The Whet Noodle

I hate to do this, but that was some awful food. I sent one dish straight back. Stir-​fried vegetables with what tasted like apple-​pie seasoning. It took ten minutes to find someone on staff who could tell me what was in the GF noodles, then when they arrived in a murky, sweet, over-miso’d broth, they were yellow and rubbery. The staff, though not very knowledgable, were pleasant and helpful, but that was some seriously terrible food, and I now know the answer to the eternal question: «how can you mess up noodles?»

The ramen was really not great (the broth was weak and bland, the egg was sweet and was extra money), but I thought the appetizers and baobao tacos were killer. The ceviche flight, roasted cauliflower, and street corn were all delicious. But skip on the ramen. Which is a shame, since this is a ramen joint.

I am blessed to have the Whet Noodle in my neighborhood. The food is clean and wonderfully filled with taste. I love sitting in the window eating and watching So Oceanside bustle. I gave different Ramen additions each time but always start with a cucumber or see weed salad. The staff is attentive and the wine selection Is fun. Go to the Whet Noodle and enjoy.

I was really bummed that this wasn’t as good as I was hoping it was going to be. Living in North County, we don’t have many ramen or noodle house options and I’m so excited that the ramen houses are starting to make their way up to our neck of the woods.
Whet Noodle is where Bull Taco used to be, same set up inside but a more Asian/​Japanese theme. The décor is super cute and the ambiance is really chill and in line with the hipster wave that’s taking over Oceanside. Water comes in a fancy glass jar and the tables are arranged with benches and pillows.
A really neat piece of the set up is that it is connected to Seabasstropub next door, so if you want Sushi you can order some from next door and they will bring it over, and visa versa.
Now for the meal… it’s a different kind of menu, you have to order each piece a la carte which is kinda cool but kinda lame because it’s an additional fee to essentially make a standard ramen. I ordered the chicken with hot and sour miso broth and an egg. The boo got pork with duck shoyu broth and an egg as well. Flavor wise, not my favorite. I tried both our broths (they’re the only two options) and was not loving either and the boo agreed. The broths were pretty bland and more on the sweet side and no matter how much soy sauce of chili I added, the taste didn’t improve. Our friends ordered the chicken tender things (don’t remember the name) and he said his was ok.
Overall, score on the décor, but would not go back anytime soon for the food or the menu concept. Hopefully it gets better with time. I’m rooting for them!

I’m gonna pull a Quentin Tarantino right now: Overall, it was a good experience. Not sure if I’ll say I’ll return, but it’s worth the shot if you’re in the mood for ramen and you’re in the area.
First, I’d like to say the environment and ambience is very nice, I like it a lot. The ordering is super easy but the only problem I see having is wanting to order something else, you gotta get up and get in line again.
The ramen itself was umm… decent? I don’t know what it is, but I can’t quite pick out what it needs. I think the broth is lacking body to it, like it needs a little more over-​night simmering with some more seasonings and bones.
The toppings on the ramen were actually good, I liked that a lot. I read a lot of reviews on this establishment mentioning the noodles, how they tasted like instant ramen? I don’t think that’s the case. I mean, anything could constitute as «instant ramen» if you really wanted to. But I felt like the ramen was somewhat authentic. It had a nice spongy texture to it, but not soggy.
In my honest opinion, and I hope I don’t offend anyone, but the ramen is a very Americanized/​hipster spin on the traditional ramen dish — which is cool, I don’t mind. It’s probably what they’re going for.

I was excited about a ramen restaurant in Oside. I was also thoroughly disappointed by the lack of authenticity.
My husband also had sushi next door at Seabass and they were equally terrible.
I guess I have to travel to the OC or LA for good ramen these days.

Ordered the pork with duck shoyu plus egg.
Have been waiting for 15 minute since I ordered and still waiting. When entered there was 4 people sitting with their food and those whom came in after got their food prior to me.
Once the dish came, the effort in putting this together is high, nice spin on this Japanese dish, however the flavor was more shoyu than duck, the pork wasn’t exactly Japanese style, the egg was impressive looking but the taste was powered with sugar. The noodle was cooked just right.
Overall a nice place to come for an unique spin on Japanese food but don’t think about authenticity.

