Daruma Ramen — Restaurant in Howick

Oh how the mighty have fallen. I've been coming here since the opening day and witnessed the sad decline of a special restaurant in East Auckland.

Every aspect of the restaurant has gone down, from the food, the service, the ambience and the little details.

Let's start with the service. Perpetually harassed looking, no "irasshaimase!" on entry, getting orders wrong, asking silly questions (If a table of one orders a bowl of Ramen, it logically follows they are ordering one and you don't need to ask "How many?"). The robot is a gimmicky addition to such a small floorspace and I suspect what I'm about to mention has suffered to pay for it.

The food. Takoyaki coming out looking depressed, deflated, soggy and with hastily squirted on mayo and takoyaki sauce. Ramen broth lacking flavor and depth. Price increase after price increase after price increase.

My takoyaki arrived after 15 minutes (sure, I'll forgive them as it's a busy Friday) and by the time my ramen arrived, I had almost gone off the idea of it.

The atmosphere? It appears they enjoy the incredible din and somewhere along the way did away with their background sound system.

There's no pride here anymore. There's no passion for the food or culture. It's get in, order, wait wait wait wait (and wait) and then get out.

The last time I'll be visiting what used to be one of my go-tos. Take a good hard look at yourself Daruma Ramen Botany and think about why you started in the...

After trying most of the ramen in Auckland, I think this is one of the best ramen in my opinion. Love their noodle, their soup broth, their gyoza and their chasu... yes I love everything on their menu! Many people said other places like Tanpopo, Ramen Do, Mentaz serve better ramen but I really like Daruma’s noodle which is thinner and chewier.

Had their signature tonkotsu ramen, black garlic tonkotsu ramen and winter special - spicy to kostu ramen, which is the same as their signature one, but spicy. Soup was very rich and flavourful, pork slice was tender. Gyoza was juicy and the toppings enhanced the flavour alot.

Staff were friendly and attentive. They have roasted sesame, shichimi (Jap seven spice), garlic paste, soy sauce at the rack where they put cups and water. You can add some of these to your ramen if you like, I like to add alot roasted sesame.

Definitely will come back again. This is my to go place if I’m craving for ramen.

Food: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 Price: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 Ambience: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 Service: ...

We came just for a quick, humble feed but were still underwhelmed. The food was passable at best. The atmosphere is a cramped, crowded canteen-style eatery with cheap furnishings, decorations and cutlery… which would be totally fine if the food was good. Sadly, everything was awful. The ramen was the real disappointment though - a cloying, ill-textured puddle of blah with oversized fried chicken balls. Everything we ate was too sweet and/or strong yet with a shallow depth of flavours. The portions were also quite small for the prices (not that you’d want them any bigger). If it wasn’t a Monday we would have gone to ‘House of Ramen MEN-ICHI’ right around the corner where they serve delicious food at a cheaper price with bigger servings. Head...