Ramen Halu

Came here because Hokkaido up the street had an hour wait time… So we decided to try this place.
SERVICE: server was nice and came by quickly to take our order. Our food came by fairly quickly.
MENU: I liked that each bowl’s process and ingredients were explained in detail (like… A whole paragraph each) in the menu in addition to the sizes and prices. There are three thin noodle options and three thick noodle options. The more «traditional» broth flavors (shio, shoyu) come with thin noodles, while the HALU ramen, tsukemen, and tan tan men come with thick.
You can also choose between S, REG, L, XL sizes for your ramen
TASTE:
~ HALU ramen (regular $ 8.70): the broth is a mix of vegetable broth and shoyu broth. You can taste the shoyu, but it wasn’t as strong as normal shoyu base broths. There was a fair amount of oil swimming on the top… The thick noodles were pretty good, but I wish they were chewier instead of hard. Bamboo shoots and wood ear mushrooms were fine with it. But it came with ONE piece of thiiiick pork so it wasn’t soft.
Boyfriend added a soft boiled egg, which was decent — runny and soft.
~ Tan Tan men (regular $ 11.50): I was pretty skeptical about this because the flavor of tan tan men isn’t traditionally Japanese but Chinese. But I gave it a try — regular spicy. It was pretty darn spicy! A lot of spicy oil floating on top of the broth with a small pat of spicy ground meat. Even so, there was nothing special/​memorable about the broth.
Toppings were chopped spinach, green onions, wood ear shrooms, bamboo shoots, as seaweed. I feel like there could’ve been more toppings for the ratio of noodles I got (which was a lot).
I really wish I could give more stars because service was alright, but nothing was memorable or tasted semi bland.

The Ramen Halu broth is really dark and flavorful. It’s quite salty if that is your taste preference. The egg was just a tiny bit over cooked but still really good. The meat was a bit fatty fell apart in the ramen. It was a nice meal on a cold day with no wait but I’ve had much better elsewhere.

Their spicy ramen was a filling lunch! The noodles are fresh and chewy, and the egg was well done, even though it wasn’t as soft as I would have liked it. The service was quick and polite. It is on the saltier side, but I like that salty kick in my soup. The meat was soft and tender and flavorful. The small is definitely not enough for me so I would recommend a large unless you are not that hungry!

My top 3 favorite ramen places are pretty well known: Orenchi, Kotetsu and Ramen Dojo. I have tried several other places all over the Bay, and nothing ever compares to those 3. Every time I tell myself, «alright time to try a new ramen place», I regret it moments after. My friend and I are ramen enthusiasts so we decided alright, let us give another shot for a place we have not yet tried.
Ramen Halu was one of the few we found on Unilocal.Came here a little after 7:30pm. The place is quite small but we were seated after a few minutes. First things first, the menu is pretty confusing… or well overwhelming. There is just too much going on and the ramen options are on the very last page…
A waiter took our orders a little after. Service was kind of slow and they took a little too long for water to come out.
I ordered the Halu ramen with an egg and my friend got the tan tan which is supposed to be spicy. Apparently certain ramen are thick noodles while some are thin but I wonder if you can substitute which one you want? I prefer thick noodles, I just think they make the ramen experience tastier, at least for me.
My broth was pretty bland. Uhh… more like bamboo flavored broth. WHAT?
Anyway, the only thing I enjoyed were my noodles and egg. Broth was just dissatisfying, mushrooms should have been cut thinly, etc.
Would I come back? Like what I have said in the very beginning… maybe I should just stick to my holy 3. Hahah…

This place and Orenchi are the best ramen houses in the Bay Area.
Their tan tan men ramen and Halu ramen are savory and hearty while the shio (my fav) is light and nice. The noodles at this place are legit, best in town by far. All in all, if you want legit ramen fix this is the spot.

Since I lived in Japan for a bit back in 2008 I’ve become quite the critic of ramen and have a hard time finding good ramen in the states. The ramen here wasn’t terrible, but it wasnt as good as ramen I’ve had elsewhere in the bay, or on the east coast. I tend to be a harsher critic on ramen in the bay area because you’d expect it to be good with the cultural influences here, its not like you’re in Gatlinburg, Tn, expecting to get slamdunk Indian food.
With that in mind, the broth was decent, I’ve had better noodles, and adding an egg got me a pre-​cooked hardboiled egg cut in half and sat on top of my ramen.
I’ll stick to Orenchi when I’m in the bay for good ramen, or go find a hole in the wall place in Milpitas.

Good, but definitely nothing special. A bit weaker than Santouka and Orenchi, and those places are pretty bland and average themselves.
Please, let’s open a good Ramen place in San Jose!

Guess I didn’t order the right thing. I tried small Halu ramen. Nothing but very salty for me. The noodle is not chewy at all. There’s only one slice of chashu and one piece of seaweed, and nothing else. Guess I should order extra egg or chashu with the noodle.

