Bowl & Ramen

The slowest service ever! Walked in here at 1:45 and there was only 2 other tables occupied so in no way at all it was busy. Placed our orders within 5 mins and 30 mins later, still no food. Asked the server to check on the order and she said it’s on it’s way out and 5 mins later, still nothing. My lunch hour was almost over so I asked the server to pack the food to go and several minutes goes by and still nothing! At this point, I was done waiting. I told the server to cancel my order. She went ahead and cancelled it and that told me the food was nowhere near ready b/​c if it was, I would of gotten it already! Never coming back again.

They were closing at 3pm and we came in at 2:56. Instead of sending us away they said we can eat in. Awesome.
:)

$ 17 tax+tip for dot sol bibimbap and 4 lame banchan. Rip off. Definitely not the 9+ dishes in the pics.
If you are gonna charge $ 17 for basically a bowl of rice with some shredded veg and just a pinch of you’d should at least provide the full accompaniment of banchan. And that does not mean 4 miserly dishes.
Had assumed since the owners were Korean that they’d do the banchan right. Nope. They opted for cheap instead. Just 4 lame banchan: napa, cucumber, radish, potato. All of it looked and tasted old too.
Dot sol bibimbap was ok. Chintzy on the meat though. And they used red cabbage. I’ve never been to a Korean place that had that. And I’ve been to a good number of them. It was extra $ 4 for that stone pot compared to the regular bibimbap.
Will NOT be back. I’d rather drive out to RC where they do the banchan right.

This place appears to be run by the same restaurant as Mana, which is as of the date of this review (4÷6÷13) currently closed and under construction. Mana’s entire menu is available here, as is ramen and Korean BBQ.
The Korean BBQ is delicious and comes with the traditional array of interesting side dishes. Unlike American BBQ, Korean BBQ tends to be a slightly more salty, less sweet sauce, more like teriyaki. The side dishes are a variety of cold vegetables, many lightly pickled or spicy, which make for an excellent accompaniment to your meat (think cole slaw w/​ribs).
The décor includes wooden benches. They seem to be struggling a bit with the change over, as service was a tad slow on the two occasions I’ve been there, but it wasn’t a huge problem and overall I thought the food was excellent.
In addition, you can still order all the traditional lunch bento boxes and sushi rolls from the mana menu, which gives you a lot of selection.

Eat here for good Korean food in the Arden area! I usually have to drive to Rancho Cordova for quality Korean food, so YAY for the Bowl and Ramen location. They serve Korean and Japanese dishes — their menu ranges from sushi rolls to Bibimbap/​Spicy Tofu soup.
Location — Across the street from Target and connected to Mana Japanese Restaurant.
**Note — Mana is currently closed due to renovation.
Tried: Bimbimbap (Regular and Dolsot) and Spicy Pork
Bibimbap — This dish makes my tummy smile! It’s a rice dish mixed with veggies, meat and a fried egg served in a cold metal bowl. Pricy -$ 9 — but for the portion you get, it’s 2 meals in itself. For $ 4 more, you can get the Dolsot Bibimbap. This is served in a hot clay pot with kim chee. Totally changes the texture of this dish — the rice becomes crispy and adds a delicious crunch with every bite. Add the plum/​siracha sauce and omg, amazeballs. Definitely will get this again.
Spicy Pork — Served on a hot stone plate with grilled onions. It comes with a side of purple rice — forgot to ask why it’s purple, just trusted it tasted good. And it was — tasted like Taro was mixed in.
6 side dishes — Pickled radish, bean sprouts, tofu, kim chee, broccoli, and more random tofu. Disappointed with the side dishes — both in portions and quality.
Kid friendly — They have high chairs, no kids menu and plenty of seating for kids. The ambience is relaxed and pretty quiet, so unfortunately antsy kids will be heard.
Service — pretty good. On a recent visit, it took a while for the server to initially greet us, but was on point after that. The manager and waitress worked together to ensure our drinks were refilled or check if we needed anything.
Misc– They used to have bench seating, but all the tables from Mana have been moved over here. They have one TV. Restrooms are past the two seating areas. There is a private seating area — good place to book a party. Hooray for a parking lot!
Would I come back — Yes. Good spot if you are craving Korean food in the area.

