Boxer Ramen

I absolutely love ramen, but the meat in the ramen here tasted like Christmas/​Easter ham. Probably the worst meal I ate while visiting the Portland area. I’m definitely spoiled by Toki Underground and Daikaya in DC.

I am Japanese who probably ate over 300 ramen in my life. Their Tonkotsu Ramen is actually very good! Spicy Red miso is not quit Japanese but it is good. II asked waiter who is cooking these ramen. He said owner used to be a cook at Chinese restaurant (the big chain everybody knows) and studied Japanese ramen. So that makes sense. Their Spicy red miso is more like Chinese Tan Tan noodle soup mixed with Japanese miso soup. But it barely taste miso though. Shiitake shoyu has too much shiitake flavor almost killing syoyu (soy sauce) I don’t think shiitake and shoyu soup is a good combination. Noodle is kind of whitish but perfectly boiled. We have eaten ramen LA, San Diego, Seattle and New York in US and Tonkotsu soup here is probably top 3of the places we have tried in US.
By the way, Tonkotsu is pork base, it is very rich. Those who like something like a simple Vietnamese phở type soup, this soup is totally different type. FYI

Very good ramen. Flavorfull broth (I had the tonkatsu) small chunks of pork in the broth in addition to the pork. Noodles were perfect. I’ll be back.

My friend was craving ramen and she tried this place before. She recommended this ramen place, so why not? Boxer Ramen is found within Union Way, which is a little shopping strip or square. I really don’t know what to call it.
Boxer Ramen has table seating and bar seating. We sat at the bar because all tables were taken and we were really hungry. There are cute pictures on the wall.
I was only going to order a bowl of ramen when I got here, but then I saw the people sitting next to us eating amazing-​looking tots! I LOVE TOTS! What intrigued me was… it looked like taki-​yaki balls. It was like taki-​yaki balls. Imagine all the toppings on taki-​yaki balls, but on top of freshly-​fried tater tots. I would say that this appetizer is enough for 2 – 3 people to share. Actually, it might just depend on how much you love tots. Okonomiyaki tots
Anyways, I ordered the Spicy Red Miso Ramen and my friend ordered the Shiitake Shoyu. The Spicy Red Miso is a spicy pork broth with pork belly, scallions and a poached egg. The Shiitake Shoyu is a shiitake mushroom broth with shiitake mushrooms, scallions and a poached egg. I thought that both of the broths were good, noodles were a good consistency and the pork belly was tender. I really liked the poached egg! I’ve never had a poached egg in my ramen before. It has always been a hard-​boiled egg or a soft-​boiled egg. Soft-​boiled eggs were always my favorite in ramen, but the poached egg was pretty damn good. I love my eggs soft and runny.
I honestly wasn’t expecting hella good ramen, but this was pretty good, decent. The food was very flavorful. The ramen presentation was just eh. I would come here again if I were craving ramen in Portland because there aren’t really any ramen places in Oregon.

I was seated right away… then forgotten about for 20 minutes. I politely asked who my server was and received a ‚“you haven’t ordered yet?!” .
Okonomiyaki tots are the tater tots that you buy at Costco. They put spicy mayo, bonito flakes, and seaweed on these and somehow it’s supposed to be food. The gyoza were also premade and presumably bought frozen at some grocery store. They lacked any real texture or flavor. I can eat processed frozen foods at home in my underwear, I don’t need to come to a ramen restaurant for that.
My suspicions should have been roused when I noticed there wasn’t any togarashi or chili oil on the tables.
The ramen was overly salty. The small chunks of pork fat in the broth were gross. The egg was cold and goopy. The only thing edible were the noodles.
Better off skipping this place.

Ordered shoyu ramen and the broth is ok. The temp is not hot enough and the noodle is a bit hard for me.

Came in here after a very cold day outside and a ramen fix was necessary. I ordered the spicy miso ramen. The soup came out quickly but it wasn’t hot — more on the warm/​lukewarm side. Minus one star. For my taste, the poached egg could’ve been more poached considering it’s supposed to cook a bit in the broth. I like the textures on the noodles, they weren’t too soft or too hard. The best part was the broth. They only give you 2 pieces of pork belly but inside the broth has little chopped up pieces of pork which really soaked up the flavors of the broth.
The service was okay. Server only came to seat is, take our orders, drop off food, and give us our check. Never really came and asked us how our food was or to refill water. So minus a star on that because it wasn’t even busy.
Overall, it’s a pretty good ramen place for a quick fix. The décor is cute, just ask for your soup to be extra hot.

