Hokkaido Ramen & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Columbia Township

We were excited to see a new ramen restaurant in Downtown Columbia. This is my honest and fair review as of Nov. 17 2024

Pros: They have a killer location and cool decor. Their ramen menu had classic dishes along with some house specials. Seemed fairly clean.

Cons: Walked in and stood near the door for about 5 minutes before asking a bar lady if we should seat ourselves. She said yes - so we did. This confused our waitresses very much.

It's always a red flag when the customer can obviously tell the wait staff is squabbling. This was a Sunday around lunch time - and there were only about 4 tables when we arrived.

We ordered boba - my wife asked for a milk tea boba and got a very odd "galaxy" drink in a beer glass. Which felt embarrassing to drink. Everybody else received their boba in a regular cup - so not sure what was going on there. Not that it mattered - because there were chia seeds in the drink. My wife is allergic to chia seeds. They were not listed on the ingredient list.

The house special ramen was very fatty. The chasu pork was so overcooked it was a shredded meat consistency. The egg was hard boiled and cold.

Our second boba order never came - we were told that they were still cooking the boba after we had ordered and it would be ready in an hour if I wanted to wait.

It took a very long time to get our order taken - despite there being so few tables and so many waitresses. I assume they were prioritizing their takeout but that is not a great way to establish a reputation in a new location.

Overall - not a great experience. We were excited to hear a new ramen joint had opened. But they have some stiff competition here in Columbia. Especially on Broadway.

TL;DR; Wait staff ignored us till we sat ourselves (which they didn't like)

Wait staff argued amongst each other and even tried to involve my wife and I in their "critique" of another employee

Wait time was very slow.

Menu did not list all ingredients in an item

Order was wrong

Food was...

So once upon a time I attempted to make my own Shoyu tonkotsu. Came out relatively well, but once I found out about this gem of a restaurant I had to compare theirs to mine, and it was like holding a candle to a bonfire, the pork fat on the meat melts in your mouth with exquisite flavor, the merinated egg though to the average American that only knows hard boiled eggs might look unappetizing was super delicious, after that first bowl I've since made it my goal to try every single bowl whenever time/money is available for me to try, so far I've tried the Shoyu tonkotsu, the garlic tonkotsu, and today was the spicy beef. ALL OF THEM were SPECTACULAR, but as one has their own taste buds and preferences, my ranking to my taste goes in order of the 1)garlic tonkotsu 2)shoyu tonkotsu 3)spicy beef. As I visit more and try more this ranking will be updated of my favorite to least favorite. Now this list is not to throw shade at any of them. I enjoy the garlic tonkotsu for the variety of many perfectly blended flavors, same with the shoyu, the beef has a generous amount of beef compared to what you receive from the previous 2 mentioned. The spice isn't "burn your mouth" hot, but rather subtle which ties the whole meal together without over powering everything else. Now I'm done talking about the ramen, the service is amazing, never once had to ask for a refill, they stay on top of that like a pitcher on the mound ready to send another round your way without inturruption, the atmosphere of the place is wonderful with the cherry blossom case, art work and lights, when you ask for food to go, you don't receive just a plastic bag and Styrofoam container, no they give you a reusable bag with good cardboardish containers you can feel safe to microwave (if needed) or in my case to take the broth home I get a plastic cup with tight fitting lid to not loose and ounce of greatness I reccomend this to anyone who enjoys ramen and the Japanese style esthetic! Look forward to...

Decided to try the Hokkaido restaurant out ! Upon arriving it had a cute Osaka feel to it , got excited once seated the waitress greeted us rudely not sure if she was having a bad night or not ! Went ahead and started to order upon ordering what we wanted we asked for a substitute for the pork since we don’t eat that , the waitress then goes head and says the broth is pork ?! Umm it clearly says chicken broth or miso broth for the ramen then says I don’t know why it says that the menu needs to be replaced !? Umm didn’t you just open up no too long ago but already your menus are not correct ! Why would you have a menu that’s not consistent with what it says ? I was so confused so if someone has a pork allergy and doesn’t say anything and just orders per menu what will happen then ?? I find that she was very rude with every question! Not professional at all ! Also claimed when asked about the noodles said that all the kitchen staff members don’t speak English and that she can’t explain anything ! How do you communicate with them then ?? Made the whole experience very unwelcoming and uncomfortable! Now for the food the ramen was lacking in flavors the ramen was bland the noodles were good and chewy the brisket did not have any flavor as well! The karage was good however the lettuce ? I think cabbage would be better , the harumaki lacked as well and served with the same sauce as the karage ! Don’t think I will coming back I thank you...