Oodles

Early this year, I bit down into an egg roll and broke my back moler tooth on a piece of a plastic chopstick that was embedded in the egg roll! Fast forward to a month ago, a bigger piece of my tooth broke off after flossing, due to that dramatic event. Worst of all, I just spent $ 1,500.00 on a Crown to fix it. Not good. I really need to talk to this place. Yes I know, I should have talked to them when it originally happened!
Message to Oodles: My number is 415−786−1947. Give me a buzz. Thx.

I’m lukewarm on this place. I came here with a friend because it was close by. It seemed like a good enough concept, and I don’t know exactly how, but this place falls short.
We were seated instantaneously because it was empty, so we had pretty good service.
Menu– Being Filipino, I had to laugh at lumpia being on a menu. The two most appealing things on the menu weren’t available– some kind of wings and some kind of bonsai hotdog. So we ordered some crab wonton that was cream cheese city and pork ramen. The pork was really sweet– reminds me of the pork you would get inside a siopao.
Overall, it was unmemorable.

3.5, but I give it a bump for good food/​service!
Its a very new place in the area — just opened around November (??) I had no idea where this was, and my friend told me to look for the «grand opening» sign. Walked through these gated doors to a gorgeous room. Like, swanky in the middle of the Excelsior! Cool! My friends were the only ones there… not so cool. I’m surprised more people don’t come.
They had already ordered, and the food I had was pretty good.
Musubi — SO GOOD. Spam. Sticky Rice. Seaweed. SO GOOD.
Tofu Musubi — I had no idea there was a tofu one. When it arrived, I was like… why my spam yellow and fried? Umm. vegetarian option here!
Chicken wings — Also pretty good. It came with a sauce that I didn’t really need, as the chicken had great flavor on its own!
Lumpia — devoured. Not sure if I was just hungry, or its good. You try it and see.
Miso Kimchi Ramen — I was a bit disappointed in this one. So, I guess sometimes they don’t have a flavorful enough broth? The broth could be more salted. It was just spicy water for me. BUT, when I commented on this, the staff apologized and comp’d the thing. SWEET. They care about customer service!
I saw other people complain about the service, and I can’t judge on that. Remember, I was the part of the only table here, so I had EXCELLENT service. The staff are really nice, and I’m sure if you flag them down after waiting a while, they’d rush your stuff.
Also…when I walked to the bathroom, there seemed to be a swanky lounge area? Umm… maybe it’ll be a lounge at some point too? Would be awesome…

They still have a long way to go if they want to attract more people. I guess after eating ramen at Men-​Oh, it isn’t a fair comparison. My friends did not enjoy their dish as much as they would have liked. The texture of the ramen was not what they expected.
I guess they may have also been understaffed (not that they really needed more workers) One of the girls bartending came over to serve us, it was really dead at the tables. She was really nice. What was bad for her was that the kitchen were out of a couple essential ingredients. We ordered the wings, but after putting in the order and about 5 minutes later, she comes to tell us that a big group ordered a lot earlier and cleared them out. We were happy to hear they were doing so good with wings. So I asked her for another appetizer suggestion, she said the crispy tofu misubi.
The two ramens came first, my friends were waiting for me to get mine before we started. But after a couple minutes I told them to go ahead because the noodles were going to bloat. My bonzai dog finally came, wasn’t what I was imagining, two little links in a messy bun, it tasted good, but you could not eat it with out stuff falling out. It does not look like the picture featured on Unilocal.The menu also promised, I believe, vegetable chips, instead I got deep fried shrimp chips. Again, not like the picture they posted on Unilocal.I’m allergic to shrimp so I did not get to enjoy the chips, but I was also assuming they were out of that ingredient too. I probably should have said something but I didn’t want to wait for another side to come out.
Drinks. I ordered the pot of ginger peach tea because it was cold outside, underwhelming. It tasted a lot like the triangle bags of Lipton Ginger Peach white tea, which my boyfriend guessed that it was. Our order of the Mango Soju was lost in translation, we had to ask for it again. You don’t taste the soju at all (as a rare drinker, I usually taste the alcohol) so if you’re going for more alcohol for your buck, don’t do flavored soju here. I think it was more mango smoothie syrup than soju. It was thicker and sweeter than any flavored soju I’ve had. It tasted nice, but it could have done with a bit less syrup and a bit more soju/​liquid.
Overall, I probably would not come back to Oodles, sorry to say. It’s a nice décor, nice staff, but too far off and too much in the cuts for the effort of an okay meal.

This is what I call a diamond in the rough. Everyone knows San Francisco has so many places to eat in unexpected places and this is one of them. I love there fusions of foods. The staff is great and friendly. The drinks are awesome and interesting. I would recommend this place.

This review is based on a happy hour that Oodles hosted at my apartment complex. Tofu and Spam musubi were served along with Korean chicken wings. All three were very tasty! They’ve definitely piqued my interest enough to want to check out their establishment and perhaps add another star.

