Chicago Ramen Mundelein — Restaurant in Mundelein

So happy they opened a Chicago Ramen in Mundelein so I don't need to make a trek all the way to Schaumburg or Des Plaines when the ramen cravings hit! 🍜✨️

I must say they did an excellent job with the infrastructure design: high industrial ceilings, decorative lanterns and a central statement table adorned with ornamental Japanese pots. It gives the atmosphere a comfortable sense of spaciousness which is a huge plus as sometimes certain establishments feel so claustrophobic.

They also kept the open kitchen concept synonimous with their brand where you can peer in to see the chefs preparing your meals, a concept that I feel brings a trust and closeness to the feeling of a home cooked meal.

Excellent ramen options including the signature tsukemen dip ramen. This one veers off what you traditionally would imagine ramen to be but worth the try. Tsukemen ramen is essentially dipped into a thicker savory broth with intense umami flavor. I suggest first eating it halfway, THEN adding the lemon once you get to your 2nd half for a lovely change in flavor profile. Lastly ask for them to add hot water to the broth at the end so that you can slurp up the rest. 😉

They also have the traditional style ramen which options for chashu, chicken and beef. Recommend the Red miso option if you like it more savory and salty, and White miso for a milder slightly sweet flavor. Broths are generally thicker. If you prefer a clear broth, their vegetable ramen has that and you can order your extra meat if you wish.

Other options available like curry, rice bowls, dumplings and even hot dogs. Wide variety of teas and alcoholic beverages to pair your meal with.

Staff has been wonderful. They are friendly and attentive and frequently check on the tables if there are things needed.

A wonderful addition to Mundelein...

We were really looking forward to trying this place, but were kind of disappointed. We were seated right away upon entry and service seemed rather attentive... at least until it was time to pay, anyway... We were not asked if we wanted dessert or anything else - just dropped the bill on the table and walked away like they couldn't wait to get rid of us. We had three different people serve us and weren't sure who we were tipping. Overall dining in atmosphere was a little odd - one big table in the center of the room for everyone to share so you're having a sitdown family dinner with your party and several other strangers and their party. Then, you're given a water pitcher and utensils to be passed around and shared with the rest of the table... Staff didn't ask if we would have preferred a private table instead... Ummmm, awkward? Also seemed like different groups were given different menu options. We were given a menu showing only ramen and rice bowls, but I noticed after we ordered that other parties were given a sushi menu and another party at the other end of the table was given a dessert menu. Being a first time guest here, it would have been nice if the staff had informed us of all of these different menu options... I thought the food was ok, nothing special, but edible and somewhat satisfying to eat. My boyfriend liked the pork meat and the chicken meat they used in our ramen dishes but didn't care for the ramen itself at all, saying the broth in both our dishes was way too salty and had a weird fishy after taste. I would be willing to give this place another shot in the future once they've worked out the kinks and developed some better consistency, but for now, 2...

The place was pretty quiet for a Sunday afternoon. I got the rooibos tea and it was pretty good. The Japanese calamari was great. I just wished the tsukemen broth was hotter. Personally the broth got way too cold for my liking especially since the point is to dip your noodles into the broth. Would recommend getting the ramen if you wanna avoid that. Not only that, I added an egg to my order and it was the worst egg I've had at a ramen spot. Idk man, it lacked flavor and actually made me feel bad for eating an undercooked egg. Also wished that they cut the egg in half so its easier to grab with chopsticks. Maybe then the egg could get more flavor from the marinade. I would've given 4 because the place is decent but that egg sucks. Also if you want to add more spice to your ramen that isn't the chili flakes, they'll give u spicy miso for $2. This is a genuine question, but was I supposed to get extra pork chasu since I ordered the pork chasu tsukemen and only got 3 pieces of pork chasu with the noodles but in the sample photo of the dish, theres two extra pieces of chasu in the broth(ie the dish should have 5 pieces of chasu). Not gonna lie but it's pretty dumb and misleading to have images of the food items, only to not include said food items. Definitely would save the waiter from answering extra questions regarding what comes with the meal, but hey thats probably how they get you. They should also add descriptions of the soup base because maybe the extra chasu was in the soup just blended in( would explain why its so thick and not...