Ichi Ramen

With the closing of Men Oh in Union City, I’ve been looking for another ramen joint to take up the mantle of Tonkotsu Champion as the replacement certainly doesn’t measure up anywhere near Men Oh. Ichi might not be as good but it’s got the best tonkotsu in the Union City area right now. It’s a simple ramen joint where you go up to the counter to order, take a number, and await your food. They combo up the ramen with things like don if that’s your thing.
I tried the braised beef and shrimp ramen and it tasted good, but it’s most definitely not ramen. The noodles are knife-​cut noodles and the broth is not any sort of ramen broth that I’ve ever had. It’s delicious! But it’s not ramen –_​_​_​-​.
The only gripe I have is that Ichi Ramen needs to take their Grand Opening sign down. My pet peeve when it comes to restaurants is leaving the grand opening sign up. Stop deceiving me and playing with my heart!

This is a decent, nice, clean and good place. Ramen fast food, different from other places. If you don’t have much time to eat, this is perfect! Fast Service, good food.
I recommend this place, and will come back soon!

Glad to see there’s a Ramen place nearby in Union City. This place is very clean and they offer Ramen combination or just Ramen. Depends on how hungry you are and your budget. Combo is $ 11+ and Ramen is $ 8+. I ordered the spicy miso Ramen. It was pretty good the noodles were were cooked perfectly and there is enough meat and vege. The broth could be a little hotter. Relative to other Ramen places I think the price is about right. The one negative I’d like to pass on to the owner is to serve hot tea! I was a little surprised when she said they didn’t serve hot tea. Sorry had to take out one star for that!

Japanese fast food shop that reminds me of something you would find in a food court. The canteen style dining area is clean and simple. Food brought to my table on a tray by a server. The miso ramen was what I expected and the flavor was typical of miso soups I’ve had before. There wasn’t anything fancy about the meal and the price didn’t reflect $ 15 bowl of dojo ramen. The canned drink selection is good like those found in Hawaii fast food places.
Pros:
Fast
Cheap
Portion good
Clean eating area
Cons:
Canteen style, not full service
No music but loud kitchen
No hot tea

Decent ramen. I ordered the tonkotsu ramen with side pork stew donburi. I like that its fast and quick to make. The ramen was delivered to me unlike the other reviews speaking of having to pick it back up, but the lady didnt even smile at me or say a word when she put it down in front of me almost like a very light slam.
I actually liked the side of rice and slow cooked pork belly than the ramen. Ironic. The ramen isn’t bad but it isn’t great either. I didn’t look at their noodles but by the mouth feel I believe the other reviews in that they’re packaged and not freshly made. I’d sum it up as it not tasting «complete» if that makes sense. It tastes good, it’s hot, made to order but I think they’re missing passion and the highest quality ingredients in their food that I’m so used to getting at Yokohama Iekei down the street.
But sometimes I just need a quick cheap fill and they did the job. Would likely come back when I’m around and in a rush/​need something really quick. +no need to tip since there’s no real server. Otherwise I’ll go get a fix elsewhere.

If you’re itchin’ for ramen, ichi ramen could be a baseline option. If you or your friends are being wishy washy or can’t unanimously decide on a particular ramen shop, because everything in the bay area has the same Unilocal rating, then just go to ichi ramen.
Fast-​food style ramen shops are popular in Japan, and now we have one in Fremont. The benefits are, fast (er) service, no wait (er) to order, and decent (er) prices. It’s not super cheap, but also not $ 15 a bowl.
Fun fact: ichi means uno in Japanese, and uno means one is Spanish. Ramen means delicious noodles in Japanese.

Our new favorite place! Their ramen varieties are simple. Nothing to go crazy about their differences. I’m more of a beef person than pork so I always get their braised beef with shrimp noodles. Prices are reasonable as well.

This place is decent. The place looks new and clean. I ordered B3: Tonkatsu Ramen and a bowl of chicken curry rice. All things are super duper salty. The broth taste bold but I need to drink a lot of water to make my numb tongue feel better. After I gave up eating the salty ramen, I tried the chicken curry. It was very salty too even I eat a lot of white rice with it.
The good thing is I can get as much as water I want at the self-​serve water cooler.

I get it, this place is by no means a fancy ramen spot, but trust me when I say it is good for the food, atmosphere, ambiance, and the price. Ichi Ramen is a «place your order, sit down» type of establishment. I ordered the B3 — tonkotsu ramen with a side order of curry chicken over rice. The price was great — $ 12 for both bowls — and I was actually very pleasantly surprised by the taste of the food. I was expecting somewhat mediocre ramen. like a step up from packaged ramen, but the broth was surprisingly on point. Just the right amount of seasoning and spice. They provide you with crushed garlic paste upon request, too, which I highly recommend asking for to mix in with your soup (it’s something I add to my ramen whether at Yokohama’s or Matsuri in Union City). The service is great, too! Everybody is extremely helpful and very friendly. I will most definitely come back if I’ve got a craving for a quick serving of ramen.