This was my second time checking in and first time dining here. The first time we came here, the place was packed and we didn’t want to wait! This time, I’m glad we came when we did because customers started coming in one after another. The place was packed within a half an hour!
First impression, nice wood floors with matching wood tables and chairs, really nice open, airy feel, nice bright lighting. On this evening, there were two servers along with the owner hustling back and forth. Really nice and personable owner, he was on top of everything making sure that everyone was pleased and satisfied.
I love that they have a variety of Japanese and Korean dishes. There is fresh sushi since they are affiliated with Mana, which is adjacent to this place and it’s owned by the same owner. Mana, is a Japanese restaurant and the owner is Korean. That’s where the two cuisines come together, what a fantastic idea!
Here, you can order both Korean and Japanese dishes. There is a wide variety of Japanese dishes from sushi to homestyle cooked dishes like tonkatsu (breaded, fried cutlets). On this night, we wanted Korean and got our usual. We ordered three dishes and accompanying them were nine side dishes, much to my dismay, the side dishes were mediocre. One of the dishes I ordered was Ramen Sundubu, It was literally, an instant ramen nestled in spicy broth, it tasted like the kimchi flavored ramen bowl I buy at WInco for $.79 doctored up with some tofu and extra seasoning! I didn’t know restaurants were allowed to serve instant ramen? Oh well, now the Bulgogi and Dolsot Bibimbap was satisfactory.
I probably would come back again because of the great service and it’s nice not having to travel to Rancho Cordova, where most of the Korean restaurants are located. Also, because the owner was really friendly and aims to please his customers!

One star because well… theres room for improvement. quite a bit, like a bowlful.
At places like these, you have to look for the grandma cooking in the kitchen. Because the older the grandma, the better the food. But this lady was barely a grandmama if not for maybe just an aspiring grandmama pretender lol.
The ramen soon doobu made my heart sad. My expectations may have been set too high but I imagined Shoki style ramen noodles swimming in a yummy soon doobu soup. Howevaaaah, I am not exaggerating when I say they’re probably using those old Ichiban instant noodles I had as a kid. Wow… yes, it tasted that generic.
Beware of the soon doobu galbi combo. While the soup tastes ok in the ‘meh, thats not very good but ill eat it because there are starving kids in a third world country somewhere that might eat this’ type of way, it does comes in a smaller bowl so FYI that. But what was more disappointing was that we literally got 3 pieces of meat. The taste of the galbi was decent but the serving size was underwhelming to say the least. I get it, that its a combo deal but damn, its a mini meal. The side dishes that are traditionally served with a Korean meal were ok, but again the portions were microscopic. Yes, upon request they will provide refills but still.
Now maybe, the other dishes on the menu taste better. And maybe I’ll come back to try them, but this is called Bowl & Ramen right? So thats what I did, I ordered a bowl and yes, I had ramen… but instead they served me up with a bowl of sadface… unbowl-​eavable :(

