Stopped in at the new Ramen-Ya in the Hawaii Kai Towne Center (the one with Burger King and Costco) for a quick bite to eat just before the holidays:
Ramen-Ya's second Oahu location...
There are two Ramen-Ya locations on Oahu, one in Pearl City and now one in Hawaii Kai near Ross.
The Towne Center offers ample free parking.
Here’s what it looks like inside:
Open kitchen, counter seating, and Christmas decorations...
There are a dozen or so tables with counter seating available as well. A nice touch, diners who opt to sit at the counter are able to check out the open kitchen.
A steady flow of customers leading up to the holidays...
It’s a nice enough looking restaurant, very clean, and certainly better looking than Tokyo Noodle House in the next shopping center over (although Tokyo Noodle House does have the edge in overall menu variety thanks to the large number of Chinese dishes also offered there).
Table for six...
All of the tables feature the usual suspects as far as condiments go (Tabasco, chili oil, gyoza sauce)…
All neatly labeled...
I ended up ordering Combo A, which includes:
Mini Char Siu Ramen plus 4-Piece Gyoza...
…as well as…
Mini Fried Rice.
(I paid a dollar extra to add shrimp to the Fried Rice. What can I say, the Shrimp Fried Rice looked good in the menu…)
The noodles were nothing too spectacular, and the default, shoyu-style broth could have used a bit more flavor. The char siu was also a tad dry (nothing compared to Rai Rai Ramen’s chashu).
Quality-wise, the ramen’s pretty much on par with Tokyo Noodle House in the Hawaii Kai Shopping Center (the one with McDonald’s and Safeway).
The gyoza were nice and fresh, a bit light on filling but with a satisfying crunch to them thanks to the cabbage inside.
The fried rice was decent, the portion size generous. I ended up taking half of it with me, along with an extra 4 pieces of Gyoza that came with the meal as part of the restaurant’s Grand Opening celebration…
And done...
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There are 3 Ramen-Ya locations in Hawaii, two of them on Oahu and one on Maui. Follow the links below for more info like hours of operation, a look at the full menu, and more:
Tags: Ramen-Ya, Ramen-Ya Hawaii Kai, Ramen-Ya Hawaii Kai Grand Opening, Ramen-Ya Hawaii Kai Review, Ramen-Ya Review
