Ramen-Ya

Last night I had the beef curry rice and also the charsiu ramen. Huge portions, I could only eat a third of each. I really like this place. The server smiled, the place is very clean, food comes fast, the portions are huge, and the prices are very reasonable. One thing that they do well and many others do not: the lighting is right on – not overly bright and this is a ramen shop that actually has some ambiance. Plus, I like the BYOB policy at no charge.

i always order the curry-​katsu! The best katsu ever! The service is always fast, and never have to ask for refills

Ramen-​Ya is a Chinese-​operated ramen establishment where the menu and format is pretty much a standard template (similar to how L&L barbecue type restaurants are). There are 5 locations on Oahu and 1 location on Maui. Our most recent visit was to the Hawaii Kai restaurant in Hawaii Kai Towne Center for dinner.
I went with Combo A — mini ramen, chicken katsu curry and gyoza (pictured below). My mother also chose Combo A with fried rice. My father had a regular char siu ramen. Combo A is a big meal… especially for $ 9.25. Great job with the chicken katsu curry. It hit the spot. The fried rice exceeded expectations: tasty and very plentiful. Nice.
Unfortunately the ramen was very meh, definitely way off the mark from the best ramen in town. We all felt that the broth was well below par and needed a lot of work. We had similar meh feelings about the gyoza.
Despite the shortcomings noted above, the positives from our dining experiences at Ramen-​Ya really stood out as impressive to us. Service was lightning fast: we sat down, beverages were provided, orders taken and we had our food in front of us all within about 5 minutes. The food portions were very generous. Prices are cheap too so the value is here for sure. Maybe it is because Ramen-​Ya has physically newer restaurants, but on the whole I do find all of the locations offer nicer and cleaner interiors compared to the many competing establishments out there. Ramen-​Ya clearly takes care of business so they will continue to have mine.

I am very impressed! The Combo A is a really good deal! For less than 10.00 I received a «small» portion of ramen, a «small» portion of fried rice and 4 qyoza. I say «small» because these are not small at all. They are quite generous portions! We were served our food less than 10 minutes after ordering it. Everything was hot and yummy. Very busy at 6pm on a rainy night but we were seated immediately.
My only minor complaint was my water glass sat empty for good while, even though the waitress glanced at it several times. It was only refilled when she brought us our check and we asked for it. I agree with other reviews who have noted that the waitresses have a get in get out mentally. Very efficient but not super friendly. That’s ok though, I love efficiency.

If you’re looking for a quick ramen fix with heaping portion sizes this is the place for you! The prices are very reasonable, I paid $ 13 for mapo tofu ramen, fried rice, 8 pieces of gyoza (you automatically get 4 pieces for free if you order between 2 – 5). In addition to the huge portions everything is so fast! You don’t have to wait very long for your order. I got take out and it took less than 10 minutes to get my order
Downgraded 1 star because there were no utensils in my bag when I got home. But over all a great place and I’m sure I’ll go back often as it’s such a convenient location and so close to home!

First time here. Got the gyzoa ramen. Pretty good. We got the free gyzoa as well, it was very good. We will for sure go back. And its not very expensive for 2 it was just over $ 21 so pretty good prices!

I actually love this place… BUT… NOT this one… Go to Waipio. The combo is the way to go… And their gyoza is cooked fresh to order. Now back to this location… The wait staff sucked, the table was dirty, not one refill for my water, and the food was brought out in parts, so I thought I was at a bar and soon a bowl of pretzels would slide by.
For being in the rich world of Hawaii Kai, I would say this place is on borrowed time.

Ramen-​Ya is okay. Their menu items are really hit or miss.
Some of the menu items that I would highly recommend are the big bowl of Ramen, the mapo tofu Ramen, the chicken katsu ramen, and the yakisoba.
I would NOT recommend their beef stew (they give too much rice and not enough stew), their regular ramen (no flavoring).
Their prices and speed really are what keep us coming back. Most meals are under $ 10 and many of their dishes are really the size of two meals. So long story short… just order the right thing!

