Ooink Capitol Hill — Restaurant in Seattle

Ooink is my favorite Seattle ramen spot, hands down. But they have major consistency issues. I've been coming here for years with a friend and we literally ask each other everytime if it's "good that day". Don't get me wrong, you'll never get crappy food here, ever. But there are cooks that have been here longer, they may be the reason why some days I go and the broth is richer & has more umami, the chasu is more tender, the gyoza is crisper. Other days, I'll come in and it will just be meh. I don't get the spicy ramen often but it's also a hit or miss whether you'll get a decent bowl with mala "numbing" spice. Which, in my opinion, is the point of the spicy ramen here, it's not a heat challenge. To my understanding: 1-2 is just mala spice, 3-4 adds thai chili spice (it may do the restaurant good to actually clarify this instead of having customers coming in daily pretentiously saying how it wasn't spicy to them, lowering people's opinion of the food). Both are housemade, Ooink recipes. But another reviewer, apparently came in on an "off day", said the spicy broth tasted like gasoline. No further comment. The atmosphere just isn't great. In more ways than one. They definitely could use some elbow grease shining the place up. The music here is extremely jarring. Oh, and when I say the customer service is non-existent. Believe me. There are servers here that don't even say hello to me that, again, I've seen for years. They change the ordering system every few months and don't communicate this to the customers at all. I've seen new customers get frustrated and almost leave over this. One day a guy takes your order, the next day you scan a QR code, the next day you self-order with a tablet and wait outside, the next day a guy tells you to wait outside before using the self-order tablet. I've seen a server yell across the store at someone for not bussing their table even though they don’t tell you this. No wait... they have one crumbling piece of paper at the back of the store that 100% has someone sitting in front of it. It doesn't even seem like they attempt to train new servers. Like at all. I will occasionally see a new server and they literally just don't know how to ring you up. No, I'm not talking about the cooks. The servers. They've improved this somewhat but I believe these types of new employees have led to sanitary issues. I'm not going to say what I saw but I haven't seen it again, so I'm assuming they fixed it. The combination of the self-ordering, the non-existent hospitality, the expectation of bussing your own table, and the fact that not a single new server I've seen in the last year and a half can organize a decent waitlist much less a LINE... I believe in tipping, don't get me wrong, but if my tip isn't going to the cooks in the back who are doing the real work, who am I tipping? You brought a bowl to my table whenever it was ready and that was it 😭😭 They mess that up too btw. I had a new server go from table to table with my order in hand asking people if they'd ordered gyoza... I had a table number. I don't even think he went back to check, he just eventually got to my table and asked me if I ordered gyoza. Not kidding, cooks have had to step up to help at the register (even stepping outside during a full house to make a line or call people inside), which I see often. There was a server here that did his job, and well, but I haven't seen him in a while. Ooink has some issues they have to work out here or else it's just going to get worse and lead to decline. That being said the Shanghai, Shio ramen, chicken sandwich, and gyoza here are incredible on a good day. The owner put a lot of thought into the fusion food here and the cooks put in a lot of work to excute that. I know at least the restaurant is doing something right to retain hard-working...

Phenomenal ramen. The chef and his wife work very hard to make the best ramen they can. This is not a chain- It is a family business, and if you eat there when the chef is in the kitchen he will probably come and ask you how you like it, and he's sincere. He is always trying to make the food even better, and I think he would probably do anything he can to accommodate you.

They make a long-simmered, rich broth, they ferment sauces and toppings, and they make their own excellent noodles. Every component is high quality. You couldn't do this yourself at home without a lot of time and expense.

Personally I am always torn between ordering the spicy kotteri and the regular kotteri, so I alternate between them. The regular kotteri is my ideal black garlic tonkotsu style ramen, with the rich pork stock, liberal use of black garlic oil, garlic chips, bamboo shoots.. Also, their soy sauce eggs have the perfect jammy-soft yolk every single time. Nailed it.

The spicy "ma la" kotteri is a special. You can request this one very spicy. Instead of black garlic oil on top, it uses a house special chili oil with Sichuan pepper. If you like Sichuanese food, you will love this. It is addictive.

Ooink also has Malyasian fried chicken, ayam goreng, instead of the karaage you're used to at most ramen places. This reflects the chef's Malaysian heritage. Believe me, the chicken is incredible, full of lemongrass and curry leaves and other great flavors.

I highly recommend Ooink. Also, since I'm writing this review during COVID-19, I want to add that they have the best take-out ramen system that I've seen. I've had ramen from a few places during the shutdown, but Ooink's is by the far the best, because they're doing "ramen kits."

When you order take-out ramen at most places, they will cook the noodles and then put them in a container to transport and eat later. This really makes no sense and doesn't result in the best noodle texture.

Ooink, on the other hand, gives you the broth and toppings and a package of raw noodles, with instructions for how to cook them yourself (boiling noodles is not hard). If you heat up the broth and boil the noodles yourself, you get a bowl of ramen at home that is identical what you can get at the restaurant.

They're super nice and if you live close enough, they will deliver it right to you for free. This is a local business truly...

Really delicious vegan ramen! They had a vegan miso ramen and a vegan spicy miso ramen. I risked it and got the spicy one, but it was totally doable. Just a little scoop of spicy oil and peanuts in part of my bowl. I’d say 1 star spicy (but also maybe how white I am affected how much spice they gave me 😅).

It’s a small place, with two 4-tops up front and then a bunch of two-person tables. We were a group of four but both front tables had just been seated, so they told me I could get two of the two person tables with the small gap between them in 20-25 minutes. It was only about 7 minutes when two of them were ready!

You can order from a server but I think they encourage you to use the QR code and just order and pay for it all on your phone. The server did make sure to stop by and ask if we had any questions and to flag him down if we needed anything. I asked if they could take the mushrooms off my vegan ramen bc there was no option on the online order and he was just like “yup, I got you, I’ll flag your order and remove them.” Which he did! Despite the place being full and pretty busy, our ramen came out pretty fast after we ordered.

My friends got the black garlic special and mapo tofu ramen and enjoyed them.

Two of us got this lychee “beer” that was only 3.5% ABV. It tasted more like juice than beer but that’s how I wanted it! Super light and flowery and refreshing.

The water is self-serve but the server made sure he knew he was around if we needed anything.

I’ll definitely back! This is one of the best vegan ramens I’ve ever had, probably tied for first for me in seattle. My friends want to come back too to try all the other dishes. It appears there’s a vegan cucumber salad but I didn’t get it this time. It was a first visit for...