Manichi Ramen

Manichi is my daughter’s (she’s 6) favorite ramen restaurant. Every time we ask her what she would like for lunch/​dinner, her response is always «mommy, you know what I will say! Of course it’s #1 noodle!» She’s referring to Manichi’s special #1 which is the tonkotsu-​shibori. On a hungry day, she could finish the entire bowl by herself! We end up coming here on average 2x a month if not more. We’ve tried most of their menu items and I do appreciate that they added more variety for their dinner menu. No offense, I love their ramen myself but just can’t eat it as often as my daughter requests that we come here, so the variety lets me try other things besides their ramen. Service is always quick and courteous which is always a plus. We will probably keep coming here until my daughter say no more.

I had the chance to come here for dinner for the first time on a Friday evening. We were the only ones inside the restaurant when we entered at about 5 pm. The service was very good — we were helped by a very friendly gal. I got the Manichi Special Ebi Tonkotsu-​Shibori with egg topping and some cheese gyoza. I was amazed at how tender their gyoza was. It is a very traditional take, having been established since the 1950’s. I don’t think I’ve encountered such a delicious gyoza here so this one here takes the cake. The ramen was also delicious. I like how the shrimp flavor really came through, the noodles were still chewy and the broth was not too salty. I will be back :-)

Had the spicy ramen tonkatsu and had to try the gyoza as they were supposedly famous. The gyoza was a-​ok the ramen was very good and super spicy. I cried a bit as i ate it. Just kidding, but it was very hot. For those of you who like a nice kick while eating your delicous bowl of soup, give Manichi’s spicy ramen a try. I would highly recommend.

The ramen broth here is so hearty & rich. Last time I raved non-​stop about the broth and the ramen noodles. Well I’m also going to tell you that their pork hash blew me away. I was so surprised by the quality of the pork in the pork hash, it was amazing. So amazing, my boyfriend got some more for me because I would have ate all of his. The regular Gyoza is worth the $ 6.50. Like I mentioned before, they won an award for their Gyoza. It’s that good. The regular Gyoza is way better then their spicy Gyoza and green onion Gyoza. Just is.
Service: Super quick and prompt. They really care about you here, and they answered all of my (silly) questions. I was watching the man serving us interact with kids and a lady who used sign language. He treated all of his customers with genuine respect. He’s the real MVP. Next time I’ll write down his name, so I won’t forget it. ^^

I can’t believe I actually went to Manichi when I was at Honolulu: P
We have Monichi at Little Tokyo too.
I couldn’t decide what to eat at Shirokiya and the pictures looked so good. The worker convinced me to get the ramen from there.
Manichi #5 akaton ajitama nose ($ 12.60): not outstanding, but pretty good broth. The noodle was perfectly cooked. Too bad my hanjuku tamago was overcooked :(
3.5 stars!
Manichi is kinda yummylicious!

There are so many ramen joints on the island and they keep on growing! Many have survived and still operating but sadly some of them have already closed down. I generally don’t care for soups and noodles but every so often will crave for ramen. So one evening when my cousin and I went to run an errand he asked if I wanted to have Korean food for dinner. I wasn’t really feeling for Korean that night. I blurted out «ramen» and because we were near Ala Moana Center we ended up here. This place was also under my to-​go list so BONUS point.
I’ve seen numerous food pics from here and knew a franchise in Kaneohe opened so in my mind Manichi has got to be legit to open another location. It was also a cool evening that night and I wanted a bowl of ramen to warm me up.
It was cool to have the staff yell out in Japanese «welcome» or «thank you for dining with us» when patrons either enter or leave. It’s a common practice in Japan so it made my dining experience authentic! Another BONUS point.
The menu here is like a math book as it explains and dissects the types of ramen offerings here: the types of soup base, spicy or not and condiments. Before ordering I took a sneak peek at some of the reviews here and my eyes stuck on Angel H.‘s review. She commented on how good the broth is here and one of her colleagues from Japan claiming this place tastes just like the ones in Japan I just had to have it! But I like spicy so I ended up with #9 Spicy Ebi Tonkotsu Ramen.
After ordering I realized I forgot to add on the AJI TAMA so I flagged down the server to add on. Here is what I sampled that night:
1) Spicy Ebi Tonkotsu Ramen (⁵⁄₅)
If you enjoy spicy and like shrimp, this is a MUST Yeeps! Before eating ramen I always try the broth first and it danced in my mouth. The shrimp flavor bursts into your mouth (but not like a Starburst) and throw in the rich broth that’s spicy — — FOODGASM Yeeps!!! My ramen was cooked to perfection and I wolfed down the whole bowl. Another BONUS point.
2) Gyoza (⁴⁄₅)
It was delivered quickly to us and piping HOT. The skin was on the thin side so you weren’t chewing on excess skin. The filling could have been more in my opinion. It’s hard for me to give a restaurant a 5-​rating from me as my family and I will cook fresh gyoza to eat. More than half of my family members are previous cooks and currently in food service. Gyozas are/​were made all the time so I’m used to eating fresh out of the pan gyozas that are generously filled. Don’t get me wrong — — gyoza was good here but just not as good as what I’m used to.
3) AJI TAMA (⁵⁄₅)
Cooked to perfection. Just look at my attached picture. Tasted so good. The negative comments to this dish: those two halves disappeared so darn quickly. Sad face but another BONUS point for great execution.
Service was outstanding. It wasn’t fully packed and it was about 715pm that night. The waiters were so cordial and informative and filled our water cups constantly. And when exiting the restaurant in unison they thanked you for your patronage.
Just as Angel H.‘s colleague mentioned, it is very authentic. It felt like I had just dined in Japan. Food and service — — both very good and exceeded my expectations.
NOTE: I started this review at a New Year’s eve party last night but just couldn’t get this done. Had too much fun and entertainment that I ended up putting my cell phone down!

