U:Don Fresh Japanese Noodle Station

I don’t leave reviews often, but I was compelled because I rely on Unilocal for solid recommendations, this was not one of them. I have had Udon other Japanese places that is far superior and it’s not the only thing on the menu. I was expecting to be wowed and this was «ok» due to the competition on cap hill I likely won’t be back — phở and ramen options on the hill are delicious/​superior. We gave this place a fair shake ordering the highly recommended curry beef and beef Niku (sp?). Both were just ok, lacking in flavor and quality (noodles were decent, meat poor quality). I apologize for talking negatively, but this place sits at 4.5 stars and is just not that caliber.

lunch
food: curry katsu udon. its the special, but i think it should be on the permanent menu. it’s so good. it’s not too thick on the soup and the chicken stayed crispy the whole time. the noodles have a bite to it and not soggy at all. ***4/​5
service: it’s food court style. the orders are fast as they prepare everything in front of you. ***4/​5
value: only a bit more than a bowl of phở but different. plus you can order things on the side for a decent value. most additions are less than a dollar, which can get dangerous. it looks like a buffet so dont get too tong happy. ***4/​5

All I can say is WOW. I am really impressed. I ordered Beef Udon from Über Eats and I was not disappointed in the least! The portion size is generous. The flavor of the soup was perfect, seasoned but not too salty, and the fixings were all fresh and perfectly complementary. I will not hesitate to order from U: don again.

I absolutely love this place! The nicest Udon you can get in the Us for sure. I have Udon weekly in Japan but was never happy enough in the US until I found this place. They have all the Tempura in traditional way, some are unusual like Takoyaki but they are ALL Excellent!!!
Definitely come back.

Its clean, service is fast, food delish and great on the budget!!! Easy soup dates for these cold nights and rainy days!!!

Still struggling to get a Satisfactory rating from the health department. Consider not eating here for a little bit until they get it figured out.
The food is tasty, and the location is ideal.

Where’s the Beef? I literally just received my first order of Beef Curry from Über Eats. I was really excited to try this place and it arrived in 3 minutes — Thanks Über!
When opened the sauce, I thought I had received the wrong order. I was expecting slices or pieces of beef, but it was just broth. there was a little beef in there, but very little, like if I put it all together it wold be about a teaspoon. Is that what this dish is? Seems a bit misleading to call it beef. Maybe call it beef sauce curry. Luckily i had a small piece of chicken that I could add to it. as I didn’t want to fill up on all noodles.

Had a great all around experience here. I had the tan tan udon soup. If you love spicy but flavorful dishes then I would highly recommend the tan tan.
Ordering was easy and straightforward, the staff helps you along if you are unclear how/​what to order (which I was). They also had a interesting looking tempura bar to supplement the soup. I didn’t have any but I for sure will the next time I go.
I would recommend this place if you are looking for a ‘fast casual’ spot for a quick meal.

Oh myyyyy. I found this place by looking for great rating udon places. It’s off the beaten path for me, but ended up being well worth the drive. I’m not a knowledgeable udoner, but I this place has a little learning curve. You order and pick up your order half way down the sliding counter. And then there are some detectibles to choose from. I grabbed some shrimp tempura and life was good. I would definitely recommend, it was fast, reasonably priced and delicious. Three things that I like.

As the Duchess of U: Don — Cap Hill for the remainder of 2015, this concludes my Unilocal reviews for this year.
As a fake New Yorker, I can confirm that «fast casual» restaurants are popping up everywhere in Manhattan. However, I still have not found my fast casual replacement for U: Don in any borough of The City (even counting Jersey). They really should bring U: Don to NYC’s Midtown or the LES.
In a nutshell, U: Don is my favorite restaurant (as seen on my Unilocal profile). I will literally eat here para almuerzo y cena (and have been). Now only if they were to open for breakfast, I could’ve claimed my Duchess title much faster. They have limited 2-​hr street parking in front of the restaurant. Clean bathroom in the back.
They have expanded the menu over the years. I typically like its regular soup and curry udon. During my recent visits, I tried the pork belly and duck soup udon and liked them. Personally I like the pork belly better than the duck udon. A small bowl would easily fill me up and I am always happy with a $ 7 lunch meal.
The only improvement I hope U: Don makes is its health inspection grade. They started with the equivalent of a New York «C» health rating back in 2012 (UW location). Now they have been upgraded to a «B» level (see link below) for both locations. I hope to see the «A» rating very soon. See King County health inspection site
Also, please hire more hot Asian male staff like «10Below Ice Cream» on the LES, see link as example

Was originally looking for a ramen spot and this place popped up on Unilocal.After looking at the pics we decided to do this instead because it reminded us of a spot in Hawaii. Ramen was delicious and there’s endless options for taste and sides.

So many great things to say about this place. I usually get small a udon and takoyaki and get pretty full from it. I decided to get the udon with duck and it was soooo delicious. The duck and udon taste really fresh, topped with thei complimentary fresh ginger was so good. The soup broth is different from the normal udon. I like the original broth better, the one that came with the duck is more of a soy sauce base broth. Didn’t expect that but it was a better combination. The staff there is always so friendly.

Tired of Phở so decided to try Udon. Glad I did. Noodles are made in house and are served in a soup, sauce or by themselves with dipping sauces. The ordering process is kind of like chipotle. You grab a tray, order your noodles and move down the line. You can get add-​ins and towards the end choose from different tempura/​fried goodies all at moderate prices. I really enjoyed the flavor of the broth and the texture of the noodles. I want to go back to try other flavors and styles!

Great concept! Make your own udon, well soup base and toppings. Or you can let them decide for you.
They also have a tempura/​fried foods section where it is charged by item. Sometimes where they all look so good you get too much. I’d come back here on a rainy cold day… Perfect for soupy udon.

