Slurp Ramen

If you’re a fan of different types of Tonkotsu ramen, you’ll like this spot. The Tankotsu ramen at $ 12.00 was decent, comes with half egg, chashu, wood ear mushrooms, bamboo and scallions. The noodles had a good texture but the chashu was pretty thin and lacked flavor. The broth could’ve been better imo. Added extra noodles for $ 2.00 more and you get more noodles with the extra than with your bowl. Also, opted for the combo for $ 3.50 that comes with 3 pcs of karaage. It was average at best.
Slurp normally would be 3.5 stars for the food but rounding up since service was good, being new it’s clean and not many other ramen places open for lunch.
Located in an alleyway in Chinatown, it may be difficult to spot since the only sign is on the window.

Had dinner there for the first time last night with my wife. Ramen is good but their wings are the best ! The sweetness was perfect comparing to others where it was too much. The restaurant is cosy and the whole restaurant is clean and neat.
The owner and staff gave us good accommodations. We’ll definitely come back here again!

I found this place by accident recently near my office and I have to say am pleasantly surprised with the ramen here.
The staff is ultra nice and food comes out quick!
Definitely a go to place for me.

Great ramen place in Chinatown on Commercial.
Came here on a weekday around lunchtime. Ordered the shoyu tonkotsu ramen with combo A to add 3 pieces of gyoza.
What I liked:
–There is no line. Maybe because this is new — but I’ve come at 12 and 12:30 with one other coworker and both times there have been
–ramen tastes great.
–tables for 2 – 4, and also a counter if you’re by yourself or with only one other person
I recommend this ramen place to anyone looking for a quick, easy and tasty lunch place in Chinatown or downtown sf. Get the combo too, with the gyoza!

Though hard to find (on a small street and under a Kumon Learning awning), this still-​pretty-​new ramen spot delivers tonkatsu-​based broths (with one exception), appetizers, and mochi desserts. I’ve had the wings and gyoza a few times, spicy miso ramen every time, and mochi zero times (mostly because I’m always too full by that point).
This place almost never has any wait for dinner but is only open Monday through Friday.

Decent bowl of ramen in Chinatown.
I ordered the red tonkotsu and bf ordered the black tonkotsu combo B, which includes a side of chicken karaage. We both the the red tonkotsu tasted better and had more flavor. The spicy wasn’t very spicy so no need to worry about your mouth being on fire. Noodles were nicely cooked and loved the egg! Chicken karaage was juicy.
Prices are affordable in a city where $ 18 bowl of ramen is becoming the norm.

I honestly would give the food here 3.5 stars but the lovely service and kind staff here is why I have rounded up to 4 stars. The staff was very friendly and knowledgable about the menu and gave us great recommendations. The shop itself does not seat that many people, so it was good that my friend and I came on a random Tuesday evening so there was no line.
We got gyoza for our appetizer and I got a Shio Tonkotsu while my friend got the Black Tonkotsu Ramen. The ramen here was just okay. The noodles here were a lot more thin than the noodles that I am used to and the broth was pretty average. I guess there just wasn’t much special but it is a decent bowl of ramen. Their mochi ice cream here seems to be quite popular, so I would recommend people to keep some tummy room open for dessert!

I ordered the tonkotsu black. Decent broth — not the best, certainly not the worst. It was flavorful enough. Noodles were too thin for me. The one slice of chasu was just okay. (Seeing that it was cut SO thin, I would expect it to be at least a little more tender?) The only thing that REALLY stood out to me was the creamy and perfectly cooked egg. Looooooved the egg!
Service was also a plus; staff was friendly and accommodating. If I were to be back, I would like to try their tonkotsu red!
(I would pick this place over their competitor that’s just a few blocks away!)

Solid ramen shop. Got spicy tonkotsu ramen wth extra pork. Got my portion of carbs and fat for the day!
Fast, but not Japan-​fast. Good broth. I will order again this time regular not the spicy one, and will add the spice myself, to my taste.

It was open 3÷31÷16 Cesar Chavez Day. People in SF don’t get that day off. It’s on Commercial St and most office workers don’t go here because it’s not on Kearny and don’t see it.
I got Shio Tonkotsu — it comes w/​chashu, ½ egg, bamboo, wood ear mushrooms, scallions, seaweed $ 12. I asked for no bean sprouts (just in case cuz I hate them) and no bamboo.
Tasted ok, soup is salty. Waitress said I could get it less salty next time.
One unisex bathroom in the back. Charged it.

Cutely nestled in a small alley in Chinatown and it couldn’t be more modern inside. Get there early bc just like any other lunch place in the FiDi, this place gets packed.
I opted for the red ramen and it delicious. The noodles to broth ratio was off but it didn’t stop me from slurping down the entire bowl.
Ended the meal with Mochi ice cream. Couldn’t get any better.
Great service
Great food

Dinner review.
Slurp wings — ²⁄₅
Spicy miso broth — ⁴⁄₅
Black Tonkotsu — ⁴⁄₅
Noodles — ²⁄₅
Pork belly topping — ³⁄₅
Chashu — ³⁄₅
Egg — ³⁄₅
Location — +1
Overall, no wait, good location, decent ramen. This is a good quick option for dinner. «I’m a fan.»