I am not an expert on ramen but I like it here. My wife says it is decent. The food comes out quick and it’s very clean. I like clean. Lol.
So come for the spicy miso ramen on a cold night. Will put some fire in your belly.

Passable
You have to ask for the soft boiled egg
Not authentic
Décor is quite nice, clean
Cheap prices
Its a chinese owned wannabe japanese ramen shop
Ramen is prepackaged
Will not be back
Ordered a4 — not spicy at all
A6 — bland lacking flavor and had spinach, yuck
Tonkatsu curry donburi — pretty good and big portions
It is ironic that the rice donburi is good but the ramen is meh. From a ramen shop
Stay away
You have been warned

I felt like I was tricked, this should not be called Ichi Ramen, it should be call Cheap peeps trying to make ramen that really have no business being in the ramen business but instead should stick with Chinese food, but the sign would be wayyyyy to long.
I saw the soft opening sign and decided to tried it out with the family. Walking in, it was a fast food feel to it, but no big deal, ordering by number is ok. I was still excited over having ramen, I love ramen. I got our order in, I went with the black garlic tonkatsu ramen, and a side of stewed pork cause I wanted to try it. My wife went with the tonkatsu ramen combo with the curry rice. The kid went for the curry ramen, which he was jumping with excitement over. I asked for hot tea and got we don’t have HOT TEA… Which I didn’t believe for a moment, I even ask if I can just pay for it, which they answer no tea for you. They have soda, Hawaiian soda for some reason and free water with a self serve water cooler. With little tiny three oz cups???
I then notice the rest of the restaurant was an IKEA showcase, cheap ikea chairs and tables for everyone.
Much to my surprise, the food :
Tonkatsu black garlic ramen: soft boiled eggs cooked all the way thru, hard undercooked package ramen from ranch 99, the soup was ok, but j think they just emptied the soup based from the package into it. All for $ 11.85
Stewed pork: Five pieces of not stewed enough fatty pork. Taste was ok, Chinese style stewed fatty pork with bean and wine sauce, sadly, the highlight of the meal. $ 2.95
Tonkatsu ramen Combo with curry rice: exactly the same as above with a curry rice. Not the Japanese curry one would expect but more of the Chinese fast food joint style. $ 12 and change
Curry ramen: the worse, soy sauce package ramen with a little curry powder added, at least that’s what it taste like. My son, who loves ramen and loves curry was sorely disappointed. $ 9 and change
Overall, that was bad, for $ 37, I could’ve done the same at ranch 99 for about $ 8.50.
I hope the nice people would shape up and do better, they were nice, that’s why they get the second star on the review.

There is just something about this corner spot. I have seen numerous restaurants come and go throughout my childhood at Ardenwood. It seems like this place is not going to be any different. Ramen shops are starting to get very popular and competitive in Fremont. There is simply no room to slack.
I ordered a black garlic ramen. The ramen itself looked okay. It is when i took my first bite that everything started going downhill. Soup was warm, not boiling hot. Noodles were hard and eggs were overcooked. Flavor wasn’t anything special either.
I was really excited to try this place, but it seems like it is going to be gone soon like the previous Vietnamese restaurant if it keeps this up.

This review is based on their «soft opening,» which admittedly is for the purpose of refining their art. There is much to be refined, however.
First, they need to have people who have actual experience making JAPANESE ramen broth in the kitchen. If you are observant, you will surely see that they do not have this.
Second, service needs to significantly improve. Are you full service, or self-​service? If the latter, please ask yourself what self-​respecting Japanese restaurant is not full service?
Third, things such as the chashu and meats, really should be crisp and clean above the broth, not stewed and chewy.
All in all, the broth is pretty good for what it is, although I know that it is not fresh. Nonetheless, it is promising.
Once these guys get it together, it should be decent. But word of advice — even if you are Chinese run, you should still pretend you are Japanese. All the successful Chinese restauranteurs know this. Cheers and best of luck guys.

First impression, this place looks like a fast food restaurant. The interiors are modern, doesn’t give you the vibe of a Japanese restaurant. Also, the place is really clean and bright which is a plus.
The menu is above the cashier so you order your food and pay there. The menu is pretty small since they are still «soft opening.» I ordered the combo B3 tonkatsu Ramen with curry rice bowl. My boyfriend ordered their garlic pork ramen. I think their price is a bit high for soft opening, $ 12 for the combo and $ 9 for a bowl of ramen. Also, they dont have cups for water so we got free bottled water which was nice.
You get to see them make your food by the cashier. Their noodles are not hand made, just instant noodles from packages. We sat down and waited for our food. Unfortunately, they don’t bring your food to you, you have to go back to the counter and get your order and condiments you need e. g (chili pepper, salt, soy sauce, etc). So there isn’t any service here, everything is self serve.
The food was okay. I’ve had better. The noodles were cooked perfectly and the broth was creamy but it lacked flavor. The meat was okay. It was not fatty, pretty lean. I think they just needed to marinate the meat more to give it more flavor. Overall the presentation was nice. The curry rice bowl was meh. They only gave a piece of chicken and the rest were potatoes. I would not recommend it.
Overall, this place definitely needs improvement with their menu. I wouldn’t come back here for their ramen since its far from where I live. Also, this place reminds me of the mall food court. It doesn’t give me the Ramen vibe like the other Ramen places I’ve tried, if that makes sense.

