Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya

The food was decent but nothing spectacular. The service was very lax. I ordered a beer and never got it.

This place is good but it’s not the best.
It’s usually busy in here so you would have to wait 10 – 20 minutes depending on how big your group is.
My girlfriend and I order difference types of ramen and both tasted very similar to each other. Usually I love food where I don’t have make any modifications with a sauce or salt and pepper so I was disappointed.
Probably will only come back if we’re in the neighborhood and if I’m craving ramen.

I personally thought Kizuki wasn’t as great as people raved about but the ramen was okay. I ordered the garlic tonkotsu ramen (which is what they’re popular for) and it just tasted like a garlic flavored ramen? Nothing stood out for me to be like, wow! This is soooo amazing! It was just okay. The hostess and our server were nice but they kept on forgetting to bring one of our side orders… They brought it to us when we were already finished (they were really busy) so we didn’t get to enjoy it. One thing I will give them is how nice and clean the restaurant was. Although it was small, the interior décor was industrial and modern. But definitely wasn’t worth the 1 hour and 30 min wait. If I’m ever around the area and it’s not busy, maybe I’ll stop by again and try another dish. For now, I’ll just stick to eating at Tokyo-​Ya Ramen.

I enjoyed the ramen here and it’s definitely above average but it’s not the best I’ve ever had.
My friend and I started with the Takoyaki. Full disclosure, I’ve never had these balls before but I thought they were awesome. They were piping hot and had a great sauce on top.
Now for the popular garlic tonkotsu ramen:
What I loved — The noodles, the veggies and the perfectly done egg!
What I thought was only okay — The broth and the pork. I like my pork to literally melt in my mouth and this was surprisingly dry and not fatty at all. The broth was okay — not sure why I didn’t love it but I can tell you that I tried the miso broth that my friend got and it was much more flavorful. But probably the most disappointing part was that there wasn’t really a strong garlic taste. There are ramen places that I’ve been to that actually serve fresh garlic on top but this ramen did not have that despite having garlic in the name. I probably could have asked for it but even without fresh garlic there wasn’t much of a garlic flavor.
As I’m writing this out I’m thinking that 3.5 stars is probably a better rating but I’ll go with 4 since there was little to no wait and the food came out very quickly. If I were anywhere but Seattle I would probably come back but with so many amazing food options here I’ll probably just end up trying somewhere else.

The noodle here was rich and quite delicious. It was a small bowl though. Maybe because I’m from
Texas I thought it was quite small. The quality of the food was just a-​ok for me as I am used to have better one. No desert as they ran out of almond tofu (?) around 4pm. There are mochi (s) but I thought 3.50/a piece was a bit expensive so we went elsewhere for desert.

Good food, I drove up from Puyallup so that’s gotta say something about quality. I’d do it again too but I’d like to try some of their other locations just for a new feel. Gotta love Cap Hill though!
Garlic Tonkatsu was delicious, gyoza was perfect!

Come here walking or you will be wandering around for 10 mins just to find a parking spot. Unless you willing to pay.
Try to avoid the wait in Bellevue? Come here you will still have to wait. At least, they have more seats. ;)
Now talk about the food: Kizuki (Kukai) never get it wrong on the Tonkotsu broth Ramen. Others? I won’t dare to try cause they look really bland. But please don’t miss out the good parts: Their appetizer/​side dishes. Yummy and cheap, never go wrong and authentic taste. Especially the fried or fresh tofu, chicken wings, takoyaki, potato deep fried balls. Don’t try the Bao here cause Taiwanese style is way better.
Talking about the cons: the service is no where professional. They forgot to bring the drinks all the time. They are more waiter/​waitress than what they need but they are always lack and slow on the customer.
But oh well, I come here for the food anyways.

