Oishii ramen — Restaurant in Denver

Sub-par Ramen noodle shop.

Ambiance is very cold, just a completely bare counter in the room to sit around. Menu has several different choices of Ramen, chose the Red Spicy Miso Ramen with pork belly and Edamame appetizer. Edamame was fine, Ramen however, while a good sized portion, was odd as compared to traditional Ramen. The “tender pork belly” was actually two pieces of fried bacon like slices, without the flavor/texture of traditional Ramen pork belly which is tied up in a roll and braised in a flavorful liquid. Meat was bland and fatty tasting so did not eat and put aside. Broth was spicy, but bland and not rich in flavor, lacked in salt and umami, obviously not much actual miso used. On the good side, lots of noodles and vegetables which were ok.

Normally at a Ramen shop, you can tweak the flavor of your meal as desired with an assortment of blackened garlic/chili oil, ground pepper, soy sauce, etc. that are easily accessible in front of where you are eating. However, as mentioned,the counters are completely bare, so nothing to grab to help with the bland flavor of the broth.

When you are done, you are directed to pay at a separate small table, where the same person who was behind the counter now comes out and stands behind while you pay. Odd…again, seems very cold. Prices were on the higher side for the quality of the food.

Summary - satisfied my basic hunger, but definitely failed in my craving for a good quality ramen. Will try somewhere...

I didn’t know what to expect from a hole in the wall somewhere in the sadly barren streets of downtown Denver. What I got was a wholly positive experience that I didn’t know I wanted. Let me start from the beginning.

I get it and sit down next to my friend. There’s one contiguous bar, around a walkway for the server to come through. I order a drink, so does my friend, and we get to chatting. Food and people come and go. One group that I’d been sitting next to leaves, and a couple sits down next to me.

And that closeness should have scared me, made me uncomfortable…. But I’m a human, a social creature, and I want connection with other people dang it! I felt so close to everyone in that room, which was a meal I hadn’t expected to be served.

Speaking of…. (Cheese transition, but deal with it) man the food is good here. Classic ramen place. Noodles, broth, hard-ish boiled egg, tender pork belly, sprouts, etc. I almost wanted to let my friend do all the talking so I could just keep eating. Absolutely delicious.

And when we were finishing up, in true classic fashion, the proprietor, a motherly lady who’d served us, came up to chat. And when we got up to pay, she made us promise to leave her a good review if, and only if, she gave us a guava candy.

The candy was good, but this place is better. They’ve earned 5 stars with or without the candy, and I will be returning as...

It's not possible to give fewer than 1 star or I would and I don't understand all the 5 star ratings. Ramen was flavorless and no accessible condiments to season the bland broth. After asking for sriracha and soy sauce, I noticed that the sriracha was very runny (wouldn't coat the side of the bottle) and the soy sauce wasn't as dark as it should have been, indicating both were watered down. After adding generous amounts of the seasonings, the flavor still wasn't much improved. The flattened overcooked chicken obviously wasn't fresh and had an odd "old" taste. The egg was hard boiled and green, not soft boiled. When I asked about the white wine, I was assured it was not sweet, however, it was sweet plus it had gone bad. Contemplating this review and remembering the meal, I'm actually disgusted that I ate half of this oily, flavorless, concoction. Probably because I was hungry and with friends from out of town not wanting to continue our pursuit for Ramen in downtown Denver. I feel embarrassed that this is the quality of ramen that Denver has to offer and the food definitely failed to...