I’m writing this review as I’m sitting in the restaurant. This is my second time here, the first time was amazing.
The first time I came, it was almost closing and the workers gladly took us in to eat. There were a couple other parties as well so I could see why they didn’t mind another party of 2 which was nice.
As for this time, we sat ourselves (again me and a friend, a party of two). We sat down for 10 – 15 minutes, and only got brought our water. Another party of two and a party of one came in after us, and were already asked to order, and got their food before us, before we we even got to order.
I don’t think we would’ve even gotten to order if I didn’t have to wave the lady waitress down. Anyway, after we ordered through her, instead of directly putting our order in, she went to another party that sat next to us (a party of four) to ask for their order? And guess what? Lol… they got their food BEFORE US!
Anyway when we finally got our appetizers (gyoza & chicken karaage), I right away asked for chili/​sesame oil and the lady said okay, and NEVER CAME BACK… alright. So we never got it.
My water was empty, even after our ramen came. I waited a while, but then I started getting really thirsty lol. None of the two servers were being attentive at all so I got up myself and refilled my own water. The guy (cook) saw me get up and apologized and so did the guy waiter. It’s fine. I was just super thirsty.lol.
A few minutes later my cup was empty again… I just decided to wait to have it refilled, if that would even ever happen. So here comes the lady waitress with the water pitcher, goes to the party of 4 next to us, refills all their water, then walks away and doesn’t even turn around to check our water. So we were left with our cups empty the entire time.
If I could I would give this place 2 stars but I’ll admit the food is way better than agu. The chicken karaage and gyoza is TEN TIMES BETTER than agu! The soup is kind of the same, l find agu a little more rich in flavor but Manichi is still very very good and a little cheaper that agu as well. I got the original for $ 9.50 — size of egg ($ 1.50) and size bamboo ($ 1.75)
I’ll be back maybe for the food but in hopes of better service…

«Ramen heaven via Ala Moana»
There are quite a few ramen shops in Honolulu now, everyone has their favorites from humble saimin offerings of local mom/​pops to the specialty exotics that have their shop origins in Asia.
Manichi Ramen is in the later category and would be considered on the upper end of the ramen food chain. Based off of a restaurant that is in Japan and started in 1953, they started in Hawaii in Shirokiya in the specialty food stall area a few years ago.
Although not located in Ala Moana shopping center, they are really close on Kona Street, near Bank of Hawaii.
Their portions are not that big compared to other places and the prices are higher than similar offerings at say, Goma Tei.
But where they have the others beat is the broth. A garlic oil, miso or shrimp broth are your three basic categories with the garlic oil being the least salty of the three but also what I consider to be the best. This is a broth (although rich) that you can drink.
Had their Manichi special ramen Tonkotsu– Shibori which was the garlic oil based broth with a touch of spicy miso, throw in the pork, tamago (boiled egg) and the sprouts and you have the makings of a great lunch. Add the obligatory shumai and you have just the right amount of sustinence– not too much, not too little just right.
They have other great stuff to eat– see Fran C.‘s recent review. Munchies to compliment a good ramen.
We enjoyed our lunch today, great service, tasty food and free parking on the side. Would not hesitate to recommend, although the price point is on the higher side.

