Santa Clara restaurant ranks No. 3

To celebrate National Ramen Day on April 4, Yelp is releasing its list of the 100 Best Ramen Spots in California, a crowdsourced ranking of customer favorites.

“It’s no secret that Californians are obsessed with ramen,” Yelp said in its release. “In fact, according to Yelp data, California has the second highest number of searches for ramen in the country as of 2019! And in the United States, Los Angeles (No. 1) and San Francisco (No. 2) are the top two cities with the most Yelp users who earned a recognition badge for their reviews in the ramen category.

But it was a Santa Clara restaurant that ranked first in the Bay Area and Northern California, landing third place.

Ramen Hajime, located on Stevens Creek Boulevard near Lawrence Expressway, was founded by ramen master Hajime Kitayama, who became co-owner of a ramen shop in San Diego more than a decade ago, according to Yelp. This restaurant reportedly became so popular that it sold up to 948 bowls a day.

“Be sure to try one of their signature Kiwami ramen bowls (with your choice of tonkotsu, shoyu, spicy miso, or vegan broths), or “build” your own custom bowl. Yelpers highly recommend trying one of their limited creative specials, featuring wild flavor combinations you won’t find anywhere else,” the Yelp report states.

Diners highlight the attention to detail and use of the finest ingredients. “With a process that includes ultra-purifying water to best extract flavor from bones and seafood, making homemade noodles with imported flour designed just for ramen, and sourcing pork Of the highest quality kurobuta for their chashu, Ramen Hajime is clearly dedicated to ‘perfecting the craft,’ said Yelp.

Two other NorCal restaurants ranked in the top 10. Taishoken San Francisco came in at No. 7 and Umami Ramen in Folsom came in at No. 9.

In total, more than 30 NorCal spots, from Gold Country to Wine Country, made the list. The other classified restaurants are:

12. Haystack Noodles, San Francisco

17. Pipo Ramen and Rice, Sacramento

21. Ramen Nagi, Palo Alto

22. Yoshoku, Sonora

23. Marufuku Ramen, Oakland

26. Masa Ramen Bistro, Berkeley

34. Fukumi Ramen, Roseville

38. Mensho, Oakland

41. Hinodeya Ramen Bar, Campbell

42. Kajiken, San Mateo

45. Kensho Social, San Jose

51. Ramen House Tenjin, Sacramento

53. Ramen House Ryujin, Sacramento