Ramenster

The best ramen in town. Fresh ingredients and delicious soup. Service is excellent!!! the place is just right !

Sad to say, this was pretty disappointing. I had the kare ramen which didn’t have a ton of flavor. The chicken was tough, the broth bland and the carrots bordering on mushy. It’s pretty bright in there too which didn’t add much to the experience. The floors were really dirty as well. It is winter tho. Can’t blame them too much for that. My friend wanted a particular vegetarian ramen and they only had one left. We wondered how they could run out of that particular ramen (at only 6pm no less). Was it a language issue? Hard to say.
Overall…meh. I ate it as I was hungry.
The gyoza was pretty good tho.
Overall, expensive and not worth the price.

I came somewhat begrudgingly to a new Rame place on Belmont, in the mediocre row of somewhat decent but overpriced restaurants in this vicinity. It is a standout however: 1) decent prices and a lot of food; 2) an unearthly atmosphere with concrete walls and phosphorescent lighting everywhere, it literally glows out at you after hours and catches the eye; 3) sit-​down service that is nice and timely. The only downside is the seating which is in a smaller space and requiring to share tables with others, and relatively minimal stool-​type chairs in the middle, somewhat of a strain to sit on. A funny little event when we were awaiting our main course, someone thought we were getting takeout and handed us a bill, but we fixed that. My favorite place on the strip, the Ramen was great!

I was not impressed by the Ramen here. I had the Yasai ramen which is vegetarian. There was very little broth and the noodles aren’t homemade. They reminded me of Ramen noodles from college a little. The vegetables were fresh tasting and the broth was quite good. I also liked the breaded tofu. I wouldn’t return because of the lack of broth and the noodles.

This is probably one of the worst ramen places in Chicago and not even in terms of authenticity, which is something I value but not necessarily a factor.
Came for dinner Saturday evening around 8pm. We sat ourselves since it is a casual spot and were given menus promptly. There were a few other diners. The space is somewhat cool in that there are a few small tables on the side and one big communal table in the middle. I’m not a huge fan of communal tables but I didn’t mind, as there was enough space in between us and the next diners. Some Unilocalers noted the cool bright lighting. However, our group and myself included found it to be very intense and bothersome, as they are super white and bright. After awhile, you do get used to it. Really no reason to knock any stars off here at this point yet.
I order the ahiru ramen (duck), sis and cuz get the yasai ramen (veggie) and we also get a Chicago-​v maki roll to start.
Food took a very long time to come. Our waters were constantly refilled though. We finally get our maki roll first and there were six nice satisfying pieces. There wasn’t too much rice on them either. They were pretty good. We waited maybe another twenty minutes and only two bowls of ramen came out. Mine took an additional five to seven minutes. My cousin noted that the two staff members were too busy chit-​chatting when the two ramen orders were ready to be served to our table, letting the ramen sit for awhile, as the noodles continued to cook and absorb the broth, compared to my ramen, which came at a different time and served timely, as indicated by the non-​mushy noodles and appropriate amount of broth. Still not even super bothered at this point.
Now to taste. Everything was super bland… especially the broth. Not even chili oil or togarashi could save that one. The duck pieces were fine. The only other component I remember was the celery, but every ingredient pretty much was just there and didn’t do much for the ramen. I can’t say that the noodles, broth, or toppings were good, let alone great. The others agreed that their ramen was also very bland.
The only positives of this place were their various ramen and sushi options, reasonable prices, and food presentation. A bit ironic that their sushi is better than their ramen, given the name of the place. However, surely enough, the sushi wasn’t that spectacular enough for me to come back.

Solid ramen choice! They have plenty of wonderful options… and the chef was kind enough to send us a roll on the house which was very good.

I am not a ramen expert. I came here because I walked by and I was cold and hungry and thought, ah ramen to warm me up and fill me up. I got the tonkutsu ramen, I really liked it. the flavor was delicious. i also got the sakana curry katsu don, which was also delicious. After having the ramen and rice dish was a little too much for me. but i didn’t take it home and had the left overs for lunch the next day and it still tasted good the next day.
This is only the second time i have had ramen out and i enjoyed this place. i would definitely go back

I left thoroughly disappointed and I’m not sure how people are giving such great reviews below.
My biggest complaint was the broth. I got the Tonkatsu ramen which is a pretty standard pork broth ramen. There was no flavor in the broth and it was significantly oilier than any other ramen I’ve had before. To taste any flavor at all, I had to cover my soup with chili pepper.
Probably wouldn’t go back.

Went for an early dinner on a weeknight — very satisfying food, reasonable wait time (in response to others saying they had to wait long — we didn’t have to wait very long but it wasn’t necessarily fast), big portions. I would definitely go back.
I can see why people don’t like the interior — it’s kind of harsh and very bright but the food is good (had ramen).
They do have table service, which I wasn’t really expecting.

I really enjoyed my experience here. The ramen I had was really good. The noodles had a good texture, the pork broth was just very tasty (a little salty, a bit spicy) the egg was as cooked well and just a bit runny, the pork belly was delicious. Overall I really liked the ramen and it was as good as Ramen I’ve had in Tokyo.
They had a nice variety of ramen to choose from as well. I only had one type but I’ll for sure be back to try others.
They also have sushi if you for some odd reason don’t like ramen. I didn’t have the sushi so I cannot comment about its tastiness.
The restaurant is cool inside too. It looks overwhelming from the street but is hip and fun.

