Katsu San Review

Saw this place online for awhile but didn't go try because of covid. Decided to go before the numbers start shooting up again. On their site, it said reservation is required but when I called, the person said Sunday is first come first serve... Maybe they should but that on there too? When we got there, it was 9 minutes after they opened and it was already full and people were waiting outside. Good thing there weren't that many people. We waited about 35-45 minutes so went to the mall for a bit.

When we got inside the tables were ok spaced out. Only one group per table (4 seater). They also put these plastic in between each table. The service was good. One of the guy asked us how it was and then another guy asked again when he was cleaning our table.

We ordered the nagasaki champon ramen ($12.50) and the cold ramen with tonkatsu ($9+$4).

The nagasaki was more of a normal ramen to us. It had enough flavour to it and the ramen soaked the flavour quite well. The size was ok for the price. There were a few pieces of pork belly, not like normal chasui. They were more on the fatty side if you are concerned about it. I love fat meat so it was good. It had a bit of the melt in your mouth feeling but not quite. Maybe they can cook it a bit more soft then it would be very good. It had like 3 clams and a mussel. The clams all fell out of the shell and I thought they could have made the presentation a little bit better. like put all the clams on top and maybe meat on one side. Maybe not add that much soup?

The cold ramen was good and unique. The soup flavour tasted like all dressed chips so it was tangy and salty, very refreshing. The noodle was very chewy which I like. There weren't much topping on it, just some veggie. That's why we ordered a side tonkatsu. The tonkatsu was kind of soaked into the soup but parts of it was still crispy. The meat texture was very condensed(?). I've never had tonkatsu before so not sure how to describe it. The meat felt like it was mashed up and put together again into the thick rectangular shape and deep fried. It actually has enough flavour without dipping anything. I know their tonkatsu set comes with sauces. I guess it's more for the rice so it's not so dry? I thought the ramen size was ok but thought the tonkatsu was pricey. But how can we not try their tonkatsu when that's their famous item.

It also came with some pickled veggie. The red and green ones weren't very good, tasted funny. The yellow pickles are the normal ones so it tasted good, tangy.

Overall, not bad, considered okay price for ramen. I guess we'll come back again but as usual we like to try new places.