Origami Asian Grill

This place is divine! What a gem! If you have a love for Japanese food like I do you'll definitely enjoy this place. Their pork belly ramen or rice bowls are absolutely divine because their pork belly melts in your mouth like jello and everything is so flavorful - even their veggies! You can't skip their 63 degree poached egg because who doesn't love a good ooey gooey egg over their noodles and rice? It's really cool that their ramen/bowl selections cycle seasonal veggies as their toppings. That's how you know you're eating quality stuff! If I had to nitpick anything it would be that I was very thirsty after lunch so the seasoning on the food might have been on the heavier side for me but for those that love their food with a flavor bomb - check this place out!

Came here after searching for "best food in sac" on Reddit because we needed to eat on our way to a concert, and girl, one of the best decisions we've ever made.

Logistics:
We arrived around 4pm on a Saturday so parking wasn't bad (residential about 2 blocks away) and there wasn't any line! Restaurant was medium sized, was cute and comfortable.

Ordering:
You first order at the counter, where they give you a number and we choose a seat.
Based on some Yelp reviews, we decided on the half bird fried chicken, and the ramen. Ramen has sort of a build your own situation, where you can choose the broth, meat, and toppings. We chose the soup flavor of the day, a coconut based (amazing, tasted like Tom Kha), added pork belly as the protein, and all the side veggies. There are 3 side veggie combos you can choose to add to the ramen, so we just added all of them! Cashier was super patient with us and even gave me a sample of the soup to try before I decided!

Food:
I might sound dramatic, but honestly this was one of the best meals I've had in a while, and I eat out a LOT.

Ramen: Soup was packed with flavor but didn't feel heavy, toppings were plentiful and fun (I love having variety in my food so this was a huge plus for me) noodles were pretty standard but good chew, and pork belly chunks were HUGE (there were 3 of them!!) but super tender!!

Half bird: I'm not sure what this breading is made of, but this was ridiculous light and delicious! The chicken was cooked and fried perfectly so it was super moist, the sauce provided was great, SO GOOD overall!

I was actually sad eating everything because it was so good but so far away that I couldn't come back for more. I kept whining about how good it was and my friend and I kept debating if we should order the banh mi, and I think the owner? Or somebody came over because they overheard us and offered us one to take home. (Cries in delicious grateful appreciation). We had the pork belly one, it was actually huge (about it a foot long) and super delicious.

OVERALL: 100/10, I'm so sad I can't come more often but hopefully we have more opportunities to come back!! Loved the full experience, would highly recommend to everyone!!

Saturday Lunch

Skeptical because of the words "asian fusion" but this is a great food spot.

Staff super friendly, will take time to explain the menu to you.

Order at the counter first, get a number and they will bring the food to you. Self-serve water station.

Ample seating including a book corner to chill or wait for a takeout order (no eating in this area though).

Food came out quickly and it was tasty, can tell fresh ingredients were used. Prices not too shabby. Will be back to try the ramen.

Friday, 4/19/2024 - My Gfs and I went to eat at Origami Asian Grill for dinner. One of them has been there before and really liked it. So she wanted to bring us there to try it too. Address here is 4801 Folsom Blvd, suite 1, Sacramento, CA 95819. This restaurant is located not too far from Trader Joe's. You do have to wait in line to order your food. There's only 1 cashier to take your order. Parking here is a pain! It's street parking. I drove around and around forever looking for parking. Upon arrival...

Pros
1) menu is posted right above the cashier. You can't miss it.
2) it didn't take long to receive all of our food dishes.
3) The servers were all so nice. I forgot to order my Cold Noodle dish with more Salad and need noodles, so I hurry to the staff taking the riches to make the order. I let her know that I totally forgot to tell the cashier that and I apologized. The sis my dish was already made and said they can add more salad in top, which they did. I was okay with that. Super sweet!!!
4) You order your dish and you can add the protein to your dish for an additional fee. I fit tri-tip in mine. And boy when I took a bite of my cold noodle dish, it was so frigging good! The dressing tasted perfect for this dish. The tri-tip was perfectly cooked!
5) all of our food dishes were delicious. The fried chicken was juicey and not dry.
6) when you first walk in, to the left of you towards the entry way to the bathroom, there is a large jug of ice water and hot water with lots of glass cups. You can get your own hot or cold water. I was excited cus I like hot water and it's sitting right there for me to get any time I need more.
7) restaurant was full of people. But our table was clean. They bring out utensils and napkins to you once you get your food.
8) they had dried flowers hanging in the ceiling. Very cute.
9) I saw bottle of wines by the cashier. Not sure if those are there to display should you want to buy a bottle of wine from them

Cons
1) parking was a nightmare for me and my friends. It was hard to find parking.
2) The line to order your food can get pretty long.

Conclusion
I really liked this restaurant. The foods were great. It didn't take long to get our foods. Servers were super nice. I recommend this restaurant. Try it if you haven't yet. We had no issues here.