What I ordered: I ordered their garlic tonkatsu and gyoza, both were very on point. Thick broth and their chashu was well cooked too. Long wait if you are with a group, very short wait if you visit alone. For the most part the waitresses there were very nice and helpful.
Rant: Not a 5 star because my waiter, Michael, was not friendly at all and doesn’t smile. He rushed the bill while I was in the middle of eating and still wanted to order more, brought my extra noodles BEFORE my ramen came before my ramen got here so it was cold by the time I used it. Ultimately I felt rushed and did not want to order more because my waiter seemed annoyed the whole time.
Conclusion: Other than that, restaurant was nice, the food was great and the other waitresses were very nice and attentive.

I lived next to this place for almost a year and never tried it because the wait was always so long. After investigating for months on the best day/​time to go I decided to give it a try. I mean if that many people are willing to wait in a line that long and that often the place must be doing something right. Right?
Unfortunately I was not overly impressed. As you can see by my three-​star rating I did enjoy my meal, I guess I just had high hopes.
When it came to service they were surprisingly efficient despite be slammed with customers so don’t let a long line discourage you like it did me. They are quick with turnaround but not pushy when you’re there.
As for the food I highly recommend the Takoyaki Octopus Dumplings for an appetizer, the table will thank you. It was one of the most unique and interesting dishes I have tried in some time, very rich but very good. As you can see my experience here started out five-​star. My disappointment however stemmed from the Ramen. There is no denying Kizuki’s authenticity with locations all over Taiwan and Japan, but I just was not fond of the broth.
My second bad experience with this place was that my friend was doubled charged on his credit card statement after we had left. They did fix the problem once it was brought to their attention a few days later but it was still either a big oversight or a blatant attempt to overcharge. I cannot blame the restaurant for the actions of one server and no harm no foul, but still.
All-​in-​all I would recommend this place to any Ramen and Japanese cuisine enthusiast. It is authentic and has great service. I can’t let my tastebuds and one bad apple spoil the great job they have done with their restaurant.

Firstly, the service I received felt subpar. It took a while for a server to take my order, and when she did, she had to look at the menu several times to see what I was ordering, same with when I ordered dessert.
Kizuki’s ramen overall was decent, however I felt slightly cheated by the dessert advertisement on the table. It lists «Almond tofu & mochi ice cream (mango, green tea, red bean) $ 3.50 each» I thought to myself wow what a good deal, I might as well order the dessert it’s such a good price. However, when it came I was notified it’s either the almond tofu or the mochi ice cream for the $ 3.50 and I was only brought the mochi ice cream. I felt slightly disappointed, but I guess the little table ad could have technically meant just one. I have a photo of it attached for clarity.
Ok, so back to the ramen. Fairly standard, I ordered shoyu tonkotsu, which is what I usually have at ramen places. The broth I would give a ⁴⁄₅. The egg pictured in the menu was cut in half with a runny yolk, but when I received the ramen it was whole. I was expecting the egg to be slightly more flavorful as it usually is with ramen, but it the flavor seemed light. The bamboo shoots were slightly too sweet for my taste, but the bean sprouts were great. Overall, the ramen I would give a 3.5÷5.
I’ll probably come back if I’m really craving ramen, but overall not too impressed with the service, and then ramen was just ok.

Delicious ramen! This was the best food stop for me during a 3 day business trip to Seattle. I ordered the garlic tonkatsu ramen and added spinach and corn. I LOVED the fact they offer a low sodium vs regular option. One of my issues with ramen a lot is how heavy and salty it would be. By picking the low sodium option, I basically got the best of both worlds — full rich flavors without the normal heaviness.
The corn was a bit over cooked so I wouldn’t order that as a side again. Everything else was perfect! The egg was gooey inside, noodles were chewy, meat was grilled and smoked with good flavor, and the bamboo shoots were delicious too.
Service was SUPER friendly and attentive. I came around 5:45 pm so they weren’t packed yet and walk in was easy. I would definitely want to come back on the future!

