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Ordered 2 types of buns. Chicken buns 2/5 Fried chicken chunks in a bun, $5 for 2 pieces. Average but the sauce they put on it, was too spicy. My kid couldn’t eat it. Honestly , you put Chick fil a chicken on Chinese buns, it tastes better than this!!! Hey I’ll try that later. Chasu / pork bun 4/5 Slightly better since for whatever reasons, they didn’t put that much sauce (same spicy sauce as on the chicken buns) on it. At least my kid could eat this. The meat was sliced ok, not too thin. Meat wasn’t chewy but didn’t melt in our mouth, either. Just acceptable. Black garlic ramen 4/5 I liked the soup. Their ramen was so thin and straight like angel hair pasta. The soup was very subtle (read : I’m used to stronger both). It depends on your taste. Hubby who likes stronger tasting ramen soup didn’t like it as much. It came with only 2 pieces of pork. Like someone already mentioned, why wouldn’t the restaurant peel the egg for us? Instead we must labor and peel it ourself . Nikugen ramen 3/5 Same angel hair pasta with subtle soup. Nothing memorable. Portion was not that big. Black garlic ramen was $11, Nikugen ramen $10 but black garlic was in a big bowl while Nikugen yeahhh just in standard size bowl. The hibachi stuff yeah, they are $15 and up, even kids meal is $11-12. So a little pricey . Nice decor

Shoku Ramen Bar – Menu with Prices – 1221 Alhambra Blvd Suite 107, Sacramento

I suggested and bookmarked this new ramen spot after coming across it on Yelp while ever searching for gems to eat at in the 916. My fam trusted me. So off we went. It is near my wife’s work UC DAVIS on Folsom Blvd. This shop is nearby on Alhambra. Ok they have their own lot. Funny they have signs barring Kru, Star Ginger etc from parking in their spots. Parking is at a premium downtown. Sad but true. I got a black garlic ramen $8.99 and asked for extra spicy. Damn. I coughed and choked on the ripping ass hot heat. Nice. The broth I could taste was good. Better than Natomas Fins and Koshi. Not as good as Ryujin and Raijin. Those are the Sac top standards for ramen and ramen broth. But this place is killer! Decent portion and good stuff in the bowl. My daughter got the tofu ramen $6.50 and a breaded pork sammy. She liked both. This kid likes ramen at home, away, anywhere. Lol. She liked the sando. I tried it and it was ok. But can’t beat the $5 tag. Wife got the Tonkotsi ramen $8.99 and liked it. They also have apps and udon too. Plain ramen is just $5! Good for meatless lovers. Just a note that you get 2 pieces of pork in the black garlic and tonkotsu. They were yummy and the egg was def the porn variety and was cooked perfectly. Conclusion: My ass is coming back here as often as I can. Drawback? It is downtown. Traffic is always messy. At least parking is not street so no gouging by the gentrifying Sac downtown due to councilmembers and the city trying to turn Sac into SF and Bay Area #2.

Ibendoo ramen – Menu with Prices – 3405 Commercial St SE suit 150, Salem

2.5 stars Firstly, I have high expectations for ramen. I am willing to try most places as I would like to support restaurants in the area. However, I am disappointed in the portion sizes compared to the prices. I’m originally from LA, so ramen options are abundant. Ibendoo is lucky they’re basically the only ramen here in Salem. BF and I tried their short rib appetizer. DO NOT ORDER IT. I swear to you it’s only 1 piece of short rib cut into 4-5 pieces, and you have the audacity to charge $6? I legit laughed as soon as the waitress put it on the table cause I could not believe that’s what they serve. I tried their dipping ramen. This is were I am torn, the broth was AMAZING and so flavorful. But, again…the portion sizes of everything is ridiculous for the price. How are you going to give me a paper thin cut of pork belly with my bowl of ramen? Pork belly isn’t that expensive, I feel like you can be a bit more generous with the portions on it. I like corn in my ramen (so, sue me) but $1 for a teaspoon of canned corn? Honestly, you’re better off sneaking in your own ingredients from home to add to your bowl. My BF ordered the Kimchi ramen and I thought it was ok as the kimchi pretty much covered all the flavors of anything else. Overall, I felt underwhelmed and unsatisfied. Not sure if I’m willing to go back to try it again without feeling ripped off. I’d rather drive up to Portland or even wait til I go back to LA for the holidays for some hearty ramen.