We decided to give this place a try to satisfy our craving for ramen. This place was just as expected! I believe there is a place quite similar inside windward mall. Despite that fact this place is so Ono! I got the #2, the Manichi special miso. It came with pieces of pork (that I didn’t eat, not a fan of pork but I love the pork broth, I know weird), boiled egg, bean sprouts, green onion and little pieces of roasted garlic. I love the spicy garlic oil, it compliments the miso very well! The only thing I had wished was that the soup was more hot, temperature hot. Other than that this is one of the better ramen places I’ve eaten on Oahu.
We also ordered their signature gyoza with green onions. They serve so much green onions that you can almost barely see the gyoza underneath. Lol but who doesn’t love green onions?!
Parking can be a little tough especially since they share their with other shopping & food places. But there is plenty of parking at ala Moana right across the street.

Glad to see I wasn’t the only one on here that thought it got a bit too warm here due to the fact that there may have been a possible AC issue? Anyway besides the temperature, I’ve heard great things about Manichi Ramen and how close to the authentic style of Japanese ramen it is. This place is located right on Kona St. near Ala Moana and right next to the Bank of Hawaii and is literally a minutes walk away from where I work.
The Ramen is as delicious as people say it is. I am a sucker for black garlic oil broth so I naturally ordered the Original Tonkotsu ($ 10.50). When I got my ramen I was a bit surprised how much bean sprouts they gave, however as much as I don’t mind it in my bowls, I do have to remember to ask for less next time. I found the broth amazing and flavored very well. Manichi spices their soups to the point where it isn’t too spicy, but you can taste just enough heat towards the end (my burps later on in the day were spicy lol). The noodles had good texture and my friend and I agreed that the pork belly here is very fatty compared to other ramen restaurants, and that the amount of sprouts in our bowls gave the ramen some nice crunchy texture.
I’d definitely go here again for either lunch or dinner. It’s location is very convenient for me and I also want to try their amazing gyoza which I hear is also a winner.

EXCELLENT!!! The food, service, and quality was all above expectations. The reason for the –1 star rating is because the parking and location leaves something to be desired. It’s very difficult to find, I passed it 2 times… ugh, and there are few stalls.
Inside is very clean. It reminds me a little of some of the ramen shops I’ve been to in Japan, but with a more modern and American-​like style.
I need to visit again to try the other ramen.

Manichi has a great story behind the restaurant. It’s conveniently located near Ala Moana and has ample parking spaces. We came here for lunch on Saturday and got lucky with a table. We tried their Special #1 Tonkatsu Miso-​based broth and Special #2 Black garlic oil broth. To be quite honest, I can’t really tell the difference of the taste in the two broth, the only difference that I noticed was the density of the broth. They used Sun Noodles, so I really wish that they would start making their own noodle to make it more authentic. Overall, it’s good ramen, but still I much prefer Agu.

Came here with a coworker for lunch, with a plan to get shave ice from Ailana next door. When I found out Ailana closed, I was a little distraught, but I got over it when I found out they were just relocating. Anyway, we were hungry so we still decided to get some ramen.
Likes: Cute eating area. The ramen broth was okay at first, but as I kept eating it, I started to appreciate it more. Gyoza was good.
Dislikes: Portion was pretty small, especially since the bowls with the things you’d want in it were (specials or regular plus toppings) $ 13+. Water cup was small and I needed to have it refilled constantly.
A solid ramen place. Good broth, good noodles. What would bump up the review would either be slightly larger portions or slightly lower prices.

I gotta say I must be a pretty strange guy to go into a Ramen shop, only to eat a salad & fried chicken. But you what? I gotta be me!
I guess I’m not a big fan of ramen, but I’m glad I can eat other stuff here! So a few weeks back after trying figure a place to eat, and upon deciding on where we wanted to go, my sweetie and I ended up at a place called Manichi Ramen.
Where is the place located? Manichi Ramen is located near the Ala Moana Shopping Center. It’s just across the street from Ala Moana, kinda like next door from the Bank of Hawaii building area (street level).
Upon walking into this little shop, we were seated right away, and we ordered the following that night —
1. Garlic Butter Shrimp Gyoza
2. Watercress Salad with sesame dressing
3. Karaage Chicken
4. Manichi Ramen Special.
What can I say about the grub?
Oh man! That Watercress Salad was ono! I really loved that salad dressing that was used on that Watercress salad! Winnah’s!
The Karaage chicken was done perfectly! Not greasy at all, and the chicken pieces were plump & juicy!
The Garlic Butter Shrimp Gyoza was delicious… loved the buttery garlic flavor on the Gyoza.
As for the ramen — I tried a little of my sweeties ramen… it was good, but like I said before, I guess I’m not a big fan of ramen.
Service was very attentive, as the waitress came by repeatedly to refill our green tea & water. Food came out fast, no complaints here.
A great place to visit if your jonesing for ramen & gyoza!

