Boke Bowl – West

Its so damned good! Get the fried chicken.

This was the best experience. Glad we tried. Servers were super cool and hospitable. They took good care of my party and made some great suggestions. Fried chicken was amazing. Also enjoyed the ox tail appetizer. Ramen was ok. But everything else hit the spot. This is a trendy little spot. And I loved our visit to Portland.

Banging steamed bun sandwiches!
Do yourself a favor and pop by this spot for a steamed bun sandwich. Plenty of options and even a vegetarian option.
Overall cool spot. Not a date night spot but a steamed bun and beer with you home boy or home girl, is what’s up!
Enjoy.

I’ve been here 4 times, so I think I can give a good description of the place.
Comfortable space, modern, plenty of tables. The noise is not too loud. The service is quick, although a little chaotic. I was asked several times what I had ordered, and I think they just kind of remember what you had and bring it out when it is ready. Whatever. I got my food, that is what matters.
And the food was excellent !
I have tried the caramelized fennel dashi ramen — in fact I had that twice it was so good. I felt kind of funny about slurping my noodles, but I got over it. The bits of eggplant and other vegetables in there are delicious and the broth has a wide, comfortable flavor that doesn’t hint at the privations of a vegetarian dish, but loudly announces that this is a vegetarian dish can be deeply satisfying. I also had the chicken sausage dashi, and it was good, no — it was great, but I liked the fennel dashi more. It just had more intense flavor.
As a treat I tried the fried pears and was simply blown away by the carmalized flavor. The housemade twinkie was way better than the original, but it would have to be, wouldn’t it?
Other things I have had include the fried chicken with miso sauce (incredible!), the brisket steamed bun served with a slaw that tasted so good I immediately wanted more, and the pickled cucumbers (yum).
I still want to try the kimchi, the soy pickled shitakes, and maybe one of those salads. They look great. Lucky for me, this place is about 2 blocks from my office so you’ll find me here often.

Great vegetarian ramen! I recommend the shiitake pickles.

I passed this place every day on the streetcar on my way to work and finally decided to go their for date night. I am not a picky eater in the least and I never leave food on my plate. The seafood bowl I got was so salty and fishy that I had it boxed up as leftovers (there was so much still on my plate I felt bad leaving it) and then promptly threw it in the trash when we left. I think I still occasionally get a taste of the horrible aftertaste to this day! It’s a clean, cute place and I really wish I had enjoyed the meal more. Even the much loved rice tots didn’t get eaten. I’m sorry to say this was the most disappointing meal I’ve ever had in Portland.

This place is definitely worth trying. It’s a very cute clean restaurant that offers a wide selection of ramen, vegetables or rice bowls. I had spicy miso ramen with chicken sausage which i liked. I thought the dish was very well balanced with the amount of vegetables, noodles and spicy broth. Price is comparable to many of ramen places. My soup cost me $ 13 plus tip. It maybe on the high side for lunch, however it’s worth paying extra for quality meal.

Very cute spot with great design and an appetizing menu.
The food itself was as promised, but nothing totally memorable. My favorite part of the dining experience were their cute dinosaur chopsticks. While, they made for great Instagram posts… the best thing about a restaurant should always be the food.

I love their vegan dim sum! It isn’t necessarily «authentic» but everything my family and I had (both vegan and meat) was good. The downside is that it’s rather overpriced but I’m sure that’s due to their nice space and location.

Just… not that good. And kind of expensive.
I want to like this place. It looks great. It has a great fast-​casual vibe. The menu looks tantalizing.
But the ramen… just isn’t very good. The noodles are kind of un-​appetizing. The broth is way too strong. And good luck spending less-​than about $ 13, even on a to-​go bowl of soup.

I love this place! The ramen is awesome, and while maybe not «authentic,» I like how they include seasonal veggies. Steam buns are delish… I will never forget the gal behind the counter who, upon learning it was my first visit, suggested trying the PB&J bun with a side of fried shallots. Sold! I’ve been back many times since. I think my favorite added bonus is that the NW location is slightly off the beaten path and never seems to be fully packed; I think I’ve had to wait once, but even then, wait time is super minimal.

Not sure why all the less than stellar reviews. Their homemade ramen is fantastic, broth is just right — very subtle and not over-​salted like many are. Make sure to get the fried oysters! They are amazing!

After seeing pictures of these delicious buns on Unilocal,we were determined to go try their dim sum on the weekend. When we got there, we realized that you could order the buns during all hours but they only have other dim sum items at specific times. We were confused if you ordered at the counter, however, similar to regular dim sum… we were seated then provided with a stamp card and they push carts around.
The difference to traditional dim sum, the servers actually understand what you are asking for when you are non-​Cantonese/​Mandarin speaking and explain each items to you instead of yelling Chinese names at you. The price for small, medium, large plates are steep comparatively. We ended up with Shumai, braised oxtail soup dumpling, fried chicken & waffle, and two order of the buns. The Sate (chili pepper sauce) was coarse and made it difficult to eat when you dipped food into it. I would say the Shumai quality is similar to that of the ones you could get frozen. The oxtail soup dumpling was initially really good then got salty and there were holes in the dumplings so the second one I had lost all it’s soup component. That chicken was perfectly fried and had a great sweet-​sour sauce on it but that rice waffle was interesting – we thought it was too dense and flavorless that we ended up not finishing it. I enjoyed the pork belly bun, reminded me of Peking duck in bun with the Hoisin sauce, yum. The beef brisket was a miss for me, meat was tender but it was overwhelmed by the creamy horseradish-​mayo sauce. Sickeningly creamy and didn’t sit well in our stomach, maybe would’ve been better with a vinaigrette based slaw.
The buns were so filling, we didn’t have the chance to try the Ramen. I would probably come back to try other food options but not dim sum. I would just go to Wong King’s for normal dim sum.