I’v been here more times than I can count and it is by far my favorite ramen location in Seattle. Being half Japanese and having family in Tokyo, I am very familiar with ramen and have pretty high standards. I always enjoy dining here, the broth (the most important part) is rich and flavorful (do yourself a favor and go with traditional) and the noodles have the perfect bite to them. I usually go with the Miso ramen but they are all delicious. And you can’t eat ramen without a side of gyoza.
Service has always been good at each location i’ve been to (bellevue, northgate, cap hill) and I always leave full and happy.

I really liked this place and thought it was really unique since they have their famous garlic ramen!
The Takoyaki wasn’t very good. Not enough octopus and too much batter.
I recommend ordering the Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen. I loved the broth and it actually had a very strong garlic-​ly taste. The soft boiled egg was delicious, and the pork was just fatty enough to melt in your mouth.
Have no fear; their bathroom has a mouthwash dispenser so you can still kiss your date after having garlic breath!

This was suppose to be quick snack before Shiros but the menu was so enticing that I ended up ordering my own dish. Thank goodness Shiros allowed us to push back our reservation. Staff here is super friendly and the wait goes by pretty fast (20 min at 5p. m on a Sunday). Love that there are 3 different noodles to choose from, that you can customize their texture, and that you can customize the sodium level of your broth.
Garlic Tonkatsu Ramen: Garlic explosion in your mouth but in the best kind of way. The creamy tonkatsu broth mixed with the wonderful cooked down garlic made for a flavorful and rich broth. The egg here is perfectly oozy goozy (soft boiled). Ask to make the broth spicy, you won’t regret it!
Tonkatsu Tsukemen: There are three different tsukemen broths but I chose tonkatsu. The side dish of noodles and sides is HUGE. Came with an abundant amount of bamboo shoots, greens, and chashu pork. The broth is rich with a tang of vinegar but thankfully not sweet. Usually served with flat noodles but I asked for the thick and wavy ones. They will add bland broth to your remaining broth after to make it sippable. Still not as amazing as David Chang makes tsukemen looks but definitely enjoyable!
Open kitchen concept so you can see all the ramen deliciousness made in front of you. Would love to try their yuzu ramen next time!

One must appropriately set expectations when eating ramen in Seattle but even after having done that, I was left quite disappointed with my experience here.
There were a ton of wait staff and cooks when we arrived on a typical weekday evening, but we had to call a waitress over after being ignored for 10 minutes with closed menus. Bad start inductive of the food to follow.
We ordered and waited 5 minutes for the comically tiny portion of fried squid to arrive — total ripoff, don’t order it unless you like being robbed… Like property owners in the city of Seattle. I digress. My rage lead to me taking a blurry picture. It takes another 15 minutes after finishing our few pieces of squid before the tsukemens to arrive. Geebus, it’s «quick service «ramen… It doesn’t take that long to prepare.
The noodle portion was disappointing and the broth was weak. They tried to augment it with vinegar and other seasonings to hide the lack of depth. Locally, I’d rather have tsukemen at Santouka.
In summary, crappy service and overpriced, mediocre food. Hey at least I found a free parking spot!

I used to love this place.
But the service here today was just clueless, inattentive and frankly couldn’t give a flying fuck.
We were sat quickly enough, left with waters and menus and then just sat there. Had it been busy that would’ve totally been understandable. But we came for lunch for 2 at about 3pm. Asked if we wanted to order drinks which we would’ve loved to do had we been provided with a drink menu.
The food was mostly great. In addition to ramen, we ordered 3 appetizers to share. Which generally means share plates would kind of be helpful. Not that they showed up at all until getting Gyoza although the share plates would’ve been helpful with the agedashi tofu.
Now, the service wasn’t by any means rude. It was just a perpetual «frankly, I can’t be bothered.» And by the end of it all, I still can’t tell who our server really was. We must have interacted with 5 people and the whole thing was just bewildering.
Not worth the time and the food isn’t worth the bother.
What a big, bloody disappointment.

