Momofuku CCDC

Food and service are disappointing for this long-​awaited spot. I ate here earlier this winter, and the ramen bowls my friend and I got were underwhelming. Small portion, over-​salted, and not as good as some of the other ramen options DC has now: Daikaya, Toki, etc.
Desserts from the MILK bar are, however, fantastic! Just go there, to the small dessert and coffee bar next door, and steer clear of the restaurant. I can vouch for the CEREAL Milk icecream covered in crunch, the truffle balls, and the crack pie :)
My service complaint/​warning: On my second and last visit to Momofuku, I was craving dessert with a friend at 5:00 PM on a Sunday, my friend and I arrived at their opening. We were seated and I immediately asked the waiter if we could just have a quick dessert/​coffee at his table. I am always courteous to ask this in advance, but seeing as though there were many open tables around and it being so early, I figured it was OK. He said yes and brought us the dessert menus. A few minutes later a manager came by and said that they are unable to serve as at a table during dinner service and we should go next door do the MILK bar instead. (There is limited /​no seating there and we weren’t trying to eat icecream in the cold).
We told her our waiter already agreed and there were many open tables around us. She told us that WE must have misinterpreted him, and said the business is reserved for dinner guests only. She was furthermore hostile to my suggestion that we are still business, if only for dessert and coffee. She seemed very ready to throw us out, but finally conceded to have us sit at the bar, because I wasn’t standing down at that point committed to the icecream. Her behavior was unprofessional, and left me not eager to return to Momofuku for food, dessert, or drinks. Clearly guest — oriented service is not their priority. Serving overpriced and subpar ramen, is.

This review will be about both Momofuku and Milk Bar and it’s a lengthy one.
Let me preface this review with a little bit of background. I binge watch Christina Tosi on Masterchef/​Jr and David Chang’s Mind of a Chef. I seriously love Milk Bar and everything about it. Previously, I’ve only gone to Milk Bar in New York. In fact, I refuse to leave NY without having cereal milk soft serve and a compost cookie. However, I’ve never actually dined at Momofuku. So, when I found out there was a Momofuku/​Milk Bar less than an hour away from me, I IMMEDIATELY dragged my friends to come out to DC with me and raved about cereal milk and how famously delicious their ramen is. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations. At exactly 5:03pm, we arrived and were immediately seated.
Here’s the review: We sat down and ordered 2 orders of pork buns, beef broth noodle soup, and Momofuku’s ramen for the 3 of us. We split the meal exactly 3-​ways evenly and the waitresses were SO accommodating and understanding. I mean, no one wants to look *cheap* or be annoying when they have to ask for small bowls for sharing, but they came out with 6 small bowls and assured us that it’s quite normal for diners to share dishes like we were. Also, as soon as any dish or plate was empty, someone was there to clear it off the table faster than I can say «Momofuku CCDC». So, 2 stars for service. Pork buns were good, but not the best. 2 buns in each steam basket, 2 pieces of fatty pork belly in each bun, and a whole lotta hoisin sauce. The pork belly literally melts in your mouth like butter. I mean, I didn’t even have to chew it, but it was missing a certain je né sais quoi. Perhaps it’s because I like my meat drenched in sauce, but my friend liked how she could appreciate the taste of pure pork belly sans sauce. The buns were like sweet, steamed fluffy clouds of glutinous joy and I think I’d even eat the buns without any filling.
My friends enjoyed the ramen and I preferred the beef broth. The noodles were perfectly cooked and I’d bathe in the beef broth like a hot tub if I could. However, don’t expect the kind of ramen you’d get from an actual ramen shop. Good, but not what I expected and I’ve eaten plenty of ramen in my life for what it’s worth. I wanted warm soup belly, but the soups weren’t that hot and it barely warmed me up. Additionally, it was a bit too salty for my taste and I found myself drinking water frequently. 2 stars for food. Anyway, I kept seeing waiters with the soft serve, so naturally I rushed to finish the entrees just to find out THEIR SOFT SERVE MACHINES WERE BROKEN. I mildly Kim K cried in the middle of the restaurant because the whole point of the trip was for the soft serve! We waited a few more moments and munched on the packaged cookies (triple threat trifecta: compost, choc. chip marshmallow, and corn cookie) still in either shock or denial. The waitress couldn’t tell me what was wrong, but told me to go hang around Milk Bar and ask about the machines. After paying the $ 75 bill, I rushed to Milk Bar just to get my hands on any cereal milk-​like desserts. Not even shakes were available. I finally accepted defeat and walked out Kim K crying some more and texting my friends and family what had just happened. Hence, the 1 star off.

