Kiki's Ramen House — Restaurant in Fitchburg

Finding a ramen spot in Fitchburg is a nice surprise--you usually expect ramen restaurants in places like Worcester, Lowell, or definitely Boston.

Located in the Charles Park Plaza strip mall, there's plenty of shared parking available for several businesses. Inside, the restaurant has a cozy atmosphere with four small tables suitable for two people each and one medium-sized table for groups of four. It's a compact setup, but they're making the most of their space.

Sparse yet charming decorations add some personality: a Naruto-themed scroll, a miniature car displayed in an acrylic case on the counter, and cheerful Maneki Neko (lucky cat) banners above the counter.

Ordering can be done through a kiosk or directly at the counter, and payment is made upfront. When ready, your food is brought directly to your table.

Here's what I ordered:

Chicken Karaage ($12): Delicious! If you've never tried Japanese fried chicken before, you absolutely need to. The crunch is outstanding, and each bite is packed with flavor. It comes with a small thing of spicy mayo dipping sauce, which adds a nice extra kick. Keep in mind it's only about six pieces, so if you're comparing value to regular fried chicken elsewhere, it might seem pricey but trust me, it's worth it!

Tonkotsu Ramen Soup ($15): Honestly, I came prepared to be critical and compare it to my favorite Boston ramen spots, but I'll avoid being elitist. I'd describe this ramen as "good enough for what it is." The broth could benefit from an extra layer of flavor complexity. Toppings included baby bok choy, bean sprouts, char siu pork, chopped green onions, corn, one slice of naruto (pink spiral fish cake), and one soft-boiled egg.

To really elevate this bowl I wish there were options for seaweed sheets, marinated bamboo shoots, and some mushroom varieties.

Overall, this restaurant is solid and hits the spot nicely for the area. If you're willing to drive a bit further, I'd recommend "Maken Zi Ramen & Rice Bowls" in West Boylston as the...

I am rating this by quality, quantity and price. First off the room, and I got was the fried chicken Romen. This bowl comes with noodles, fried chicken, green onion, corn, bean sprouts, and cabbage. The noodles were well done with some bite to them still-very good. The plate only had a sprinkle of onion corn, cabbage bean sprouts plus a half an egg. The egg was supposed to be soaked overnight and soy sauce. The egg taste so sweet, but didn’t have any soy sauce flavor. In fact, it wasn’t even brown. I went home and prepared my own soy sauce egg and soaked it for 15 min. You can see the difference (look at photos). Chicken is basically a large Chick-fil-A nuggets with a soy sauce flavor. And the broth was not desirable. It wasn’t bad it just wasn’t anything to run home about.for $15 you only get a small portion and you can honestly make this at home. I got mine mild spicy but taste no flavor. I requested cooked bean sprouts but they’re raw…For the price they should’ve at least given a whole serving of vegetables plus a hole egg. I wouldn’t recommend unless you want to try for a special occasion, portion size is small. Honestly taste of Vietnam is up the street and it’s so good affordable with great portion sizes I’d go there and try some pho if you want noodle soup. Make ramen at home it’s a affordable meal that won’t coast you $15. Had reasonable expectations of this restaurant,...

Tonkotsu Ramen and chicken karage were tasty/ok but I wouldn't say so tasty that I'd travel 45 minutes to eat it again. I personally look for something special and yet harmonious about all the individual elements in ramen-- a more melt-in-your-mouth experience with the pork cuts, a tea soaked soft boiled egg, a full-bodied flavor in the broth, finely cut veggies and a satisfying 'bite' in the noodle. So this place was just average in regards to that with pork a lil tougher, broth flavor a bit light, egg hard boiled and not tea soaked. I enjoyed the karage for it's tenderness and the dipping sauce was a win.

One major thing that I think can be a massive improvement is changing the layout a bit so there's a hallway along the wall to make the bathroom accessible to customers. This change could also potentially accommodate more seating areas along the wall. It would be more of an asymmetrical layout but it's something to consider to elevate the experience a few notches rather than having people walk across a dangerous drive-thru area to get to door at the back of the building.

Parking was easy....