Celebrating my child's birthday and the birthday celebrant always gets to decide what they want to have for dinner. He naturally chooses Ramen as his dish of choice every year. Unfortunately, this year, his favorite ramen restaurant and chain is no longer in Northern California. After taking him to several alternative spots, we ended up coming to Ramen 101 which I expect is named after our famous highway 101, as the fourth option after these others failed good qualifications. This is a small ramen shop located in the McCarthy ranch shopping area. It does not have much seating and appears to be a combination ramen and Hawaiian BBQ place. I ordered the tongkatsu ramen and asked him to make it as spicy as possible with a side of agadashi tofu. When the bowl came out, it came out very quickly. I don't think I waited more than 5 minutes. My partner ordered a barbecue rib plate which took about 10 minutes to come out. The agadashi tofu took about 15 minutes to come out and they brought each one as they were completed. When my soup came out I had asked to make it as spicy as possible and noticed it didn't seem spicy so asked if I could get some extra spice. The waitress gave me a plastic container of hot sauce which I immediately put into the soup. Typically, I do not taste test hot sauce before I add it in, something I probably should do because not all hot sauces are created equal and there is something to be said about trying the soup and broth in its natural state before you decide to add additional flavors. At any rate, I poured it in and began to eat. There was nothing wrong with the presentation of the ramen. It's what you would expect with nothing particularly special. My first taste of it was that it was okay. However, the more I ate, I noticed that there was this flavor that I am not particularly fond of and realized that it was numbing sauce. Those of you who are fans of eating Chinese Asian noodles will instantly know what this numbing sauce is. It is a common flavor in popular Chinese noodle houses and is a very unique flavor. This is the first time I've ever had a ramen bowl that is classically a Japanese noodle dish that uses numbing sauce as it's hot sauce. Not being a fan of the numbing sauce, this instantly took me out of a moment for my ramen experience. To be very fair, this is not the fault of the establishment. However, from my rating and ranking, it didn't help. Doing what I could to taste the natural ramen and broth flavor underneath was hard to get past the numbing sauce so my experience was mediocre. Being unsatisfying, I even declined to finish drinking the soup after eating the meats, additives and the noodles, the numbing sauce contaminated it so much that I had no desire to finish the broth. A bad sign for me and noodle soup. The agadashi tofu came out piping hot. It also came with dipping sauce. Unlike other agadashi tofu that I've had, this one was dry as opposed to being in a soup or broth and it was okay. I think I prefer the version that is submerged or partially submerged in its sauce versus the dip version.
In the end this was not one of my better ramen experiences. If I went without the hot sauce it could have been different, but I should say that my child (22) also felt it was... Ok remains to other ramen he has had.
Try it for yourself to know. Be warned about the hot sauce. For me, I will not likely be back but I don't ding the establishment for this. I just don't think it is my taste.
Parking: Located in McCarthy Ranch
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 3
Yiyo
Not a ramen person but , I guess it can say it's good. Portion was great. Just not my cup of tea
Good food. Staffs, as most of Asian restaurants, do not smile, or may be angry. The young staffs should be, or I will say must be more friendly. It feels like they do not like us come and eat in their restaurant. And they answer with only one word, makes communication not easy.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Black Garlic Ramen, Grilled Chicken Ramen, Chicken Rice
Tony Matthews
+1 star because the food is really good but the service leaves much to be desired. Refused to let us eat at a table 30 minutes before their closing time. If it was 5 minutes, ok, but 30 minutes is inexcusable. You lost my business.
Rebekah Davis-Matthews
My husband and I have been coming here for a few months, in between Instacart orders at Walmart. We usually arrive between 8 and 9 and have plenty of time to eat before they close at 9. The last time, I ordered for both of us and then sat down. They apparently didn't want us to eat in the restaurant, because they passive aggressively packaged our food to go even though I had ordered it to eat in. This time, we arrived at 8:30 -- plenty of time to eat. We placed our order and then were told it was too late to eat in the restaurant and the order would have to be to go. We told them that if they weren't going to let us dine in, they could cancel the order. And that's what they did. They lost two loyal customers when they decided we couldn't eat there even though they were still open for another half hour. All of the above being said... The food is pretty good. My husband usually gets tonkatsu, and I get either chicken or miso. The chicken karaage is usually fresh, hot, and delicious. But the kids who work there need to learn about customer service.
I love coming to Ramen 101. The food is great and they have a good selection.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Was in a rush will have to go back to check it out
Vegetarian options: Fresh tasting and good flavors
Kid-friendliness: My kids enjoyed the food
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Miso Ramen
As a ramen store it's alright, about mid.
Their Hawaiian BBQ though was pretty good.
Chicken BBQ plate was good, macaroni salad was strong too.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Very tasty, chicken ramen was good and made quick
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kid-friendliness: Simple decor and minimal items on table so kid friendly.
