Daiichi Ramen - Kailua Kona — Restaurant in Hawaii

This is the worst ramen restaurant I’ve ever been to. I rarely write Google reviews for restaurants, and I wouldn’t usually be so picky about a ramen shop in a tourist city. But today, I was really upset.

We ordered a chicken katsu, a black garlic ramen, and a chive pancake. The chicken katsu tasted okay. The black garlic ramen, however, had absolutely no black garlic flavor—instead, it tasted like a cheap instant noodle seasoning packet. I could tolerate that because I didn’t have high expectations to begin with.

But then came the chive pancake. There were four pieces in total. The first two were passable. But the third one? As soon as I bit into it, there was a strong taste of dishwashing liquid or some other cleaning product. I had my girlfriend try it, and she said she tasted the same weird flavor.

I called the server over, but she kept insisting that it was just the taste of the chives. Her attitude made it seem like I’d never eaten chives before. I’ve been eating chives for over 20 years—I know what they’re supposed to taste like. I even left part of the suspicious piece uneaten, hoping she would try it herself. But she just threw the problematic piece away and completely denied it was an issue with their restaurant. Instead, she asked how I wanted to resolve it, implying that I was nitpicking just to avoid paying for the pancake.

Excuse me? I bought a plane ticket and flew all the way to Hawaii just to save money on half a pancake?

This restaurant clearly has serious hygiene issues. Either the kitchen didn’t properly clean the utensils, or the server had some kind of liquid on their hands while serving the food. By the way, the server was mopping the floor the entire time we were dining. I really hope this doesn’t affect my health.

I strongly advise anyone who cares about taste, hygiene, or service to avoid this restaurant. It’s an...

Tried this cute ramen place called Daiichi Ramen and it totally exceeded expectations! They have a combo option where you can get a bowl of ramen + a side dish—perfect portion for girls.

I ordered the Tan Tan Ramen, which was flavorful and had the right level of spice for someone like me who can’t handle super spicy food. For sides, we got the fried chicken cutlet and pan-fried pork & cabbage dumplings, both were generous in portion and really tasty. We were afraid it wouldn’t be enough, so we added an egg fried rice—also huge. Honestly, each girl could barely finish her share and we ended up packing the rest to-go.

I also had a craving for Japanese curry, so I went for the Curry Pork Cutlet Rice—the curry was thick and fragrant, just mildly spicy, the pork was crispy outside and juicy inside, and the rice and tofu were perfectly done. Even girls with a big appetite might find it hard to finish a full bowl solo!

For drinks, I chose lemon tea and Thai milk tea—both safe and solid options. The Thai tea tasted just like the ones from my favorite Thai restaurants in NYC, and the lemon tea wasn’t overly sweet—super refreshing, especially after...

I’ve spent a lot of time in Japanese Ramen restaurants, this looks just like one but the flavors are clearly more Chinese than Japanese, which might be just what you want!

The menu is extensive! We ordered two different Ramen dishes, our waitress was super sweet and our food came up in under two minutes, I’ve never had food come up so fast so if you’re in a hurry, this is perfect!

The noodles definitely weren’t Japanese, not bad, but not what I would buy. The broth was tasty, the eggs definitely Chinese style, hard and with a hint of 1000-year egg flavor. The char-siu was really good, not Japanese style, not pork belly but pork shoulder with a bit of star-anise, clearly Chinese origins - no complaints, the char siu was really good, my favorite part of the meal!

So in short, it’s a Japanese style restaurant presented with Chinese interpretation, maybe just what you’re looking for! Personally, I could’ve used more and better quality toppings with less and better noodles. No complaints, just not what we were...