instead or the chanpon.

I love the ramen from Tajima on convoy so I’ve been wanting to find ramen close to where I live in Chula Vista. This was the only restaurant that I could find and the reviews on Unilocal were pretty good so I decided to give it a try. Originally, I wanted to take the ramen to-​go, but they said they do not offer ramen to-​go (why, I have no idea why they would turn away business like that), so I came with my husband on a different night.
As somebody else pointed out, the restaurant is dated and needs some TLC, especially the upholstered chairs that had visible stains and perhaps they could get new water glasses because ours looked extremely worn and old that I did not even drink my water. From what I could see, there was only one other party in the restaurant besides us, but even so, the service was not great. We ordered 2 bbq pork ramen and the gyoza — the menu mentions that the broth is salt, shoyu or miso, but the waitress did not ask which broth we wanted and was about to walk away, so I asked which broth was most like tonkotsu. She said no we don’t have tonkotsu, which wasn’t really my question, so I just ended up telling her the shoyu.
When the waitress came out with our food she only brought one ramen and the gyoza and walked away. We waited a couple minutes thinking that maybe she couldn’t carry it all out at once, but when she did not return with the other ramen, we asked her about it. She apologized and brought another one out for us shortly thereafter.
The gyoza was very greasy and soggy. It appeared to be the frozen kind, but even if it was, I don’t see how they could miss frying it enough to get it somewhat crispy and draining some of the grease off before plating it. As for the ramen, it was an even bigger disappointment. You could see pools of grease at the top of the soup, the noodles looked like they were not cooked enough and not fresh, the broth was salty and had no depth like the one from Tajima, the BBQ pork was tough and did not taste good, and instead of getting a half soy sauce marinated egg like I am used to getting at Tajima, I got a slice of fish cake which I do not like and a bunch of bamboo shoots. They also do not have fried garlic chips to go with the soup to give it some kind of flavor aside from the salty soy sauce flavor.
The BBQ pork ramen was $ 7.95 (more than what Tajima charges) and the gyoza was $ 5.50, so our bill was $ 28 after the tip and tax and it was honestly the worst $ 28 I’ve spent at a restaurant. That being said, I would rather drive 30 some miles to go to Tajima and get the ramen there.

The chanpon was very good! It was also very filling. There were a generous amount of toppings.
I can’t say the same for my mother’s spicy ramen, though. She kept comparing all the things mine had while she only got two pieces of meat in her soup. She quite frankly did not enjoy it, and it was just okay to me.
However, the service quick. It took only about five minutes for us to get our ramen. The waitress was also very nice. I would want to come back here mainly because its close by.

dankest ramen i have ever had. especially when ill or on a rainy or cold day. its quiet during weekdays and prices arent bad. recommend to fans of bomb ass ramen! (;

The food is very good, but the service needs a lot of attention, ordered a beer and it took aprox 10– 15 minutes for someone to come to my table. Then I asked again for a draft beer, the server apologies but then never bought in the beer, I guess he forgot! Twice!!. A nice lady showed up asking if everything was okay, told her about my beer, she apologized, but by that time it was time to go. Bad service!

the wakame ramen has a very nice and calm but flavorful broth. it’s my favorite and it’s filling, but doesn’t give you that heavy, guilty kind of full. the pork in the soup is also very tender and only adds a light flavor to the ramen. not overwhelming at all. consistently perfect combination! all time favorite ramen!

Spicy Ramen was delicious, attentive service and they have happy hour !

Same exact restaurant as Kanpai, just the side of the restaurant that usually holds the larger partiers or where guests are seated when the main room is packed. Same food, same service but it may be a bit slower if you are sitting on this side.

Honestly I am not well versed in what constitutes a good ramen.
As a kid I used to eat those cheap packets that you boil and put the flavored seasoning packet in.
I ordered the basic ramen and the broth tasted kind of off.
Hard to put my finger on it but I guess it tasted soapy?
It seemed to come with a few slices of pork belly that was a little tough and chewy and not very flavorful.
I prefer Kanpai to this place.

