Men Oh Tokushima Ramen

I love ramen! The tokushima style ramen was rich in flavor and delicious. We also tried the chicken karaage and that was delicious as well. The chicken was juicy and crunchy. Just perfect.

5 stars for the Tokushima ramen!!! This is the only thing I get here, I feel like all the other ramen choices don't stand a chance once you try this one. The broth, pork bone based, is a little thicker than your average miso based (but not super thick, like Mensho's in the TL). This normally comes with a raw egg and an additional charge for a soft boiled egg. I have no idea why.. but it's worth it. Everything else on the menu is mediocre. Their service is very on/off. They are usually understaffed but the servers are generally very nice and are trying their best.

For some reason they closed the Men Oh side and serve people ramen on the Shabuway side so just use that door to enter the restaurant!

A decent ramen chain restaurant in central Richmond.

* * * EXPERIENCE * * *
Pros:
- Conveniently located in central Richmond, which lacks traditional ramen restaurants.
- Quite a lot of seats comparing to typical ramen joints.

Cons:
- Men Oh is actually connected to the Shabu Shabu place next door, while there is only one entrance on the Shabu side. You would first be asked whether you want Shabu Shabu or ramen and if ramen they would bring you to the other side for seatings... but somehow the servers on the two sides work independently so you would be awkwardly left alone in the middle for a while until servers on the second side have time to greet you... while they are busy most of the time.

* * * FOOD * * *
- Tokushima Ramen: B.
Not a big fan of the broth. It's on the salty side, the traditional style (raw egg) with the broth plus raw egg combination tasted a bit strange. Also tried the soft boiled egg version but the egg was way overcooked comparing to any soft boiled eggs I had before. Chashu on the other hand was quite tender the couple times I tried it.

- Spicy Miso Tonkotsu Ramen: B+.
The miso flavor did not come out enough from the spicy soup base. Same comment for the soft boiled egg as mentioned above. But other ingredients including chashu were generally above average.

Will go back again mainly because of the location.

Favorite noodle soup place in mid- outer Richmond area. Love both the tonkotsu and the chicken ramen. Draft Sapporo on tap also.

This is the perfect ramen place for the cold weather.

I feel so bad for updating my review.
It used to be my favorite ramen restaurant here. I don't know what happened, but they lost everything, like tasting, flavors, garlic can, even their front door. (No kidding, you have to used the Shabu restaurant's door to enter it.)
Oh ya, only 3 or 2 servicer now and they have to serve two restaurants' customers at the same time which means no matter how good they are, you still can't get good service.
Sorry to say, but, farewells.

Men Oh Tokushima Ramen was serious Meh..

I don't really understand the high reviews.

Came here on a friday night with the fam. Mom wanted to try ramen for the first time and San Mateo was too far of a drive that night.

The location is really small. Several 2 seaters and two family style tables.

Servers were overwhelmed and had difficulty servicing the clients. Very poor memory and was easily flustered.

-Food-
We shared the following appetizers
-edamame: I can't quite comprehend how anyone can mess this up, but they did. Overcooked to the point that the entire bean was just mush..

-chicken karaage: No flavor in batter. Soggy batter. Super oily, not worth the calories.

-fried squid legs: the saddest calamari you will ever eat, just dont bother.

I ended up ordering the Tonkatsu Miso ramen. This was my bad. The broth was way too bland and lacked complexity and flavors. The noodles were a bit too al dente for my taste and I would've preferred it to be a little more chewy. As for the pork slices, they were fatty ...as it should be but not enough substance and left me wanting more. The runny/soft boiled egg was probably the only redeeming factor in this dish.

I tried the Spicy Tonkatsu ramen broth that the rest of my family ordered and the flavor in the broth was definitely more bold and savory.

Overall, it was not the best ramen experienced i've had..nor anywhere near one of the better ones. There's much room for improvement and I will not come back.

Lunch:

-Tokushima Ramen (Good)
-Kurobuta Tonkotsu Ramen (Good)
-Chicken Shoyu Ramen (OK)

*OK Services

While all the components of the ramen were alright, I didn't find anything that particularly stood out. On my first visit, I tried the Tokushima with the raw egg. The second time, I went for my usual Tonkatsu. Both bowls came with plenty of noodles and tender pork, which I happily slurped up to the sounds of the funky music in the background.