Wheelchair accessibility: No stairs so easy to access doorway. Wheelchair pkg & ramp.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Grilled Chicken Ramen, Spicy Miso Ramen
Food was meh staff was not the best
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 1
Celebrating my child's birthday and the birthday celebrant always gets to decide what they want to have for dinner. He naturally chooses Ramen as his dish of choice every year. Unfortunately, this year, his favorite ramen restaurant and chain is no longer in Northern California. After taking him to several alternative spots, we ended up coming to Ramen 101 which I expect is named after our famous highway 101, as the fourth option after these others failed good qualifications. This is a small ramen shop located in the McCarthy ranch shopping area. It does not have much seating and appears to be a combination ramen and Hawaiian BBQ place. I ordered the tongkatsu ramen and asked him to make it as spicy as possible with a side of agadashi tofu. When the bowl came out, it came out very quickly. I don't think I waited more than 5 minutes. My partner ordered a barbecue rib plate which took about 10 minutes to come out. The agadashi tofu took about 15 minutes to come out and they brought each one as they were completed. When my soup came out I had asked to make it as spicy as possible and noticed it didn't seem spicy so asked if I could get some extra spice. The waitress gave me a plastic container of hot sauce which I immediately put into the soup. Typically, I do not taste test hot sauce before I add it in, something I probably should do because not all hot sauces are created equal and there is something to be said about trying the soup and broth in its natural state before you decide to add additional flavors. At any rate, I poured it in and began to eat. There was nothing wrong with the presentation of the ramen. It's what you would expect with nothing particularly special. My first taste of it was that it was okay. However, the more I ate, I noticed that there was this flavor that I am not particularly fond of and realized that it was numbing sauce. Those of you who are fans of eating Chinese Asian noodles will instantly know what this numbing sauce is. It is a common flavor in popular Chinese noodle houses and is a very unique flavor. This is the first time I've ever had a ramen bowl that is classically a Japanese noodle dish that uses numbing sauce as it's hot sauce. Not being a fan of the numbing sauce, this instantly took me out of a moment for my ramen experience. To be very fair, this is not the fault of the establishment. However, from my rating and ranking, it didn't help. Doing what I could to taste the natural ramen and broth flavor underneath was hard to get past the numbing sauce so my experience was mediocre. Being unsatisfying, I even declined to finish drinking the soup after eating the meats, additives and the noodles, the numbing sauce contaminated it so much that I had no desire to finish the broth. A bad sign for me and noodle soup. The agadashi tofu came out piping hot. It also came with dipping sauce. Unlike other agadashi tofu that I've had, this one was dry as opposed to being in a soup or broth and it was okay. I think I prefer the version that is submerged or partially submerged in its sauce versus the dip version.
In the end this was not one of my better ramen experiences. If I went without the hot sauce it could have been different, but I should say that my child (22) also felt it was... Ok remains to other ramen he has had.
Try it for yourself to know. Be warned about the hot sauce. For me, I will not likely be back but I don't ding the establishment for this. I just don't think it is my taste.
Parking: Located in McCarthy Ranch
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 3
Not a ramen person but , I guess it can say it's good. Portion was great. Just not my cup of tea
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 4
Bland.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 2
Good ramen
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spicy Miso Ramen
Restaurantji Recommends
Good food. Staffs, as most of Asian restaurants, do not smile, or may be angry. The young staffs should be, or I will say must be more friendly. It feels like they do not like us come and eat in their restaurant. And they answer with only one word, makes communication not easy.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Black Garlic Ramen, Grilled Chicken Ramen, Chicken Rice
+1 star because the food is really good but the service leaves much to be desired. Refused to let us eat at a table 30 minutes before their closing time. If it was 5 minutes, ok, but 30 minutes is inexcusable. You lost my business.
My husband and I have been coming here for a few months, in between Instacart orders at Walmart. We usually arrive between 8 and 9 and have plenty of time to eat before they close at 9. The last time, I ordered for both of us and then sat down. They apparently didn't want us to eat in the restaurant, because they passive aggressively packaged our food to go even though I had ordered it to eat in.
This time, we arrived at 8:30 -- plenty of time to eat. We placed our order and then were told it was too late to eat in the restaurant and the order would have to be to go. We told them that if they weren't going to let us dine in, they could cancel the order. And that's what they did. They lost two loyal customers when they decided we couldn't eat there even though they were still open for another half hour.
All of the above being said... The food is pretty good. My husband usually gets tonkatsu, and I get either chicken or miso. The chicken karaage is usually fresh, hot, and delicious.
But the kids who work there need to learn about customer service.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Chashu Rice Bowl, Vegetarian Ramen, Spicy Miso Ramen
Ramen is amazing here!
Vegetarian options: Veggie ramen was amazing I’m so glad they had it.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Veggie Ramen
good place to eat ramen
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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