Been here twice. The first time for lunch. The food was good. Second time went with friends for drinks. There happy hour is great. two 60 oz pitcher and and two large saki for under 20 bucks. The server was very attentive and cheerful. The prices are reasonable for the food.

Great whole in the wall place. Awesome delicious Ramen. Authentic Japanese food. The shrimp tempura is a must try!

Gunco Ramen and Kanpai seem to be the same restaurant. Went here on a recent San Diego trip and was quite pleased. Food and saki were excellent and reasonably priced. Service was a little slow– they may have been short-​staffed.
Don’t come here looking for beautiful décor, Gunco has the very serviceable, family run feel. The good news is they pour energy into the food, not the ambiance…

Excellent meal!
The menu provides so many choices to choose from. The Chashumen was great. I’ll be back.

First off, the food is very good, and very homestyle. I had the curry rice with the pork cutlet, while my friend had the katsudon. The portions were quite large and the food was served VERY hot.
The katsudon was probably the finest I’ve ever been served in a restaurant, and will definitely merit a return trip or six. The curry was also quite good, and was not the usual pre-​mixed box curry too many places use.
Service was attentive and cheerful., prices were also very reasonable — especially for the quantity of food.
Cons: as mentioned in previous reviews, parking here is dicey, as the parking lot is poorly laid out — I expect that busy nights mat make this worse.
The ambience is a little shabby, so not really a place to take if you’re trying to impress, but it is certainly capable in the food department, which is what really matters when all is said and done.
I intend to work my way through their menu in the next few months, so there may be further updates as I do so…

My dad took me to eat here sometime back in 2003, and I had completely forgotten about this place until sometime last year when I was at Kanpai sushi next door. Probably the reason I blew this place off way back then and never came back was because after my pops took me here, I tried to order take-​out one night but they said they didn’t allow take-​out/​pick-​up food. Maybe it was because they didn’t want their recipes stolen? Or perhaps they were too cheap to buy the Styrofoam soup cups.
Whatever the case, I have since returned and have enjoyed their hot bowls of ramen and chanpon which is a favorite of mine. I only recommend the chanpon if you like seafood since it has shrimp, octopus and squid slices. And, although I love the spicy ramen, it might do a number on your stomach if your not used to different spices from other parts of the world. I know this firsthand, but I will still order it in the future. They also have a long list of imported sakes both hot and cold which is cool since some sushi places only have a few choices.
I really like coming here since the staff is always nice and very welcoming. The restaurant itself isn’t usually busy so you can choose where you’d like to sit most days. The prices on everything even the grilled pieces of fish are more than fair and priced reasonably which is why I will continue to come and eat here.
I haven’t asked yet, but I have a feeling they do currently sell food to go now. Took them long enough to realize they were losing potential sales!

I’ve used Unilocal a couple times within the past few months because I’ve been in search of a good place for ramen in SD. I tried this place recently and wasn’t impressed.
I had the premium black barbeque pork ramen and my boyfriend had the sashimi special B. It’s not a place I would visit again. The prices are a little high considering the food was only average. Though the service was good and the waitress was very helpful, it’s not enough for me to give it a second chance.

2.5 stars
Unilocal has only steered me wrong twice before, this would be the third time.
Using Unilocal and where, I ended up here looking for Ramen.
The restaurant itself looks dated and a little under kept.
We tried the chasu Ramen with salt broth, grilled squid and deep fried shrimp combo.
The Ramen had a greasy feeling and taste to the broth, it was pretty watered down on top of that. Lacked flavor. For what I paid, the amount of Ramen and pork was severely lacking.
The pork, Ramen and bamboo shoots had a sub par quality to them.
The grilled squid was rubbery and had a heavy squid taste and not in a good way.
The deep fried squid was the best part of the meal, happily mediocre.
Pickled veggies usually taste pickled, but these tasted like they just tossed them oil and vinegar.
Good and attentive service, but the food wasn’t that great.
Seems like the restaurant has a lot of variety, but I won’t be back to try anything else.
I actually left the restaurant hungry. Went across the street and got some .99c chinese food.