Call me crazy, but I truly don’t get all the excitement about this place or their adjacent bakery (milk bar). Apparently this place is reserved for like a month in advance because when we tried to make reservations on opentable for January 30^th, we only got something available after February 12^th. they do accept walkins, but you may have to wait. We were told an hour wait for 3, but ended up waiting only about 30 min. And let me tell you, the wait wasn’t worth it.
My friends had Left Hand Milk Stout beer and it was pretty good (I’m not a beer drinker, but liked it) and I had Juniper #3 which was way too strong, so the waiter was nice enough to replace it with something else. For some strange reason, they only bring half a glass of alcohol which is very strange and cheap looking.
For dinner, we ordered the Momofuku Ramen, pork buns and shrimp buns, and smashed potatoes. My friend said the ramen was average. I did like my shrimp buns, they were pretty tasty. As for the smashed potatoes, they were too damn salty and hard. We didn’t even finish those.
I would not recommend this place.

Heard so much about David Chang and finally had a chance to check out his place in DC. My recommendations: starters (kimchi), appetizers (the brisket buns), main (hoson ramen), dessert (crack pie). Trust me, you will leave a very, very happy Buddha.
This place is really hard to get into on a whim. I went early (before 7), on a rainy Monday night and managed to get seated right away. Make reservations, unless you want to wait for a table for nearly 2 hrs!

I had been greatly anticipating my visit to Momofuku… Alas, I was disappointed.
I ordered their Momofuku Ramen ($ 17) and I would give it a rating of ³⁄₅. The noodles were authentic and chewy, the pork shoulder was tender, the shredded pork was also great. However, the soup base was severely lacking (I feel like I’m saying this about all ramen stores in DC). The soup had a smokey aspect to it which was interesting, but it tasted as if the soup base was flavored with smoked salmon or something, as there was some taste I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Overall, for 17 dollars I expected more. Maybe more noodles, tastier, more salty broth. Just more. I mean, I ate the whole bowl in like 5 minutes and I wasn’t full! Imagine if you were not a small asian girl.
I also ordered the twist of Christina Tosi’s soft serve, which was a mix of her cereal milk + crack pie ($ 5), I enjoyed this one so ⁴⁄₅. For $ 5, it was a large serving. I especially loved the taste of the crack pie in soft serve form. The cereal milk isn’t my favorite, but I liked trying it out for the sake of it. My friend had the actual crack pie ($ 5.50) and that was also really good, but very sweet. It is some sort of southern pie that is chewy and dense. It comes in a package as well, so I assume if you want to take it home you can do so.
If you come right when they open on a weekday, you are almost guaranteed a seat. Besides, they have ample seating, mostly in tables of 2. However, I imagine they would put tables together if you had a larger party.
I unfortunately do not think I will be returning. Ramen for 17 dollas? That’s cray.