Where to begin…
So after literally sitting at our table for twenty-​plus minutes after we had placed our order, the waiter comes to the table and asks: «this might seem like a weird question, but did I already take your guys order?»
…
No joke that really happened. So after reordering our meals we were told we would receive a complimentary side of gyoza for the inconvenience.
After another ten minute or so long wait we finally received our dishes. Oops, did I mention it came with a hair in it???
So now my gf has to wait for them to remake the dish hair-​less.
We finally get her new dish and happen to notice that it was THE WRONG MEAL…
Mind you this is literally an hour-​plus into our trip here and by now my gf didn’t care about the mixup she just wanted to eat!
Safe to say I will never be visiting this restaurant ever again. Phở Tan Brothers ftw.

I love this place! I’ve been here several times and the food is always consistently good. The tuna onigiri is absolutely delicious, and the veggie tempura is equally as good. The batter is very crispy and delicious.
The best part is their ramen! The noodles are always very tasty, the egg is perfect, the broth is savoury, and the veggies are yummy. The rice bowls are the only thing on their menu I am not a huge fan of. They are a little bit tasteless, but the toppings are always very good.

*Legit ramen and their gyoza was above good
*Crowded but they turn tables fast and are very efficient
*My egg in my ramen was perfect, still gooey inside

This place is great!
Came here on a saturday night around 7pm. There was a long wait list and we had a party of 7 (they dont take reservations). they were very active on hosting and making sure that they were keeping the list updated and such — going outside to find parties as well, crossing names off, etc.
Our wait was not long at all, about 15 minutes. They seem to bus and clean tables off very fast, getting people in and out of the restaurant at a great speed!
Service was great, very helpful and courteous the whole time! The workers seem very sincere and kind to all people. And they are all there to help eachother it seemed like.
The food was delicious, it also came out very fast!!! Which is great for a busy saturday night and a table of 7 people.
This place is great overall, would definately revisit!!!

This place is SO popular, that I think it hurts the taste and quality of the food.
The prices are okay for a ‘trendy’ place like this that probably has ridiculous rent.
Just don’t expect a lot of protein to be served with your ramen /​meal.
I really appreciate the clarity of the menu — but they could do a little better job of describing the 4 types of ramen they serve.

Had heard a lot about this place from coworkers and wanted to go here since some time. Finally decided to go here late on a Saturday night since it’s one of the few places serving food late till 1am on weekends, and they have HH after 10 pm as well!
The place is well decorated and brightly lit. I thought it would be more like a sushi place, but it was very different. We were seated in one of the booth like tables, very comfortable and stylish. The service was very friendly. Our server explained the menu items as it was our first time there, and offered us a few tasting of sake since we weren’t sure what to order.
We ordered a few appetizers and a bowl of ramen each. The dumplings were the best, I thought. The edamame was a bit on the bland side, though I expected it to be salted, like it is at many sushi places. The ramen was really delicious, and I really the sriracha like hot-​sauce the server gave me to spice it up.
The prices are decent, and the service & food is awesome. They also have mouthwash in the restrooms, which I’ve never seen elsewhere, a big plus. I will recommend this place, and definitely be back for some more!