I’m pretty sure I’ve been spoiled with ramen. From LA to NYC, I’ve had me some delicious bowls of ramen. So, to re-​iterate some previous review, a bowl of ramen needs three things to be wonderful:
Broth — Preferably some animal died and sacrificed its bones to create a rich soup of goodness. Rest in peace, animal… and in my belly. Yum.
Noodles — Personal preference is slightly thicker with a bit of a chew. To each their own (and you figure out your own!)
Toppings — from the perfectly cooked egg that’s JUST cooked in yolk to the perfectly cooked slices of meats, and range of veggies. A great topping is a must.
SO. In this order, Slurp Ramen:
Broth — it was okay, but not very complex. I knew an animal sacrificed its life for this — I could taste the pork. But. Other than pork, there was no complexity in the flavor. It was literally liquid pork. Which, can be good for folks. I like more complexity.
Noodles — just a little too thin to be my favorite kind, but not terrible. There was a slight chew to it, but I want it to be just a smidge thicker. Hits the mark though.
Toppings — Wasn’t bad. Had the pork, and it was made pretty well. I ordered an additional topping of the pork belly, which was cooked well. The belly fat was nicely soft (some folks don’t cook it long enough and the fat is still hard-​ish) and flavorful. The egg that come with was runny (yay!).
I’m only at a 3 right now because I’m not sure I’m a fan yet. The wait staff are super attentive — my friend arrived only a few minutes before me, and two different staff came up to him to ask for his order/​drink before I even got there. Which. Was odd, because after we ordered, it took a full 25 minutes before our noodles got to us. They did apologize for the wait. But. For being so anxious to get our order to have us wait forever for the noodles? Hurm.
The space is super clean (rare in Chinatown!). Prices are a little high for ramen, but legitimately when you have a new restaurant opening, you have to expect they jack up the prices a little to cover crazy SF rents.
So. 3 stars until I come here again to try another ramen!

With the plethora of ramen joints in San Francisco, they’re held to a higher bar than say a Nepalese restaurant which has very few competitors. So while this was a tasty lunch option compared to other FiDi-​outskirts places, it was a bit more middle-​of-​the-​road when compared against only ramen shops around town. If I’m hankering tonkotsu, I’ll probably go to Ramen Underground a few blocks away; though I might come back to Slurp Ramen if their wait is insane.
Tonkotsu Black w/​Braised Pork Belly: A high noodle-​to-​broth ratio, which meant there was no need to order extra noodles. The broth almost had the signature creamy white tonkotsu color in more of an off-​white-​yellowish hue. It didn’t seem as rich as better broths I’ve had elsewhere. The spattering of black garlic livened up the dish and dominated the flavor profile, which reinforces the notion that the tonkotsu wasn’t that strong to begin with. The default pork, chashu, was fine and about what I expected. The upgraded pork belly add-​ins were a bit disappointing. They were cooked to a moderate tenderness so the fat was more spongy than melt-​in-​your-​mouth. This was fine for the thin layers between meat, but unappealing for the big hunk of fat at top to of the belly. The runny half-​egg had a nice texture.
Chicken Karaage: Seemed a bit bland. Might have been white meat instead of the typical dark thigh meat? Also, the batter seemed lighter than the nice dense shell that karaage can sometimes have. The mayo wasn’t that great of a dipping sauce. Too bad they didn’t offer curry sauce instead.

Commercial Alley is one of the quietest and oldest alleyways in Chinatown for over a century. In comes the newest Ramen place to revitalize and excite the historic alley.
On my debut from the new place, I brought my somewhat empty stomach and had the Black Tonkatsu ramen soup. For $ 9.50, the bowl had soba noodles, soft-​boiled brown eggs and enoki mushroom in a creamy and thick broth. For an additional $ 3.00, I also added slice pork to make my soup much heartier. I may not be an expert and had little experience in judging good ramen soups. But I thought the contents and soup were very tasty.
«Who says Chinatown does not have good ramen bars?»
I also added a side of Chicken Kaarage for $ 6.00 and Japanese brew called Echigo Stout ale. The chicken was battered and fried to perfection. The dark brew had a 7.0% ABV with a unique ginseng aftertaste.
As I was «slurping» my meal, the friendly people working there, who are in the same age with me, were very chatty with me. I also liked to listen to tunes from Erasure, Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode.
Many businesses in the same alley close before the early evening. But, this new Ramen shop opens pretty late and hopefully energizes the historic alleyway.