Kashiwa ramen – Menu with Prices – 1420 Baker St, Costa Mesa

We had a family dinner here to try it out for the first time. It was a pleasant experience and I think I can put Kashiwa into my ramen bank for when we’re nearby. Four out of the five of us ordered the black garlic ramen with two being the spicy version. I personally rebelled and went with the tsukemen because I love tsukemen. I was happy to see it came with lime wedges which is a must for that mid-meal flavor kick. Noodles could have been more al dente, though. They came really soft (but not mushy, to be fair). However, the dish was still delicious with a thick chicken-based broth. I went with the cha-shu version which I think was $1.00 more. The pork wasn’t great (thin, dry) so I think I’ll default to the chicken next time. To start, however, we ordered the 10 pc gyoza (yum, mostly meat), takoyaki (yum, soft inside) and karaage (also really good). Definitely recommend any one of those if you’re looking for a diversion from your noodles. Everyone was very complimentary of the broth which I agree was really tasty. I tried hubby’s black garlic and decided I liked my dipping broth better which I think is essentially their basic broth w/o garlic oil. Maybe it was the mood I was in – the black garlic lends a smokier taste if that’s what you’re feeling. There was a mix-up with the eggs THREE of our party had added to our noodles (only ONE person got their egg) and it took a bit to sort it out with our server coming back to tell us one person didn’t order egg. Which we agreed with and she kind of walked away confused-looking. Staff might need more training (kitchen and service)?? Everyone was pretty pleasant and checked in on us regularly. Kashiwa is a nice addition to the neighborhood and I hope it thrives!

Jake’s Rockin’ Ramen – Menu with Prices – 31805 Temecula Pkwy #9, Temecula

Went here for the first time today with my family. i’m a huge ramen lover and i wanted to love this place so bad but unfortunately the Ramen i ordered which was the black garlic ramen lacked flavor big time. the best part of the ramen was the noodles they were chewy and bouncy just how i like them, the corn wasn’t sweet at all, i got mostly hard pieces of cabbage in my ramen and the chashu was dry and extremely thinly sliced. My husband ordered the spanish ramen which he liked but he said it just lacked flavor. we also ordered the fried octopus which was very tasty, the sauce they give with it tastes like a creamy sriracha sauce. i wanted this spot to be place i come back to but unfortunately the broth in the ramen just lacked so much flavor that it makes me not want to come back.

Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya Menu with Prices 575 Bellevue Way NE Space 252, Bellevue

Stopped in for lunch earlier this week** As soon as you walk in, there is an iPad where you can check in with your name and number of people in your party. I put my name down and waited but I noticed that the host was seating people who were walking right in and not going off the list. What’s the point of signing in if people who come in after me get seated first? My coworker and I finally got seated at the bar. She ordered the chicken shoyu ramen and I ordered the spicy miso ramen with an egg. Our food arrived pretty quickly and the first couple bites tasted great. As I started digging around in my food I noticed a black piece of hair stuck to my egg. I flagged our server down and let him know there was a hair in my ramen. At first he didn’t see it, so I pointed to it and he got closer. His response was “okay” which is what kind of annoyed me. I felt as if he was like “what do you want me to do about it?” As we stared at my bowl of ramen for what felt like an awkward 30 seconds, he asks me “do you want me to bring you a new egg?” A NEW EGG?! He should have offered to bring me a new bowl of ramen.. but at this point I had already lost my appetite. He then asked if I would just like to have him take the bowl away to which I replied “yes please” So not only did he not offer me a new bowl of ramen, he came back 10 minutes later and asked if my coworker and I were paying together or separate. I then asked him if I still had to pay for the bowl of ramen that I barely ate that had a hair in it…. he then decided that that was a good time to tell the manager… the second I complained about hair in my food is when he should’ve brought it to his managers attention. The manager came over and talked to me and apologized for what had happened and asked if there was anything he could bring me(a new bowl of ramen or a different item from the menu) but I politely declined so I was on my lunch break and had very little time left. He apologized again and said that he hoped we would return to give them a second chance and that he was taking care of our entire bill. Which I really appreciated. I only expected him to take care of my bowl but he took care of my coworkers bowl as well. My coworker and I work different shifts so we don’t get to have lunch together very often or ever, so the fact that this was our experience kind of made the whole situation worse.