I’ve tried a few dishes, after a few trips to Bowl & Ramen, and now I can give my full opinion on this korean restaurant. ^^
Dolsot Bibimbap– First dish that I’ve ever tried at this place. It was… plain. I added some of the red pepper paste to it, but it just made the dish sweeter. I recommend that if you want your bibimbap to be spicy, bring your own Sriracha Sauce. Hehehe.
Not my type of food, though. I like a little bit more flavor. Who knows? I just might order this dish again just to see if my tastebuds were lacking that day.
Tteokbokki w/​Gyoza– Tteokbokki was delicious, sweet, and… I couldn’t finish it. –_​– Maybe because it’s rice cakes, and you get easily full from eating it. It’s also considered as one of the popular street foods and/​or foods to try in Korea. Yay! The Gyoza was decent enough. (:
Spicy Soft Tofu Soup w/​Stir Fried Marinated Beef– This sh*t was the bomb! The tofu soup, in my opinion, became spicier with each bite. Yummy! The marinated beef, as always, was awesomeness. The only downfall I would think is that you’re going to be hogging all of the water at the table. Hahahaha.
Seafood and Green Onion Pancake– Two words: Simply Amazing. I usually take out the big chunks of green onions out of my foods, but I actually ate it this time. Shocking, right? :3
Kimchi Pancake– Good, although I prefer the Seafood & Green Onion pancake better. I don’t know why. =b
Noodles w/​Black Bean Saunce AKA Chajang-​Myeon– This has always been on my To Eat List, and I’m happy that I’ve tried it. The flavors were simple, but I found myself content with it. After all of those times: drooling over it in Korean Dramas/​Movies, one of my dreams came true. I was able to experience eating these tasty noodles, at last.
Side Dishes– I like eating the Fried Tofu and the Kimchi. Everything else, I leave to my family members. Mwahahahhahahahha!!!
Overall, I think of Bowl & Ramen as a lovely Korean restaurant to dine in. The staff’s customer service was wonderful! I mean c’mon, who doesn’t want people asking them if they need anything or if they like their foods? By the way, my fellow Unilocalers… they have the MNET channel. Heheheheheheh.
So, if you’re a fan of Kpop, you are going to love watching your favorite groups while you enjoy your meal. My sister is urging us to go back for another trip, tomorrow.
Meet you guys there, suckas! Kidding, of course. xD

I was fooled by the reviews. This place is not very good. I had the kalbi ribs and the ramen. The kalbi was alright, but very small and fatty. The ramen was horrible, it was packaged ramen! And it didn’t even have very much additional stuff in it, I can’t believe they charge the prices they do for their ramen. I can make better ramen at home with packaged noodles.

A Mana Sushi production. It’s next door.
It’s Korean but they threw some Japanese in it. For example, that California Roll you can get in your combo. I had a California Roll here and they gave me a choice of imitation crab or snow crab. Why is that even an option? Anyway, Korean food has been in a more concentrated area like Folsom Blvd. and it’s nice to find it here, breaking away and opening where Korean food is lacking presence. There’s probably one other in this area.
It’s a small restaurant. Tables with bench seats. Asian Programming on the TV. The food is decent. Not the best but, good enough. They serve banchan (side dishes) prior to your meal. I ordered Dak-​bulgogi once for lunch and it was a little weird only because the server was trying to sway me towards pork or beef and even after I ate it, she asked how it was and seemed surprised that I didn’t complain.
.so, that was weird. And. I didn’t get sick so it wasn’t anything like. yeah.
Just weird.
I often get people telling me I look like someone so in the back of my mind, I always wonder if my doppleganger was here. Making shit weird for me. Not on purpose of course. but, it could happen.

I was craving for some Korean food yesterday so I decided this would be worth a try considering the fact that it was somewhat new and has some pretty good reviews.
I came here for lunch yesterday and ordered the Dolsot — bibimbap. This had rice topped with vegetables, and meat served in hot stone pot. When it came out, it was sizzling like hell. It also came with a bottle of red pepper paste sauce. You’re supposed to squirt some of that sauce on the plate and start mixing it. It continues to cook itself as you keep stirring. It’s pretty cool since it was my first having this type of Korean dish. After letting it sizzling for a few more minutes, I took a couple bites.
Man! This Korean dish rocks! I love how the rice is actually crispy like chips and all the toppings tastes pretty well with the rice. Although I haven’t tried the seafood bibimbap, this one sure is good. The seafood one is the same as the one I had but with seafood toppings…
I also ordered the Bulgogi (stirred fried beef). It wasn’t really good in my opinion. It kind of lacked flavor and spiciness so I wouldn’t order this one. Side dishes are offered as well with your food. They can be refilled for free per your request. Only about 6 – 8 side dishes came out. Kim-​chi had too much vinegar but the radish was pretty good. The fried tofu was pretty good too.
The service here is off the hook! The server is very nice and attentive. Only reason why I give it 4 stars is because the quantity they give you and the price. The portions aren’t as much as the other Korean restaurants and the prices are quite pricey. $ 13 for my clay pot and $ 9 for my beef.