*** In Short ***
Typical, decent SF ramen, conveniently located and without the lines.
*** In Depth ***
I got it into my head to try and visit five of the recently opened ramen places this month, with Slurp being the first on my list, given its proximity to my office. Located in a nondescript alley near R&G Lounge, I was met with no wait whatsoever around noon, making for a nice change of pace given the waits for ramen everywhere else.
Rather than trying their base tonkotsu, I instead decided to give their black tonkotsu a shot. The verdict? Your typical average SF ramen: nothing like the amazing ramen you’d get in SoCal, but definitely not bad if you’re in the area and are fixing for some ramen. Their broth, while flavorful, was lacking in depth, complexity, and richness, which led to the black garlic oil overwhelming the flavors of the dish a bit. The ramen, egg, and chashu were all solid though.
They’re more affordable than The Ramen Bar, and far less crowded than Ramen Underground, so if you’re in the same area, they’re well worth a shot!
***Accessibility Info***
Venue — The restaurant itself is located up a slightly steep grade, but, once you’re past that, they have remote operated doors, and a good amount of space inside, with bar seating, and, of course, more accessible two tops and four tops.
Bathroom — Didn’t check them out.

Love this little ramen place! It’s in a tiny alley: street, which makes me feel like I’m actually in Asia.
Food was great. The BF got the ramen with the black garlic oil and I got the spicy miso ramen. Broth was rich and silky and the noodles weren’t too soft.
They also have a all the different flavors of mochi (I looooooooove mochi). My fave was pistachio.
Staff was super nice and friendly. Will be back!

This place is great! I came here with my coworker during lunch.
It’s actually located in more of an alleyway instead of a street.
I had the Spicy Miso Tonkotsu Ramen (chashu, ½ egg, bamboo, bean sprouts, scallions, seaweed) with 3 pieces Karaage for the combo set (B). Everything came out to $ 18 with tip which I think was worth it and the waitress was very friendly.
This ramen broth base is slightly heavy and rich but overall very tasty. The noodles was normal and didn’t have much of that chew that usually other ramen places have but still works well with the overall product. Only 1 slice of pork though.
The karaage was tasty too and I felt it complimented the ramen, however I am also excited to try out with house made gyoza. The chicken came with japanese mayo and lemon.
I am definitely coming back again for this.

This ramen was good! And it’s soft opening and quite new, so I’m glad I didn’t have to wait like most ramen spots.
$ 12.50 TONKATSU BLACK RAMEN BREAKDOWN:
*Broth — 4 stars — yummy, tonkatsu black garlic ramen was very flavorful and extremely creamy. Good broth
*Noodles — 4.5 stars — firm slim noodles! I was impressed! Firm noodles are the best and I must say they did them well here at Slurp
*Chashu — 4.5 stars — really tender and soft pork! I was impressed as well!
*Half soft boiled egg — 4 stars — good! Sad it was only half cuz breaking the egg and having the yolk gooze out is the best part, but I’m glad it was still soft boiled egg and was included in the $ 12.50 ramen
This is like my 60+ review on ramen alone so my standards are quite high. However overall this restaurant is on the right path to be a very popular ramen joint.
Suggestions: options for spiciness!

What a shock to see a decent ramen shop in Chinatown. Quel tonkotsu! It just shows you that culinary specialties don’t suddenly cease to exist out of their ethnic neighborhoods, for example, the best Italian food is not necessarily in North Beach, right? Anyhow, I initially thought this Slurp was related to the same name noodle bar in the Castro. That one didn’t impress me because their pan-​Asian approach came off confused and non-​committal (review:
). I learned a hard lesson there: Don’t order ramen in a place that serves it as a sideline. It takes focus to make it right, and i don’t like thinking the line cook is making somebody else’s pad thai while my noodles go limp.
So I avoided this place until I saw they were not related. Once I took a look at their menu online, I was hooked since they only serve tonkotsu ramen, my favorite kind (photo:
). I personally think Michael Mina and Ken Tominaga made a big mistake in not offering it at their Ramen Bar. I haven’t been back since they first opened. This Slurp, however, offers five types of tonkotsu ramen. Score. I went over at lunch since it was just a short stroll from my workplace, and although it was just around the corner from the always bustling R&G Lounge, there was only one other slurper in the open space (photo:
). I decided on the $ 12 Miso Tonkotsu since I was looking for the best of both worlds.
For $ 3 more, I had them add three pieces of Braised Pork Belly (…couldn’t help it), and then took advantage of their Lunch Combo B, which provided me with three hefty pieces of Chicken Karaage for just an additional $ 3.50. The broth was hearty with a good amount of richness, a mix between Berkshire pork bones and fermented soy beans, and the noodles were properly al dente. A bit more seasoning would be my recommendation. I knew the one slice of chashu was not going to cut it, so the chunks of pork belly were a welcome add-​on (photo:
). The karaage was really well prepared, crispy-​hot on the outside with the poultry quite moist on the inside (photo:
). A solid Chinatown ramen shop, who’da thunk it?
FOOD — 4 stars… tonkotsu five ways… who needs any other kind?
AMBIANCE — 4 stars… more spacious than expected in this ‘hood
SERVICE — 3.5 stars… quite attentive, maybe a tad anxious
TOTAL — 4 stars… a welcome addition to the ramen wars, plenty of artillery here