I’ve eaten Ramen at a few places in the South Bay, LA, and the Bay, and this experience… there are no words, but I’m gonna do my best. A little background: My brother turned me onto ramen, it’s kind of our thing.
Fast forward– we ended up here on a Saturday, mid-​afternoon. It wasn’t too busy, but there were people inside. And it smelled decent. Ok, let’s give it a shot.
Strike 1: There was debris underneath the empty tables, everything ranging from empty straw papers to pieces of noodles– umm, what is the purpose of your staff but if not to keep the restaurant looking orderly and clean?
Strike 2: Ordered the Ramen, asked for soft drinks, only to discover they carried Ramune soda ONLY (this is not a bad thing, but really? You’ve got to have more of a variety. Plus those drinks are expensive as hell).
Strike 3: The Ramen arrived quickly (that’s a plus), but it was beyond bland. And I mean bland. Soy sauce and ramen seasoning couldn’t bring it back to life. I was so dissapointed, but I woman-​ed up and ate my one, stingy piece of bland pork and the egg (not included) that I requested.
Strike 4: I know what you’re thinking– there’s only 3 strikes, right? Wait for it… So my brother is royally pissed that the food is not good. I’m disappointed ’cause I was READY for some ramen. The bill comes out to $ 18 and some change. When we go to pay, we find out that there’s a $ 25 minimum for credit/​debit cards. Excuse me? So the food is not great, but you just earned yourself a $ 6+ tip? byefelicia

Came here with a friend after deciding not to get ramen at Santouka or drive all the way to Orenchi. I’ve heard about this ramen spot, but never tried it and finally had the opportunity to. As always, I always get the signature ramen if listed on the menu so I did and I added an egg in as well.
The Ramen Halu was just A-​OK, I think I may prefer Santouka better. The broth was heavy and filled with fat, but very flat in terms of flavor. There is a salty and savory flavor to it, but lacks complexity even with such a dense broth. The toppings were minimal with a pieces of seaweed, green onions, mushrooms, bamboo shoots (menma) and Charshu– small pieces by the way. The noodles are thick, but chewy and cooked well. The egg was good, soft boiled and seasoned probably the best part of the dish. Overall the ramen was okay, wasn’t mind blowing or exciting but it didn’t suck either. You do get a big portion here for what you order and the price is good.
The shop is a bit small, maybe seating 30 or so people? The service was good, considering it was an early lunch. All in all, decent ramen for a decent price. However, I’d prefer Orenchi or Santouka over this one.

My individual experience here at HALU was slightly below standard. The food itself was good, but not nearly close to being the best.
I came here with my family hoping to not only enjoy the food, but to also spend time with my family. Prior to sending our orders into the kitchen of any restaurant, our first specification will always be to strictly have no green onion because my mother is allergic. We triple checked with our waitress, and she even told us, «Don’t worry, there will not be any green onions.»
As disappointing as it was, my mothers bowl came out with a couple pieces of green onion (which indicates that they put green onions in the bowl and scooped it out before bringing it to us). However, what was even more disappointing was that not only did the waitress deny the fact that there were no green onions visible, but she also put aside the blame by saying the soup is always boiled with green onion. What’s ironic is that the menu specifies every single ingredient in each soup bases available (white onions were used in the base, and green onions in the toppings). Either the waitress lied to us, or the manager did, by not specifying that there were green onions used in the soup base.
There was also never an apology issued to my mom, who had to leave the restaurant to find a meal elsewhere that was also open (they had told us their kitchen was closed).
The service here is what will keep me away from this restaurant in the future. Do yourself a favor and find a ramen restaurant that is actually good and has at the least a bit of respect for the customers.

When am I not craving ramen? I wanted to try a new ramen spot so

5 stars for the best tsukemen I’ve ever had.
I was craving a hot bowl of ramen after a long ride up to the bay and my friend took me to Ramen Halu before heading out in downtown San Jose. The shop is on the smaller side and there was a bit of a wait around 8pm, but man, was it worth it.
The ramen and tsukemen both come in 4 sizes: small, regular, large, and extra-​large. The tsukemen comes with both pork and chicken broth, which you can then mix at will. The noodles are delightfully chewy and the nitamago, done just right. The best part was the incredibly savory and delicious broth– not too salty and really the perfect amount of vinegary acidity. The dense soup had such a satisfying depth of flavor and I slurped it all up long after my noodles were gone.
My friend’s Halu Ramen was delicious as well. The tonkotsu broth was rich and had bold, earthy flavors. There were strong hints of bamboo and mushrooms and the flavor was simultaneously unique and familiar– super comforting.
So many ramen restaurants fail to understand or execute on all of the cardinal 3: noodles, broth, egg. Arguably, the most important of the three is the broth; even when the noodles and ajitama are done well, they are almost never enough to carry a bowl of ramen all the way. This rule of 3 is often why I am never completely satisfied with various ramen shops and is also the reason why I am so impressed with Ramen Halu.
Flawless on all 3 counts. Highly recommend!