The Best Japanese Food in San Jose
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The best Japanese food in San Jose, according to the experts: the San Francisco Chronicle, Eater, and The Infatuation have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Ramen Nagi comes out on top.
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Ramen Champ and Ramen Hajime hold the next two places. The San Francisco Chronicle shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Eater next.
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Rank 1. Ramen Nagi
Japanese Noodle Shop
The line snaking through downtown Palo Alto at noon is the surest sign this ramen shop is doing something right. A Tokyo-based chain with a cult following, it serves rich tonkotsu broth in five varieties, each bowl customizable down to noodle firmness and salt level. The red king, centered with a blazing eye of miso pork and cayenne, is the one people queue for. No reservations, but you can order while waiting, so you sit down to a bowl almost immediately.
The awards
- San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle: Best ramen restaurants in the SF Bay Area
- Eater Eater: The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto
- San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle: The best Palo Alto restaurants
- San Francisco Chronicle Best ramen restaurants in the SF Bay Area
- Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto
- San Francisco Chronicle The best Palo Alto restaurants
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Rank 2. Ramen Champ
Japanese Noodle Shop
Jiro-style ramen is the calling card here, a Tokyo-born style less famous in the Bay Area than tonkotsu but arguably more interesting, with its shoyu-pork broth running fattier and more rustic, pork fat globules and all. The thick, chewy noodles come from a local craft purveyor, and a fistful of raw chopped garlic goes in to sharpen everything up. This San Jose ramen shop is doing real work diversifying a scene that tends to default to the same few styles.
The awards
- San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle: Best ramen restaurants in the SF Bay Area
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Rank 2. Ramen Hajime
Japanese Noodle Shop
A ramen shop in a Santa Clara strip mall run by a chef who keeps a tight grip on his broths, making the noodles in-house and letting clean, well-built basics like a smoky shoyu do most of the talking. The real reason regulars check the calendar is the rotating specials, which have swung from crab ramen finished with pistachio oil to buckwheat noodles built around dried red snapper. The San Francisco Chronicle puts it among the Bay Area's best.
The awards
- San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle: Best ramen restaurants in the SF Bay Area
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Rank 4. Hashiri Bettei Kaiseki Aoki
Kaiseki Japanese
Nine seats at a counter in Saratoga, quiet enough that you'll learn exactly how someone accidentally ended up with too many cars. This is a kaiseki tasting menu, eleven courses, served to everyone simultaneously like a dinner party. The chef mists soup bowls to simulate dew and trims grapes so they stand upright instead of rolling. Between courses he silently practices piano on the countertop. Small details, unhurried pace, kimono-clad service guiding you through all of it.
The awards
- San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle: Best fine dining restaurants in San Francisco Bay Area
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Rank 4. Katsu
Edomae Sushi
Free jazz plays while you eat aged fish at an eight-seat bar, which tells you everything about the vibe before the first course lands. This is an Edomae-style omakase counter in Mountain View where the chef, a veteran named in the restaurant's own title, treats restraint as a philosophy: a piece of ikura arrives with zero seasoning, letting the ocean do the talking. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the Bay Area's best sushi restaurants.
The awards
- San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle: Best Sushi Restaurants in San Francisco Bay Area
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Rank 4. Sumika
Japanese
A glass-encased grill loaded with imported binchotan charcoal sits at the center of the room, which tells you more about this izakaya than any menu description could. Sumika is the kind of skewer-and-small-plates spot where the smoke does the seasoning, from pork-wrapped enoki to grilled chicken finished with sour plum sauce. The oyakodon, smoky chicken over rice with a barely-set egg, is quietly the thing to order.
The awards
- San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Chronicle: Best Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area
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Rank 7. Gombei
Japanese
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The Best Restaurants In San Jose