After having momofuku in NYC awhile ago and wasn’t a fan, I decided to give the DC location a try. After this second visit, I am reaffirmed that I’m not too crazy about this place.
This place closes at 11 pm so it’s convenient to grab a late dinner. The atmosphere was lively at 10 pm with tables sitting parties ranging from two to eight. There’s an open kitchen which seems popular among the crowds and the service was super friendly.
We shared the cauliflower and the brisket buns for the appetizers. The brisket buns were delicious but the brisket itself was too salty for us. The mayonnaise dressing with the slaw was the best part of the dish, along with the soft and warm buns. We could still taste the salty brisket even with the filling and between two buns. The cauliflower dish was not a favorite at all. I prefer my cauliflowers cooked and this dish felt like a raw salad. I get that there are roasted peanuts and dried cherries, but the cauliflower tasted rough as well. There wasn’t enough textures going on and $ 9 is way too expensive for a dish I could probably make at home.
I ordered the momofuku ramen once again for my entrée and the broth was still plain as I remembered. It tasted like soy sauce combined with a few other ingredients. The noodles were an ok texture. The best part in my bowl was the brisket and it was melt in your mouth so good! My fiancé ordered the beef noodle soup and the broth was also plain tasting. We did like the addition of bok choy and thinly sliced brisket, which added a nice fusion.
The ramen was what I remembered and the food was once again, ok. I think we have our momofuku fix and we are no longer curious.

The staff is friendly and helpful and the food is what you know to expect– delicious buns as an appetizer (try the shrimp of you’re tired of pork buns) and bowls of ramen soup and creative desserts from Milk Bar.
The $ 18 beef noodle bowl is more than I normally spend on ramen, but it makes for a delicious dinner during the DC winter. Big, rich, filling, etc.
Don’t listen to the haters about Milk Bar. The desserts are weird, but you can find apple pie or chocolate cake anywhere In DC. You need a special trip here if you want a slice of crack pie or compost cookie.

So much hype for less than mediocre ramen. The presentation was nice but the ramen itself was disappointing and extremely salty. This ramen would remind you of the good old broke college days but you dish out around 15 dollars for a bowl.
I would skip the ramen and stick with the pork buns which exceeded expectations. There’s also a truffle ramen for around 45 dollars LOL no thanks. If you’re looking for a great ramen spot in DC check out Sakuramen, Toki Underground or Daikaya.
I would recommend the momofuku dessert bar tho. I enjoyed the crack pie even on a cold DC night!

Amazing service. Loved all the appetizers we got. I can rave about the cereal milk soft serve for days! I found the ramen pretty mediocre. Sorry not sorry.

**3.5**
Let me begin by saying, if I was just rating the restaurant part of it I would have given 4.5 stars (.5 off for being a little overpriced), but I had to dock some points for the Milk Bar desserts I had.
We «accidentally» got to Momofuku 15 minutes before it opened, which was actually perfect because there was only a small line out the door (which is funny because we came here after seeing the crazy long line for the Renwick), and we easily made it in when it opened! My friend and I were seated at the bar and got to watch the kitchen do its thing. I definitely recommend coming in a group of 2 so that you get the opportunity to do this if food prep interests you.
Ordered:
Brisket Buns — I thought these were absolutely fabulous (could use a little less salt). I saw the guy cook our brisket and slide it while it was fresh and hot onto the pillowy bun. It had a lovely wasabi mayo and crunchy pickles. A bit fatty, but I love fat!
Pork Rinds — Don’t.get.these. Hard and tasteless.
Momofuku Ramen — LOVE that there’s a lot of meat in this — a nice slice of pork belly and a heap of pork shoulder. Egg was great, and the noodles were a perfect chew. The broth is much lighter than usual ramen broths, but it still had a distinct smoky taste.
Cereal Milk Ice Cream — Maybe I had just burned my taste buds while scarfing down the noodle soup, but this tasted like nothing… the crunch was nice, but I expected way more
Crack Pie — Quite delicious (as it is made out of basically BUTTER AND SUGAR), but missing a little something extra.
I definitely chose the better ramen option as I tasted my friend’s beef noodle which also had a lovely soup and great meat, but the noodles were too thin and seemed to disintegrate a bit.

