Momona

Expensive food and beverages but really fun once in a while. Suggest not going at the height of dinner because it’s likely to be all full. The other menu items are ok, if you like the authentic saltiness, but the double dip ramen with the egg added is SOOO GOOD! Totally worth going for that!

Came here for the first time. Loved it!
Got the chilled noodles with charred corn, some type of teriyaki chicken, cucumber straws, lettuce that looked almost like frisée lettuce, and half a soft boiled egg. The dish was really good! If you’re skeptical about cold noodles and broth, don’t be. It’s summer time and it’s light and refreshing.
Also got the Bao with crushed peanuts and cilantro, and pork belly. This was phenomenal as well. Both dishes had a lot of great flavors.
My only qualm was that the Bao was $ 5 for one. I think they should do 2 for $ 6 or even $ 7. $ 5 for one was pretty steep, but it was still delicious.

Love, love, love Momona! The bowls are fantastic, special praise for the Double Dip on behalf of my wife, who has dreams about it.
I love the Bao, my favorite is the Hot Chicken, which makes my mouth water just thinking about it.
Also love the Ahi Chips, unique and habit forming.
I want to try more of the menu but often fall prey to ordering a favorite instead of venturing out for something new.

I ordered the pan fried noodles and they were a bit salty and chewy for my taste. Plus I added pork belly and it didn’t even come out with the dish.
It was also pretty pricey and I can make better noodles at home. I probably wouldn’t go again.

So yummy. Loved the atmosphere. Need to come back to try more things from the menu. So many great sounding options it was tough to decide. We will be back for sure.
For now, we are leaving satiated and promising to return another day.
Saw many reviews where people felt like $ 13 — $ 16 for a bowl of ramen was overpriced. Obviously these people don’t come from the food industry. Momona proudly displays the local purveyors they work with. They are high quality ingredients sourced locally. Trust me when I say the profit margins aren’t absorbent for momona. Their prices are exactly what they should be and very reasonable.

Absolutely a great go-​to for ramen. Easily better than places in San Francisco. They are continuously improving ever since they opened.

I should have re-​read my own review before coming back! I forgot the vegan option was a bit bland and forgot to request & pay for hot sauce & pay to add an egg.
I’m not really a vegan– but I always have to get their vegan ramen because pork occurs in all the others. I’ve been told the chef wants to preserve the integrity of the flavors, so they don’t allow substitutions or even removal of dish ingredients. I wish they’d consider one standard exception– sub or exclude pork. I’m not following Kosher or Halal restrictions, I just happen to have an allergy to pork.
The «Chico» is ALMOST safe, except the garlic schmaltz uses pork fat. Bummer, because schmaltz is usually chicken fat! Once I requested it be excluded which is how I heard about the integrity of flavors thing. The staff told me no, which was fine. I ended up asking which options were pork-​free and explained why I was avoiding it. The staff decided in this case to tell the chef about my issue, and ultimately approved accommodation, replacing the garlic schmaltz with the roasted garlic they use in the vegan option.
It worked great, the Chico was super tasty and I was a happy. I’m not going to do that conversation every time though, I’m an introvert, and it’s simply too much to get this accommodation.
So functionally only one ramen choice remains, and sadly it’s bland (cosmetically beautiful though). It seems like there isn’t any sort of salt in it, the broth doesn’t have much to it. Thin shreds of carrot and micro-​greens just doesn’t have much flavor. The bites with the garlic is better, you won’t get a clove with every bite you have to fish for them. I wish it had mushrooms or something to add some umami flavor. The option to tweak with chili paste, or soy sauce would have saved the day, but I forget its part of the initial ordering process. I’m far too forgetful to resolve this issue.
The funny thing in my opinion, is all these «add ons» must change the «integrity of flavor», so I feel like making me jump through hoops for a minor alteration is kind of odd– but all of those changes come at a price, where an omit does not have the motivation of an extra buck or two in the register I suppose.
If they’d make pork exclusion on the «Chico» ramen easy, I’d order that every single time! I loved that one. Perhaps next time I’ll just give up on ramen entirely. They have a pan-​fried noodle option that on casual glance appear to be pork-​free.
The bao is still solid, although had less of the pickled stuff that made it so wonderful the first time. I found myself wishing they’d included twice as much of that on the fried chicken bao.

