Dohatsuten Japanese Ramen

If you want a quick grub this is the place. However, if you love to eat a hearty bowl authentic ramen well this is NOT the place. Service is ok and the «Grilled rice ball» is deep fried. It’s disappointing for being a yakitory place and the the «Grilled chicken wings» is also deep fried so sad. After all we finished the food is out hunger or is it good? You decide.

I love their broth. Not too thick and it is just right. Their green onion ramen is my fav. Simple yet delicious. Love chicken karage and fried oyster as well. My go to ramen spot in bay.

TL;DR Pretty solid ramen.
This place seemed really popular when we first walked in. If you’re confused about how to get there, the entrance is facing Mission Street. Park in the lot and then walk though the space between the buildings, turn right and you’ll be there!
I got their signature Dohatsuten Ramen which had spicy minced pork, chili, chives, and chashu. It was pretty tasty! This bowl includes half a soft boiled egg. The portion was quite large. The only thing that I wasn’t a fan of was the bamboo; normally I don’t mind it but it gave off a strange smell that didn’t go with the rest of the dish. I’d probably ask for ramen without bamboo next time.
We also got an order of the gyoza. It was delicious! Crispy outside and tender filling with a nice soy vinegar sauce.
Having experienced Sawtelle in LA, I’ve had my share of good ramen in my lifetime. While nothing can top Sawtelle, this place is a nice alternative in Fremont.

This is my third time here and I’m continuously not impressed. Although the staff is very nice, their food seems to be lacking. I ordered the tsukemen and it was awful. Their noodles are so bland and their broth is watered down, lukewarm, not flavorful. I’ve also gotten the regular ramen that comes with the lunch special, same problem. Yes, the lunch special is a good deal but you get what you pay for. And if you order outside that, it’s overpriced. I judge ramen places on how well their egg is prepared. Most of the time, their egg is SO over cooked. But one time, it was an almost perfect soft boiled egg. I don’t know what’s up with this place. Something seems fishy and just the overall look of the outside and inside of the restaurant looks very dirty. Meh.

I was waiting to write a review of Dohatsuten until I had the tsukemen, and I’m glad I waited. The tsukemen is REALLY good and pushes this place from 3.5 stars to 4+ for me!
The first time I came in here I was kicking myself for not having come earlier. I can walk here from work and the food is above average. Also, personally I love the «ambiance» in here, if you can call it that… so maybe I sat next to a carton of onions, but I ordered in Japanese for fun and they didn’t even blink an eye at me for being gaijin. Thanks! Oh, and I love the late 90s-​early 2000s Jpop they play in here too. My era.
I find the typical (shio, miso) bowls of ramen pretty unmemorable here, however I LOVE the curry here, and today I discovered that I also LOVE their tsukemen.
The curry has hints of sweetness to it and is delicious. The mini portion is very large. I was getting full eating it before the tsukemen came out. The tsukemen doesn’t come as a lunch set so I ordered the curry separately. The waitress at first said «OK», then came back and asked me, haltingly… do you want the curry don to go? I ate it there, while laughing to myself in my head and thinking «she has no idea how much I can eat!» Yeah, I couldn’t eat that much, she was totally right. I was so full I didn’t eat dinner. Lol
So the tsukemen broth has chunks of pork in it, which I totally ignored. Sorry, can’t tell you if the pork is good quality or whatever. But the broth itself has a lot of yuzu in it. I LOVED it! Is it a typical tsukemen broth? No idea honestly, but I loved it. Noodles could have been a little thicker for me for more chewiness but I still liked them.
The only disappointing thing is that they don’t offer the tsukemen as part of their lunch set like the other bowls of ramen. So I’m forced to choose between the delicious curry or the fantastic tsukemen… but who am I kidding? I’ll probably just order both again ;)

Not nearly as good as my friends made it out to me. I went in with high expectations, because my friends loved it. On their menu, I paid a dollar extra for the extra spicy ramen. A dollar! Needless to say, it wasn’t very spicy at all. Also, maybe I am a little spoiled with some of the ramen places on the other side of the bay (read: penninsula) but their noodles tasted store bought, not fresh. I got most of it to go, and ended up not eating it, because it was… meh. I guess that’s my review… it was… meh.

