Fu Lin Restaurant

I ordered spicy huntun and mapo tofu. They are great especially the huntun. I ate them all.

I love that the ramen here isn’t so salty and I’m not leaving all bloated. I ordered the miso charsiu ramen and my boyfriend ordered the shoyu charsiu ramen. He seemed to like that the shoyu broth wasn’t over powering. Don’t forget to add gyoza with your ramen!

Ramen was quite good and fresh. I had #1 with an order of potstickers, always quite good and fresh.
Service is ultra slow, one person serving the entire restaurant.
Highly recommended.

I love the ramen here. Always get the same thing. Good service, food prices. Fantastic family restaurant!

To premise, we came in right before the lunch rush on a Friday, so they did get busy which affected service.
However, several issues became apparent prior to their becoming so busy. Our server seemed very confused with our orders, even when pointing to the menu items. Perhaps he was new?
Secondly, our waters were nearly empty fairly quickly, but no refill was offered. This could be remedied by providing water in pint glasses rather than the 8 oz size they used. We had to ask for more water when the server had a chance to come by again after bringing food, which was when it was time for the bill. I kept thinking, why isn’t anybody helping him?! We also happened to be seated to where we could see people in the kitchen who didn’t seem to be doing anything. I felt bad for our server.
Third, our appetizer of steamed dumplings came after the entrees. And they had this odd alcohol-​like kick to them, almost like they were filled with vodka. It wasn’t pleasant.
The shrimp noodle dish we had was not good. The noodles came out stuck together and somehow burned on the tops and ends. How was that even accomplished? I’m guessing a microwave was involved. On the plus side, the shrimp were very good. Too bad there were only four :(
On the plus side, the beef and broccoli was VERY good, some of the best I’ve ever had. I’m willing to bet that a more mainstream noodle dish might have turned out okay, and would give this place another shot during a less busy time if I lived in the area.

Food was ok. Prices are severely outdated on Unilocal.The ramen is definitely not worth it. Go over two blocks to samurai noodle if you want a decent bowl of ramen. Food overall was very underwhelming. Probably would not go back to this place.

Yikes, sorry, I didn’t like the ramen here at all, and I was really disappointed. I should’ve stuck with the Chinese food instead.
Honestly, I thought my ramen tasted so fishy that the only thing I could eat was the noodles. I couldn’t even swallow any of the vegetables or pork that were in my bowl. If I weren’t starving I probably would’ve eaten less than what I did.
So disappointed. It was reasonably priced and the service was good (fast and friendly), so I’ll give them that. But wow, if I am ever in Seattle again, I will make note not to come here. I can’t add much more than that. :-/

Cruised to the International District from downtown for lunch with a co-​worker especially to try some new ramen.
There isn’t a sign but we managed to arrive here just about noon and the place wasn’t fully packed. I ordered the tankatsu ramen with pork and my co-​worker ordered the vegetable ramen. For an appetizer we ordered the boiled dumplings, xiaolongbao style. Of course, we had hot tea for our beverage.
So, if you didn’t catch that beginning part, it was me and my co-worker…two of us. So when the dumplings came, why only one of us received utensils was beyond me. It seemed like the minute we go there, there was this unnecessary sense of urgency haunting the wait staff. When I asked for utensils, I thought our server’s head was going to explode.
Not that it was the end of the world, but when our dumplings arrived, a couple of them had burst so the soup was at the bottom of the steaming dish. Other than that they were pretty tasty but you know, part of the excitement of eating these things is wondering if you’re going to burn the roof of your mouth.
There was a reasonable wait for our soups, not as fast as phở comes out, but when I finally got mine, there was another indicator that maybe my ramen was made hurriedly. The noodles were most al dente than I’ve ever had at any place, however, there were generous chunks of pork that were a little on the rubbery side.
The broth was fair, could have used a little more flavor, but not totally offensive.
I don’t know that I myself would come here again for ramen but there was a pretty good variety of lunch specials like bento boxes that I saw going to other people’s tables. And I would at least recommend it as a place that I know to try because who knows… someone else might like it.