Note: If you are expecting japanese ramen like shoki’s you might be disappointed. I come here and order the same food that I would order at any other korean restaurant.
I have been to Bowl & Ramen twice and its not too bad. Not too bad at all.
The first time I had the ramen sundubu. The sundubu was just right and the ramen tastes the same as Shin Ramyun, actually i’m 95% sure it is Shin Ramyun. I was hoping for fresh japanese style ramen noodles, but korean restaurants typically use instant ramen noodles and Shin Ramyun Noodles are one of the best instant noodles you can find out there.
The second time I went, I got the sundubu and bulgogi combination meals. The portions were just right for me. I usually eat a lot, but I was comfortably full. Unfortunately I was disappointed in the sundubu this time around. It was spicy like I asked, but it just didn’t have enough flavor. It needed something salty. If this ever happens do you, just add the juice from the pickled radish or kimchi and you can save it.
The banchan (side dishes) were pretty good. You get about 8 dishes and they were all good, plus when you are running low, the waitress asks you if you want more.
I give this place 3.5 stars. I rounded up because the staff were very nice the two times I went. If you live in the area and want some korean food, check this place out.

I picked this restaurant, after driving seven hours from Oregon, based on previous reviews on Unilocal that were quite positive. I ordered the ramen and pan-​fried pork combination dinner and was very pleased with it.
The nine free side dishes, including kimchi, tofu cakes, potatoes, a pepper and dried fish dish and others were almost enough for a meal by themselves. The ramen broth was flavorful and the pork was good, as well.
I would highly recommend this restaurant.

Excited to try the ramen soon dubu!
This place is really good, I ordered the soon dubu $ 9 with ramen for $ 1. The tofu was cooked perfectly, not to soft or undercooked. served in a hot clay pot with ramen.
Service was good, Juan Yee was nice and friendly!
I haven’t tried the bbq meats yet, the cold noodle soup looked good especially on a hot day. They served us 9 side dishes with free refills. The restaurant was empty at 7 pm in the middle of the week, but quickly filled up by 7:30 pm. Seating for large parties in the back and it is connected to Mana if you prefer sushi.
Décor was nice with seating pick nick style on bench seats. K-​pop TV playing in the back ground. Odd location, I hope they do well catering more to a Caucasian clientele in the area.

It was a late night and I was craving korean food.
Unfamiliar with the area, we had a little trouble finding the place but we eventually found it hidden next to a larger japanese restaurant.
They closed at 9 and I arrived at 8:45 :(Bad, i know. But they happily greeted me and my guest and we were seated at a heavy wooden table with wooden benches with cushions. Legit Korean style. They had the korean channel MNet on the TV and pictures of korean food on the walls. A clean and cozy place.
The sides were just «okay». I ordered the seafood bimbimbap and my friend ordered the ramen. The seafood bimbimbap was definitely larger than I expected! It came out sizzling and smelling of deliciousness. I am a slow eater, but the server that helped us was such a sweetheart! She didn’t rush us and stopped to converse with us for a little bit. I fell in love with her! Not exactly, but she was probably the sweetest waitress I’ve ever had, hahh. It was a little past 9 with the closed sign up and i felt guilty so i asked for the rest of my food to be packed and she carefully and graciously packed my food for me at our table. I ate the rest on the drive home: P
I will definitely be back if i’m in the area!

Gotta say I was really disappointed at this place. Their Ramen reminds me of the packed instant Korean Ramyun or Shin brand & all they did was add eggs, spring onions, dumplings & Kim chee, like the ones I’ve made at home. The broth actually taste much bland compare to the instant ones. Their Sides were okay but, not the tastiest. After adding my extra’s & a soda I spent about $ 11 for something that I could had made at home.
I haven’t tried other items on the menu yet This rating is strictly for their Ramen Bowls only. Not worth your money.