You can’t see this place from the street — but you turn into this tiny plaza that looks like dental offices and walk into the small alleyway and there’s a sign that says «ramen». Good luck with that lol.
Ramen was ok, noodles looked and tasted like they came from a package. Broth was fine, toppings are good. Every bowl comes with half of a hard boiled egg, but I would recommend getting a soft-​boiled egg on the side, because their ramen eggs are done right.
Lunch combo is a pretty good deal, it’s a stardard ramen + small don for like $ 10 or something.
The place seats maybe 20 people, so don’t come with a big group.

The last visit, I saw, heard, smelled a stone bowl of yummo going by. I asked the waiter which dish he just dropped off. Curry beef. I’m trying that!
Walked in on a rainy, windy Saturday about 1pm. I got the last 2-​seat table for myself.
I ordered the kimchi appitizer and the Curry beef. The kimchi was quickly brought to my table with the glass of water I requested. About 5 minutes later, the hot stone bowl was dropped off.
The kimchi was pretty good. I suspect that it was commercially made. Reminds me of kimchi that I’ve bought at stores that has preservatives. Wasn’t bad. Spicy but not too spicy.
The Curry beef is served on top of rice with an egg on top. The rice gets good & crunchy the longer you leave it alone. I waited about 2 – 3 minutes and stirred it up. The browned, crunchy parts of rice are awesome!
Subtle curry flavor. I almost want more of the curry flavor. It also had eggplant in it. I’m not a fan, but the eggplant wasn’t bad. Generous portion, I couldn’t eat it all.
I will order this again. I think I’ll ask for an extra egg next time!
Cheers!

I really pay attention to the egg, it is over cooked. The noodle is not chewii and soup is not hot. Hmm~ may not come back for this

Not a huge fan of this place. Location is also kind of weird… took me a while to find the place since you won’t actually see it until you drive into the plaza. The side of the plaza facing the streets offers no indication of restaurants being there. The restaurant itself is small but cozy, and I guess it doesn’t get that crowded! I came here with friends during peak dinner hours on a Sunday night, and our party of 5 was seated right away.
I ordered the Dohatsuten ramen with tonkotsu broth. The bowls aren’t very big :(Not sure if you can size up but if you’re hungry I highly recommend doing so. Wasn’t a huge fan of the noodles – they were all stuck together and just seemed like they were undercooked. The egg also wasn’t soft-​boiled! I did really like the broth – there was a lot of flavor without the whole thing being super thick/​oily. But honestly, besides the broth, the rest of the dish was quite disappointing.

Average place to get ramen, not the best place I’ve ever had but it certainly wasn’t terrible.
I got the yuzu miso with chashu pork, and it came with half a boiled egg, bean sprouts, and bamboo. I added corn as a topping to it as well. I like that they gave you the corn hot on the side, so when you mixed it yourself it doesn’t cool the soup down. I didn’t really like how the chashu pork tasted, and it certain pieces had a weird texture to it. The boiled egg was also rubbery, either overcooked or wasn’t fresh.
The mizu miso broth was good though! They do charge extra for broths such as the tonkotsu and miso. The soy broth or salt broths have no extra charge. It wasn’t as spicy as I thought it would have been, but was still pretty good.
I’m not really sure how the sizes worked, because my friend got a much larger bowl than me, but she ordered the vegetable ramen option instead. So that’s possibly why the sizes were different?
We also ordered the croquette which I thought was really good! I would order that again.
Seating here is limited, we came during lunch hour and we were seated immediately but the restaurant was mostly filled up.
Nice average little hole in the wall restaurant.