Sparkling gem in an unexpected place. San Francisco has to many places that look unassuming from the outside, but are delightful on the inside.
Tofu musubi. This isn’t meat? Delightful and satisfying. Has the sweet and salty notes of traditional musubi.
Miso ramen. I love ramen and this place goes toe to toe with best out there. Something about a hot steaming bowl of noodles when it is cold outside.
Soju cocktails were super tasty and have enough kick to keep things going.
They are in their initial phases of launch, but show great promise to be a place for friends to meet and have a great time.

LOVED the spam masubi & the tofu masubi! I don’t know what night life would be like here although it is set up as a lounge/​club after hours. I went on a Wednesday with my cousins, one of which is a friend of the chef. The ahi was also delicious. We tried the yogurt soju, watermelon soju and lychee soju. The watermelon soju was a bit difficult to drink since there were seeds. The original yogurt soju was my personal favorite. The bartenders and the chef were very nice and shared a few drinks with us since the place was pretty empty (i assume due to it being a Wednesday). They haven’t been open very long, so I have high hopes for this place.

I usually give restaurants second chances, but Oodles does not deserve it. I’m sure if they read this, they will know who I am. My boyfriend and I were invited to a wedding dinner there and we were told that if we were hungry, we could sit down and eat. Since I did come from SJ, and heard this was a fusion, I got pretty excited and was ready to order.
Looked over the menu, and my boyfriend and I both decided to order Udon and their salmon poke. Let me mention that it was about 9pm at the time that we ordered. 15 minutes passed by… 20 minutes passed by. 40 minutes passed by. and we still haven’t gotten any of our orders. By 40 minutes, the waitress offered us a couple of shots that the bartender didn’t want to «waste». And right after, we received our poke. A really small portion that could’ve been made in less than 5 minutes. Another 15 minutes passed by and we still haven’t gotten our udon.
The bartender then came over and offered a complimentary bottle of lychee soju because he noticed we were waiting so long. SO AFTER AN HOUR WAIT, We finally got our udon. It wasn’t even hot, but warm. It took them 1 HOUR to put noodles and soup in a bowl that tasted like it came from an instant bag of ramen.
All in all, I waited an hour for a meal that lasted about 5 minutes. Sorry Oodles, but there should be no excuse for the service that we received. I seriously wasted 35 dollars on a 5 dollar meal I could’ve gotten across the street at Safeway.
1 star because the bartender was the only person that really accommodated us.
–Mind you, the restaurant was only half full.

Came here, saw a gigantic «Grand Opening» sign, but for what? What is this place? we were kind of hesitant to go in, until one of the ladies came out and told us to go in and have a seat.
We went in, it was sooooo awkward, its completely dead with no other customers but us. It felt like we were in a movie with nothing else going on but the sound of crickets. I thought for a second, we were gonna get drugged in our food, being abducted into the back room and get raped.
After calling my boy friend up and telling him to come over. We feel a bit more comfortable ordering a few dishes. We had the spam musubi, hot «Bonsai» dog, piggy spam fried rice, scallops and a bottle of soju. The Spam Musubi was way too salty for me but my friend liked it because she loves salty food. The Hot «bonsai» dog felt like something i could of just gotten for $ 1.5 at Costco with some mayo dressing instead of ketchup and etc. The scallops were big, so we liked it but it was too bland and too little sauce. I can probably cook better fried rice than this place.
Anyways, if i were to come here again, i would probably have to bring some body guards and some special sauce of my own.

i dig this place. it’s got a warm, welcoming, and real chill vibe to it. a group of us came for dinner… enjoyed ourselves so much that we stayed for drinks!
upon arrival, we were greeted by a friendly, smiley staff that immediately showed us to a table. service was great, and ambiance was very nice.
we ordered off the menu:
miso ramen — good! be sure to add the pork belly!
spam musubi — they make this so good! you gotta order this!
tuna poke — good!
chicken wings — nice flavor and texture on the outside and very moist and juicy on the inside!
now, for the drinks… watermelon and honeydew sojus were made fresh, and were very tasty (dont you just hate how some other places pre-​mix theirs and just let it sit in the fridge until you order it, so that the pureed fruit and the soju have separated). kiwi soju was hella good yo! however, my favorite is yogurt, made with the real deal yakult. oodles does this soju cocktails very well.
all in all, a great evening. this is a great place to chill with a group of friends. they have a large dining room that is able to accomodate large parties. they also have a bar where you can kick it and watch some sports. in the back, they’ve got a chill lounge with tables and couches, and a DJ maintaining the beats.
thanks for a great evening, oodles! looking forward to seeing yalls again real soon!

At first, I was so glad to find a ramen shop in my neighborhood. I thought to myself «phew, no longer will I have to drive all the way out to the Richmond or Downtown to enjoy a nice hot bowl of ramen noodles.» Unfortunately, this place is at best mediocre, let’s start off with the broth. I ordered the off the menu Tonkotsu ramen with pork belly, the broth was SALTY, I tasted some pork in it but mostly salt. The pork belly was tough, I had to put a lot of effort in chewing it. It was probably over cooked. The noodles were mushy, they weren’t as elastic as I would hope. It didn’t come with enough condiments such as bamboo shoots, corn, or fishcakes. Come to think of it, the menu was very limited. I wanted to bring my vegetarian friends here but they don’t offer anything vegetarian. Their service was good, which is why I’m giving a 3 instead of a 2 star.