This is a review just for the ramen at this restaurant, nothing else. I also understand that it is not a traditional ramen restaurant and to keep an open mind as written by their disclaimer.
Do NOT order Hot and Sour ramen!
To the owner of the restaurant, have you tried your Hot and Sour broth? I get the feeling that you didn’t, which leads me to believe that you don’t taste your other dishes before putting them on the menu. Did you let other people taste test it? And I don’t mean friends, cause some friends will throw in the white lie that it’s aiite. I mean people who’ll give you a straight answer.
First things first, love the décor of restaurant.
When the ramen came out, I was impressed by the presentation. The Napa cabbage, beansprouts, naruto, Bison and bacon meat made my mouth water. I was ready to dig in!
But looks can be deceiving. It tastes like crap. Complete crap. I’d rather spend my money on a diff place for ramen. Considering your ramen takes up almost half your menu, I would think noodle dishes be core to your restaurant… and the fact that it’s called «The Whet Noodle». The Asian me thought it’d be like the Asian style hot and sour fusion with ramen, but naw. It’s a clear broth of sweet and sourness. My first step before eating any ramen is to always taste the soup. That was my first and last sip of hot and sour broth.
Forgive me if that’s your alternative for vegetarians, but even I wouldn’t recommend to my vegetarian friends. I ended up requesting a small bowl of the pork broth to dip tsukemen style, which was better to my liking, but meh.
Noodles: done well. Has a nice bite to it.
Vegetables: Napa and uncooked beansprouts. Good. Preferably don’t like uncooked beansprouts, but that’s just preference.
Bison and bacon: I liked it. Pretty much like ground beef with a bit of charring.
Soft boiled egg: waaay too sweet.
Naruto: did you cut it straight from block and leave it uncooked? I mean you can eat it as it is, but seriously? That’s like taking it straight from the supermarket, and plop a slice in the bowl.
I might be making a wild guess, but I saw two groups prior to me leaving with a full to-​go bowl for their ramen. I’m assuming it’s your Hot and Sour ramen.
As much as I’d like to give you bonus stars for the other pieces of the dish, I can’t because the broth destroys your pallet, thus making everything else it touches taste bad. (Hence the duck broth tsukemen) It’s like a zombie bite. Once touched by the awful sourness, you gotta cut it off and salvage what’s left over.
Fix your broth.

Ramen here was very soggy.
Broth not that amazing at all, definitely tasted more like something my little brother would cook up in the kitchen with our at home top ramen packets.
If you read the small disclaimer on their menu you will see that they claim to not be a real ramen house and to keep and open mind… so if you were expecting it to be a competitor ramen house in north county just like myself, dont waste your money coming here. Trust me when I say, you are not missing out on anything here and try another ramen house off the 76 near the 24hr fitness center in Oceanside.

Came back to give it a second chance before reviewing… And despite giving the place time to straighten out and fix what was wrong with the first time I came… They only half fixed it. What they did right this time: the soup was hot and there was more than a «pinch» of meat. Unfortunately the mushroom was again like rubber, broth (duck shoyu) bland, and meat had poor flavor. Not to mention the squid appetizer was soggy, slightly fishy, and what I fear… Undercooked.
I’m sad because I really want another great restaurant in South O, but I can’t justify throwing money away.
I’ll stick with wulan or head to SD for one of many outstanding ramen choices.

I am a soup connoisseur and stoked on this place. One of my favorite new quick dinner spots in Oceanside that I find myself visiting at least once every other week. Fun, eclectic decoration & environment. Live music on the back patio in the summer (weather permitting). I hope they eventually start opening for lunch, but as of now open at 4.
When you order you pick your broth, protein, & ad ons. Unique broths, as well as vegetarian options. They offer a variety of appetizers. Menu is small, but delicious.
Favorite: duck shoyu (broth) with duck and garlic chips.
Staff is always wonderful
Must try

Hmmm. So, they replaced Bull Taco with this take on ramen. It’s not like Japanese ramen, and it’s not like Chinese ramen, so if you go in expecting it to be either, you’ll be disappointed.
My husband and I got the same thing. The duck ramen with pork. The pork was shredded pork, exactly like pulled pork minus the bbq sauce. It was a pretty good serving size– they have that going for them. The toppings included a fish patty, cabbage, mung beans, inedible mushrooms, a boiled egg and green onion– It tasted like pepper soup with weird toppings. Overall? I just was not a fan. I’ve had ramen all over the US and this just didn’t compare.
The service was spot on and the ladies working were so nice. I like the ambiance, but I’d rather take my money and get awesome ramen over mediocre ramen. Pass for me!

This is our first time back since Bull Taco left the location. I have always loved this space, I don’t know what it is, but there’s a warmth to it. We were pretty excited to have a new ramen place move in as its always been a favorite of mine (heck, my wife and I went out to ramen the night we got engaged!) We finally got a date night and decided to pay them a visit.
I don’t know if I have just been raised on soup that is too salty, but I found the broth to be rather bland. The flavors were muted and left me wanting more out of the dishes. At this point, I feel a little incomplete. I know it has something to do with my high expectations coupled with the fact that I haven’t explored their menu very much, but whenever I give a three-​star rating, I immediately want to go back and try the place again, just to see if my experience was a fluke. I will be back– maybe for a late lunch with the kids or for dinner again to try something else. Even though I sit with a three star rating at this point, I still have high expectations, and hope to elevate that rating on my next visit.

