J Love Burger

Revised Jan. 21 with more info: After finding this place persistently closed and not answering its phone, I finally caught up with the rear bar (Mervyn’s Lounge
) at a time it was open. Bartender explained that the restaurant or food side of the business closed late 2015 but the bars still operate, especially on weekends. Old lounge in rear opens 3PM, new bar in the Castro St. storefront (which is connected to it) opens 9PM.
It is as if the food side of Mervyn’s had been handled by a separate firm (which would explain the strange, sometimes conflicting assertions of the name «J-​Love») but the bottom line is, «J-​Love Burgers» are long gone (alas, because they had merit!) Even the temporary posters using that name have been long gone from the front windows.
)

The beer selection is quite good. If you get there early, I suggest snagging the ramen bun for your burger. The rice bun is good too, but I find it too unstable towards the end of the meal.

I would give this restaurant 3.5stars.
I love the rice burger!!!
The first time, I ordered the pork and beef rice burger, it was soooooo delicious. Although the sauce was too much so the rice became a little bit wet, I still loved it.
The second time, I order Menchi katsu burger. It was too thick to eat, so I needed to spilt the burger into parts.
The salad and fries were OK to me.

OK, food first: I went with wife & son, and between the three of us managed to try three different ‘burgers’ with three different «buns.» This is super fun! We had the menchikatsu (perhaps the winner of the ‘burger’ category), the beef with sauce, and the yakiniku; and for buns the brioche, the rice, and the ramen. Alot of the fun is trying the different combos, so it was great to pass around the different meats and buns.
After the initial novelty, the burgers are all pretty good; I think the rice and ramen buns are maybe kind of meant to fall apart and become a plate meal? That said, there are great burgers just up the street –this is Castro and the bar is high.
We also tried the fried octopus balls (who wouldnt?) and similar results: fun, novel, and good but not great. Drink menu is adequate.
Staff: friendly and really low-​key –this feels like somewhere between a family-​run place and a dive bar. it was the night before halloween, and everyone had their face painted –one of the staff was doing all the painting.
Atmosphere: not a strong suit, this location used to be a pretty generic chinese restaurant and I think the décor hasn’t really changed. Like with the food, the bar is pretty high up and down Castro, so they suffer by comparison. A couple of regulars came in and sat at the bar, ordered some beers; the place was fairly quiet, tho the street was busy.

J Love is different from other places on Castro. The place is quiet. The service is outstanding. And most importantly, the food is amazing and new.
We got there before the lunch crowd and the waitress was super polite. My friend who is caucasian spoke fluent Japanese to her and said he wanted to taste the curry even though we ordered ramen burgers. She said they can arrange it and offered both of us a small bowl of curry with rice. I love it when places care about their customers!
I had the tofu salad which was refreshing. The miso soup had slices of potato that was a nice surprise. Miso soup with seaweed and specks of tofu at other restaurants are so boring.
The french fries were perfectly fried and not too salty. But best of all, the ramen burger was so delicious. The outside top and bottom was firm. The menchikatsu was incredible. Katsu on the outside and the ground meat inside tasted as moist and flavorful as meatballs. Even the sauce was spot on.
It gets a little messy towards the end, but totally worth it! Can’t wait to go back and try the pork belly burger!

Yummy fun ramen burgers.
I’m a fan

The ramen bun was soggy and chewy. Definitely not worth the added $ 1.50. The burger patty itself was juicy and had a good crunch to the panko crust. The fries had a sour smell to them.
The bathroom is dirty.

This place is interesting. First Time trying a Rice Bun Burger! Really messy, but tasty. Waiters were friendly. Bartender was awesome, made some fruity drink that was delicious.
Anchovy Fries was a no go… acquire taste.

I was quite sad when Chef Liu closed — they weren’t perfect but they had some excellent dishes. When I saw J Love Burger come up, I thought this would be another Gangnam Chicken — someone riding a fad with their ramen burgers. If I had to describe the experience, it’s alright. Place is half empty on a busy Saturday night, let’s leave it at that.
I think service is nice but really slow. Dishes take FOREVER to come out — even frozen french fries. Which I’ll start with.
I got anchovy fries to share with my friend. You get a basket, so it’s a right call. But rather than this glorious anchovy sauce like the menu says, you get tiny flakes the size of grated Parmesan barely spread over. You don’t get more than a penny — and at that point it’s barely just a week salt. God, I so regret the extra $ 4, you only taste anchovy a quarter of the time.
I got the Mechikatsu with a sunny side up egg and ramen buns. FYI they have almost no ramen buns — our dinner service started out with 10 burgers and they have a sign at the bar showing how many they have left. Although it’s surprising well executed — crispy edges, soft on the bite, and not that oily. The menchikatsu was well seasoned, with the sauce and the coleslaw balancing it out with a little sweet hint. The sunny side up egg is always my favorite, but this was over easy and I don’t think it’s necessary given the sauce already there. You also get tomatoes and sliced fresh jalapeño on the plate.
I really enjoyed my burger and would come back. That was a $ 12 worth spending. But the fries were sad and the service is lacking. Honestly this place has pacing issues from being half empty, but I’m tired of Counter/​Five Guys and appreciate the burger variety this place offers.