Okay. I’ll get on board, I guess.
Friends seem to love this place. I went in with them somewhat begrudgingly but willing not to party poop and was moderately impressed. I think the trendiness slightly supersedes the quality and value, but still I was pleased with what I ate.
So you walk in, they have a noodle ordering system. Sort of like a pick and mix. You order your basic noodle dish (a soup or a sauce) and then you can add a few items just after, like green onions or chili oil, etc. Furthermore, you can get some sides like tempura, spring rolls, shumai, etc. I got a medium soup and two side items and it was almost $ 12. Seems a little steep for noodle soup, especially when you compare it to Phở values.
Still, the noodles were quite lovely. I ordered a spicy soup and it was quite spicy! Almost too much, so when they indicate 5 chili peppers in their spice barometer, they mean it. The sides were nice too, but because they are pre-​prepared and under heat lamps, you’re likely to get one that’s more room temperature. They also have beers and sakis to choose from.

Good cheap eats, with some downsides
U:Don makes noodles to order, and does it efficiently.
The Capitol Hill location is modern and clean, the staff is friendly, and the food is served quickly.
Whats’s good:
— The noodles, made fresh to order
— The price of noodle dishes (a bargain)
— The clean and modern restaurant
— The staff
What’s not so good:
— the extreme levels of sodium in the broth — you’ll be thirsty for hours after
— the tempura (I love tempura, but because this is made well in advance, it’s greasy and not very appetizing). Tempura should be fresh /​made to order, and this isn’t
— the beef in the Niku — described as Sukiyaki beef, this isn’t high quality sliced beef, but rather low quality shredded beef
— the price of tempura (a big add-​on, as the low price per item adds up fast) — it’s easy to turn cheap eats into a $ 15 meal if you get a few tempura shrimp, some veggies and a drink

It was a gloomy and chilly day in Seattle, and I was craving phở or ramen. So happy to have stumbled across this place on Unilocal with my boyfriend! Being the foodies we are, we were so eager to try this place after the great reviews from fellow Unilocalers. We walked in and were greeted warmly by those behind the counter. There are a number of different Udon noodle combinations to choose from, but because I wanted something spicy I got the medium «Curry Udon», which was flavorful and had a generous portion. In addition, you could choose from a bar of different vegetable tempura (you are charged by the pieces of tempura you get). The nice thing about it is that it’s a quick and inexpensive option in Capitol Hill, and it’s self-​service.
As soon as we sat down, we took the obligatory pictures and then dug in to enjoy the authentic meal! Overall, great service, ambiance, and amazing food! I will definitely be back soon.

I would give this place 3.5 stars. I’ve been here twice and tried their cold dipping udon. Once was a to-​go and the other was a sit down. I knocked a star off because I found a hair inside an udon (one of the potential downsides of hand made noodles). It definitely spoiled my appetite after seeing that but I couldn’t really do anything because that was my to-​go and it wasn’t realistic for me to travel all the way back just to complain.
The time I was there the ambience was very pleasant. Friendly staff which always helps.
Other than udon I had their takoyaki which is delicious and definitely not bad for $ 2.
Would I come back? For the takoyaki, yes. Udon, maybe. The hair threw me off.

Such a great option for fast, easy, tasty food on the Hill. In fact, I was super glad to see that they have cold dishes in addition to traditional hot dishes. So it was perfect to come here the other day and not worry about having a hot meal on an already hot day.
Great for summer because:
–The restaurant itself is cool
–They have LOTS of cold dishes
–They have their same hot dish menu as well. So since it’s AC controlled inside you can still enjoy hot food if you want and not feel too gross about it
I tried the cold udon noodle dish with sauce and not a whole broth-​based soup. It was extremely tasty and perfect for a warm day. The medium size serving was too much so next time I’ll be happy to save a few bucks and just order a small. My fiancé opted for a large and even found himself really filled afterwards as well.
Side dishes were great — we got a big knot of tempura treats, a corn and crab cake and a skewer of mushrooms. If you don’t want udon or noodles you can still fill up on the side dishes and make a meal for yourself. In addition to tempura and skewered veggies and shrimp they have fried chicken, egg rolls, gyoza, and various other little easy to eat classic bites.
There’s a fridge full of Japanese sodas, sake and beer, or you can opt for a Jones Soda or Jones Lemonade.
There was plenty of room to sit here with a small or large group. Service was super fast and food was delicious. Can’t wait to come back for more cold udon this summer and then hot udon this winter.

The new location of U: Don on Capitol Hill opened a couple months back. It is located in the new 12^th Avenue Arts building just off East Pine Street. I am a fan of the U-​District location of U: Don, so I thought I would check out this new location.
This location appears to be bigger than the original space and is a lot more sleek and modern. The cafeteria style setup though remains the same. As for the menu, the offerings have been expanded to include rice bowls if udon is not your thing.
The prices at this U: Don seem slightly higher than the U-​District location, but the offerings here would be considered as very reasonably priced for Capitol Hill. I got a medium order of curry udon ($ 8) with a piece of chicken karaage ($.65) and takoyaki ($ 1.99). Beware that there is a $.29 surcharge if you want seaweed as a topping on top of the udon. I wasn’t aware of this until I saw it on the receipt.
The food here was on par with the one in the U-​District. The curry udon was good, though I wouldn’t recommend it given the current heatwave. Zaru udon is definitely the way to go for eating udon in the summer.
Overall, I enjoyed my meal at U: Don. If I am looking for a relatively cheap meal on the Hill, U: Don would be one of the places I would go. I have to admit that I have a preference for the original location in the U: District over this one. But I think the convenience of this location will grow on me.