I have been craving ramen for months now since having to go gluten free. I literally cried eating my bowl of ramen tonight because it was that good and satisfied my every craving and more! Who cares if it’s not «traditional» ramen. They clearly mark it on the menus that it isn’t and that they aren’t trying to be. But DAMN, this is some damn good «ramen»!
Parking was kind of rough on a Saturday night but after a couple of rounds around the block, my husband and I found a spot in the neighborhood. There was no line when we got there at 830. The girls at the register were really helpful with the menu. I liked the Japanese décor and open seating because I like to choose where I sit in a restaurant. They bring water out in a glass bottle with glass cups for you to pour yourselves if you ask for water.
My ramen consisted of gluten free noodles with duck, duck shoyu broth, garlic chips and a whole boiled egg. Soooo good! There were tons of melt in your mouth duck pieces throughout the bowl. The broth really is sweet like everyone says but I added a ton of the chili powder found on the table to make my broth spicy. I literally inhaled my broth and ate every bite in my bowl. I probably looked like a ramen fiend hahaha. My husband got the terikayi beef and he basically devoured his plate too. He said the beef was very tender and that the teriyaki sauce was really tasty too.
We will definitely be coming back! Love this place so far!

The Whet Noodle is a funky new restaurant. The wood décor looks awesome. You order at the front and take your number to a table (not a huge fan of). If you want more you have to go back in line, kind of irritating.
The cucumber salad and calamari is to die for. Soo tasty and fresh. The ramen is good, however I have had much better. The ingrediatns and noodles are tasty but the broth is the missing piece. It didn’t have much flavor at all.
If I could make some recommendations it would be to work on the broth flavor and get rid of the ordering up front and have full service servers who take orders from the tables.

Meh, this was OK. The décor is cute and we liked the ambience. The service was also good considering you order at a counter. The food is OK, I thought the duck had too much fat and not much meat. I’d prefer a cheap phở place any day over here. It’s pricey, $ 40 for two people, one appetizers and no alcohol or drinks. It was fun to try but we won’t be back any time soon.

My eyes are hearts right now! I had the duck broth and duck meat in my bowl of ramen, plus I added the hard-​boiled egg and garlic chips. Delicious!
The duck broth is very flavorful — I’m glad that I picked it. I finished my food completely, every last drop of soup and all.
I also had hot tea with my meal. I picked the Yerba Mate Cruz de Malta — highly recommend.
Awesome service — super friendly, welcoming, and attentive. I’ll be back!

