Aloha Ramen

Aloha Ramen has become my favorite ramen shop in Seattle since it opened last year.  It still doesn't beat the ones I've had in Hawaii, of course.  We recently went there for dinner and noticed that their menu has expanded.  I guess that some of their specials were popular so they decided to add it to their regular menu.  Aloha Ramen is a really small mom and pop shop (owned by a Japanese couple from Hawaii) so it means you have to go there early to grab a table or you'll end up on the waiting list.  They open only 5 days a week for dinner and if they run out of ramen, you're out of luck.

We were one of the first few customers in the door so we were seated immediately.  Hubs ordered the usual mini ramen + mini charsiu garlic rice combo.  Their portions are pretty big for a mini combo.  He had the tan tan ramen, a spicy sesame flavored soup with noodles, roast pork, bamboo shoots, green onions and yu choi.   The rice dish is pretty good and lucky me, we had enough leftovers for me to take to work the next day.  

My sister-in-law was in town which was the main reason we wanted to go to Aloha Ramen.  She ordered the mapo tofu ramen which was one of their specials that was converted over to their regular menu.  She really liked the ramen and told us that this was one of the best food she had in Seattle.  I need to try this next time.  

I had the Aloha Ramen special, a sesame flavored miso noodle soup with roast pork, corn, bamboo shoots, green onion and kamaboko (fish cake).  It was good but my favorite is still the tan tan men probably because I prefer the spiciness of the flavor which adds more depth.   

We also ordered the gyoza to start off with but it didn't get to us until we were halfway done with our bowl of noodles.  I didn't like the gyoza when we had it last time and my opinion this visit remained the same.  The pork filling is too soft and moist for my taste.  It almost tasted like it wasn't cooked through enough.  

Aloha Ramen is highly recommended.  The service is great and you get the bang for your buck.  I was initially attracted to this place because of its close ties with Hawaii and I still enjoy coming back here time and time again because their ramen is one of the best in the Seattle area.