I was stuck in traffic on Mission Blvd and decided to just pull over and check out this ramen place I’ve seen and passed by many times.
To access the front door you need to walk down a few steps off the main sidewalk. It’s a smaller restaurant but about 8 – 10 tables. I was greeted upon entering and offered a menu as soon as I sat down.
Feeling particular stressed about the traffic, I ordered Hyper-​Duhatsuten ramen with salt broth. Basically a larger version of their signature ramen. It came out picture perfect with a generous amount of everything. The soft boiled egg was delicious. The egg white was very seasoned and flavorful. The noodles were thinner than your traditional type. I chose the salt broth thinking it would be similar to Santouka but I was wrong. It was just OK. The pork slices were nice and thick.
I also ended up ordering togo their vegetarian ramen with soy brothel for my wife. The soy broth was very good!
I would like to come back to try their tonkatsu broth and some of their fried appetizers.

I came here for lunch on a weekday and I was impressed with the ramen. I got the donhatsuten with tonkatsu broth. So good! If you can, try to go during their lunch hours to get a lunch special. It’s such a deal. Major plus, there wasn’t a long wait like what I’ve experienced at other ramen joints.

This review is entirely for the food, which deserves a 5. The service is typical «asian restaurant» service, which means it’s mediocre at best. But, anyway, back to the food.
I ordered the spicy green onion ramen with tonkatsu broth. The people I was with ordered the signature ramen, Donhatsuten ramen also with tonkatsu broth. Both were delicious, but the Donhatsuten ramen was a little better to me. The spicy green onion was not very spicy and note there is no meat in it. We also ordered a small cashu don, which I HIGHLY recommend. Lastly, I added a soft boiled egg, and everybody knows a runny egg yolk makes everything better.
It’s a pretty small spot, I didn’t have to wait very long, but I think it’d be worth the wait!

Finally stepped in here after several years of knowing it was around. Glad I finally did. Pretty small and somewhat divey, but the food is well executed. Tables can be hard to get and some tables are in a narrow hall way that lead to the bathrooms and a storage area.
Ramens are decent here with their basic one as a solid go-​to. I like their tonkotsu/​soy blend as the pork broth is blended with miso. The straight tonkotsu broth though properly viscous and cloudy (from the pork bones) was a little too salty for me. The blend is just right.
The basic bowl along with the al dente noodles comes with bamboo shoots, scallion, nori, sprouts and a couple thin slices of legit roast pork. I found out that the more they mess with the bowl, then the iffier it got. Just keep it simple and it will all work out in the end.
For example, I tried their Hyper Dohatsuten bowl ($ 14ish) once and it is their «deluxe» bowl. Though incredibly filling, due to a generous helping of pork belly, it also had a spicy minced pork mix that just messed with the simpleness of the broth.
Also don’t neglect the rest of the menu, a lot of the small dishes can complement a soup outing quite nicely. Fried Oysters ($ 7) were really nice as the oysters were plump and fresh. Albacore Tataki ($ 7) was especially pleasing as spot on seared but raw center fish layed sliced with a spicy onion/​ginger dressing.
Service is efficient but really casual. The soups come out fast, like under 5 minutes fast. Fried food a little longer. I’d hit this again. Even if I have to sit at the last table down the hall next to the lockers. The food is worth it.

One of my favorite lunch spots in the neighborhood. This review is essentially for there Lunch Menu. You get Ramen + 2 gyoza + mini mentai/​cashu/​curry don + kimchi, for about 10 bucks. That is lot of food and it is yummy :).
I love the house special ramen with tonkatsu broth!
Service is good. This place is tiny and popular in the neighborhood for the lunch. Expect delays during lunch time (OR) you can just take-​out.

My roommate told me he didn’t really like this place but with 4 stars I had to try it as it’s one the closer Ramen shops.
Pros:
— Nice place
— Very friendly staff
— clean tables and glasses
— pork cut was tasty
Cons:
— Tasted like stuff you’d get from 99 Ranch. I say this because the noodles had that «look» to them but more over the flavor was spicy packet flavor which is normal for seasoning that it simply dropped into soup and contains anti-​caking agents and it doesn’t allow the flavoring to mix into the soup but rather floats and pockets.
— I couldn’t actually taste the flavor of the base soup
— over all it was kinda meh.
I will say that there was nothing hugely negative, and because of the 4 start rating I assume it’s because there are probably better dishes than what I ordered. I’d say give it a try for yourself and see, I’m not a huge Ramen snob by any means but of the 4 – 5 places I’ve tried I like this place the least due to lack of flavor.