First time here. We came for dinner it was really good. Kaitlin helped us at the register and she was super helpful. We really liked the food, great flavor and plenty of portion size. We sat down and ate, restaurant busy, cute decor and nice and clean. We will be back!

In a nutshell; chill place, "make your own bowl" option, neat place to wind down for the day.

Pretty neat place, you go in, employee alwahs there ready to greet you by the cash register, you order, you sit down where availability may be, there's a couch corner, good amount of tables inside and outside. Not the best ramen bowl I have had but will fill you up rather nicely. They have a pretty good yellowfin tuna poke appetizer to note. The only really difficult aspect about the place is that parking can get rather difficult especially when it gets rather busy or peak hours. The menu doesnt really have a lot on it but the make your own bowl covers a lot of variety you can customize on so it covers it. Overall was a neat place to stop by if you're In the area.

Origami checks all the boxes! This was my first time dining in (have had takeout previously) and I loved the experience. We stopped in as part of a detour from walking the Christmas lights in the Fab Forties and had no issues getting a table. I ordered a bowl with white rice, the glazed onion sauce, broccoli and cremini mushrooms, and grilled chicken thigh. It was exactly what I wanted and more! The chicken was very flavorful and tender. The broccoli and mushrooms were perfectly coated in the sauce and had great texture. Both of my friends ordered the Bahn Mi and were very happy with their choice! I snagged a bite and can confirm it was great.

Can't wait to come back! The ramen looked especially good, so excited to try that next!

Fast service! Yummy food love that we can pick what we want! Can get busy and seating can get limited

Wow! Wow! Wow! This place is every bit as good as every one says in every way possible. We were just blown away by our lunch yesterday. This is "fast food" at its finest

The space is nicely laid out with some great touches like fresh fruit in the water dispenser and the cookbooks you can enjoy while you wait. Seating is plentiful with some great patio space. Counter service was helpful and efficient not to mention incredibly friendly

Our food arrived really fast and we shared a ramen bowl, rice dish, and poke. All were just chock full of flavor and excellent value. The pork belly was among the best I've ever had. This is one of those places that you absolutely need to check out. I can't wait to go back for more!!

Hmm. Pretty ambitious menu, but taste-wise didn't quite amazingly stick the landing for me.

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Ramen: chose glazed pork belly as the protein and, oh boy, the pork belly was T-E-N-D-E-R! Phew. Also great portion of it. As for the pork shoyu broth.....waaaaay too rich for my liking. Taste was too smoky and bold. In a weird way it was of the same caliber as soupy BBQ sauce (taste wasn't exactly like BBQ sauce of course, but ultimately the taste was too strong for ramen broth).

Fried chicken: fantastically juicy chicken but the crisp factor was lackluster. Also wasn't a big fan of the flavor of the chicken coating. Was almost candy-like with the very forward taste of maple syrup and orange zest. I suppose if you really enjoy something like the chicken in chicken & waffles you might enjoy the chicken here!

Cold noodle: nice variety of textures but the whole dish was rather bland. Too subtle of a yuzu-ginger dressing taste. I'd say that this dish would be better off more as a refreshing sharable appetizer.
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Loved the ambiance here. Chill and very midtown-Sac-esque. Was right up my alley as I was vibing with the songs playing here especially ones by The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys lol.

Overall a mixed bag. I still wouldn't deter you from checking this spot out. Maybe grab a group of people who are willing to share to sample different dishes without fully committing to one!

WHY WE WENT HERE:
- lunch/dinner/linner

THE LOOK (FROM THE OUTSIDE):
- located on the corner of Folsom Blvd and 48th St
- no parking lot; park in residential (48th St) and walk over to restaurant
- enclosed patio with awning for outdoor seating

THE LOOK (FROM THE INSIDE):
- elevated casual dining
- industrial feel with pops/hints of rustic (i.e. exposed ducting in ceiling and concrete flooring, dried herbs, etc. hanging from ceiling)

THE MENU:
- specials
- appetizers
- bowls (step 1 - choose bowl type; step 2 - choose vegetables; step 3 - add-ons)

WHAT WE ORDERED:
- rice bowl with organic white jasmine rice, smoked tri-tip, red bell peppers, yellow onion, fermented chile miso, and organic farm egg
- rice bowl with organic brown jasmine rice, pork belly, bok choy,  cabbage, fermented chile miso, and organic farm egg
- banh mi roll (to go)

THE TASTE:
- rice bowls - good; filling but not bloating; depending on the combos you choose (ramen vs. rice, veggies, sauce, add-ons) it's guaranteed to have layers of flavors
- banh mi roll (to go) - definitely doesn't have the same flavor profile as Vietnamese restaurants/bakeries/banh mi joints, but still good

CUSTOMER SERVICE:
- super warm and welcoming