Iza Ramen

One of the best ramen spots in SF! I tried this twice and the maintain good quality. Loved their Tsukemen and fried karaake chicken. The Tsukemen soup can be super salty and strong for many people, even when you dont drink the soup directly. I recommend you to ask for free washi clear soup to put in to dilute the taste.

I found this ramen joint via Yelp app when I visited San Fran. Keep in mind, San Fran has an abundance of ramen but this place was only 3 blocks away from the hotel I stayed at. It's on Folsom street along with several bars plus its open late. I got there around 9:30pm on a Friday night and there was still a line out the door but it moved pretty quickly and they made sure guests that signed in before 10pm were seated. I started with the Takoyaki Octupus Balls appetizer. It came with 6 crispy balls, topped with bonito flakes, pickled ginger and sweet demi sauce. They were fresh, piping hot, perfectly crisp and very tasty. Then I got ramen for the main course, of course :) I opted for their most popular one called Iza Ramen made with special broth (tonkotsu, chicken, bonito tuna & veggies), topped with slow cooked bbq pork, egg, spicy green onion, nori and seaweed. Simply marvelous! The noodles were al dente with nice snap, the pork was tender and the broth was flavorful with a hint of spice. Appetizers start at $5 to $9 and ramen from $11 to $14. You can also opt for additional toppings for $1 to $3. I definitely had a great experience at Iza Ramen. It's casual, clean and the prices are reasonable. It's also not a big place but they do offer tables for groups and high-top seating area for singles. Just get there early before the lines starts but the wait is worth it.

5 stars for SoMa! I go here on the regular. The only thing I get is the spicy tsukemen and my hubby gets the spicy iza ramen. Their spicy is not spicy at all in my opinion. I’ve gotten regular too but prefer spicy all the way. It’s more flavorful. I gave it 5 stars for SoMa because the closest best tsukemen is currently in San Mateo.

We were super excited to try their tsukemen (dipping ramen) however were underwhelmed. The noodles were cooked fine and had a nice chew. However it was the broth that was disappointing. Tsukemen is known for the rich thick broth. Iza’s version tasted overly starchy as if they added corn flour or something to thicken it as opposed to the natural process of reducing and using a ton of bones and relying on the collagen. We had a lot of tsukemen in Japan and in Hawaii so had a good number of reference points to compare. Maybe we’ll come back, but will stick to ramen only.

Good value, meh service. Iza has a few good choices, including a variety of appetizers and a combo that gives you 2 fried chicken + 3 gyoza with a regular ramen. I got the combo, girlfriend got the tsukemen, which was hands down the better choice. Broth in the normal ramen wasn't comparable to most flagship ramen restaurants in SF. Also, the service was pretty weird. We're used to really charming and happy servers at most ramen shops, and there was no character here. They also forgot my drink order and when I asked about it there was no communication, it just showed up later at my table. Just my two cents though, service really does vary every visit, may stop back!

Just walked in and smelled the glorious food. Only experienced that in 5 star restaurants. Then the waitress makes an announcement and the whole kitchen team says hello, sat down at a simple food and just grubbed. Fully content we enjoyed our Ramen as leaving the whole team said goodbye to us. The service and food was amazing. Truly a five star location. And there is a wait if you come during peak time. Best to come before to enjoy food and a seat.