Cafe Ramind

CLOSED! Major Sad face!
No note written, the counter & display cases are empty and forlorn.
so sad, they were a really nice group of peeps!

It was one of those days where I wasn’t sure the world existed anymore. I’d been so caught up working on this project, head down, tucked into my chair, spine bent into ungodly shapes, and I was having trouble forming whole sentences.
Where could I go eat that was not: soup (it was too hot), very dirty, take-​out only, reasonably priced, or in the same building as my office? Hawaiian BBQ sounded so good. Maybe I thought it’d be Hawaiian themed too. I brought my book, walk over there and sat next to the deli display case.
Chicken Katsu — $ 7.05. The plate came out with so much flaky fried chicken! The two scoops of rice were a little meager, but look at that chicken! Normally, I’m not a mayo person. But that day, I could have sucked it down with a straw. Needed salt.
My work was getting to me, and I couldn’t eat very much. So I packed it up, asked for some sirracha sauce in a container and took it back to the office. It has been lunch for 3 days now. WOW!
Definately better the second and third day. I don’t know if it’s because the seasonings were able to get in to the chicken. Maybe I just like leftovers. It tasted better with the sirracha sauce. Don’t touch the weird brown sauce that comes with it. I think it is made of disdain.
The girl who works here is really sweet. The service was terrific, and she was eager about the Blue Angels flying over. So loud, so little to see. I will come back to try the spam musubi.

Great place to eat for lunch while working in the civic center area. Serves Hawaiian plates (spam & egg, katsu, masubi, etc) Great value too! Portions are generous. The wait for the food is a hit or miss… sometimes it’s only 5 min… while other times it may be 15+. But the employees are very friendly and they even remember most of their regulars by a first name basis. I like that!

Big portions and cheap prices! They’ve added a lot of new things on their menu since they’ve opened. I tried their tomato chicken w/​rice ($ 4.95!!!) and it was super tasty and fresh. I also ordered their spam masubi– i had to take most of the rice out but it was delicious!

I have read a lot of good reviews about this place recently and decided to check it out. I love it. Great prices and great SPAM MUSUBI! I’M ADDICTED! $ 1.50 you can’t beat that! Warm and delicious! Highly recommend.
***CASH ONLY***

Made to order Spam Musubi for 1.50. Nice thick slab of Spam…
It’s rare to find Spam Musubi that isn’t pre made and sitting in all day. Can’t wait to try the other stuff!

I love the Hawaiian BBQ here. I usually get the short ribs plate (which I think they call spare ribs) with rice and macaroni salad. Today I was feeling adventurous, so I went for the seafood combo plate which came with enough food for two. The combo consisted of fried shrimp, fried mahi mahi, short ribs and teriyaki style beef with rice, macaroni salad and vegetable soup. Either I was really hungry or it was really good, because I ate it ALL!
My friend tried the chicken tonkatsu sandwich which was a steal at $ 3.75. It looked like a Vietnamese sandwich meets panini from Japan. This is a welcome change from all of the southeast Asian food in the area. And it’s clean to boot!

Newest Discovery in the TL:
MU-​SU-​BI
Make it beef or spam musubi.
For $ 2 (beef musubi) or $ 1.50 (spam musubi), you will have a filling lunch that covers 3 of the food groups: seaweed, rice and meat.
The BEEF MUSUBI is made with beef teriyaki on top of about a cup of rice, square-​shaped then wrapped in seaweed.
The SPAM MUSUBI is made with spam that’s crispy-​fried and hot which is the proper way to make spam musubi.
These dense, cute, square bars that resemble giant sushis are so delish. One usually hits the spot. I usually order two since I’m a little embarrassed to inconvenience the chef to make just one for $ 2. It is made-​to-​order. I always end up eating both!
Café Ramind is a clean little place in the TL that serves humungous Hawaiian lunches for about $ 5, Illy coffee, fresh cakes and cookies. My fave is the chicken katsu where for about $ 6 they give you almost the whole chicken, rice and macaroni salad. The staff are the sweetest people you will meet.
So, if you only have $ 1.50 in your pocket, no need to starve. Go and grab your musubi! (They also make chicken katsu musubi or barbecue chicken musubi.)