Yummy spam musubi and delicious fruity soju. My favorite is the «soju high» which tastes just like tea. You won’t suspect there’s any soju in there at all!
There’s two sections to Oodles — the front which is the restaurant, the middle where the bar and some casual seating is, and the proper lounge in the back where there’s lots of seating and open space to dance if you so desire.

So tried Oodles for the first time the other night, The place was nicely done, wait staff greeted you at the door with a
this place serves small plate food, Ramen and Soju. tried some of the items from the Tapas side of the menu. got the Machiko chicken wings were tasty .nice and crispy the meat was moist. also had the Tuna poki was refreshing also had the spam masubi, Netti the owner made it for me. was very tasty. also tried a couple of the non alcoholic drinks, the Mango sritzer was nice and the watermelon juice was refreshing also. will be returning soon with some of my friends hopefully soon. if you are in the area of Mission and Italy street you got to at least try it out.

3.5 STARS
I’m glad I never became a professor.
Remember
If I ever became a professor, I can’t imagine the slew of one star reviews I would get along with commentary like: «Ms. N is such a biatch», «Ms. N was on her rag today… NVM, she’s on her rag every damn day!», «She knocked down 10 points for forgetting to use a comma??? WTF, crazy biatch!»
This epiphany came to when friends told me even my so-​called «nice» bad reviews were extremely harsh. You mean it’s not nice to compare the chef to a contender for one of «America’s Worst Cooks»? :X
Ok, no more mean, over-​critical and nit-​picking Cherylynn. Constructive criticism only.
Soft opening last week is Oodles, a ramen house, fusion tapas, and soju lounge that open 6 PM — 2 AM every day. Formerly Nettie’s Lounge (my review:
), Oodles has found a new home and has taken over a Vietnamese restaurant, oddly named Café Bar & Grill (my review:
). No signage yet but there’s a huge «Grand Opening» banner up.
Oodles is a welcome addition to the desolate Outer Mission/​Excelsior area which is slowly gentrifying thanks to Oodles and Kuta Bistro, a new Filipino joint across the street (
). Their menu consists of Ramen, Asian Fusion Tapas, and Soju. They have fresh fruit soju like The Spot, Tonight Soju Bar, and Playground but the difference is they are served by «Nettie’s Angels», pretty Asian VIP hostesses/​waitresses which I’m sure will attract many male patrons. HOLLA!
We attended the soft opening so there’s still some kinks to work out as with any new restaurant. We came at 6:15 PM on a Thursday night to complete dead silence. AWKWARD! Top 40s and Trance music came on later in the night. Phew. The Yogurt Soju ($ 12) was creamy, sweet and slightly tart just the way I like it. However, it was served in a glass carafe with no spout which caused soju to spill all over our table when trying to pour it into shot glasses.
The Japanese «Bonsai» Dog ($ 6) was a good Japanese take on an All-​American favorite with Japanese aioli, teriyaki glazed onions, and nori strips except the hotdog was room temperature and the bread needed to be toasted more.
The Hawaiian Spam Musubi ($ 7) is always a fav with carblicious white rice and salty porky spam but this one was a bit too salty with the addition of the sesame teriyaki sauce and the rice needed to be compressed down a bit more (fell apart when biting into it). Nonetheless it was the fav of the night.
We ended dinner with the Tonkotsu Ramen (off the menu) and added Kukani Pork Belly ($ 8 + $ 2). The kukani was AMAZING with a rich, melt-​in-​your mouth butteryness and the noodles were nicely al-​dente with a toothsome chew. Other components of the ramen need a bit tweaking though especially the broth which was overly salty and the soft boiled egg which didn’t have a slightly runny yolk.
Oodles has a solid concept going and once they iron out all their kinks, they’ll be a nice addition to the area. Before you know it, they’ll even be having all the neighbors cheering soju shots to «GUN BAI B*TCHES»!

Nettie of the old Nettie’s Fire Lounge in Westlake finally found her new spot! Came here for their soft opening last night and it’s definitely off to a good start! Love their menu offerings (different than the old fire lounge) and soju selection, it’s a nice new addition to this part of Mission St., especially since they’re the first soju lounge around this area. Yup, nettie and her staff is still serving up those delicious soju and as always, a familiar face + friendly staff will always make the experience better as well. The best part… they’re open til 2am every night!
If you’re not big on drinking like myself, it’s a nice option that they serve food too. A good mixture of ramen, musubi, wings, poke, etc., there’s enough on the menu if you want to come here solely for dinner or late night eats. A little heavy hand with the salt on some dishes though, but they are taking every critique with great strides.
They definitely still have some kinks to work out, but I’m rooting for them to stick around for long while. I’m looking forward to updating my review once I get around to trying more items on the menu.