Hakata Ikkousha – Menu with Prices – 3033 Bristol St, Costa Mesa

I’ve been to a good amount of ramen shops and I even work at a ramen shop, but I feel like Ikkousha is my all-time favorite. I love how their thick broth coats the thin noodles, and their egg is seasoned lightly and cooked well so that there’s a soft, runny yolk. The meat is quite thin and sparse, but I think it works with their ramen since thicker meat would make the dish feel too heavy. They also make their own noodles which is pretty cool! My go-to is the godfire level four. I don’t know any other place that makes a tasty spicy tonkotsu ramen that’s actually spicy. If you’re not sure about the spice level, I’d start with level two to gauge how much spice you want. Sometimes I want the black tonkotsu but still want godfire, so I get the black devil since it’s a mix of both! It’s not on the menu though, so you have to ask for it. The fried chicken and gyoza are both great appetizers too! The chicken is crispy and juicy and the gyoza comes with a yuzu chili sauce that is the perfect condiment for it. Sometimes I don’t even have to pay for it because they have a stamp card that gives you free food!! Parking in this lot can be atrocious during peak lunch and dinner hours. They do offer valet if you’re into that, but you can park in the nearby neighborhood too.

Viet Xpress – Menu with Prices – 2121 98 St NW, Edmonton

This place just opened up and is across the parking lot of superstore, right next to burger priest. I’m not a huge pho fan – but my boyfriend loves it. We usually go to hung phat and although I don’t like pho all that much, I am a big fan of hot and sour/Tom yum kinds of soups. They didn’t have anything like this on their menu, so I decided to try the “southern Vietnamese noodles” which was said to come with bbq pork, shrimp, chicken, and squid. My boyfriend got the 6 colour vermicelli bowl and we shared an order of green onion cake. Appy – for green onion cake it was satisfactory. Not the best, but not the worst. For my main meal – the broth had no flavour and my bowl basically consisted of noodles with a few select pieces of meat and vegetables. Seriously. I’ll upload a photo of all the meat I could find in my soup before I started eating (note after taking the pictures and eating, I found 2 more pieces of meat – 1 small piece of chicken and 1 small piece of gristle pork). My boyfriends meal came with a half cup of fish sauce so I decided to throw that into my soup since it was flavourless. It definitely added some flavour, but still wasn’t good. I didn’t even eat half. My boyfriend said his vermicelli bowl was just okay. He pointed out that they barely gave him any meat and that a big portion of the meat they did give, was very fatty. It was also kind of pricey at $16.99 for what you got. Over all, we will not be going back there again. The amount of bbq pork in my “bbq pork” named soup was really laughable.

Wine Beer Sake at Ramen O Yakitori – Menu with Prices – 35041 Fremont Blvd, Fremont

It is great to have a ramen place near me that gives off a different vibe and flavor than the others. It was the soft opening, and so they served only ramen and yakitori. The ramen came in 3 soup bases including; Miso, Pork, and Soy Sauce. For my first visit, I chose the pork soup base with medium spiciness. Each bowl comes with the standard stuff you’d find in ramen, with the option of adding extra servings of each topping. My bowl came with noodles, pork, spinach leaves, seaweed, bamboo shoots, a soft boiled egg, and I believe a soft shell crab. I wish I had enough discipline to take a picture of the ramen when it quickly arrived, but it looked real tasty and instincts kicked in. The broth had a rich, full pork taste, without being as thick as other ramen places. I found it to be quite refreshing. The chashu was tender and mild, which mixed well with the saltiness from the crab. It was the first time I had that kind of crab in ramen, and I definitely enjoyed it. The noodles were cooked well for maximum slurpage. I completely devoured my bowl. The soup at Ramen O is lighter than other places, yet it still manages to be flavorful. It is a great alternative if you are looking to eat ramen and not feel as heavy or bloated. The staff was friendly and prompt. I like to drink a lot of water, and the waitress was quick to refill my glass. That was very much appreciated. The atmosphere was relaxed and homely and the lighting was intimate. There was enough seating for a few small groups, with an area for larger parties. The restaurant was clearly a work-in-progress. I look forward to the official opening. I will definitely try the yakitori next time.