Momofuku being in my backyard in DC is nice, saves me the trip to NYC, but the food is similarly to the NYC restaurants. Pricey, underwhelming, and leaves the palate yearning. I still have yet to find an Ippudo rich-​broth ramen establishment here in DC… and Toki has been the closest to replicating that experience in both pork buns and ramen (but that’s for another review).
The beef brisket sliders were a bit stringy and tough which was odd. I know it is beef but you can braise the beef in such a way to produce a moist and melt-​in-​your-​mouth affect either by traditional French style braise or a new age-​y quick CrockPot broth. It just takes time… and you can immediately see, taste, and feel they rushed through and didn’t take the required time to produce an excellent meat bun. That being said, the bun was nicely steamed and the sauces interesting. Perhaps, the pork bun would be worth looking at again… but the star of the restaurant should be the RAMEN…
Which disappointed, underwhelmed, and was a terrible return of investment considering the bowls are closing in on a Jackson (18 – 20 $!). Medicore broth, limp noodles, the bowl was already tired when it came on my table. Wowza, watery, and to make up for the savory/​richness of ramen broths, it felt like some kitchen genius attempted to use salt to cover up the lack of flavor dimension. Not impressed and a great turn off.
However, the beef noodle soup was up to standard and even had an interesting shabu-​shabu take with thinly sliced raw ribeye. I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect of the dish. Noodles again were the letdown, the grade of noodles here are barely above packaged ramen.
I just wish the dishes were more inspired, more livid, more passionate. Or the hype just completely destroyed this establishment. We may never truly know.

Unlike the Momofuku in NYC, this one had no wait both times I went at 10pm. It also helps that this place is pretty big compared to most ramen places. If you see a line outside, it’s most likely people are waiting to get into the MilkBar. (Their desserts aren’t worth the long wait! Overrated!)
The Pork Buns were delicious! The fatty pork is cooked perfectly and melts in your mouth. The pork buns also had cucumber slices. Comes in two, but don’t eat both yourself! The greasiness is too overwhelming.
I had the Momofuku ramen. Overall, 1.5 thumbs up! I enjoyed the bowl of noodles. The flavor of the broth was not very strong, but was still good. They give a good amount of pork and came with a poached egg and nori. It’s pricey. $ 17 for a bowl.
It doesn’t seem like they make their cookies or Crack pie in-​house. My cookie came in a sealed packaged. It was alright.
The restaurant is very modern and open. Nice décor, but I hate the chairs. It is super heavy and uncomfortable for the butt! Also, their soup spoon is heavy and not deep enough to pick up the broth. Can I get one of those soup ladles?

I am a fan of Momofuku in NYC and have been eager to try Momofuku at City Center. With my reservation made (highly recommend), I took the opportunity to eat at David Chang’s first DC restaurant.
We arrived a few minutes before our reservation and were seated immediately. This restaurant is much bigger and more spacious than his NYC restaurant. I love the high ceilings at this location. It does stay true to Momofuku in NYC in that the seats are close together.
I knew walking in that I wanted ramen and we both ordered the Momofuku ramen. My husband suggested we also order pork buns made with pork belly. Our pork buns came first– the order comes with two pork buns, one for each. They were delicious! The pork belly was cooked perfectly, the buns were baked well. I also liked the pickles; it lightened up the pork belly and added a nice contrast in flavor. Our ramen came out soon after. This is not a small bowl of ramen; it’s surprisingly filling. Our ramen came with pork belly, egg, nori, and fish cakes. The broth had great flavor from start to finish. The noodles were cooked perfectly and the pork belly was flavorful throughout. Sometimes the flavor of pork belly gets lots in the broth but not at Momofuku. I’m impressed with how the pork belly did not lose its flavor. No complaints over all.
If you have room, I highly recommend dessert from next door Milkbar. We ordered crack pie to share and cookies to go (compost, blueberry and cream, and chocolate chip corn flake-​marshmallow. The crack pie is the perfect name because it’s addicting. It’s just good, I can’t explain it, just go and get some.

