What is it with ramen places and super long waits? We showed up to Orenchi Ramen at 1pm hoping to miss the lunch crowd, but we still ended up waiting a solid hour before being seated. There were 37 parties ahead of us. 37. Thankfully some of those parties were a bunch of quitters and decided to leave, otherwise who knows how much longer the wait would’ve been. Although if you think a little wait is going to get between me and possibly the best ramen in the Bay Area then you are mistaken. I’d club a bear over the head to get to this stuff. And by club a bear over the head I mean pee my pants as I run away screaming from the bear. I mean, c’mon. A bear?!
Karaage (fried chicken) – Pretty standard, but that just means it’s good. The batter is just the right amount of crispy and the chicken is tender. Basically the only things you have to worry about with karaage.
Fried Calamari Legs – Also pretty standard. Gets the job done, but not unlike every other fried calamari you’ve ever had.
Cha-Shu (Roasted Pork) Gohan – It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever eaten, but you can definitely pass on this. If you’re at Orenchi then you’re here for the ramen. Why be wastin’ all that stomach room on rice, dawg?
Orenchi Ramen (Tonkotsu base, soft boiled seasoned egg, pork, green onion, bamboo shoot, mushroom, sesame, nori seaweed) – If you bite into the soft boiled egg in your ramen and it looks like the picture above, then you know you’re at a legit ramen place. Don’t bother with the shoyu or shiyu ramen, just get the Orenchi. Aside from the fact that they’re a little stingy with the pork, everything else is downright slurpalicious. As described by their chief chef Yoshiyuki Maruyama, the Orenchi tonkatsu base is a bit lighter than other ramen places so you can actually finish the soup without having to reach for your water. Definitely in the top five of all the ramen I’ve ever had.
Orenchi Ramen
3540 Homestead Rd
Santa Clara, CA 95051
(408) 246-2955