The flavor of the day was Hawaiian! For a cheap lunch special, I was pretty full and had some left overs.
The Loco Moco (gravy over 2 patties/​eggs/​rice + macaroni) was really good and I’m definitely coming back to this place.
I grabbed the food to go but I could see myself sitting there for breakfast. Lunch seems busy so you might not find a table just for yourself.

Great food at a great price! I’m a fan of the Hawaiian BBQ sandwich. This place is SPAM-​tastic: SPAM Musubi, $ 1.50, SPAM and Eggs over Rice, meal, $ 4.95!!!

I have to confess, I’m kind of (totally) addicted to spam musubi. It’s such a perfectly-​sized, grab-​n-​go meal of salty-​goodness wrapped in nori. I used to go by Café Ramind at least once a week while I was still at Hastings down the street for my late morning breakfast on my way to wills & trusts. $ 1.50 and I’m set til dinner-​time. As a student, you couldn’t beat it.
Now I work in the East Bay and I seriously miss Café Ramind (only open weekdays :(). By now, I’ve tried so many Bay Area musubi spots, I consider myself something of a connoisseur. And Café Ramind is seriously the best (and the cheapest) I’ve been able to find!
So, what? 5 stars just for spam musubi? Well, personally for me the musubi warrants all 5. But for the rest of you non-​musubi addicts … I’ve also tried their lunch plate specials, filled with enough perfectly cooked tender meat in yummy sauce, macaroni salad, and rice to split between two people. On top of all that, their whole staff is super nice and always happy to see you! They always remembered me, and sometimes threw in free extras like soup.
:) MMM.

Admittedly getting tired of the lunch spots near Hayes Valley, so why don’t we venture into the TL for something different.
Today’s City Hall lunch break takes us three blocks away, just across from the Federal Building/​Courthouse on Golden Gate Avenue and Larkin Street.
You know the routine; hole-​in-​the-​wall Asian restaurants, one after another. Hrm. What do we have here?! Hawaiian BBQ? Let’s sneak a peek.
Walk into Café Remind and you’re instantly impressed by how relatively clean the place is, considering the location and context.
And hey, the lunch specials are still in line for what the local market bears, so that instantly garners a star.
So for less than $ 5, order up a BBQ beef sandwich and snag a drink while you’re at it. You can even take your time and enjoy your warm meal in the comfortable and clean chairs and tables, worry free.
Before you know it, you’ll be walking back to work content and hardly feeling cheap or dirty, either.
We’ll be back again to try the coffee and chicken katsu.

The sign by the register states there are two options for lunch:
1. Sandwich, drink and chips
2. Just an awesome sandwich
I can confirm #2.
My sandwich, a mix of turkey, cranberry, veggies and mustard on wheat, was outstanding. In fact, I was so impressed with this less than $ 5 concoction that I went back to the register to tip. I told the guy this was for the sandwich, not for the free cookie he graciously provided with lunch.
I do believe my words were «that was an awesome sandwich». And then I saw the sign. Just awesome.

The place has decent Hawaiian barbeque at cheap prices. But I wouldn’t order catering from them again.
I did a fairly large-​sized catering order (30 people) here recently and had a lot of trouble. When I tried to order various options, she told me my menu was really out of date… I was ordering off their website. The menus they included in the deliver? Same «out-​of-​date» menu items and prices.
Ordering vegetarian options was a disaster. I tried to order the Avo-​Cucumber wraps, but those were one of the «out-​of-​date» menu items. I eventually settled on getting 5 Italian paninis that weren’t on the menu. They were nowhere to be found when the food came. I called back, and they promised they’d come back with them and would do it free of charge. 45 minutes after my initial delivery time, they came with a single panini. Oh, and did I mention that it turns out the mac & cheese had meat too? Veggiesadface.

Plentiful cheaply made food. Nothing worth going out of your way for, but passable.
The folks working here are always very friendly.

