Goma Tei Ramen Ala Moana

Came here for lunch before shopping. Ordered map tofu rice, shoyou ramen, chicken teriyaki and fish dumplings.

Delicious food, not too salty. Will come back again

It gets crowded during lunch time and dinner time especially the weekends.

They have quick service so food comes out quick.

Restaurant is nice to be at when there's not many people.

I recommend shoyu ramen or sun ho ramen.

TL;DR

Sadly, just not very good anymore.

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When I would visit Ala Moana or Kahala Mall, I often found myself scoping out the Goma Tei menu as I walked by the restaurant. I hadn't been in many years, and the pictures of the ramen and all the side dishes always looked so appetizing. Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving.

My wife, daughter, and I dined here after an early Sunday morning music class for my daughter next door. I ordered the Char Siu Tan Tan Ramen, my wife ordered the Chicken Tan Tan Ramen, and we split an order of gyoza.

The gyoza was solid. The tan tan ramen? Not so much. With the ramen landscape in Honolulu so competitive, I expected a more flavorful and rich tan tan broth. It really lacked that elusive umami flavor. I felt like I was searching for it throughout my meal and was disappointed every bite. The char siu was basically flavorless by itself and not as tender as I hoped.

Overall, highly disappointing. I guess if you're craving tan tan ramen, this is an option, but I expect there are other ramen joints that serve tan tan better than here.

Enjoyed Goma ramen, shoyu ramen, katsu, popcorn chicken, gyoza with friends last night. You can opt for table or counter or either for faster seating. I always get the pickled vegetable and pork ramen.

I usually like the black garlic ramen at ramen places but I found another favorite here. Ever since I had the Szechuan pickle pork rice noodles in soup! at Kukui cafe, I found that Gomatei also have it here but with Tan Tan broth. Although the pork was not as tender as Kukui Cafe, I loved the tan tan broth and it was tasty and delicious!

The restaurant is conveniently located at Ala Moana Center where there are always ample parking. They can be very busy so I do some take out from here. It is just better to enjoy it there. Also nice to have it with their good size gyoza. I did have the fish dumpling tan tan ramen once and the truffle ramen which were both flavorful and different.

They have several locations and I highly recommend the Shredded pork Szechuan pickle tan tan ramen! The ramen is so good with all the ingredients inside!

My son is a huuuuuuuuge ramen fan. Me, not so much. I'm always a little reluctant to eat at ramen places because unless it's an Italian pasta dish, i prefer my noodles prepared cold. I also like a skinnier noodle, not like a saimin or spaghetti noodle. I hadn't eaten at goma tei before this weekend mainly because it is allllways crowded.

Their soft boiled eggs are ON POINT. If you like to go to japan and looooove those eggs in your ramen, you will be happy to get those here. I think I ordered 5 side orders of eggs because they were so good. Plus since im not a huge ramen person, i basically stuffed my face with all the sides haha! Gyoza and eggs, yes please!

Service was great. Super quick and the food is delicious. Stop by for a fast and yummy meal! Even if there's a wait, it shouldn't be too long because the food comes out quick. Happy ramen-ing!!!

I enjoy Goma Tei anywhere, any location.

My usual is the Tan Tan Ramen, spot on as usual and the great thing about this location is it was nice a piping hot! Other locations don't seem as hot as here which was nice.

Not too many seating.

Service was friendly and fast.

We were fortunate to score great parking close by, even during the busy month of December. I believe it was meant for us to eat here!

Get the Tan Tan, you won't regret it!

This review is for the vegetarian ramen!
They have three different types of vegetarian ramen (essentially just the broth with veggies).

We were seated right away on a Saturday at noon which was surprising. We ordered the sungho and tantan ramen. I enjoyed the tantan ramen but not the sungho. The sungho ramen seems very much like a Chinese noodle soup instead of a Japanese ramen. All ramen had the same roughly cut veggies that tasted like they were frozen before. Nothing spectacular with the toppings.

Service was very mediocre. Come here for the cheap ramen but not for the service.

Spur of the moment kine dinner this evening. It was a full house, but wait time was not too bad since we were about 10-15 minutes ahead of the dinner rush.

The overall ambiance of the restaurant was inviting and the servers were hospitable and generous when checking up on us.

My only issue is that this place isn't meant for groups no larger than 4. Our host had to place two chairs at the end of the table in order to fit 6 of us, so it was pretty cramped.

We ordered:
Tan Tan Ramen level 3
Tan Tan Char Sui Ramen
Spicy Char Sui bowl
2 Popcorn chicken
3 Tonkatsu
3 Rice
1 Pepsi
6 waters

All for the price of $150, which is not bad considering their portion sizes.

This is a very convenient restaurant located at the makai side of the world famous Ala Moana shopping center. You can sit at tables or at the counter, depending if you're in a group, with a date or solo. The Mrs and I always split the veggie Tan Tan, even though it's not fully vegetarian. You get different types of mushrooms, carrots, and leafy vegetables, though on this visit they skimped on what's usually a large, healthy amount of veggies. The waitress also never returned to ask if we needed a refill of water. Oh well....The broth is always very savory and it's very filling, that's why we always share. You can't go wrong with anything on the menu! Bon appetite!