A great place to get some ramen. The pork belly is delicious. I’ve forgotten the name, but I got a seaweed based broth noodle. It was delicious. A little pricey but worth it based on the environment and the quality

Food: Overpriced food for the quantity but acceptable for the quality. My first order of winter miso butter ramen came with non-​al dente noodles. The Market Shio ramen was done much better and was flavorful despite being vegan. e$ liked his vegetarian rice bowl, while H loved her ginger scallion pan fried noodles. C relished her tonkotsu 4.0 and shared her tasty order of agebao (fried bao dough with momo aioli) with the rest of our lunch crew. Yum. I’ll come back to try their bao (mushroom and tofu kimchi) and shared plates .
Ambience: There are tables for 2 – 6 and bar stool seating. Pretty hip-​looking place.
Service: Self-​serve water. Timely arrival of food within 10 – 15 minutes of ordering at the counter.
Pro tip: They don’t take reservations for groups of fewer than 8.

What a great new gem to Chico!!! Their pork belly is amazing and I love that their menu is eccentric. This may not be your typical ramen house, but they won’t disappoint. I had the tonkotsu ramen a couple of times and I love it. Their baos are made in house and are definitely a must try. Their poke salad doesn’t resemble a typical poke dish. I would highly recommend asking for more sauce if you do get the poke.
For food, you would order at the front and they’ll give you a number. They do have a bar table that you can sit to eat and drink too. If you’re planning to bring a big party, 8plus, I’d check with them beforehand for seating availability. Otherwise, I haven’t had any issue with getting a small table.

Great atmosphere, great service when ordering. That’s about it. I bought their popular iced tea $ 2.50 and Tonkotsu Ramen $ 15 (because I added oil) and one pork belly bun. Total $ 27.82!!! My soup was tasteless and literally ¾ inch of oil. I couldn’t even finish it because I felt like I was drinking a bottle of oil. The Ramen at the sushi spots have more flavor than this.

I happened to be visiting Chico for a family get together and the restaurant belongs to extended family (just to be honest). If you read my other reviews, I tend to be a tad brutal when the need arises.
Some of my favorite food happens to be Vietnamese which is in a similar wheelhouse but I’ve never actually been to a Noodle Bar/​Ramen restaurant. Consequently, I was looking forward to trying Momona.
Personally, I couldn’t say enough about the décor. Mind you, I prefer spare, art based décor to over designed anytime. I love the lighting, signage and the various food & drink options on offer. To me, the prices were great (mind you, I live in Zurich where a simple meal, for one, will cost you 50 CHF, minimum). I had a Gau Bao & Double Dip. We were warned that two Bao will fill you up and it was true. Between the Bao and Ramen, I was stuffed for hours.
Service was excellent. The girls explained how the menu worked and answered any questions we had thoroughly. Also, the food came out of the kitchen quite quickly.
As someone who smokes meat, at home, regularly, I LOVED the Gau Boa! Admittedly, I’m a wimp when it comes to spicy food but the ramen was about perfect. Along with my food I had a local Sierra Nevada beer which tied it all up nicely.
Oh, the metal chopsticks were wonderful. I now regret having not bought a couple pair to take home with me.

Although I’m glad we have this unique restaurant in Chico I’m a bit disappointed again (was our 2^nd visit).
We had two different noodle dishes (overpriced at $ 13. each) and a number of their bao’s and all were ok but that’s about it. Nothing that would have us coming back.

So I’m glad I’ve waited a couple of weeks to write this review. I admit I was pretty disappointed by my visit here.
My impressions after some thought…
Pros:
Good location and acceptable décor. Across the street from the parking structure so you have an actual chance of parking.
The food is neither as good or as bad as the other reviews would lead you to believe. This shocked me for Chico which is normally a real foodie town. Very pedestrian noodles.
Cons:
Top of the list… PRICE! The dishes here are priced all out of proportion to both the market and the cuisine. I had a similar dish in Bakersfield recently (which sports LA area food prices — expensive) and the Bakersfield dish was two dollars cheaper and better tasting. Momona is expensive for what you get in my opinion.
There was little or no service when I ate. Staff acted as if they were doing me a favor by helping me. Quite shocking for a new place trying to find its place in the market.
Don’t bother.