This place opened up right on the block where I live, but it took almost a year for me to visit because it was always so busy. I was fairly excited to finally pass by on a night when the line was reasonably short! Stopped in with a friend, waited five minutes without being greeted or otherwise attended to, and was eventually shuffled to a pair of comfy bar seats.
The service was oddly heavy-​handed and inelegant. None of the service staff really seemed to know how to go about their tasks with any confidence or grace, so they made up for it by having twice as many as necessary? This created an even more frenetic vibe in an already too-​small space (the interior designer might have been going for Tokyo-​chic, but it felt more like an under-​budget cafeteria).
Ordered two drinks, a コロッケ, and two bowls of ramen. One drink came promptly. The other was so delayed, we never got it at all (we were never asked if everything was okay before giving in to the urge to flag someone down for a bill, but more on that later). The コロッケ had a perfect exterior, a center so creamy it was almost too creamy, and a perfect sauce. For the price, I had thought we were getting at least two, but it was just one large one. Small for the price, but the highlight of the night.
The first ramen was the basic shio (which I had heard from at least one person was something they did very well). For starters, the broth had an aroma that was very, very gamey. Almost as if it had just started to spoil, or the bones hadn’t been blanched and cleaned properly. I didn’t find it overly off-​putting, but my companion said it was reminiscent of hamster cage and a huge turn-​off. Also, for being shio, it didn’t actually taste that salty; I perish to think of what the low-​sodium version was like. The greens were very nice. The egg was perfectly runny and very rich. The bamboo shoots were foul beyond words; awful texture, canned flavour, and too big. The slice of chashu was so tough, I think it needed another 2 – 4 hours of cooking; I couldn’t get a clean bite of it without using my fingers to yank and tear. The too-​thin noodles weren’t overcooked, but neither were they firm and eggy.
My companion got the shio with yuzu. It had all of the same problems, but the citrus flavour both highlighted some of the off/​gamey flavours and at times managed to mask them (mostly with liberal application of togarashi). The yuzu really was a nice thought and tasted genuine, but the base dish was just too problematic to appreciate it. They also got added corn, which, to our disappointment, wasn’t fresh and sweet or grilled or. .. anything. It very well could have been out of a can or freezer bag.
I finished my bowl somewhat reluctantly. My companion was unable to, the flavours were so foul to them.
The final nail was the price. The base ramen might have been a fair deal, had a few small errors in cooking been corrected. The additions were robbery. $ 1.50 for a tablespoon of canned corn? The drinks were also fairly heavily marked up, to the point that I am pretty happy that I didn’t have to pay for the second drink that mysteriously never appeared.
The friendly-​enough (if utterly untrained) servers were attentive at first, but 15 minutes into our almost-​inedible meal, we just couldn’t stand sitting around uncomfortably in such a noisy environment, and snagged someone for a bill. They never asked how things were. We never got a chance to ask about the status of the missing drink.
I hesitated to give a 1-​star to a place that didn’t do anything catastrophically wrong, but the cumulative mistakes and shortcomings more than came together to make this the worst meal I have had out in years. They could probably fix just a handful of low-​effort things and become a passable place, but might not get another chance when there is so, so much other, much better ramen to be had in Seattle.

My sister and I were craving soup while on a recent visit to Seattle and decided to give Kukai Ramen a try. When we arrived there were several people waiting, but we were determined for something hot so we put our name on the list for both a table or the bar. While waiting the hostess offered to take drink orders and offered water or tea for those who were interested. After about 30 minutes we were seated at the bar where we could see the ramen chefs working away.
I decided to order the chicken shoyu ramen. Let this be known. I’ve very critical when it comes to ramen. The consistency of the noodles and the broth make a significant impact. I also come from the Bay Area where it is very diverse and there are several ramen places. With that being said, I just thought the ramen was just ok. Nothing really stood out to me. I suppose the fact that they even had chicken ramen stood out, but aside from being hot comfort food on a cold day, it didn’t really stand out.
Overall, it was a good experience to say I’ve definitely tried Kukai Ramen while in Seattle.

Kukai Ramen is slowly becoming my late night go to for some comfort food. I’ve now tried the Garlic Tonkatsu, Chicken Rich, and Vegetarian Ramen. Each order is what you can expect from a good Ramen place. Broth is seasoned subtly as you can customize the flavor to your own and options for additional ingredients ensures your meal isn’t going to miss anything. Customer service is decent, as the restaurant is a bit awkwardly set up, it can at times make interactions with staff a bit strange. Regardless, once you’re seated and your order is taken, receiving your food and additions happens quickly. I recommend giving this place a try, don’t be shy to ask for chili paste and other sauces to bring the broth to your own flavor.

