Hiro Ramen & Tea — Restaurant in Columbus

This was a bit of an experience for me.

Like some I remember this place as a Burger King where we'd ride bikes to after hanging out in the comic book store or before a movie so it was a little weird to have all of the window shades drawn, and plants growing. And that was just the start.

The experience at Hiro is only ahead of its time for sit-down dining in the US. While there's staff at the counter, they're not there to take your order. Instead you go directly to your table and place your order by scanning the QR code on your table, and putting everything in yourself. There are some fast food restaurants that are starting to do this, but few restaurants use this as their primary option. Ordering was quite easy, and it was nice to be able to take my time to consider all of the options without a waiter checking in, or a line forming behind me.

The next part is what really surprised me. After placing my order I was just waiting, playing on my phone, when a robot quietly snuck up on me with a cup for my drink! I noticed when I placed my order that there was no line for a tip, but didn't think much of it at the time - now it made sense. Robots cart the food around, and when you've removed your food, you "pat it on the head" and it goes away. There's a drink station with extras including water and to go stuff, and you do need to bus your own table, but it's super easy!

Now for the important part. I had a good meal here, and am a little embarrassed to say I ate it all. For many a bowl of ramen is more than enough for a meal, but I decided to also get gyōza (fried dumplings).

The gyōza were good, but rather unremarkable. I buy something almost identical and fry it up at home. Still, it's familiar to me, even if it's a bit cliché.

The ramen was very good. Spicy miso with grilled chicken added, and leave out the mushrooms. The pork belly that it came with was rendered well, and the chicken had a nice seasoning on it. The vegetables were well prepared, and the noodles had a good texture, not mushy. The broth was savory, and while I ordered extra spicy, it would be tolerable for most folks.

The price is in line with what I expect for a prepared meal. I splurged a bit, but could have stayed under $20 if I wanted.

I will...

I come here A LOT. I’ve always done takeout, so this review is for take out only.

ORDERING- You order through the take out kiosk near the counter. Everything is laid out pretty logically and you just tap the options on the screen to add or remove certain ingredients and choosing your spice/sweetness level for food and drinks. If you are in introvert this is a great option for you because you don’t have to interact with anyone. If you prefer to speak to someone face to face or not good with technology there is always someone at the counter who can take your order for you.

DRIVE THU- So I only used the drive thru once and it was confusing to me because you have to scan a QR code and I thought that was stupid, so I always go inside and order now.

FOOD/DRINKS- I ALWAYS get a boba tea when I order here and it’s so good every time. Not my favorite boba place but I like that it’s always consistently tasty and the price is pretty good for boba The food is great too. I’ve tried all the ramen and the chicken curry is my absolute favorite. I really like the eel rice bowl, and the udon stir fry is good too. The Harumaki and veggie Gyoza are very good and always consistently tasty. I feel the okonomiyaki is just okay. Tori Karage is VERY good and I love the dipping sauce they give you with it(if you like chick fil a sauce then you’ll probably love the sauce)Pork Buns and Calamari are really good too (but I feel like $9 is a little too much for the amount of calamari you get. It could easily be closer to $7)

TLDR- But all in all I do really like this place. I’ve come here like 3 times a month over the past year in a half and I don’t plan on stopping. I’ve never had a wrong order, the staff is pleasant. Everything tastes good. Foreal, try...

We are moving away from Columbus and wanted to try Hiro Ramen before we left since it’s right up the road from where we lived. Today is our last day, so I ordered some takeout online. There are many things I will miss about Columbus, but unfortunately this place isn’t one of them.

My husband got the spicy miso ramen and a grapefruit orange fruit tea. I got the black garlic ramen and a classic milk tea.

As mentioned, I ordered online and was basically just going by their pictures because the descriptions are lacking. The classic milk tea on the website includes boba in the picture, but when I arrived there weren’t any in the drink which was disappointing. To add them it would have been almost 5 dollars for the drink which is absolutely tiny. Definitely not worth the price tag, and you can get much better tea in many places around the city.

The same can be said for the ramen. The noodles had that vacuum pack convenience store plastic flavor and just felt really cheap in general. The soup was just basic and not thing much to write home about. The best thing was the egg on top. Overall, it was way overpriced for the quality and quantity in my opinion.

The restaurant itself was super busy, and didn’t really have any organization to the line or seating or anything that I could see. They did have one of those robot servers that is a pretty cool novelty here.

All that said—we were starving from completing the first leg of a several day road trip for our cross country move—and I didn’t get a picture (of just my order) until after I started eating and most of it was gone. So, while it’s definitely not the best ramen and tea in Columbus, at least we aren’t hungry anymore!

TDLR: expensive for poor quality...