Surprisingly, for a place like this, the ramen was good. I liked their charsiu, it was very tasteful. The service, could be better for sure. Overall, pricing wasnt bad, irs right in chinatown, so you would have to find street parking.

Ramen was only okay but their service and gyoza is a must try! It was a thin crispy under layer that connects them all and I’ve never seen that thin flaky texture anywhere else so it was a fun food experience…

Best ramen in Seattle! Been coming here since I was a poor college student to get my fix on tasty food at cheap prices.
Saw that someone wrote, «not as good as samurai». Really?! This is the only place that actually fills my cravings for authentic style Japanese ramen. Samurai’s noodles are like packaged noodles and their broths are too salty and taste the same. The only reason a lot of people prefer them, is because they have the option of multiple add on ingredients (garlic chips, etc). More isn’t always better… Fu Lin’s broth (tonkatsu char sui ramen) is just the right amount of creamy, not too salty and with a hint of sweetness. The noodles remind me of those that I ate in Japan (the owner spent a lot of time in Japan. He is Chinese but is fluent in Japanese as well). Their char sui meat is so tender and flavorful. Love it! You can add pot stickers or fried rice for $ 3 more, and it’s a generous portion. Get a small side dish, mix some vinegar and soy sauce in the dish, and dip your char sui meat in it. I’m salivating just thinking about it.
A big bowl of delicious ramen on it’s own, $ 8. $ 11 if you add potstickers or fried rice. They serve Chinese dishes as well. Their lunch bento box (served 11−3pm) is a good deal as well. Definitely a place to try if you’re a ramen fan.

Ok, let me try to do a most impersonal review for this restaurant since I’ve seen quite a few super biased one star review on it, and also because… I just knew this place too well.
First things first, the food:
[1]. Let’s talk about whether it is Japanese or Chinese first, but if you’ve ever been to Din Tai Fung, you must have seen the Mexican dudes making Chinese buns behind the windows like pros… So, if they make good Japanese Ramen, by bother frustrating about the authenicity (I mean, do you even know what’s authentic/what’s not?) The cook (and the boss.) and his wife stayed in Japan for 10+ years before they relocated to Seattle, by the time they just got here, Uwajimaya was still a small supermarket right in front of the restaurant (I’ll say that’s about 20 yrs ago.?) They can speak fluent Japanese, Cantonese, and Mandarin Chinese, but let’s not comment on the English though. The menu is in three different languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, the waiters cannot speak Japanese, but let’s discuss that later. Yes, this is hybrid/​fusion kinda restaurant with Chinese dishes and American food (cheese wonton? lol, not that’s not really Chinese, that’s an Americanized Cantonese derivative, just like the difference between American born Chinese and China born Chinese, pull out their ID, ABC are American. not sure if that’s a good metaphor hmmmm. Some dishes like ‘crab/​egg over rice’ (also called ‘天津饭’ in Japanese), they sounds like Chinese, but they are not, those are Japanese, btw I’m from 天津, but I’ve never heard of 天津饭 until I got here hehe. So just keep in mind that if you are talking about whether this place is Japanese or Chinese, it could be much more than what you know, therefore if you’re not a real expert, let’s just stick with the food. What do people say about the food? Good food with decent price that’s all I know. For the taste of the food, I’ll give a 5 star, comparing it with other similar restaurant in Greater Seattle area. The only down side of the food itself that I can think of is it might be a little outdated, but! you ever been to the Chinatown in Portland guys? all they have were Orange Chicken kinda stuff, no potstickers no ramen no nothing damn…
[2]. The food and their sources. I think I saw a review questioning whether if the soup were made in the house, let me answer that: yes it is. Well, actually, pretty much everything other than the noodles were made in the house, and most of them were freshly made on daily basis. I’ve seen how they made the sauce for the soup, and the broth for the soup, not sure what ingredients though, they won’t let me know anyways. The fish cakes, gyoza, eggs, charsiu slices, etc, were all made by themselves. Not a lot of restaurants buy fresh stuff every single day, or made most things by themselves these years, especially when they offer such variety of choices, for these, I’ll give 5 stars.
[3]. The biggest problem, sanitation. Let’s not be too naïve about the food in Chinatown, the houses are old, everything underneath the area were old, the sanitation, well, what can I say? I don’t know who to blame. but if you like Jade Garden for dim sum like I do, JD are far more disgusting than Fu Lin. still, people love to line up for 1 – 2 hours on weekends outside of JD. I’ll give a 3 stars for this problem. however, if sanitation really matters to you, do not go to any restaurants in Seattle Chinatown, stick with $$ or $$$ food in downtown to fit your high end nobility, these places aren’t for you.
Next, service.
Most of the waiters/​waitress here are students, the work load can be very heavy in particular time frame/​seasons. If you’ve ever noticed, English might be their second language. Things could get more difficult when you do service with secondary language. They do not speak Japanese, instead they speaks Chinese. I never play rough on waiters/​waitress unless they are rude to me, but too much effort to get noticed I’ll be pissed as well. Two stars off for too many fresh faces, and sometimes long waiting yes, but one star back seeing their efforts and the sweat on their faces. I’ve seen too much drama on service issues all over the places, let’s just say this is a common problem, try to play nice with these kiddos to show your generosity if you don’t tip much, however it is the tips they live on, just saying.
other than that, they do phone orders, takeouts, but no deliveries.
do not accept discover card or amex,
do not accept credit cards for orders less than 5 dollars like most places do.
I’ve seen an asshole bullshit about the 5 dollar thing, told the waitress he doesn’t have enough money, so he wasn’t gonna pay, none of his two friends lend him money while they did have enough cash.
I think that’s pretty much it. long review, thank you for reading lol…