Been wanting to try this place out for awhile after hearing so many good things about it from other people. We came right at 11 am on a Saturday morning. There wasn’t a line yet so we got seated immediately with a party of 2.
Food: they’re pretty much know for their ramen as I’ve heard and from reading their reviews so that’s what I went with!
Garlic Tonkotsu — garlic deliciousness. The ultimate amount of flavor and you get the choice of low sodium so you don’t develop long term hypertension. The broth was extremely flavorful and was perfect for a rainy day!
Chicken ramen — I tried my friends broth and it was less tasty than my garlic one but still really good!
Overall on food-​pretty good and although I’ve definitely had better this place is undoubtedly a good place to go for ramen!
Parking: if you get lucky and park right next to kukai (as in if you can see the street right outside of the window) perpendicular to pine — that side is entirely free parking as opposed to everywhere else you can find parking. I got lucky and parked there.

I honestly like this location a lot better than the Bellevue location because of the staff. The food is always good as well. The spot is very chill. Tonight they were playing EDM so I really enjoyed that. The only thing is I think it could be cleaner; I saw some dust in between two tables and the lights above.
The service was amazing! Very fast as well. I’ve never had my ramen come out in about 5 minutes before.

This is the 4^th Kukai (Kizuki?) location that I’ve been to and the staff here is definitely my favorite! The food is consistent at each location and I never leave unsatisfied. My favorite is the garlic tonkotsu ramen, but I also really like the miso and shoyu ramen here. When I came to this location I tried the chicken wings since they were listed as a favorite item. I’d say they taste pretty good, but I’m not a huge fan of bone-​in wings so I probably wouldn’t get it again. They had a nice crispy outside and a tasty flavoring though!
The only thing that would make me not want to come back to this location is that there’s no parking lot. I knew this coming here because after all, it is cap hill. But if you hate street parking or don’t know how to parallel park, just go to Northgate.

Delivers the same quality as the east side location.
Delish ramen. less sodium soup is perfect in taste. Maybe a little bit more meat would be nice, but it’s delish and i have nothing to complain about for lunch/​at those prices.

The ramen is undeniably delicious and I almost always go for the garlic to korai shoyu…
I like this location much better than the northgate spot. The one on cap hill is more open and allows the floor personnel to se and address
Issues much faster, and
Their manager seems Much more on the ball and livelier than the northgate branch manager (who seems uncaring or oblivious)…
Much better experience here every time I come back, seems like the Capitol Hill locationnismfi ding their stride :)

Went here for dinner on a Saturday night. It took us about 25 minutes to get a table for 4 which is not too bad.
We started off with the Takoyaki which was really good. The bonito flakes were a tad bit overpowering but overall the dish was really good and I’d definitely recommend it.
The veggie gyozas on the other hand were absolutely terrible. Probably the worst I’ve ever had. They had no flavor whatsoever and were unbearably greasy. Instead of crisp pan seared dumplings, we had a soggy disgusting mess on the plate that we did not finish. That one dish literally ruined our meal.
I got the traditional Garlic Tonkotsu Shoyu Ramen. It was absolutely spectacular. One of the nicest ramen broths I’ve had, very rich, full of flavor with perfectly cooked noodles, a huge slice of pork and a beautifully marinated soft boiled egg along with other toppings. Ask for some spicy sauce on the side and add it and a little of the dry spice to take to the next level if you like spicy food. This is definitely my new favorite ramen in Seattle and i can’t wait to go back.
My wife got the veggie ramen. It was not too bad and had a lot of veggies and nicely cooked noodles. The broth however was very bland and flavorless. I personally like the veggie broth at Samurai a lot more. They really should add some miso and figure out a way to make it more flavorful.
Overall the star dishes of the meal were absolutely spectacular but the others failed to impress. I would love to go back here but only stick to what we know is good. The service is excellent and the ambiance is pleasant. I wish I could give this place a higher rating but those gyozas really ruined it for us.