We were driving down Alta Arden one night and saw a new establishment next to Mana. Really only saw «Ramen» on the grand opening sign, and that’s all it takes for me to veer the car in that general direction.
OK, so it was a Korean ramen place… didn’t know that walking in but no biggie, I like to expand my horizons. Liked the K-​Pop music videos playing on the TV. I felt a little lost looking at the menu but the waitress was friendly and answered any questions we had. I had the dumpling ramen *yum* and my husband loved his sizzling hot pot dish (the bibimbap, I think?) Food was kinda pricey, though.
Want to come back and try some more, for sure.

There is no Korean restaurant that can be described as «a short drive from Roseville» (there’s not even a Sorabol in the Gallera!), so I decided to make the trek out toward Arden to see what Bowl and Ramen was all about.
Admittedly, based on reviews here, I kept my expectations in check. Phrases like «fast food» and «cheap stuff» made me nervous, and I expected an ultra casual, hole-​in-​the-​wall dive (which I honestly would have been fine with, too). On a Friday night, while Mana Sushi next door was clearly packed, I was pleasantly surprised to find Bowl and Ramen to be a quaint, clean, quiet, casual-​but-​elegant place for me and my 8-​year-​old son to enjoy some Korean cuisine.
The business name, while catchy, is a little misleading, because ramen is really just a small part of their menu, and I personally would not likely come here just for the ramen. With that said, my son really enjoyed his dumpling ramen, and he is not usually so forthcoming with positive comments about his food. The stone pot seafood bibimbap that our lovely hostess/​server recommended, however, was amazingly good. The small plates of veggies and kimchee were tasty, albeit a tad on the skimpy.
My only gripe would be, as others have mentioned, the price point. It could somewhat be justified if this was in Roseville/​Rocklin, but it’s not. With the majority of other Korean establishments located along Folsom Blvd, however, I’ll gladly pay the price for the (relatively) shorter drive, the service, and ambiance. Can’t wait to try the other menu selections!

tucked in a corner behind Gatsby’s, next to Mana Japanese restaurant, don’t pass them by like i did and miss out on some traditional Korean dishes.
i ordered the mandu (dumpling) sundubu on a very cold and rainy afternoon. they have 5 levels of heat: mild, medium, medium hot, hot, and crazy hot. medium hot was perfect– prob too hot for some but I LOVE spicy. if you’re familiar with Eastern Empire’s hot n sour soup, it was a little hotter than theirs.
Jenna, the young female server, was the sweetest ever and probably the best customer service i’ve received in a LONG time. she told me about several menu items, offered recommendations, and even helped me stir my soup once she brought it out.
they offer a half white half purple brown rice mix as the rice side. mix your kimchee with it and taste the flavors jump up a notch. their banchan was also delish, especially the cucumber kimchee and daikon kimchee. hope they make spicy shredded squid and marinated tofu sometime hint hint!!!
I can’t stay away and have since tried the chicken and pork bulgogi– yum yum yum. The meat was perfectly cooked each time, extremely tender, and spiced just how i like with a kick at the end. their various bibimbaps are also very good. i fell in love with the seafood hot stone pot. holy hell i almost ate the whole thing, and it’s huge. An added bonus… NO MSG in ANY of their foodl!!!
i’ll for sure be back for their lunch specials so i can pig out for less.
cash, credit, ATM accepted

Styled like a fast food joint, the prices are a bit alarming. I ordered the haemul dol sot bibimbap, which is seafood mixed rice in a stone bowl. It was tasty, but bibimbap is not a difficult dish to execute.
With a small amount of sides, mediocre environment and lukewarm service, coupled with a high price, I can’t say this place is that great. My meal came out to $ 17 after tax and tip, and for that amount of money, I could have had more sides in a better environment at any number of Korean restaurants on Folsom Blvd.