My best friend and I decided to stop in for a late dinner here after shopping. The place is known for their authentic style ramen.
I ordered the #2, which was the black sesame ramen. I don’t typically like thick broths but decided to order it anyways. The dish was very flavorful and the broth was indeed thick. Tasty dish with round noodles. Topped with an egg, char siu (very fatty and tender) and several other toppings.
We also order the gyoza which was fun to eat.
Food Grade: B
Service Grade: A–
Worth the Money Grade: B
Overall Impression Grade: B

We decided to give this place a chance due to the fact we saw how crowded it was one night. Tho at the time we were park close to Iyo Udon.
We were greeted with much enthusiasm. Good thing we got there early before it stared to get crowded.
We ordered our food and first taste I was instantly elated. Our daughter enjoyed her ramen as well. Almost finishing a regular portion. We were also grateful that they made our daughter feel like a princess.
When our daughter asks if we can come again. to us it’s princess approved.

Pros
Spicy Shrimp Tonkotsu: It was one of the saltiest bowls of ramen I’ve had in a long time but overall it was delicious. The broth, noodles, and toppings were made with great care. After devouring the bowl, it reminded me of bahn canh cau which is a Vietnamese crab noodle soup. If personally love shrimp or seafood flavor for soups then consider trying out the shrimp tonkotsu ramen from Manichi.
Selections: Manichi offers a wide range of ramen broths and toppings from the basics to innovative ramen bowls.
Cons
Noodles: The noodles in my bowl were a bit overcooked to my liking where some of the pieces even fell apart when I was grabing it with chopsitcks.

Love coming to Manichi Ramen! The menu keeps growing every time we come.
The black garlic oil ramen is my favorite. I love the flavor of the broth and the way it’s out together. I never used to be a ramen lover, and still not quite although I do love Manichi.
The service is always so great here and fast. They are very helpful and recommend items in the menu. Today I’m trying something new. The Manichi Special #1. It has the black garlic oil and spicy miso with tonkatsu and an egg. These dishes are a little in the pricey side for $ 13.75 each. At least I can finish the whole bowl here :) I’ll always come back. I like Manichi Ramen.

A solid start! The place has a nice vibe to it! I liked it better when I thought the wheat grass and plants were real! hehehehe. In any case, authentic looking ramen place with the large pots and noise and steam! The bowls reminded me of Ippudo in Fukuoka — surprisingly our server didn’t know what Ippudo was! The Karamiso Negi Gyoza was excellent if not a bit pricey at $ 7.50. The taste was great and it was cooked great!!! Probably my most favorite gyoza in a ramen place here. The «arabiki» sausage was cooked perfectly and had a snap when bitten into.
NOW THE NOODLES!
Nice looking bowl! Looks great! Noodles from Sun Noodles — very good — I asked for firm. Broth — a little watery and not rich or thick enough. Even after mixing it up well, it still needed something more — but it was still tasty — just milder than it could be. Pork — sorry, tough, rubbery fat, hard to bite and eat. This should be improved. Eggs, overcooked compared to Japan, but it has to be like this in the states.
As far as the printed material, there are some fun typos on there and it’s fund to check out.
Overall, just a good ramen place. Will go back!

There is a parking lot but shared with other businesses so it’s a hit or miss with spaces, but it’s right next to a mall so easy park at the mall and walk over. Ailana’s shaved ice is right next door.
There specialty ramen is really good. The black garlic oil changes the flavor of the traditional tonkotsu and miso ramen base. We went back to back days and they remembered us, even thanked us for coming back. The ramen and soup base was consistent on both days, but the gyoza was not. The first day the gyoza had a crispy bottom and soft top, the second day there was a lack of crispness. The gyoza is good but not really worth the $ 1.05 for each gyoza. We received a coupon after the first day so had to come back for more ramen and free order of gyoza.
The miso base with black garlic is heavier and richer than the tonkotsu base. Both were savory, but the tonkotsu base was lighter. The spicy sauce is not spicy at all, just adds more flavor to the soup base. The charsu pork is slightly different than what I’m used to, this is way better. A lot of places give larger chunks, this is thinly sliced layers in with the fat. The pork is tender and melts in your mouth goodness.
Service was great, we had our water refilled through the entire meal. It’s like they know when it’s time. Would definitely be back when in town.