You know, I had no complaints excepts its a tad on the pricey side for the size of portions you get. We popped in for a quick lunch and ordered:
Pork and shrimp Sui Mai-​juicy and well seasoned
Chicken, pork belly and brisket steam buns-​really a perfect trifecta! My personal favorite was the chicken which reminded me of summer and fried chicken. Don’t ask me why, that was the first thought that came to mind. The pork and brisket were also well done but found the sauce to meat ratio a bit off on some bites.
Pickled cucumber-​always a good choice!
Ginger rice-​my absolute least favorite of the meal. It’s served cold, I’m not sure why, but a major thumbs down for that.
All in all a good experience! It’s close to my friend’s house so I’m sure we’ll be back to check out their ramen.

Went here for Dum Sum on the weekend, yum! great friendly service too. Only reason its 4 stars is there could be a few more items to choose from, but I guess its not a traditional place :) will be back to see if anything changes

Tried Boke Bowl down in southeast 1 yr ago and thought it was okay at best. They’re not traditional in any sense, considering fried chicken is a popular side item, but I’m fine with non-​traditional as long as it’s done well. Thought I would give the NW branch a try just because I was craving ramen that day and it’s close. I had the pork ramen. Broth was thin and not as flavorful as a traditional broth. There was a good portion of pork and the cookery on it was decent. The weird thing was that there was diced squash, or squash-​like vegetable, in the ramen which gave the dish an identity crisis and was totally purposeless. Lastly, the ramen noodles tasted neither fresh nor authentic.
Boke bowl also appears to be experimenting with dim sum on Mondays. I’m not sure if it really is an experiment but it sure tasted like it. The Har Gao was all about the doughy wrap rather than the inner shrimp substance that should be the main attraction. The shu mai was shapeless and tasted mainly of ginger rather than the juicy, mouthful pork/​shrimp flavor that should be there.
I can say that the restaurant was clean and the service was good, hence the 2 stars.

Pretty good…
I liked it, but it wasn’t as good as noraneko…
The location is great because it’s closer to my apartment, but unfortunately it’s still worth it to instead drive to the other side of the river to get ramen.

Steamed buns were literally the only good things we got. Vegetarian ramen was too salty and oily and pork ramen has a smokey bacon flavor to it. The pork belly and beef brisket steamed buns were our favorite and the fried chicken was good too but take off some of the white mustard sauce that comes on top because it was pungent and overpowered some flavors. Green beans were limpy and not crunchy, disappointed with those.

I just got done binging on the pork ramen, fried oysters, and pickled cucumbers…
I was really hungry and craving some ramen and I decided to give that Caviar app a try. It was so easy to order and my food showed up in about 20 – 30 minutes.
What I ordered:
Pork ramen with poached egg, and I accidentally ordered extra pulled pork, which I won’t do again. That was a lot of pork. My fat Persian cat Marie was happy to help me out with that though.
Cornmeal fried oysters — $ 5, a really yummy side treat. There was a mustard seed/​tartar sauce that was pretty good but they could also been great with salt and a squeeze of lemon.
Pickled cucumbers — just what you would expect picked cucumbers from an Asian restaurant to taste like. Only $ 2.
Now I’ll admit I’m a bit ramen-​obsessed, and this doesn’t quite top my list of best ramen in Portland, but it’s in my neighborhood and it was quick and still delicious!

Same Boke magic, slick west side location.
I go bananas for the mushroom steam buns, people. I lose my mind just thinking about them. I have been known to start shaking in anticipation, the only known cure for which is a tiny house-​bottled cocktail, while I wait for those hot little buns to arrive at my table. Adorable bottles feature local hooch and a couple drops of mischief, a nice addition to your meal, though I will default to a glass of house white with my ramen once in a while. Boke has you covered on all booze fronts, don’t you worry.
Back to the buns. I love them.
The fennel dashi is my favorite broth option here for ramen, but honestly, over the last year or so, I’ve shied a bit from the ramen in lieu of their amazing brussels salad and an order of buns. I am very lucky to work in an office that frequently gets Boke catering for meetings. They do a fantastic job from a catering perspective, consistently.
Rice Tots. Yes.
Soy-​brewed hard-​boiled eggs. Yes.
Buns.
Buns.
Buns.
If I had my druthers on lunch selection every day, I think I’d have a standing opinion that, if you don’t got buns, I don’t want none, hon.