Decent ramen if you're in the neighborhood (no wait is a huge plus!), but the slow service when it comes to water and checks wouldn't draw me out of the cold if I'm more than a 10-minute drive away.

In a fog laden city such as San Francisco, you'd think we'd have a plethora of ramen places to choose from. Like, REALLY good ones!

Unfortunately, we don't. I gladly welcome Men Oh Tokushima to the city. Brand new, clean and located in the Outer Richmond near all the boba shops. Yesss!

There's only 3 kinds of ramen on the menu, a soy based, salt or spicy one. I had the Tonkotsu ramen with a rich, savory pork-bones based broth that is heavy on the MSG. It does get saltier AND tastier as you slurp your way to the bottom of your bowl, becuase believe me, I finished it to the last drop! the broth was THAT good! (I was also raised on Filipino cuisine made with MSG, so for those who are super sensitive to MSG, stay away) I also loved the seasoned soft-boiled egg with a still runny yolk. But, what made us all really excited is the FRESH granulated garlic pot sitting at each table. You bet I put more than a teaspon in mine! I was breathing out garlic breath all night!

The straight noodles are different from the usual ramen noodles that I'm used to, but still has that nice elasticity to it. (and reading from Manabu M's review, apparently the straight noodles served at Men Oh is how it's done in Tokushima where he grew up!)

You can skip the chicken karaage (so small!) but do get the Takoyaki! Because if there's anything better than balls filled with fresh octopus, it's HOT balls! ;-) go ahead with the TWSS comments please...

For a bowl of ramen under $9, I'll be a repeat customer at Men Oh, because as far as I know, the fog won't be going anywhere, anytime soon.

OK, the future is looking brighter now that my San Francisco ramen finds are getting better since I tried Ramen Underground a couple of weeks ago and more recently Men Oh Tokushima out on Geary. Truth be told, neither reaches the pinnacle reached by Momofuku Noodle Bar or even the equally popular Ippudo, both in NYC, where they have mastered their robust broths and toppings with culinary precision. But at least Men Oh is on the right track by simmering their broth with pork bones for hours and topping it with slices of pork belly versus the regulation chashu pork. Several of the more dependable Yelpers like Lolia and Manabu have been singing Men Oh's praises since it opened in early July, so I took advantage of a free Saturday and drove over there to give it a try.

To my surprise, parking was plentiful, and the place itself was nearly empty when I entered. The adjoining Shabuway - which is also new and shares the same owner - looked a lot busier, and its red exterior definitely drew the eye more. In fact, I had to give Men Oh a double take before I realized where it was. The young waitress gave a shout-out to me as I came in, the decibel level reflecting an American stadium-level volume rather than the more demure Japanese greeting you would get in a noodle house in the Ginza. The menu is pretty straightforward - three different ramen bowls with a dozen optional toppings and a half-dozen side dishes. Given this was my virginal visit, I went for their basic - the $8.50 Tokushima Bowl with a combination of chashu pork and stir-fried pork belly (butabara), bamboo shoots, green onions and for an extra 50-cents, a raw egg you crack yourself (see photo).

Delicious and hearty, especially for a lower-than-expected price point, but I wasn't necessarily gobsmacked by my slurping experience, more satisfied in a womb-like fashion to have high quality ramen for a change. If I'm really honest, the real meal stealer was the $4.50 Agedashi Tofu, an indulgence on my part since it is indeed fried but what arrived was perfectly prepared, very light even if the residue oil was mixing with the soy sauce at the bottom of the bowl along with the nori, green onions and the minced daikon (see photo). I probably had enough broth left to order some rice to sop it up, the usual routine you go through when you have extra soup, but I wisely put a cap on my carb intake that day. I will likely come back and try their other bowls including the forthcoming Stamina Bowl because a good bowl of noodles is hard to find in these parts.

FOOD - 4 stars...quite satisfying ramen but the standout is the agedashi tofu if you ask me
AMBIANCE - 3.5 stars...modern decor
SERVICE - 3.5 stars...attentive with a hipster snap
TOTAL - 4 stars...pork can never be the enemy