Pretty disappointing. I got roped in by the ramen burger sign outside but they were out of the ramen buns (seems to be just a gimmick here). They had very limited burger options as well. Service was really slow despite the place being empty. There were two people working and they were chatting up a couple of guys at the bar.
They had an old fashioned special for $ 7 so I tried it but didn’t much like it. I finally ordered and got the fish burger. It was mediocre, with a weird «tartar sauce» that seemed more like egg salad or something. Not a good option on Castro.

We stopped in here while at the Mountain View Art & Wine festival last weekend. We saw that they had Ramen burgers and have always wanted to try one so we went in.
We were greeted and seated right away by a very friendly Japanese woman. She brought us water and explained the menu and ordering options.
I ordered the Menchikatsu with the Ramen bun and my wife had the same with a Brioche bun.
The shredded meat was very tender and juicy. Just so you know it’s not a «hamburger patty».
The flavor was very good. The ramen is deep fried and to me it was a bit too greasy though it did taste good. The brioche was soft and went well with the meat.
The meal came with a salad which was pretty ordinary and bland. They squirted a bit of wasabi dressing which was kind of bland. They also put what looked like packaged parmesan cheese on it, either from a can or bag… anyway the salad was underwhelming.
Fries came with the burgers and they were pretty good. The price was ok considering it was in Mountain View. $ 9.95 plus a drink. Which actually is pretty average and probably cheaper than most places for lunch in Mountain View.
We may give it another try next time we’re there.

You know what would go really well with a burger? A Coke. $ 2 for a Coke is already on the pricey side, but to serve it in a tiny bar glass with no free refills is infuriating (picture included). Part of the problem with not being able to decide if you’re a restaurant or a bar.
Had the menchikatsu on a brioche bun and it was ok. The burger was good, but the sauce was overpowering.
The sweet potato fries were limp and under seasoned. Limp fries are a sad thing. Having no Coke to wash away the sadness makes the whole situation double sad.

Ho hum. I hit up this place on their opening weekend, but the whole experience left me feeling blah (scientific term) that it took me weeks to finish this review. Ok, fine. I just procrastinated and that was in no way, shape or form influenced by the meh burger I ate. Still, my feelings about the lackluster experience I had here stands.
I was lured in by the staff standing outside talking about Japanese burgers. Immediately I assumed ramen burger and went straight in. Upon entering, however, I saw they had a limited selection of burgers and no ramen burger available. I went with their menchi katsu burger and, while my pictures and many of the others I have seen on Unilocal make it seem like it was a divine eating experience, it sadly fell short of tasting the way it looked. Average tasting burger that’s slightly spiced up with the tonkotsu sauce they drizzled on it. Price is okay given J Love’s location, but there are better burgers to be had elsewhere in downtown Mountain View. Buffalo, for example, or even Steins.

hey buddy, ever been to j love? I don’t know about you (I really don’t…) but I think this is my new favorite burger place in Silicon Valley. I don’t know about you, but when I think about ramen, I think instant ramen is for fools! hey buddy…
Better to make a ramen bun, that’s a hot dinner
Gone in 60 seconds, that’s how I clock dinner
…
I ordered the Menchikatsu burger on ramen bun. Menchikatsu is just a fancy word in Japanese that translates roughly to «badass». But more accurately, it’s a homemade blend of ground beef and pork patty with J-Love’s original tonkatsu sauce and sliced cabbage, deep fried till best condition. I didn’t pull those words out of my ass. It’s on the menu! See the picture. It’s a mouthgasm of flavors that has the SOWCE made of love and creamy white shit.
The sweet potato fries are a perfect appetizer so you can whet yr appetite so when the burger ceremoniously arrives, yo mouf be WET ready to soak and inHALE the edibles.
If you have a group of people with only 5% left on their phone batteries, go here. They’ll be too busy gorging themselves to bother with their phones. The flavors here be hoverboarding over yo mouf and blessing them with J LOVE. You know a burger is good when you eat it and you want to cram every nook and cranny of yr mouf with dat FLAVA FLAV.
If yr a proud parent by day, you’ll be a peptic pitbull when you ready to face the ramen burger by night. Also, use yo fork. Yr ramen bun WILL fall apart, and I don’t want you to embarrass yo lineage by using the plate as a makeup brush. Das nasty.
Strong 4 outta 5