Another one of my favorite ramen spots nearby! This may be the second best ramen spots I’ve tried in the East Bay.
Ambiance: A tiny hole in the wall joint at a plaza across the street from Ohlone College. Upon walking in, we were greeted by a worker and another worker walked by with a fat plate of curry goodness sizzling on a stone plate. I knew instantly that this place was going to be good. In addition, I passed by a table with 2 people sharing a FAT PLATE OF karange chicken, aka fried chicken meat. Humongous portions and it smelt like heaven. We didn’t order this but I will do so at my next visit!
My friend and I both had the dohatsuten ramen with tonkotsu broth. The other broth flavors were miso, soy tonkotsu, and I forgot the other one. I asked the server to make my ramen spicy but the server informed us that the ramen is already spicy. We just chose the regular size and didn’t upgrade it for a few bucks more to large. The noodles came out quick; within 5 minutes. We were taken aback at first with the portion; our ramen came out in the tiniest ramen bowl ever. We thought, how can this possibly fill us up? To our surprise, the bowl was deeper than it looked; they were very generous on the noodles amount! The regular size is good enough for a moderate dinner; if you’re a starving beast or just a heavy eater I would advise you to get a large. I typically eat a lot but thought the regular size was just the right amount to get stuffed.
The flavor of the ramen was very tasty; we enjoyed every bite and slurp of the ramen. The donhatsuten ramen comes with a hard boiled egg with fully cooked yolk, pork, bean sprouts, and some veggies. Great amount of each items we thought. The broth wasn’t very spicy but had enough kick to it.
What makes this place stand out is the portion, the flavors, and the menu options. I am eager to come back here and try the other items on the menu. They even had a combo set with ramen and another dish for a few bucks more.
Total for 2 people came out to around $ 20. Our regular bowl each cost about $ 10 ish; a bit pricey but we were completely satisfied with our meal, so no complaints there.

I’m being quite generous with my score. It’s more like 2.5 stars.
Simply put, I didn’t enjoy the ramen here.
Seaweed salad was horrible. I regret ordering this along with my ramen.
It’s possible my taste bud got toasted from eating this salad. I was
expecting seaweed salad with ponzu dressing but it was seaweed salad
served with sweet sour dressing.
Ramen broth was bland and chashu was overly sweet. Ramen was served
warm (not hot).
I felt ramen was expensive for what it is but they try to make up for that by
serving in larger portion. But in my book, quantity does not make up
for poor quality.
My lazy ass should’ve driven to Orenchi Ramen in Santa Clara instead.
Not that it matters, is the chef in the kitchen Japanese? Maybe I
misheard but the guy in the kitchen seemed to be speaking Chinese.
But the lady who took my order seemed to be real Japanese.
If you want authentic Japanese ramen, go else where.

This ramen place is pretty good compared to all the other ramen spots in Fremont! It’s hidden in a tiny little place, so hopefully you’ll be able to find this place! There wasn’t much of a wait during lunch, but since it’s so tiny, I can see this place getting packed quick. I ordered the Hyper Dohatsuten with Tonkatsu broth, with the chicken karage for an appetizer.
Chicken Karage: Extra crispy on the outside, super juicy on the inside. They did this right! Sometimes places fry it with too much batter, but this was the right ratio of crispiness to chicken. Well done!
Hyper Dohatsuten: I read on Unilocal that this was a gigantic bowl of ramen, and it was! Priced at $ 12.99, you get hearty portions of stewed pork for your money’s worth. It comes with a few toppings like corn, seaweed, cabbage, a soft boiled egg, & bean sprouts. I elected to get the tonkatsu broth, which was tasty, but it wasn’t as creamy as I expected it to be. The pork was also very thick, which made it a little difficult to eat if you get pieces that aren’t as tender.
Overall, this place was great for their service and their portions of food at a great price!