First off, the staff is super friendly and the eating area is clean and tidy, always a plus for the TL.
Their food is inexpensive and served fast.

I wanted something new and I tried this place.
It’s down the street from my work and the reviews looked promising, so I ordered the chicken katsu.
Delicious! Everyone is right; they give you a TON of meat.
The scoops of rice definitely look measly by comparison, but that’s ok because they give you a TON OF MEAT.
It was crunchy and juicy. The sauce was sweet and not like the Japanese curry I’ve had before on katsu.
I asked for two containers of sauce, and it was definitely a good idea.
The café looked very clean and the guy was very friendly. I tried to call ahead to order but the line was busy, so I went outside to smoke while I waited. The guy brought me my food outside!
Nice place, and I will definitely be back!

Amid the TL’s hole-​in-​the-​walls and Vietnamese restaurants was this cute coffee house/​Hawaiian BBQ restaurant.
I ordered the chicken katsu plate for $ 7.05, which included 2 scoops rice, 1 scoop mac salad, a cup of orange-​red katsu sauce, and a three layered pile of chicken. I loved every bite. The chicken was very crispy and tasted extra delicious dipped in the katsu sauce.
Overall, this was a great value for the large portions and affordable prices. The leftovers made a yummy lunch the following day.
They also had the friendliest service. I had called ahead and when I arrived, my order was ready. No waiting! They even held the door for me on my way out!

I know, I know – harsh rating. This is a joint for Hawaiian BBQ and I’m from the land of Hawaiian BBQ, though, so I feel like I have some expertise. =P
I really wanted to like Café Ramind because it’s cheap, close by, and had potential to be my go-​to place for plate lunch and missing Hawaii. That’s why I came here twice this week – unfortunately, they were completely underwhelming experiences.
In order of best to worse, I had the BBQ Chicken, Loco Moco, and Garlic Buttered Shrimp. The BBQ Chicken was tender but not flavorful. The Loco Moco had bland beef patties and overcooked eggs. The Garlic Buttered Shrimp’s onion and bell pepper sauce was simply unappetizing. Sad to say but even the worse plate lunch I’ve had in Hawaii (L&L) tastes better than the stuff here.
Can someone please recommend a good Hawaiian BBQ place for garlic chicken, meat jun, kalbi, or kalua pork in SF? I’m going to major withdrawal here!

Damn you Jocelyn for beating me to writing this review! *shakes fists at you while you’re sitting at your desk behind me*
Ramind is so cheery and friendly!
Allow me to list the reasons why I enjoy this place:
1) free wifi
2) CLEAN. health inspection score of 98
3) big portions
4) THEY ACCEPT ATM/​CREDIT CARDS
It’s one of the very few places that’s convenient for me, fast, and takes ATM/​CREDIT because I am a girl that cannot for the life of me carry cash.
So Jocelyn Y and I planned to have lunch here. She ordered the chicken katsu lunch plate, I had the spare rib lunch plate, and our other friend has the bbq chicken lunch plate. She and I also split a spam musubi (WOOHOO SPAM MUSUBI IN THE TL!) and Raymind was kind enough to offer to cut it in half for us and told us he’d give us more sauce if we needed it. AWESOME!
All of our lunches came with 2 small scoops of rice, a scoop of macaroni salad, 2 egg rolls and a small cup of soup. Although the scoops of rice and mac salad are small, I think it is waaaaaaay enough food…
My ribs were cooked perfectly but let me tell you. I am not really a fan of deep fried foods and i’ve worked in enough Japanese restaurants to know that I do not like chicken katsu.
HOWEVER!!! The chicken katsu at Ramind’s was DELICIOUS! The breading was perfect and the chicken was still tender and juicy — I can’t stand dry meat.
Thanks Ramind, our office will definitely be making trips back!
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So i’ve gone back and ordered the chicken katsu lunch plate for myself. I couldn’t finish.
Ramind! I know you’re going to eventually read this!!! I know I haven’t ordered anything in a little while, we’ve been really swamped at work so I haven’t really had a full lunch in the past week. I’ll be back again!