SOBO Ramen

Join us for dinner and mahjong on Saturday, October 17 in Berkeley. This time, we’re gathering in the evening and opening up Room 198, our space next door.

Come have dinner at SOBO first. Order the ramen dinner set, which includes an appetizer, ramen, and a house drink, and you’ll receive a wristband for mahjong and lessons in Room 198 after your meal.

Bring a friend or come on your own. If you’ve never played, Auntie Linda and The Dragon Mahjong Club will help you get started.

We’d love to see familiar faces from the lunches and meet a few new ones around the tables.

If you have a Room 198 key, bring it along. It gets you an off-menu wagyu bone marrow upgrade for your ramen.

Dinner starts at 5 PM, and mahjong runs from 6:30–9:30 PM. Game seating is limited and first come, first served.

**Sobo Ramen Berkeley · 2000 Milvia Street**

RSVP to let us know you’re coming. See you at the table.

Mahjong Lunch returns for 002. After a packed first gathering, we’re bringing everyone back around the table for another afternoon of food, mahjong, and new faces.

Auntie Linda of The Dragon Mahjong Club returns with complimentary mahjong lessons and play for dining guests.

Never played before? She’ll teach you. Already play? Grab a seat.

This time, Junbi Matcha SF joins us with a special matcha collaboration, alongside new House of Sobo dishes including salted egg yolk karaage and Golden Paisen — our frog leg, clam + chicken ramen.

Come for lunch. Learn a game. Meet some people. No experience needed.

September 20 · Downtown Berkeley Lunch begins 11:30 AM · Mahjong begins 1:30 PM

RSVP shows interest and does not guarantee a seat. Seating is first come, first served.

**EVENT DETAILS + RSVP → rsvp button below**

GATHER...the noodles were only part of it.

After our first ramen, we realized some of the best moments happened around the table.

So for 002, we're taking ramen somewhere new.

Noodle making. Curated small plates & wine pairings. A mystery location in Berkeley.

We'll make fresh noodles from scratch, pour some wine, bring out a few special bites along the way, and spend the afternoon together.

The exact location? We're keeping that one quiet for now.

September · Date TBD

Berkeley · Mystery Location

$118

Want first access? Ask us for the private ramen group.

There are some things you learn from instructions, and others you learn by sitting next to someone who’s been doing it for years. Mahjong is one of those things.

For Lunch: Mahjong 001, we’re inviting Auntie Linda of The Dragon Mahjong Club to spend the afternoon with us. Teaching the game, sharing stories, and passing along some of the little things you only pick up around a mahjong table.

At House of Sobo, food is only one way we share our stories. This is another way to gather around the table.

Come for lunch and stay for a game.

Never played before?

Auntie Linda will show you the ropes.

Already know how? Pull up a chair.

We’ll also have **GUESS THE TILE** for all dine-in guests.

No peeking — feel the tile with your fingers, call your guess like the pros, and win prizes including a $50 Sobo gift card.

**Saturday, August 29**

Lunch · 11:30AM–3PM Mahjong · 2–5PM

**EVENT DETAILS + RSVP → rsvp button below**

**Ramen:Lab** brought everyone behind the bowl for an evening of making, experimenting, and working together.

We started with the fundamentals: flour, water, kansui, and the process that transforms them into ramen noodles. Everyone mixed and kneaded their own dough, rolled and cut noodles, and learned how small changes can affect the final result. But Ramen:Lab was never meant to be just a noodle-making class. Teams were given a challenge — **Comfort, Bold, or Balance** — and asked to create a ramen bowl around that idea. They chose their broth, protein, toppings, and finishing elements, then named their creation and explained the thinking behind it. Some combinations worked exactly as expected. Others surprised us. That experimentation is the point. For us, ramen:Lab is about understanding ramen by making it, then seeing what happens when different people bring their own ideas to the same table. The first Lab is officially in the books.

When regular service ends, After:Hours gives us room to explore a different side of the restaurant. For this intimate dinner, a small group gathered around the table for a multi-course menu that moved beyond our everyday ramen experience. Familiar ingredients and flavors were reworked into new forms, with each course offering another perspective on the food we make at Sobo. The smaller format gives us freedom to experiment — with technique, presentation, ingredients, and the way a meal unfolds from beginning to end. More than a tasting menu, After:hours is our space to test ideas that may not belong on the regular menu, but still belong in the House of Sobo. A few seats. One table. One night.

Hello Soju was our take on one of the simplest ways to enjoy a night together: good food, cold sparkling soju, and something to share. For the evening, we explored soju beyond the usual bottle on the table, pairing sparkling flavors with classic still soju and letting guests mix, pour, and find their own combination. The night was casual by design. Drinks were shared, food kept coming, and tables settled into their own rhythm. It was less about a formal tasting and more about what soju has always done well — giving people a reason to pour another glass and stay at the table a little longer.

Sugoi brought beer and ramen together for a night built around tasting, pairing, and discovery. Guests explored a curated selection of beers alongside our food, comparing different styles and seeing how each changed the experience of the dishes at the table. Rather than treating beer as an afterthought, the night put it alongside the food — another flavor to explore, share, and talk about. A simple pairing became an excuse to experience something familiar a little differently.

Iichigo Night was an introduction to Japanese shochu through food, cocktails, and shared pours. For the evening, we explored Iichiko in different forms — from simple pours that let the spirit speak for itself to cocktails that showed how versatile shochu can be at the table. Paired with food from the Sobo kitchen, the night was designed less like a formal tasting and more like an approachable way to discover a spirit that many guests were experiencing for the first time. A night of new flavors, shared glasses, and another side of Japanese drinking culture.