We all grew up on Top Ramen. Don’t fool yourself into blocking that part of your childhood out. We all have our own recipe and did what we could to spice it up and make it better, so inherently as the Ramen movement is in all of us, has been for some time. What we as kids, who ate this as kids have done is grown up. Our palate’s and pocket books have matured so it’s easy to see how Adults are going out of their way to go to the Jinya’s, Raki Raki, Tajima’s, Santouka’s of the world because we know what bad ramen is and now we want good ramen. Eventually Ramen may not be as pervasive as Taco shops here, but heck even in TJ taco shoes aren’t as numerous as Ramen is in Japan.
For a long time only Teri’s had good ramen in North County because they have a noddle factory in Oceanside. All the other Japanese places that served ramen lacked the broth, ingredients because their resources were focused on sushi. Until Wrench decided to buyout Bull Taco and build on their ever popular local brand and focus on Ramen. It’s hard to do good sushi, ramen, teriyaki and izakaya which round out what is Japanese food.
They didn’t do a ton to Bull Taco, some minor décor, some seating adjustments, but for the most part just add on’s. It’s still warm, friendly, maybe a little dark, but so is Wrench. The service is still very good, Jessica keeps things up beat and attentive with her staff, but are experiencing growing pains of a small start up all over again. They are new and don’t’ carry a half dozen noodle and broth types for crazy variety, but they’ll get there, but what they do right is the add on’s. Soft boiled egg’s (not ajitsuki), crispy pork, duck broth, fish cakes, that fried black garlic oil mayu. Their broth’s are rich and smooth. Miso is probably the blander of the 2 I’ve had, but still has room for customization. The Duck broth is nice and dark, but lacks the balance of a tonkatsu. Sapporo (butter) which I predict will be here in the future as it’s an easy variation to introduce. The main kinds are Shio, Shoyu, Miso, Tonkatsu. There is overlap and combinations and more when you throw in Duck and a half dozen types of noodles. Is it heavy or is it light, they certainly stay to the light side. Kotteri or assari. What’s nice is the alkaline water needed for Ramen can be found locally (L&W). Ramen is meant to be warm, not boiling or really even near that, it’s often warmed in Tokyo using hot stones in the actual broth. The size of the ramen bowls are not huge, so you may want to get something small as well. The spicy octopus salad is overly drenched in Wakame and more chukka than fresh octopus. I was kind of half expecting a more pulpo style. Seaweed salad has a little of everything, but again overloaded with wakame.
I found the noodles to be not too chewy, not too thick or thin and are properly cooked separate. Unlike most pasta’s where chef’s are taught to finish in the sauce, this is not the case here. Build the broth, add the noodles and structure the add on’s. I’m waiting for the corn, enoki, wood ear mushrooms, white pepper, and other tasty add ons. If you are slate enough to only stick with 1 type of ramen this place isn’t for you, this place might be the opening of your mind to variety most are too afraid to try when they do go down to Convoy. To have it in Oceanside is a blessing. I find it refreshing as just like Wrench they aren’t too stuck in tradition which is easy to see on their Sushi offerings next door, but harder to see if you’ve never been to Japan because we’ve known what bad ramen is and most everything else is tradition while Whet is something else. They aren’t about quantity, they aren’t about tradition, they aren’t about what you normally get elsewhere. Many people seem to dislike them for price, value, flavor, but I’ve been to Japan and had some of the best the West Coast has to offer and know for a fact people are still clinging onto memories of how Top Ramen made them feel or the drunken nights at Tajima (and I’m still gonna have them). Just in the way Wrench is one of the best sushi around, no one is calling it authentic or traditional, so too should we look at Whet Noodle and maybe not compare the past to the future.
One day I see Ramen being on par with Taco’s. Integrated, Westernized, mainstream. I don’t see this being like Japan where really good, I’m talking really good ramen is rarely over $ 10. You either make your own noodles or buy really good one’s and the # of stock pots you need is a little boggling, but in a years time I see them closer to spots already locking down convoy than places near here who we already avoid their ramen. Love innuendo in the name, but almost thought someone was a king of the hill fan with the whet part reminding me of hwat. If your girl doesn’t slup her ramen, she isn’t for you bro.

The Whet Noodle! What a fun name and an awesome new ramen spot in Oceanside.~
I love this great find. thanks to my friend whose a regular at the sushi spot next door she brought me here. The last time I had ramen was a year ago at «Ippudo» in NY so it was neat to compare and try out «The Whet Noodle».
–open seating, seat yourself
–food is ordered at the front and delivered to your table number
–delicious ramen, customize and make your own creation
–neat ambiance, trendy atmosphere, but yet laid back with casual seating
I enjoyed my ramen and demolished my bowl it was that good. It comes with noodles, pickled radish, scallion, fish cake, burnt cabbage, bean sprouts, and shiitake. I love eggs as it was cooked just right and it was a perfect add on along with the garlic chips, although I didn’t notice the chips if it was there or not. but my ramen tasted fine nonetheless (I think I thought it was going to be like big *onion and garlic shrimp snacks* chips inside, lol). The service here is great as all staff was friendly, and the bussers frequently came by which was a plus. I also got to meet one of the co-​owners at the end of dinner since my friend frequently goes to Wrench and Rodent Seabasstropub. she introduced us and she was a total sweetheart!
Perfect ramen joint with great service, delicious food, and a fun vibe!

Yay for a new decent ramen shop in North County! They don’t serve traditional ramen here, no tonkotsu or miso soup base, but a savory duck broth, which was what I had, alongside the grilled duck meat and a marinated soft boiled egg cooked to perfection!
I love my bowl of noodles. The noodles used were the thick kind with a good chew (points for not over cooking them). The flavor was good with the condiments such as the narutomaki (fish cake with the pink swirl symbol), the charred cabbage, the shiitake mushroom and the pink pickled vegetable. There could be more flavor in the mushroom and the bowl could use more soup. Other than that the bowl of ramen was great!
The prices were a bit high for a bowl of ramen. With the $ 1.50 half egg (not even a whole one!) my ramen came out to be almost $ 14.
Service was great and prompt. You order at the cash register and they give you a number, like in Panera Bread. The lady who served me was friendly with a great smile. She was also on top of clearing out the tables.
The ramen was above average and it’s a great place for ramen in North County for sure, better than Teri café!