Wow, the place was busy! Two of us arrived at 1:40PM for a Saturday lunch and waited for 20 minutes before being seated at the bar. We each ordered the tonkotsu ramen. We scarfed down our bowls of ramen pretty quickly! The broth, noodles, meat and egg were all letter-​perfect. The price was this little indulgence was $ 16 per person, including tax and tip.
KR&I is visibly a great place. Thank you, Seattle!

Didn’t have to wait to get a seat. Arrived during hh. Was seated in the corner bar seat and it seemed secluded so I was pretty happy to get a private area with my bf… until I saw the flies. Originally i only saw 2 flying in the air. Then they landed on the wall and on further inspection, There were like 10 flies in this corner.
Service was fine.
Food: Everything was too sweet. Bamboo was too sweet, meat was sweet. I was hoping for the soup to have depth in flavor and be richer, but i was disappointed…
The fried octopus was really good though.

Decent ramen and good service here. Long wait on weekends, best to come in smaller groups or stop by here early to put your name down on the list.
The ramen isn’t the best I’ve ever had, but it’s solidly good. It’s a large quantity of food as well, I had enough to bring home. The broth is quite delicious and the noodles and toppings are good as well. The egg was nicely softboiled.
I also got the pork bun, which wasn’t really worth it. Didn’t come with any toppings inside, just a slice of pork on it that seemed to be the same kind that they used in the ramen. When I get a pork bun I expect a smaller, chunkier piece of pork belly. This was was more like a pork belly lunch meat slice. It did come with three sauces to add in a cute little wooden box with tiny squeeze bottles. I believe it was kewpie mayo, hoisen sauce, and some spicy sauce (possibly sriracha?). The sauces were good. The pork bun was just sort of unimpressive compared to the quality of the ramen.

Came in on a cold Thursday evening a bit after 8pm and waited about 20 minutes for a table for 2! Thankfully we had plenty of time to peruse the menu and ordered immediately after we got seated.
I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly our dishes came considering how busy it was. We ordered two starters and two ramen bowls and they all came out at the perfect temperature– burn your mouth hot! I seriously love that! We got the potato croquette and the prawn cutlet, which I didn’t really realize before ordering that they are basically the same thing– Deep fried bundles of goodness on the outside, mushy and delicious on the inside and covered in tonkatsu sauce! Yummm! Loved them both!
I got the garlic tonkostu shoyu ramen (comes with bamboo shoots, a soft boiled egg, nice cut of pork, and a poop ton of garlic) with extra corn! SOOOOOO good!!! I normally opt for the spicy dishes but the garlic was calling to me! Rich, creamy, salty– hopefully not but probably msg-​y, and garlicky! Nice chewy noods, my pork for the most part was soft and tender! A solid bowl of ramen!

Simple, wholesome, and affordable ramen place. Service was good, seating was good, portions were hearty! Everything went perfect!
I got the chicken ramen with extra spinach, and was greeted with a familiar taste. The toppings were fresh, and the chicken was surprisingly tender. If you’ve ever had wan-​ton noodles in asia, you’ll definitely like the chicken ramen.
If you want to make it for dinner I recommend going slightly before 7pm, because the dinner crowd is pretty immense.
Will definitely be back for more if I’m ever in Seattle again!