Disclaimer: self-​professed ramen noob. My taste buds have not been spoiled by exotic ramen made from the fresh water of a Tokyo spring. In fact, I like instant ramen very much. Also, I love strongly flavored foods. Lots o’ salt? Good. Lots o’ spice? Good. Lots o’ both? Super.
I was advised not to keep my expectations high when visiting Boxer Ramen, but I found the food here to be surprisingly tasty. We started out with the okonomiyaki tots, which supposedly translates to «what you want» tots and boy, did I want the all the toppings on them! You can’t go wrong with good ol’ tater tots that are dressed with spicy mayo, tonkatsu sauce, togarashi pepper, nori, and dancing bonito flakes. Some people may argue that there’s too much going on with those tots, but I think there are many worse things in life than to have too much flavor.
As a person who likes spice, I had to order the spicy miso ramen. The broth wasn’t overwhelmingly salty to me, but it might knock a person with normal taste buds flat on their back. It would be pretty difficult to drink the whole bowl of soup. Noodles had a decent chewy consistency, and their soft-​poached egg is pretty good. It’s about as liquidy as you can make it without it falling apart when you poke it accidentally. I wish the pork belly was a little leaner; chewing on fat wasn’t my favorite thing.
Overall, Boxer Ramen’s tots and noodles have 200% flavor. Not made for those with weaksauce taste buds.

I brought a friend who was visiting Portland in, and we loved our meal! We got an order of tots to share and a bowl of ramen each (spicy miso with pork belly for me, tonkatsu for him). First off, the tots were amazing. We tasted each others’ ramen and agreed that mine was better — so for those who like spicy food and can’t decide on their order, I’d recommend the spicy miso.
For those who noted that parking is difficult — that’s a given for this area. Take the MAX instead; it’s easy, environmentally friendly and inexpensive.

One of my coworkers took us here for lunch because it’s her favorite. Service was fast and the setting is comfortable. The menu has just a few items on it, so choosing is easy. I feel like $ 12 is waaaaay too much to pay for a bowl of noodles without fancy ingredients, but that is the going price at the hip places around town. Without taking my aversion to overpriced food into account, I give this place four stars. The servers are nice. The pork belly is good. Flavors are nice. Noodles are decent. I left with a full belly. I tried to get an order to go for my friend that was at home, but they don’t offer takeout. Their signage also indicates that they decline substitutions. Lots of rules. Good experience.

This place serves good food. I go here a lot.
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Unilocal says my review is too short to post, so I’ll tell you a story:
Yesterday I went to Boxer Ramen for lunch at 11:30, but they weren’t open yet. Dang, I thought. But then I realized they open at noon. So we went to Target for a half hour to buy things we didn’t need including, but not limited to, Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch, a limited edition cereal I have yet to try. And then we went back to Boxer and they were open. Yay! The end.

I had heard through several people this place was great and I can honestly say it didn’t disappoint.
My best friend and I had the spicy red miso with pork belly and tater tots. The food came out fast once we were seated and the ramen was to die for. The server wasn’t the friendliest, but the food made up for the lack of customer service.
I will be back in the near future, but with a small group as seating is minimal. Potentially even tomorrow… :)
Major down side is the small location, limited neighborhood parking and the lack of take out.

Tonkatsu ramen has really good broth. Good flavor to it. I thought they served good sizes portions of food.
I had quite a bit of broth left over and wanted to bring it home. They don’t have take out containers for the broth. The server doubled the takeout «box» to put my broth in, but warned it may spill over.
We went on a Thursday during lunch hour and didn’t wait long for a table. Service was fast, our food came quick. Would come back again.