Pros: Their combos are no joke, a ton of food. A mini ramen or mini wonton (not mini though-​pretty good size, I was full after just rating that) comes with 4 gyoza and your choice of an entrée (I.e., chicken katsu with gravy, spam with gravy, fried rice and more) for $ 9.25 (that’s less than a glass of wine at Roy’s). Their regular size is enormous (my husband got the fried rice, I think you can feed 3 people with that) and the combo can feed 2 plus there is that appetizer of 4 gyoza.
The broth of the ramen was quite good, the noodles taster very fresh and not like a package you get from the grocery store (trust me, I had my fair share of cheap ramen in college, I know good ramen) on the table, they have condiments to help you customize your ramen to your liking (I.e., tobacco, vinegar, soy sauce, the Asian chopped hot pepper sauce-can’t think of the name for it) I added vinegar, that Asian hot sauce and bit of tobacco to mine (perfection))
Chicken katsu, not bad, nice and crispy comes with the Asian gravy that you can buy from the Asian market.
Gyoza pretty decent.
Cons: protein for the mini ramen was very scarce, 2 slices of beef (tasty) and one slice of fish cake.
The chicken katsu is not made with chicken breast, more thigh or wing.
Chicken fried rice came with very little pieces of chicken, mostly rice.

First time at this location and I thought I’d be treated like a person instead of an object. Absolutely no personality from the waist staff. And not to mention the Ramen wasn’t worth the money at all!
When I was greeted and asked for my order, the waitress rushed me through my ordering, then I never saw her until she arrived with the bill. The other servers dropped off my food… not at all asking if I was okay during my meal!
Gome Tei, you have my business.
And still waiting for a Daichi Ramen location to open on the east side you guys are the best!
Ramen Ya! What a waste of money! And a disgrace for this establishment to be in Hawaii Kai!
Last time this I come here!

This is your typical ramen place. I wouldn’t consider it authentic Japanese ramen, but it’s satisfying enough.
The ramen portions are average, but what I really like here is the Chicken Katsu Curry. I can barely finish the kid’s portion! It’s a good amount of food. A coworker of mine ordered the regular size and had just over 2 meals worth of food. It’s pretty delicious, too!

Been here a number of times and always got a good seat. Place has always been fairly crowded. Had the won ton ramen and it’s pretty much more like some meat and more won ton wrapper. On another occasion, I had the fried gyoza curry with rice. Now that was a meal. Gyoza was perfectly deep fried and the plate was huge. Curry was also flavorful.
So with the meals not so stellar, why would I give it 4 stars? Because on our first visit we got this coupon to use on our next occasion. It was for a plate of free steamed gyoza with our next regular sized meal. So we used it on our next visit and we got a plate of four gyoza for EACH regular meal we ordered!!! We had three people so that was a total of 12 pieces of gyoza! What a deal. And at the end of our meal, we got another coupon for the same thing for our next visit. Cool!
So if you are craving ramen and are in the Hawaii Kai area, it’s worth a try to eat here.

Big portions for what you pay for.
I’m sure we all have eaten at one of their many locations by now, but in case you haven’t it’s not a legit ramen place. They offer plenty of broths and combos. The ramen isn’t amazing, but it’s not terrible. I would give the ramen 2 stars, but it gets 3 stars because of the value. Their gyoza is pretty good and the curry is good too. Their combos are really two meals. They have a cool special for extra 3 gyoza on off peak times.
The service is okay, but it could be better. Smiles would benefit this place. It’s run a lot like a Chinese restaurant. All business, but no soul.

This place was just ok for me. I came here for dinner with my husband and son on a whim. We were at the Hawaii Towne Center and decided to try it since it was voted Hawaii’s Best in 2014.
The hubby got the big bowl ramen that consisted of chicken katsu, pork, egg, and vegetables. I got the mini ramen combo set with gyoza and chicken katsu curry rice. The chicken katsu curry was the bomb. The curry was just right and the rice was nice and fluffy. The gyoza was nice, big and juicy. It was crispy on the outside. The pork and vegetable filling was perfectly proportioned. I would go back for those two items alone. However, the ramen was a let down. You’d expect a restaurant with the name Ramen on it to have excellent ramen. This was hardly the case. I took a sip of the broth and almost spat it out. It had no flavor whatsoever. It just tasted like salted water. Everyone knows that the broth makes the ramen. The noodles were fine. It tasted like Sun Noodles from every other place. The pork was flavorful and tender. This is definitely not a «traditional» ramen place.
A lot of people seem to like this place. I posted this place on my Facebook page and got a few comments on how they like it here. It must be preference. The service was nice and efficient. The food came out in 10 minutes. When we got there, there were about 5 tables being used. When we left, the restaurant was full and there was actually a wait.

If you like Goma Tei or Kiwami, you probably will not like Ramen Ya.
The reason I wandered in here was that it seems to be one of very few ramen shops in East Oahu (Tokyo Noodle House was not an option).
They were not very busy because it was between lunch and dinner times, and the service was prompt and friendly, but not extremely professional.
There was a decent variety of menu items which were of average presentation and flavor.
Prices for food were reasonable. There is a lot of parking, since it is in a shopping center.
It was okay, but I think I will drive endure the drive to Metro Oahu next time I feel like having very good ramen.

