The black ramen from Izakaya Ouan doesn’t disappoint — it’s both black and ramen

While ordering food at Carnitas Snack Shack recently, I noticed a sign pointing out that I could choose to have my favorite poutine delivered. They’ve signed on with Give Me Delivery, yet another web- and app-based delivery service to hit San Diego.

A few days later I gave it a shot. As usual, I found the website, entered my home address, and it returned a list of restaurants serving my area. I’ve had problems in the past with other, similar services due to a lack of restaurants — including one I decided not to try because its options in my area were limited to only two.

Working with the Give Me Delivery interface to get some ramen

Give Me Delivery features a couple dozen. Even better, there were some of my favorites cheap eats: City Tacos, Mama’s Bakery, and Tender Greens, in addition to Carnitas. As it turns out, some of my least favorite restaurants have also signed up with the service, but I won’t mention them.

What got me even hungrier was the inclusion of a couple of restaurants that I, for no good reason, haven’t tried yet. I settled on one of these, Izakaya Ouan in Hillcrest, for one reason: ramen.

Once the restaurant is selected, the first part of the menu you see is a Most Popular section which lists a few of the spot’s signature dishes. I found it easier to ignore this and scroll past the restaurant’s sushi options to the section that mattered to me in that moment: noodles. There I found a litany of ten dollar ramen options: chili oil red ramen, spinach, kale oil green ramen. and something called piggy ramen. I settled on black ramen made with tonkotsu (bone broth) and black oil, a sesame- and garlic-rich concoction that lives up to its name.

Once the ordering process started, the user experience turned out to be easy and well thought out. I could enter special requests and edit my cart easily, and I could enter a tip for the driver up front. While this does sort of diminish the tip as a reward for service, if you’re short on cash it’s great to have the option.

Perhaps the bigger issue is the $5.99 delivery fee and $15 ordering minimum. These amounts vary by restaurant, but not by much. Though typical of this type service, it’s a little frustrating to pay the six buck fee and then tip three bucks more, as I did.

However, the food showed up on the short end of the 45 minute to hour and a half estimate, and the driver simply handed me a bag full of ramen and walked away. That was a beautiful moment. Digging into that tasty ramen was even better.

All around, one of the better Friday night delivery and Netflix experiences I’ve had. You can reach them at Give Me Delivery.