I really wanted to like this place because I am a big fan of Ramen. I was across street at the Ace Hotel and decided to eat here for lunch because it was convenient, and ramen is great on a rainy day. I could tell this place was popular because there were people waiting outside to be seated. Since I came here alone I was seated immediately at the counter. There aren’t that many selections on the menu which is good. You don’t want to be overwhelmed by the amount of selection of Ramen anyhow. When restaurants have a limited menu it gives me the impression that they specialize in these items and they do them really well.
My favorite type of Ramen anywhere I go is spicy miso so I decided to order that here. The Ramen came out fairly quickly and it looked like it would taste amazing. However, it wasn’t amazing; It was actually the saltiest ramen I have ever had. The broth tasted more like it was seasoned with salt and pepper and was a bit smoky and yes it was spicy. I really like the pork that came with it because it was chopped up into little pieces that were very tender and tasted kind of like bacon, and who doesn’t love bacon? The egg that was inside the Ramen look like it would be boiled but it wasn’t it was just soft and runny. I ended up finishing all the noodles and pork because I was hungry but I just couldn’t get myself to sip the broth, but many people around me were doing just that. Sigh, I was disappointed… but then again, I wasn’t expecting Portland to have great Ramen anyway.

Nothing tasted bad. Maybe i’m spoiled from being in Tokyo for the last several weeks and living in the Bay Area for the last few years where there are a number of world class ramen houses.
This isn’t ramen.
It’s good. But calling it ramen is an insult to ramen.
Service was also quick and friendly.

Great ramen. Spicy red miso was not overpowering. Fried potstickers were good. Space is fun and inviting, but can get cramped. Service was good.
I did read this was too salty, I will agree my red miso was on the salty side. However I enjoyed it and usually do add salt to things in general.
Great place to enjoy on a rainy afternoon.

The merit of seeing so much more ramen places in town become apparent at the behest of Boxer Ramen. This establishment is in the Union Way hipster mini-​mall near Powell’s Books. They play lovely music that also manages not to hinder conversation. Soup dominates the menu, with only a small set of sides, but the beverage menu is respectable.
On a cold Friday when I was browsing the Pearl, I went to Boxer Ramen. I ordered the tonkatsu ramen for twelve dollars and a bottle of cola for three dollars. My entrée came after only five minutes. In approaching the mall, I saw lots of ingredients in that kitchen. The ramen was great. It has a broth which reminded me a bit of ton katsu, along with some delicious pork, an egg and lots of noodles. The soda is a bottle at three dollars, thus not refillable for free. A little pricy for what I got, but this is a great place. Soup noodles have not been the biggest bang for my buck, but this is an exception. It had a tender, creamy flair.
Jump to your introduction to high-​quality ramen here.

Tasty pork ramen noodles, and delicious gyoza. Their tater tots are an interesting experience. Good prices for the portion size, not skimpy on meat or noodles. Very tasty pork broth topped with sesame oil, noodles were unu6but still good.
They could use a beefed up drink selection. No hot or cold tea or diet soda.
Alert very fat friendly with their stools bolted to the floor rather lose to the tables.

Good! But not great.
We came on a Monday evening to a mostly empty restaurant. Our happy go lucky server was with us right away.
We were SOOO excited to try the tots, but they were not available. :-(this instantly impacted me in a negative way– as we came almost solely to try the tots.
We ended up with the dumplings instead which were tasty, but nothing totally unique or exceptional.
We both had the spicy miso ramen and while I found the flavors good, the broth was extremely fatty. I’ve been totally spoiled with Momofuku and Ippudo in NYC recently, so while this ramen was okay it came nowhere close to these ramen staples.
Service was great and prices very reasonable, so for that reason I’d come back (and they better have the tots! Lol)

Small and very cute Asian inspired ramen restaurant. Went here for lunch. Had the Tonkotsu-​Shio Ramen and it was pretty yummy. The broth was delicious. The ramen noodles were similar to ramen noodle packets and more on the al dente side (I like my ramen noodles kinda soft and to soak up flavor). The pork belly reminded me more of ham, which I’m not used to in ramen, but it did add its own character.
My friends had the Spicy Red Miso Ramen and Vegetarian Curry Ramen. They both liked it. The Vegetarian Curry had a lot of goodies in it and looks more beautifully presented. We all shared the Okonomiyaki Tots and Greens & Sesame Salad. They both were delicious. My only gripe, there are no To-​Go boxes :/