Umami sweet meat
Hunger drives my wandering
Mamona tonight
Haiku review, delicious food. I will eat here multiple times a week if possible

First off, I love to travel and have had amazing food in Japan. I really really wanted to like this place and was so excited to find a ramen place in Chico. But it was a huge disappointment.
The décor and building is pretty hipster and modern. But the food was overpriced and below average. I’ve had some amazing ramen in Japan, Sacramento, J-​town in San Francisco and even Texas. I have paid $ 8-​$ 15 for a bowl of hot, steamy, flavorful ramen before so the price was not an issue. However, for $ 13 a bowl… I was expecting something more appetizing and savory.
I hoping this was going to be the hidden gem in Chico. It was clearly not the case. I ordered the «Double Dip». The presentation of the ramen looks like it’s full of flavor with a hint of spiciness. The aroma was blah. The pork was moist, charcoal and smokey. The broth was plain, bland, simple, and unpalatable.
The egg was cooked perfectly and was included in my ramen. However, it is usually $ 2.00 extra for those ramen that does not include it. It is cage free which is great but an extra $ 2.00 is not worth it. The broth was light and the table was missing extra condiment like shio (ramen seasoning) and shoyu (Japanese soy sauce).
The ramen also lacked nori, and fresh veggies. I love chashu pork and shiitake mushrooms in my ramen. But the options for additional toppings were limited. I gave the restaurant a 2 star for the appearance/​ambience of the restaurant and for the pork which has the most flavor out of the ramen. Overall, save your money and try a different restaurant. If you do check out this place, opt for the bao instead. I personally haven’t tried the Bao yet but have heard better reviews and it’s a little more affordable. If it’s not decent, at least you’re only out a couple bucks compare to $ 13! I may or may not give this place another try but we shall see.

Noodle fanatic here, I was excited to get some fresh ramen in town. Overall very good. The ordering was a little weird, as we moved to sit at the bar we were intercepted by a hostess/​waitress who explained the bar was full service… which we were heading towards. Everything is between $ 5-​$ 13 with extras around $ 2. We gave her our order and our bowls came out fast. The noodles needed a little time to relax in the broth but they were fresh and good. My soft egg was served whole, which made it a little awkward to eat with chopsticks, but was cooked perfectly.
Overall seems like a solid ramen joint with typical new restaurant jitters. I’ll be back.

It’s more of a 3.5. As said by reviewers the price is quite up there for ramen. And not all of them come with an egg so you have to add it on, which increases the price.
I got the tokontsu and I think had we gonna later in the day instead of right when they opened the broth would have more flavor. I was not a fan of the ginger. I would have rather had the kale or nori. This one I had to add the egg.
My boyfriend got the Chico ramen. He really liked it just wish it came with the pork belly, but mine came with two so I gave him one of mine. He liked it but considering he has never had ramen before he did not know if it was anything rave about.
We will be back because our little one loved it.

I was really excited to hear that Chico was getting a ramen noodle restaurant! I love ramen and waited patiently for this restaurant to open.
Today I had the chicken ramen, everything was perfect; the broth, chicken, egg, and kale.
To go, I ordered the pork belly bao! Every calorie was worth it!
The restaurant was spacious, clean and the wait staff was attentive and friendly. I like that I can sit at the front counter if I’m dining alone and quick on the go.
I will be definitely coming back, with my friends and family

My husband and I decided to give this place a whirl tonight. First impression was how clean the inside was. Two smiling young ladies greeted us at the counter, although it wasn’t immediately apparent that you order at the counter. They were both very friendly and helpful.
Looking over the menu I was a little disappointed that there weren’t more options to choose from. There are 4 ramen bowls and 4 bao options. When I had questions, the ladies were very accommodating. After ordering, we choose a table to sit at and waited about 10 minutes for our food.
It arrived piping hot, as we were told is Japanese custom. There are chopsticks and ramen ladles on the table. My husband and I were laughing as we attempted to eat the noodles with chopsticks.
I had the pork ramen. The «pork belly» was mostly fat that just dissolved in your mouth. The broth has a very full taste to it. My husband had the Chico ramen. The chicken in it was very good, and the broth had a saltier taste. I preferred the Chico to the pork but I still ate my entire bowl.
The staff was friendly and bubbly, very talkative and playful, which I enjoyed. I would like to see an expansion in the menu in the future, the place has potential. Will be great when the weather gets cooler!