Hoshi Ramen — Restaurant in Fairborn

Seriously great food! This place has been open since 2019 and it is the first time I ate here even though I have passed by a great number of times. The décor is very Ying and Yang. Black and white all over but in a very good way. Very clean and quite comfortable to eat there.

The service is outstanding as well. My drink never saw the bottom of my glass and the server was very knowledgeable about the menu and the way the food was prepared. My food was brought promptly and dishes were removed from the table when we were done with them without being constantly annoyed by the interruption of the server, as I have experienced countless times in other establishments.

The food which is the real star is simply amazing. I had a shrimp appetizer served on a bun. The aioli was delicious and the shrimp was cooked to perfection. Was not rubbery or deep fried to a crisp, instead it was light and airy and truly was a great way to start the meal. A single bun was $3 which is not bad for a single serving.

I ordered the tentenmenn ramen and it was so good. The chicken broth had been slowed cooked and reduced to give a wonderful taste. The fatty meat and fresh vegetables went very well with the ramen noodles and the pickled egg just polished the dish to perfection. The serving size was the Goldie Locks of the dinner; not too little and not too much. For $12 for the dish, that was a very fair price in my opinion.

If I had to say something that wasn't the best, I would say the broth was a little salty. But really, that is my own preference as I really don't eat a lot of salt so I am a bit more sensitive to the taste, but the con is minor at best.

The only other con I could come up with is the fact they serve Gold Peak tea in a bottle for $2. Not that it is a bad price but I am a tea drinker and would have liked to get free refills on my drinks. They do offer soda with free refills, but I prefer tea. They should make their own tea in house, it is kind of standard in most restaurants these days.

If you can't decide what you want to eat for dinner, then my friend, let me suggest this wonderful place to eat at tonight. You will not be disappointed. This is a gold standard when it comes to eating out. If more restaurants did it like they do, life would be so much better.

They are closed on Mondays, but they open on Tuesday and I will be the guy standing in line waiting for them to open so I can get more soup! Hurry before...

I was happy to hear a new place to get ramen was nearby. I ordered the tonkotsu ramen and kaarage. I have never had kaarage before, but it tasted good and makes me think of fried chicken and soy sauce. Next up is the ramen, but I must mention I have had ramen from two restaurants and make my own tonkotsu ramen. Out of the 4 ramens I have now had, I place this in 3rd place.

The star of the show was the chashu pork. I could lightly taste the marinade and it wasn't tough like #4's was. I have not had chashu pork made by any others, so this was a pleasant experience compared to the other ramen I had. The noodles can be described as tough and chewy. It could be my preference of tender noodles, but this was the chewiest I have had. The broth had flavor to it and was adequate. I prefer my own broth, but it was probably a little lower quality to #2. The broth also doesn't have the iconic milky white that tonkotsu has since it has soy tare in it. I have to say I was disappointed in the amount of ingredients. The ramen restaurant I love most serves a whole egg and 3-4 thick pieces of pork belly alongside green onions, narutomaki, burnt garlic chili oil, and chicharon for $12. I usually spent $13 to make my own ramen that would have 2 extra ingredients like cauliflower and bok choy and they were not skimped. Hoshi's tonkotsu ramen was $11 and served 2 thin slices of chashu pork, half of a soft boiled egg, green onion, and two pieces of bamboo shoot with what looked like kombu not nori. Honestly, I feel like the tonkotsu ramen at Hoshi's was a few dollars too expensive for the amount of food and maybe quality. However, the meal will fill you up if you feel satisfied by normal portion sizes.

I really want to enjoy Hoshi Ramen, and will eat their other menu items, but their tonkotsu ramen was dissatisfying to what I paid and have had before. This place was described to me as a ramen shop made inexpensive for students and I disagree. A whole egg, one or two more slices of bamboo and chashu and I might agree. I am happy to see others enjoying this ramen...

Yesterday was the second, and will be the last, time I went to Hoshi. After hitting the Air Force museum we wanted some ramen so we stopped there. I need to point out that our server was really good. He was friendly and did his job well, but it’s unfortunate that the people in the kitchen set him up to fail. We ordered two bowls of tonkotsu ramen, 3 croquettes, and karaage. The karaage tasted good but comes with nothing but a lemon wedge and a weird slice of carrot. No kewpie on the side and no salt/pepper. These are simple things to provide, but not a huge issue. The croquettes were really good and I’ve got no issues with them.

The massive problem I have is with what they’re passing off as ramen. It’s as if they’ve never seen or eaten good or even decent ramen and are going off a verbal description. First, it LOOKS like it would be good, but that’s as far as it goes. They give you so little actual broth that you have to move the noodles to the side to see it. That wouldn’t be a problem if it had any flavor at all and had come out hotter than piss warm, but it didn’t. I asked our server about this and he told me that’s the right amount. Sorry, it isn’t. They also told him they can’t give me any more without charging me for another bowl but that he could get me a little more on the side. Ok… that’s bizarre of them.

I don’t know if they’re under new management since a year ago or if they truly don’t care because they assume the folks from the base are just guaranteed customers, but I can and will tell anyone planning to head out that way to eat pretty much anywhere else. Do not give them your money for their pricey and flavorless ramen.

And before it gets mentioned because I’m sure it will, yes, I did stir up the ramen first. Again, it’s absolutely bizarre that they bring it out like that. Go to a good ramen shop and see what it should be like, then emulate that. Stop pushing this garbage...