After much anticipation, Momofuku finally came to DC! Here’s the thing. If you are looking for the best ramen in DC I will have to say you unfortunately will not find it here at Momofuku. Even in NY Momofuku does not have the best ramen. What the restaurant is known for is its pork buns. I kid you not these melt in your mouth.
I came here for dinner twice since its opening, once during the week and once during the weekend. The wait situation is pretty much the same. Momofuku takes reservations but its website states that most of the tables are saved for walk-​ins (weird). Therefore, if you try to go through the website, tables available for reservations usually aren’t up for grabs until 10:15 pm or so which is not ideal. Just show up and put your name down for an hour before you want to eat. They take your phone number and text you when your table is ready. Since the wait is normally 1 – 3 hours, the drill is to put your name down and go grab drinks at one of the bars in City Center (Capitol City Brewing Company, Mango Tree, Fig & Olive, Centrolina).
The cocktails are delicious and actually pretty strong. I prefer the Juniper #3 and the Penicillin.
Order the pork buns — don’t question me. When it comes to ramen the Momofuku Ramen is the safest bet especially if it is your first time. I have tried the Beef Noodle Soup and it was a little too heavy and salty for my liking, but everyone’s different.
Enjoy!

Having previously been to all of the Momofuku establishment in NYC, I didn’t buy into all of the hype for this opening, which definitely helped my experience. The food is okay but overpriced, which seems to be a common trend for nicer Asian restaurants in DC (e.g. Daikaya). Nevertheless, it’s a nice, spacious restaurant with lots of seating and combines all of the different NYC Momofuku experience (desserts, noodles, bo ssam, fried chicken) into one location.
Our group of 4 came on a weekday around 11:15 and was seated immediately. The restaurant filled up quickly after noon. We ordered the shittake buns, hozon vegetarian ramen, beef noodle soup, spicy noodles, and finished off with crack pie/​cereal milk twist soft serve.
The shittake buns were delicious but at $ 11 for 2 seemed unreasonable. Even the famous pork buns at Ippudo in Manhattan are cheaper than that. The vegetarian broth was pretty good for veggie standards. The beef noodle soup had great presentation and the beef had a nice medium tenderness, but the soup was way over salted and killed the dish for me. Lastly, the crack pie /​cereal milk soft serves are worth a try if you haven’t tasted it before. It’s not too heavy and is a great post-​meal refresher.

I really surprised myself by liking Momofuku. I don’t particularly care for Milk Bar, and after talking with friends, I didn’t think I’d be a fan, but I am. I came later on a weeknight, so I didn’t wait to be seated, nor would I during future visits. Staff was very friendly and helpful, which is appreciated. I do wish I had tried a drink, but next time.
I’m obsessed with the pork buns. The pork is huge and tender, and overwhelms the bun, but in a good way. Ramen was delicious and flavorful, with a decent amount of both pork and noodles. I do feel like I had lots of broth left, so maybe it needed a bit more noodles, but I was pleased.
I’m not sure anything else on the menu, besides drinks and the recently added pupusas (Monday lunch) really entices me, but I’ll be back for some ramen.

Having never been to momofuku or the milk bar but hearing all the hype, I had high expectations and hopes. Came here at around 5:45 and didn’t have to wait I’m line to be seated (what a relief). The waiters are super attentive and the tables are well placed such that the place doesn’t end up being too crowded while still having a large capacity.
We ordered.
–Momofuku’s Ramen
–Momofuku Beef Noodles
–Ginger Scallion Nooldes
–Pork Buns
–Brisket Buns
–Crack Pie
Out of the two buns, I preferred the pork bun. Each bun order comes with 2 buns so we had 4 buns total. The pork bun comes with two thick cuts of crispy pork which were soo goood! The brisket buns had obviously a thinner slice of beef which were good but had a sort of Wasabi dressing that I could have done without. I will say $ 14 for two buns is a bit over the top though but what can you do.
Between the noodles, I liked the momofuku ramen noodles the best. The broth wasn’t too salty and there was enough toppings (unlike most ramen shops that will charge you extra to add more toppings to a bowl of plain ramen). The pork in the noodles is tender and well flavored. The beef noodle broth was a little spicy and a bit too salty for our liking. Both were about $ 15 which is relatively reasonable (compared to the $ 48 truffle noodles.)
I did like ginger Scallion noodles. The flavor is unique and the noodles are chewy though slightly slippery/​oily. It’s filled with a good amount of mushrooms and vegetables which I appreciated.
All the noodles were a normal portion size so not too small or big.
The Crack pie was definitely unique. It kind of tastes like soft caramel/​toffee since it gets close to sticking in your teeth. We shared it between 4 ppl which was nice to avoid having a sugar overload but it isn’t too overly sweet like you might expect which is nice. My mom liked it so much we actually got one to go afterwards too.
We did try samples of both the Crack pie and cereal milk soft serve ice cream and I really liked them both. My parents and I all agree the cereal milk ice cream tastes like horlick, an Asian candy. In my opinion it doesn’t taste like the milk leftover from cereal but it’s still good. The Crack pie flavored soft serve is kind of like salted caramel. Definitely get a sample before you buy a whole come or if you’re too full ;P
All in all, I’d give Momofuku CC: DC a 4 or 4.5 if I could. It’s definitely good and nice to try out but it is on the pricer side so don’t come TOO hungry! :P