Asian Gourmet – Menu with Prices – 125 Ernest W Barrett Pkwy NW Suite 107, Marietta

All of the new Chinese restaurants popping up in Kennesaw recently have been really good and Asian Gourmet is no exception. It has a kind of hole-in-the-wally feel to it, but don’t let that fool you. The food here is great! Not only that, the owners/chefs, Mary and Tony, are very nice and always talk to us when we eat there. The hot pot on their menu is what drew us here, but we also got the pork buns, soup buns, and the salt and pepper calamari. One thing to note is that the big pork buns and the soup buns are actually the same thing but in different sizes. You get 6 soup buns that are maybe 1/3 of the big pork bun. As for the taste… damn they are good. I lived in Japan and this is the closest to the Lawson Chinese pork buns I have had here (which is to say they are very tasty). I could probably just pop in and get one for a snack honestly instead of going to QT next door. The salt and pepper calamari was good, but a very standard option in American Chinese fare. The hot pot was great. I didn’t order it, but I had to have a bowl or 2 to taste it. We got the Tom Yum soup and tofu soup split hot pot which comes with a lot of meat and veggies. It is meant for 2, but you can always make it 3 or more. They give you more than enough for such a great price. Also; It’s not listed on the menu, but we got an appetizer plate with their cheese wontons (like crab rangoon), egg rolls, and something else when we ate for dinner. The second time, they gave us pickles, eggrolls, and Malaysian Curry on the appetizer plate. I’m not sure if this is because they just opened up, but I bet it will be the norm since Mary and Tony are so nice. I’ve been twice so far, but I think I will be coming back here fairly regularly now.

Santouka Ramen – Menu with Prices – 665 Paularino Ave, Costa Mesa

This ramen spot is located inside of Mitsuwa Marketplace and the parking situation is horrendous on Monday (national holiday). There were so many cars waiting for cars to leave their parking spots and people milling about. Even the parking structure was full. Inside the marketplace, the food court is packed. They have many restaurants, offering sushi, ramen, udon, and more. There are tables and bar seating that were all full, so make sure you secure a table while waiting for your food. Also, they are CASH ONLY. At Hokkaido Ramen, they have 2 main menus: the Ramen menu and the Combination menu. The Ramen menu consists of 4 different soup flavors (Salt, Soy Sauce, Miso, and Spicy Miso) and 3 different ramen styles (Regular, Char Siu (extra pork), and Toroniku (pork cheek)). On the Combination menu, they have the same 4 soup flavors and 6 different combos (comes with rice bowl, ramen & flavored egg). Combo A is the Negi Rice Bowl (green onions, radish sprouts, tofu, bonito, seaweed), Combo B is the Sake & Ikura Rice Bowl (grilled salmon, salmon roe, radish sprouts), Combo C is the Natto Rice Bowl (fermented soy beans, green onions), Combo D is the Char Siu Rice Bowl (char siu, green onions, sesame seeds), Combo E is white rice, and Combo F is the Mentaiko Rice Bowl (spicy cod roe & egg salad). They also offer all the rice bowls as side dishes. Prices depend on the size you order (S, M, L) and the type of combo or soup flavor. What’s nice is that pretty much all the restaurants here have their menu items on display. Santouka is no exception. This is really convenient for comparing portion sizes and what looks appetizing and what doesn’t. We ordered 1 Spicy Miso ramen (medium), 1 D Combo (Spicy Miso ramen + Char Siu rice bowl), 1 F Combo (Spicy Miso ramen + Mentaiko rice bowl), 1 Sake & Ikura Rice Bowl (side dish), and 1 Soy Sauce ramen (medium). Food took about around 30 minutes to arrive. Ramen itself was very delicious. I didn’t think it was spicy at all and although we all ordered medium sizes, it was very filling. Broth is rich, flavorful, and creamy. The char siu is good and tender, but not the best I’ve had (try the perfectly juicy and tender char siu at HiroNori in Irvine). And they give you 2 thin pieces. The rice bowls look small, but are quite a lot, especially if you have ramen as well. They’re all pretty tasty and definitely worth the price if you purchase as a combo. TL;DR: If you’re looking for a good ramen spot with great broth and noodles that overall, hits the spot, come to Santouka. Prices are fair ($10-15 for ramen, $13-17 for combos) and they take cash only. Keep in mind how crowded it gets at Mitsuwa and be expected to wait a while.