Whether this place is called J Love or Mervyn’s is still to be debated, but let’s forget for just one second that we’re sitting in a restaurant undergoing a serious identity crisis and focus on the real important part: the food.
We stumbled into this new establishment about 2:00 on a Saturday and managed to snag the last ramen «buns» they had available. This was our first ramen burger *gasp!* so we really didn’t know what to expect, but we definitely ended up happy with our food! We ordered it with the menchikatsu which is basically a burger with a crunchy fried exterior. Pair that with the soft al dente noodles and a bangin’ tonkatsu sauce = winner winner, chicken dinner!
Because there was only one ramen bun left we also tried the fish filet on brioche which had a sizeable, well cooked piece of fish but a tad too much sauce (with egg in it?). It was definitely good but the menchikatsu and ramen bun was the real star of the meal!
All in all definitely worth a try and I will be back for more ramen-​y burger-​y goodness!

Kinda strange aura.
Half dive bar, half wild ramen burger bar.
Yakiniku on ramen great. Ramen falls apart easily though. This is fork food.
Ginger pork — (2) rice sandwiches! Quite good.
Rice bun is OK but really needs to be grilled longer to hold itself together.
Fish filet on ramen, should be brioche. Not bad.
Sweet potato fries good.
Regular salad not bad, pretty plain.
Need to try #1, 3, 6

Food is goood, will be back for sure.
I do feel like they just started, still trying to get things run smoothly. Other than a little slow (which should improve overtime), service was nice. Smiling and welcoming :)
I got two ramen burger togo and their lunch special is a great deal, except the drinks can’t togo, I drank it while I was waiting for my two ramen burgers.
Payment was done by square, fast a quick, and emailed to my credit card email.

I think they’re going with the J love Burger name – it’s on the menus, the sign outside, and their T shirts. Since they’re just getting started, I won’t fault the slow service despite the place being empty. That will improve, I hope. The burgers themselves are pretty good, but need some adjustments. The fish was yummy, but the sauce is so watery, the fried fish and my entire bun were both soggy when the plate arrived. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it back on the plate because my plate was full of sauce. We also got a menchikatsu burger on ramen «buns. The field beef patty is amazing, but the ramen bun needs to be crispier and seasoned. It was too limp to support the burger so we mushed it up like yaki soba.
I’d definitely come back for the menchikatsu on a normal bun and will give them another try in a month or so after they iron out s few things. All in all an interesting addition to Castro.

Been here twice because I’ve definitely become addicted to the flavors of the menchikatsu burger. The first time i came here was pretty pleasant. I didn’t plan on ordering a beer because i knew they didn’t really carry any asian beers besides sapporo, but our server recommended us some similar lite beers and even gave us some to sample! I ended up getting the orange tasting one… i forgot what it was called, but it really went well with my burger. I really like the sauce and how they put cabbage instead of lettuce… and the jalepenos on the side! I love me some jalepenos…
The second time i went, they updated their menu and added a ramen bun! I was super excited and when i tried it, it was pretty amazing. Not as amazing as the original one i tried in LA, but still goood.
I heard the fish burger was good so thats what ill order next! Maybe try a darker beer next time x)

Chef Wang, Chef Liu, now J Love burger. A take on the Japanese hamburg concept? They have other things too, pork and ginger, chicken nuggets, fish fillet. Went for the menchimatsu on a normal bun with cabbage and katsu sauce. Also tried the anchovy fries and tofu salad. Pretty solid. Swrvice is friendly and not many folks know about it yet. Theyve got beer too so it’s a potential place for watching games and gettin grub.

Another sports bar venue but also serving burgers which is always a good mix while watching a game. I think they’ll need more than three TVs if any seriously sport watching will go one here though.
The rice bun burger was interesting in theory and tasted good but the burger inside was just like any other… Nothing special at all and the salad that came with it was at best so so.
I may return if I need to watch a game but maybe avoid the burgers.