It’s been a while since I wrote a review! Dang!!! Glad to write one for Kukai Ramen in Capitol Hill.
During the holiday season work can be a bit quiet. Which, in some ways, is great because I can trek out farther and take a tad longer lunch! Better take advantage of this while it lasts… Today’s choice was ramen! Well, I actually wanted tsukemen but the reviews for tsukemen at Kukai didn’t convince me enough to order it. Sounded mediocre. However, the reviews for the ramen are great! And accurate!
I came here right at opening — 11:00am! There was already a small line! Woah! Luckily, I only waited a couple minutes.
I ordered the tonkatsu shoyu ramen and a side of gyoza. The gyoza was excellent. Delicious pork filling, crispy perfectly cooked wrapper.
The ramen broth was flavorful but relatively mild. I really enjoyed the garlic oil in there! To be honest, I wanted to add another slabby of pork belly for some extra saltiness but knew I was ordering a lot of food for myself already… so I thought better of it and kept it as-​is. I also wish that they’d ask if you’d like light/​medium/​heavy oil and flavor. They do this at places like Shinsengumi in CA and I really appreciate the customization of it.
The half-​boiled egg was perfectly eggcellent… har har! :P That’s one of my favorite parts of ramen! The egg in the broth! And Kukai knows how to do eggs!
The noodles were perfect. Chewy but still had a bite to it («al dente»), soft, flavorful… yum. Unfortunately, the piece of pork I got was a bit dry. So I soaked it in the broth for a while before chomping into it. Still dry, haha, but at least it wasn’t bland or anything… still tasted pleasant with the noodles + broth.
Portions were generous, service was great, food is top quality. A bit on the pricier side but I would definitely revisit!

Prices are very similar to other ramen places, but the interior and food quality is so much better!
I met SO here for lunch during one of the many rainy stretches where ramen is practically a must. They were really nice and got me tea at the bar since they have a policy where they won’t seat you until your party has all arrived. They were busy, but not too busy to snag me a table about 10 before my guest arrived, so they obviously will work with you despite that.
The booths are beautiful and have high backs to ensure privacy, but there are only four of them, tops. It is also super strange to have the server island right in the middle of the room– a true deserted island, but we think it has to do with structural beams that would make putting more seating there awkward.
We ordered the steamed pork bun, veggie tempura to start and two bowls of ramen. Mine was the spicy ramen and I’ve forgotten which he chose, but they were both so tasty. You can ask for your egg to be hard boiled! I went with this option since all yolk is questionable but runny yolk is the worst.
The bun and tempura were delicious and perfect size to split between two people.
Great lunch and take-​away option!

The first thing I noticed about this place was that it was decorative and somewhat small. When my friend took me here for the «best ramen,» there was quite a wait. We waited for about 20 – 25 minutes just for two seats the bar. A table would have been 40 minutes.
By the time we were seated at the bar, I was starving. They have great ramen options and I chose the traditional miso ramen. The customer service here was great, we were greeted promptly, and we got our food quite quickly.
The food definitely hit the spot and I got into a food coma. The flavors were great and everything was tasty. However, it was not the best ramen or Japanese restaurant I have been to. Which to be honest, is a good thing. Especially if I live in Dallas and my favorite Japanese restaurant is in Dallas, it’s probably for the best anyway. But this place is worth a try.

This place was a-​ok.
The edamame appatizer was tiny compared to other restaurants.
My husband got the spicy ramen, and it wasn’t very spicy. There also wasn’t any additional hot sauce available to add.
The vegetable tempura was good, although the dipping sauce wasn’t very flavorful.
Service was ok, no one checked to see if we liked our food after it was delivered, or if we needed anything else.

An awesome ramen place with authentic ramen and dishes! I’ve gotten the garlic tonkotsu shoyu ramen and the miso ramen and both were delicious. Perfect for a rainy or cold day. Your stomach will thank you.
For appetizers, I really liked the fired chicken and the potato croquette. Both are served hot and full of flavor. The pork buns are very underwhelming and I would not recommend it. It has a piece of meat and some cucumber. Definitely not worth it. The ramen is delicious and comes with everything pictured in the menu. You can also add on extras for additional costs. Each bowl has a generous portion of noodles and I have always left really full and ready for a nap.
It can get pretty busy during lunch time and there is always a wait. Might be better to come with one or two people so you can sit at the bar and have a short wait time. The staff thanks you in Japanese as you leave so you know this place must be pretty legit.

I’ve been to several of these chains and even thought they are all suppose to be the same, this one is def the best.
It has larger portions, better price, faster service, and is at a great location on the hill.
The ramen is always too salty but the low sodium option helps out with that and the Takoyakis here are bomb too.
Nice to have a Ramen shop on Cap Hill and its open late too!