Momiji Ramen — Restaurant in The Hague

When chosing to come to this ramen restaurant, I checked out reviews online. I saw it was highly rated, however there were some complaints about the broth being bland/could be more concentrated. I wanted to experience it for myself so here is my experience! 🙂

I came into the restaurant at noon. There was only one couple in the restaurant, as they just opened.

My first impression was that it was a nice restaurant- I said the server, just for one please. She said you can just sit anywhere. I asked her if the washroom was located in the back. She misheard and said "you can just sit anywhere". So I said it again, she said yeah, its back there. She looked miserable and like she did not want to be there. I thought maybe she was just having a bad day.

I ordered through my phone with their QR code. I ordered the pork ramen with miso with a side of chili oil. They charge a .25 transaction fee.

The pork was nice, tender and flavourful. The broth was bland, noodles overcooked and the egg is just half of a hard boiled egg (no marinated egg)

I was debating on mentioning it to the server but once I finished the noodles with chili oil.. I mentioned to the server that the broth is really bland. There is no depth of flavour. Seeing as I had a full bowl of broth. An egg and mushrooms left, the server told me that she would tell the kitchen. No apologies, just sort of a "what do you want" kind of attitude.

They offered me more soup, to see if it was just my bowl, but were defensive that the broth tasted fine. I could have more to make sure. I told them that I believe its just the broth is not concentrated enough and another bowl of broth is not necessary. I only ate the noodles and 1 slice of pork. The attitude of the server really put me off and didn't want to finish. Especially after being told .."maybe its just your taste, we've never gotten a complaint before ".

As a chef of 10 years experience, this is probably one of the worst restaurant experiences I've ever had. I never complain, unless there's a real issue. I've easily had over 200 bowls of ramen in restaurants all over the world and I frequently finish my broth.( It's my favorite meal 😋)

Next time, I will stick with Takumi.. For the same price point, you can get a much richer tonkutsu...

I want to start by saying I like this place. You were one of the first ramen spots in The Hague Central, and I had my first warm sake here years ago — good memories. That’s exactly why I hope you take this feedback seriously. I’d love to come back with full confidence, but right now there are too many details being missed.

The interior needs some attention: there’s visible dust on lighting racks, plant holders, and ceiling fixtures. The walls have fatty stains and could use a fresh coat of paint. The wooden wall panels near the floor look dry and should be oiled. Same goes for the tables and chairs — the wood feels worn and needs oil or a fresh layer of varnish. The plants on the tables and their pots have seen better days and should be replaced. The toilet wasn’t clean, with some things broken and cleaning materials left out in plain sight — not great for a restaurant.

On the food side, there was only one vegetarian option, and it wasn’t particularly tasty. It had cucumber in it, which felt out of place in hot broth. The tan tan men had a nice broth and great noodles — likely house-made — but it wasn’t a real tan tan broth. No nut butter, no creaminess, just spicy oil ramen. It also felt under-filled, with only a couple of cabbage leaves and a minimal amount of beef. On top of that, it seemed I could only order the tan tan men as a full menu (with drink and gyoza), when I just wanted the ramen.

That said, your staff was friendly and welcoming — even late in the evening — and the broth, while not authentic tan tan, was still tasty.

To the owner: this is a place I want to keep liking. You were early to the ramen scene here, and I’d really like to see you thrive. With a bit more care for the food details and environment, you can easily raise the bar and make it a spot I can confidently recommend...

I will have to come back to try different broths that they have but as far as ramen goes. It was mediocre.

I asked what bowl is the most popular and was told it was the chicken broth based one, so I ordered this with a bunch of sides. The sides were really good and I would definitely go back for those. But let's talk ramen.

Broth and tare The broth just tasted like some regular chicken soup. It lacked all the depth it could have, no smoothness on the lips of chicken based cartilage that could be more present or perhaps a dual broth with sea components. I had the shoyu bowl, the broth wasn't mixed with the tare, resulting in a overwhelming soy sauce flavour at the bottom. Over all the broth of the bowl I had was just sadness.

Toppings Ajitama was just a boiled egg, no curing not even with a soft yolk. The treatment of the egg is crucial to add that little extra bit of umami to a bowl, especially when using a chicken broth base. The other topics were okay.

Noodles Then let's talk about noodles. They choose the right type of noodles for the bowl and they had the right chew, nothing to say about it there.

Oil. It is a component of ramen that is so much overlooked but oil is key to create the richness and fragrance of a good bowl. There was non.

I'll be back to try their pork based broths but for now I would say, just order...