Decided to give this new ramen spot a try with my friend Ryan SM. We came during the soft opening and right when I walked in, I noticed how nice, clean and modern it looked.
I ordered the black garlic pork ramen ($ 8.95) with a side of chicken karage ($ 2.95) to share. Both dishes were quite filling. The ramen tasted pretty good. The broth was creamy and flavorful but not as thick as other places. The noodles were cooked correctly, and the meat wasn’t fatty at all! And it comes with an egg which is a plus for me. The chicken karage came with 4 huge pieces of chicken which was awesome! Plus all of the food was ready in under 5 minutes. Yassss!
The workers are extremely friendly and always had a smile on their face. They even gave me a bottle of water free of charge! (No cups yet?) The prices are slightly more than other places in the area which is why I can’t give it 5 starts. Overall, for fast food ramen, it’s good. But if you’re looking for premium quality and taste look elsewhere.

It looks nice but it was a very disappointing experience. Ordering was difficult but I think it was the language barrier. Order came out very quickly.
I ordered the Chicken Karage and the Black Garlic Ramen. The karage was awfuly bland and didn’t even come with sauce. My roommate was with me and ordered gyoza so I tried to get more of the gyoza sauce but the person I asked got confused. The ramen was alright. Pretty bland for black garlic. No garlic visible in the soup. They also need to include more spicy options or have chili oil at the table. The bamboo was… squishy in texture. I ended up dumping gyoza sauce into the ramen and adding the karage to it and eating it all together. Meh.

New & lots of room to improve may return in the future to give it another try. If you have experienced what a real ramen joint is like or traveled to Japan. This is not that Ramen joint. Didn’t help that it felt like a Panda Express or some type of Chinese fast food.
Some of you will like it & that is all good.

When you dine here, you order first, then take your food and sit down to eat. That’s fine but during the soft opening, it’s a madhouse in here. The décor was simple and it’s a clean place overall. There is a cook boiling the noodles in hot water, each one with its own little basket. It seems pretty authentic until you realize they’re speaking Cantonese and using packaged noodles. That look identical to the ones I get from the grocery store… Strike one.
They accept credit cards, which is smart because we aren’t all old Asian grandmas that carry cash. But when you order, they might not read your order back to you correctly. Or they will also be snipping open a bag of noodles while taking your order. And they don’t offer free water? You have to buy water, soda, or tea… Strike two.
And after the wait, your food comes. The flavored are mediocre at best. The egg is cooked really strangely. It isn’t quite hard boiled but the texture almost has a dry, rubbery nature to it? It’s weird. The meal isn’t inedible but it is not worth $ 9. There are many other ramen options within ten miles for the price! If you don’t have any real ramen standards, go without caution. Otherwise, maybe go elsewhere. Sorry, Ichi, you’re so close to home but have a long way to go before I can award you a five star rating. And it’s not like I’m stingy with them haha.

So this review is based on our visit during their soft opening. So take it with a grain of salt.
My wife and I dropped by when we saw the place open finally. Unfortunately, I don’t think they’re quite ready yet. My wife had the Udon while I had the rice bowl both with pork katsu. Mostly, because they had run out of regular pork for my wife’s udon. Both of our dished were very bland. We both added copious amounts of soy sauce, fujiaki seasoning, black pepper and other seasonings on the table but it didn’t do much to help. Also, in my case the katsu looked and tasted like it was frozen and then reheated. It was not good. This was especially curious to me as there are deep fryers visible as you walk down the service line after ordering food. Were they not working that day? Was it that the staff hadn’t been trained on their use?
On the positive side the lady taking orders was friendly enough. I saw whom I think are two different owners while we were there. The lady was friendly to customers and tried to stay out of the staff’s way. The gentleman not so much. He seemed to me to be getting into the staff’s way and constantly getting in the way of getting orders. Also, customer service doesn’t seem to be his strong suit. While we were there 3 different people had problems with their orders. One customer in particular got very upset and shouted «this is ridiculous». The male owner/manager’s response was to shout «Sorry» back at her without looking up. His tone was one of irritation and being insulted. Not a tone of genuine sincerity. Probably should leave him at home next time. Especially if he is not good with customers.
On the plus side the décor was nice enough. Eating and service areas were clean.
We will most likely go back but not until they have had a chance to work out the kinks. Disappointing too as I was really looking forward to having a good Udon place in town.