Good noodles with tasty broths, in addition to various fried rice selections and some curry plates.
Nice casual atmosphere and very reasonable prices.

I was so disappointed with their Wan-​ton Ramen… I’ve been passing by this ramen shop several times but didn’t believe it would be good so never thought about trying it. After checking the review I gave it a try last night but we really got disappointed…
My big baby is a huge fan of Ramen so he got extra noodle to his Wan-​ton ramen. He also likes Chuka Ramen which supposed to have Shoyu base soup so he made sure if Wan-​ton is Chuka soup and ordered. It was a huge portion and looked really good so he was excited to try but obviously it didn’t have ANY flavor at all :(It looked like Miso soup for us cause it was light brown so asked them if it was Miso by some mistake but they said it was Chuka… hmmm. He tried but barely could finish it. I tried but not for me either.
My Gomoku ramen soup was okay and had much more flavor compare to his BUT it smelled really weird. When we first got it we both could smell something. Much more weaker but smelled like Clorox. I think it’s from Menma on top of it. Usually they don’t cook their own Menma but just get a big bag of pre made one which comes with lots of preservatives so it could be that smell. I usually wash when I buy Menma from store and make ramen at home. I didn’t want to wast my dinner so I finished mine somehow but it wasn’t a pleasant dinner for us.
The reason I still give them 2 stars is it’s really reasonable. I guess it’s kind of hard to get a big portion of Ramen less than $ 10 and everything on the menu looked pretty reasonable. I would really get upset if it was pricy and this taste but it’s cheep so if you are so hungry and want quantity than quality I guess it’s the place. I saw lots of families with kids so it could be a good place if you are near by and mom needs some break from cooking for family.
I might go back for seafood crispy fried needle one day cause picture looked good but never for Ramen.

Here’s a quick disclaimer to avoid disappointment when you go into Ramen-​Ya: Low prices, huge portions, mediocre taste.
After 3 hours of paddling with Hawaiian Surf Adventures, I was on the hunt for some sustenance. I stopped by Ramen-​Ya with some fairly low expectations given the ratings at this place and ordered chicken fried rice and their wonton soup combo with chicken katsu.
The service was very quick and the food came out even quicker. Immediately upon ordering a side of chicken katsu, it came out piping hot and perfectly crispy. The sauce was not as thick as I would have liked, but the katsu itself tasted fine. The gyoza was crispy at the bottom and had a good amount of meat inside. The wonton soup lacked meat inside the wontons though. It was mostly slippery folds of wonton sheets. The chicken fried rice came out in a huge mound covering the plate. It was Chinese-​styled fried rice using long grain rice and had a salty taste.
Overall, the average quality food was made up for by quick service and quick preparation. I knew what I was getting coming into this shop, so with that in mind, I feel that the shop met my expectations and even exceeded it with their speed. Not the best place for a first date or for healthy dinner choices, but a good spot for grabbing some quick on-​the-​go food.

Yes, it’s not authentic ramen or gourmet food at any stretch. But like their many locations which is spreading across town, you do have many pluses for this chain: tasty food, large portions, affordable prices, quick and efficient service. A good choice for this area if you looking for a quick bite (maybe after shopping at Costco?)
We ordered the crispy seafood noodle for a tad under $ 9 and it’s a good deal. You have generous amounts of shrimp, squid and assorted veggies. The thick sauce is plastered on top but doesn’t make the noodles soggy at all. This is the best dish we ordered at the chain.
My wife had the mini won tun soup, fried rice, gyoza combo. The won tun is soup is probably not the best choice, hardly any meat. But the fried rice was tasty and gyoza was not bad.
Note: this place is packed at 2PM as you get free gyoza, ends at 5PM. That is an awesome deal.

I was actually pretty surprised that this place was pretty good. First of all, the portions were HUGE! Second of all, the pricing was fairly reasonable. The third, well the service was SUPER fast.
I noticed that they didn’t get a lot of really good reviews so was hesitant to eat here, however, in all fairness, it wasn’t so bad.
I ordered a veggie ramen which was SO big I couldn’t finish it. The rugrats enjoyed children’s plates and my mom ate a fried chicken plate which was also GINORMOUS!
It may have been because we were starving and hadn’t eaten all day… OR because it was decent food OR because we didn’t really expect a 5-​star experience, but this place was absolutely fine.