Yummy Express – Menu with Prices – 6441 Yadkin Rd #2166, Fayetteville

I’ll start off with saying I spent a year and a half in Korea eating out almost every day and always trying somewhere new.. so with that said my expectation might be higher because I’ve been searching for that same taste I enjoyed while in Korea. I think I’ve been here twice but I can’t remember the first time and it felt like I had been there before which automatically made me want to leave.. the staff was nice I can say that but my issue comes from the disconnect between food and cost… I spent $40 that day and what I got was Samgyeopsal-gui , and a bowl of ramen… This entailed about 8 small blan pieces of grilled pork belly a bowl of over cooked rice that had a weird taste (I love almost all kinds of rice) a bowl of ramen which was under cooked and poorly flavored.. (anything noodles are my favorite) there was Romain for the grilled pork belly but it was poorly prepared. It was just 5 pieces of extremely long leafs that looked like they were just ripped off and neatly stacked on a plate. The traditional way of eating the grilled pork belly is the leaf with one or two pieces of meat some rice and kimchi and pretty much whatever on the table that you would like to add put on top of this palm sized leaf. The leaf I got from here was so large in comparison that using 1 piece of meat some rice kimchi and sprouts I used two leafs that I had to tear apart multiple times and couldn’t even use half of the leaf. And the bowl of ramen wasn’t a lot at all like one bag of the Nissan ramen at Walmart you get for 50 cents, no it wasn’t those noodles they tasted like they had potential they were just handled with out care to how much they charge customers for the disappointment.. Now compare that to when I was in Korea, I would have spent $10 for all you can eat grilled pork belly that I cook, and a bowl of ramen at that size cooked wonderfully would have been about 4 bucks maybe cheaper depending on where I went. Who ever owns this store, I’m sorry for the bad review, please get back to the roots of taking pride in what you are selling.. when I was in Korea I got a huge bowl of Jjajangmyeon for 8 bucks by a man who spent $20,000 at a school just to learn the art behind the dish. Literally it was only for that dish now he runs a Jjajangmyeon shop. It was the best I’ve ever had

Ramen Kuro Shiro – Menu with Prices – 128 Crown St, New Haven

Very impressed by this authentic ramen shop! Do not expect a large menu here that caters all kinds of Asian noodles but everything they do here, they do it right. We had spicy roasted edamame and chicken karage (Japanese fried chicken) as our appetizers. The edamame was good with nice flavors from the coating from spicy sauce. Then came our freshly made karage, for those of you who are not familiar with Japanese fried chicken, they are typically sized similar to popcorn chicken with very thin batter using corn starch instead of flour and instead of buttermilk marinate, they are usually marinated with Asian spices such as ginger, sake, white pepper powder, sesame oil, etc. This dish is outstanding, the chicken bits are so juicy and flavorful, very crispy on the outside and very tender on the inside. We could taste the meat had soaked up all these goodness from spices and wine and did not have any gamy taste at all. Our appetizer literally served the purpose and opened up our appetizer for the main star. I had the original Tonkotsu while my hubby had the spicy Tonkotsu. First let me tell you how affordable it is here to have a satisfying bowl of ramen, you don’t have to spend $18 like most of the NYC joints. Here for $11-12, you get amazing toppings already included like tamago (marinated soft boiled egg), bamboo shoots and nicely roasted char Siu (roast pork belly). When my bowl was served, I knew the broth must have been done right. It was milky white from long hours of slow simmering, it had a thin layer of fat which makes it flavorful but not too much grease. It was rich and porky, the right amount of texture to coat the noodles well and the right amount of seasoning that it is still nice to drink by itself. Spicy toasted edamame – 8/10. It would have been 10/10 if the shell ends are trimmed to allow seasoning penetrating inside the shell. Karage – 10/10. Tonkotsu Ramen and Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen – 9/10 Broth, 7/10 toppings, 9/10 noodles. Overall 8/10. Pretty solid. Wish there could be more topping options like wood ear mushrooms, nori to add another level of texture and black garlic oils, roasted sesame to enhance flavor. If you are a ramen lover in New Haven, you are missing out if you have not given this restaurant a try by now.