This is more 3.5 stars than 3 stars. We came to Momofuku on a Friday night without a reservation. It actually was not a terrible wait (45 minutes) considering the DC wait times for a Friday night.
We got a table at the bar and ordered some drinks as well as an order of the pork buns. The bar is first corn first serve seating and has a limited menu but the buns are all available there.
The pork buns were fatty but that’s to be expected since it’s pork belly. I enjoyed the flavors, however they were fairly typical and honestly no more tasty than the ones from Bonchon.
When we sat down, we ordered an order of the brisket buns, beef noodle ramen, apple kimchi salad, and the Brussel sprouts to share. Everything was very tasty, but again, not especially memorable. I think it each dish was delicious while none being spectacular.
The waitress was friendly and helpful with recommendations but when she saw I was looking on Unilocal for what dishes to get, she said Unilocal was the WORST (ouch to an elite Unilocaler here).
Im the end, the prices are reasonable for the DC area if you don’t drink too much… unfortunately momofuku just didn’t live up the hype for us!

Surprisingly mediocre for a place I was really excited to try.
I’ll start with the highlights, which was hands down… the beef noodle soup! A kick of spice, a spread of raw beef slices (to be cooked in the hot broth, phở-​style), veggies, more shredded beef, and a generous portion of scallion toppings. The beef slices literally melts in your mouth. I could’ve easily downed another 38 947 portions of that. Noodles were chewy, broth was tasty with a depth of flavor.
Unfortunately, everything else was unimpressive. My table shared a lot of our entrees and appetizers, so I got to try the Momofuku ramen, pork bun, and cookies for dessert.
Momofuku ramen — Yea I get that authentic ramen broth should be on the lighter side, but this was like flavored water. Is that too harsh? I could’ve made it myself at home. The $ 18 for this bowl was a waste, in my opinion.
Pork bun — Could this be the luck of the draw what cut/​slice of pork you get? Mine was literally just all fat. I picked out like a paper clip sized piece of meat and left most of the rest behind. The sauce was good though. This made me sad, because I’ve heard such good things, but I’ve definitely had better.
The presentation of the dessert was also just very strange. My friend ordered several cookies to try, and it was served on a plate… in its plastic wrapping. with the label and everything. It was actually funny to me, because here was our big group all dressed up at a nice restaurant, and the dessert looked like someone grabbed a bunch of cookies off the counter at Panera and stuck them on a plate (see picture) — lol. Strange.

I wasn’t really a fan of Momofuku in NYC so I knew that I wasn’t going to withstand waiting in line to try it out. However, as of 11÷16÷15, they started lunch service, so off my coworkers and I went.
I ordered the Momofuku Ramen, which came with pork belly, pork shoulder, poached egg, nori, and rice cakes. The pork belly was good and the noodles were cooked al dente, but the broth itself was straight up bland and lacked flavor.
The restaurant itself is huge — it still had that new wood finishing smell and plenty of seating throughout. The staff is friendly and our waters were refilled. However, I’ve heard good things about the beef noodle soup so I’m willing to give it another shot.