Foods were wonderful. They were worth to stop by and get some. This place is one of the best ramen restaurants in town. The price was reasonable with the very good taste. In terms of servers, they were friendly and nice to us. Even though, they looked kind of busy and tired, but they always gave us a kindly smile. We are looking forward to be back again!

If the harsh bright lights and cafeteria style seating don’t deter you from this place maybe knowing that the food took AN HOUR AND A HALF to come out will. We ordered two bowls of ramen and watched everyone around us (even those who had gotten there after us) receive their food before we finally got ours.
Their excuse for the delay? «We have a lot of takeout orders.» This would have been fine if they let their customers know this before ordering. The staff was apologetic and offered us free drinks (tea/​soda) but it did not make up for the fact that we received our lukewarm soup bowls an hour and a half later. Not to mention the soup was oily and not worth the wait in the harsh light. I will not be returning to this place.

Disappointed! We arrived at 2:45 PM and they said they were closed. Hours on the door say open until 3 PM then closed and reopens at 4 PM. Ramen isn’t that hard to make. They could have made money off of us and had us out the door quickly!

I tried this last week. The ramen was neither traditional nor modern. Its a combination of both. The broth was good because of a slight heat at the end. The pork is ok, i prefer more flavor to it. The noodles are ok (i dont think its freshly made or handmade). This place is a good place to get a descent ramen if you’re in the mood for something hot in a cold day or night.

Had to try it out since its in my neighborhood! It’s a very basic ramen style (non Asians will like it)… I order the most expensive ramen dish (Ramenster seafood ramen), not too much seafood was added which was disappointing. But overall it was good. As stated basic ramen style. I support all of the local business in my hood, I’ve lived in this area for 10years. Try it out & experience for yourself. BON APPETITE

LOVE LOVE LOVE!
My friends and I came across this place on accident and it was definitely worth giving a try! The ramen was perfectly tender and the tofu was nice and crispy! My friends ordered duck and pork ramen (the names are escaping me) which was also phenomenal.
Bottom line, great ramen and appetizers at a very reasonable price!

My boyfriend and I came here for the soft opening with no idea what to expect, but we both were pleasantly surprised. Because it was the soft opening we didn’t have the full restaurant experience (i.e. they were not serving the full menu, they were still working out service, etc.), but we still very much enjoyed our meal. Between us we ordered the Gyoza, Tonkotsu Ramen, Ahiru Ramen, and I think the Avocado Katsu (the last item was a substitution because they were out of the original item we ordered so I THINK this was what we ordered, but there was a little bit of a language barrier).
Full disclosure, this place is correct in saying it isn’t traditional (though it isn’t as crazy or fusion as I imagined from the description). My Ahiru Ramen had a flavor to it that tasted like five spice and almost like a cross between ramen and phở. However, everything we had was really delicious. My boyfriend was skeptical at first sip of his tonkotsu ramen but after a few slurps he said he really enjoyed the taste of the broth. I also really liked the Avocado Katsu. Of all the dishes, the Gyoza were the least intriguing. They were tasty, but not anything special or notable.
That said, there were a few things I think they could improve on knowing it was a soft opening. The portion sizes on the ramen seemed a bit small compared to other places in Chicago and while the Ahiru Ramen had a lot of goodies it seemed like the tonkotsu could have had more stuff in it. I also found the knife cuts on the Avocado Katsu to be really sloppy. Good, fresh tuna is such a pricy ingredient I like to see it cut into nice, even pieces.
Overall I was really impressed given it was a soft opening. There were a few things I think they could improve on but overall it was really delicious and we enjoyed our visit.

I write not as a ramen expert but as a Chicagoan who’s been caught up in the craze for about 2 years now. Affordable and also deeply flavored– so I’m a big fan. I can’t speak to authentic it may or may not be, but the duck ramen bowl I ordered was definitely tasty, and the server seemed very knowledgeable! I’m a fan and will be back.

We came across this place accidentally while visiting the city. It only had 5 reviews but we decided to give it a shot because at had been walking all day in the rain and just wanted something warm to eat not too far from where we were staying. We were so pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food — delicious!
The restaurant had only been open for a few days (in fact, there was a hand-​written sign in the window notifying us of the soft opening), but it was pretty full! The staff was still learning the specifics of how to run a restaurant, but they were all very nice and the food made any kinks in service worth it.
We had the sweet potato and the cherry tomato kinsukatsu (), kare ramen, and tankatsu ramen. All were very, very good.

Store décor is great, very vibrant and upbeat, service is great.
Had the ramenster ramen on the soft opening day. Waiting time is a bit long for a ramen order at 5pm weekday, took roughly 20 mins. The ramenster ramen is very Thai food related, mostly clams, shrimps and a piece of fish fillet. Personally, not a fan of the noodle, too soggy not firm enough. When it served, the noodle is a bit undercooked. The broth is not bad, but definitely not Japanese flavor, maybe I should go with tonkotsu. Seafood seems fresh which is good things. But the charge is 16 bucks which is way too high.
I will likely to visit again when they actually opened, and hopefully it can meet the expectation next time.