Isshido Ramen (Soft Opening)

After a bit of a wait, Isshido Ramen finally opened in the middle of last month and is in soft opening mode. Since the opening; I've been able to visit three times.

Located in the former location of a Submarina; I read that the owners are from Fukuoka, home of tonkotsu (Hakata) style ramen. So, I was intrigued; especially since the place was basically right across the street from Menya Utlra's Mira Mesa shop. Calvin was also quite excited to try the place out; so we headed on over. In an interesting development, we were seated, then told that the kitchen wasn't quite ready so there would be a 20 minute wait. Well, lucky for us; we had some extra time on this day.

The shop is nice sized; 45-50 seats; wood paneling, you get it, right? The ramen menu features nine variations….but of course you know what I was going to try, right?

We were thoroughly starving by the time our orders were taken; so we ordered a couple of appetizers.

Starting with Chicken Karaage.

Very light in color; more crumbly than crisp, for some reason the flavor profile reminded me of RakiRaki's karaage, except more mild in flavor….it had that hint of curry/turmeric or something similar, but really needed a good squeeze of lemon. At least the chicken was nice and moist.

I was also curious about the Potato Salad as I do enjoy a nice Japanese style (mashed) potato salad. I inquired about the portion size and the really nice (all the young ladies working here are very nice and eager to please) Server about the serving size. She walked over to the window; came back and made a circle with her hands about 3 1/2 inches in width. So I ordered it. What came out was this.

Jesus; almost twice the width! The young lady brought this and looked at us sheepishly and said, "I'm sorry, this is way bigger than they told me". Well, at least it wasn't smaller, right? This really needed more salt; and even more mayo as it was more mashed potato than salad. Still, it was not bad.

And then there was the Signature Paitan ($11.95); in this case it's a tonkotsu broth, so no chicken involved. Because of the description, I expected a milky white broth, which was not quite what I got.

The broth was salty and there was a strange unpleasant bitterness to it. We pulled several pieces of burnt garlic from our spoons which probably contributed to the flavor. I also would have preferred something a bit richer as well. The egg looked lovely; but was ice cold and really salty. The chashu was a bit on the waxy side; but tender enough, with a nice shoyu-mild sweetness.

I had expected the typical Hakata style noodles; but these were firm, slightly curly, and prepared well.

Overall, pretty mediocre, and definitely in need of some refining.

There was one, kinda gimmicky ramen on the menu I wanted to try, so I returned a week later. This time, all the folks waited outside until 1114 to be let in. One of the guys recognized me from Menya and asked me how it compared. I told him, I'd only been here once, but I thought it was not in the same league, especially with attention to detail.

So, I got a seat and ordered the Truffle Shio Ramen ($12.95).

Holy smokes; the shio ramen, at least on this day was way more "kotteri" than the tonkotsu I had. This is supposedly made with a truffle tare; but I could barely make out the fragrance of truffle. Large slices of oyster mushroom were torched like chashu to replace the pork; but while the texture was decent; it was really bland, and lacking the woodsy-lightly sweet flavor typical of this type of mushroom. They need to do something with the slices of mushroom than just slice and torch it so it can stand up to the broth. The sautéed button mushrooms had some earthy-buttery flavor and did well in this bowl, as did the crunchy menma (bamboo shoots). Perhaps some adjustments to the marinating liquid for the egg is due, as it was again super salty.

The noodles were a bit different this time; thinner, more straight, and over-cooked. So, no, I couldn't be bringing the Missus here.

And as I was leaving, the guy who for some reason remembered me from Menya said: "you're right, this ain't no Menya Ultra".

And so, this would have been the post, except that I had lunch with one of my ex-coworkers who was around for a meeting and really wanted to try Isshido. So I relented and we made our way over. This time, they had their act together and opened on time.

Though I really didn't want more ramen, I decided to stick with the other side of the menu.

Unfortunately, because we're still in the soft-opening period, all the bentos and fried rice aren't available. So, I ordered what I could.

I ordered some Gyoza.

Brittle wrappers, very moist, but super salty filling; I wouldn't be surprised if these weren't made inhouse.

Since it was a cold and rainy day, I also went with the small Oden ($6.95), which was quite a bit for the price.

So, let's imagine you bought some Hon Tsuyu; instant broth mix, and then put in half the water you were supposed to…in other words; it was so salty as to be undrinkable. The daikon had obviously been soaking in this and was super salty. The fish cake though, had not been exposed for too long and thankfully were edible and everything was hot. The young lady asked me why I didn't finish this dish and I told her it was way too salty.

And my dining companion was equally disappointed in the ramen.

I like the young people working here. I hope they get things straightened out.

Also, I took a gander at the website for Isshido and noticed this:

"Our story begins in Hakata Japan with our Master Chef, Mr. Ishida, who grew up in Hakata mastering the ramen recipes and tastes of his hometown passed down from his family for centuries. After 20 years of diligent study and mastering his recipes, he has brought his family’s legacy to the United States for the first time with Isshido in San Diego,CA."

Strangely, all the folks working the ramen line on my three visits were the same, they looked no older than maybe late 20's, early 30's. So, I'm figuring either "Mr Ishida" is not around to train, QC, and get the systems straight….or maybe one of these guys (all of which spoke perfect English) started their "diligent study" when they were maybe 7-8 years old?

Perhaps I'm mistaken; but if you visit, let me know if Mr Ishida is there!

Too bad, because in spite of the influx of ramen shops, there's always room for good ramen. Especially since I think we'll soon hit critical mass with regards to ramen shops.

So, I'll check back in a couple months and I'm hoping for some better ramen.

Isshido Ramen
8250 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126
Hours:
Wed – Mon 11am – 3pm, 430pm – 9pm