Solid tonkatsu ramen — not spectacular, but you can’t beat it for the price. Also ordered a side of pork chop fried rice and gyoza which were both good. It’s a small hole-​in-​the-​wall shop that could be a great go-​to place for whenever I find myself in China Town!

I’m a big fan of this place for lunch. Their prices are reasonable and the quality of the food is good. The waitress was friendly and the food came out fresh. In fact, the food was so hot, I had to wait a few minutes to eat my entrée but it was tasty. I ordered the lunch binto box with a small salad, rice, and some sort of curry type pastry peices, as well as, some great hot & sour soup. The sesame beef entrée is memorable with a thick dark sweet sauce that’s a perfect compliment to the crispy beef strips.

It’s a little difficult for me to be unbiased when it comes to Fu Lin because it is where I began my ramen journey seven years ago. Tucked away in the International District is this little Chinese restaurant that makes surprisingly good ramen. At the time, this was my first time eating true ramen that didn’t cook in three minutes and I thought I was in heaven. Coming back here after being exposed to the ramen of the Bay Area has darkened the sheen of Fu Lin’s ramen for me somewhat. The ramen is more bland than I would like it and not quite savory enough. However, the tonkotsu seafood ramen is still ridiculously delicious and I will get it every time I find myself in the International District.
Being that this is a Chinese Restaurant, I need to discuss the other offerings here too. I always supplement my ramen here with their potstickers and soup dumplings. These too are quite delicious and should be a part of everybody’s meal at Fu Lin.

Hands down my favorite place to eat ramen! And ramen did originate in China so there isn’t anything ironic about this restaurant being «one of the best ramen restaurants in Seattle» even though Fu Lin is a Chinese restaurant. I love the ramen and always get miso corn ramen (around $ 7.50) and it’s really good for the price. The noodles are just the right texture and the broth is not too salty (some Japanese restaurants really season it salty). Will come here again and again

We will classify the ambiance as unpretentious. However, the signs in the window indicated this was a Japanese restaurant. The signs proclaimed, «Japanese Noodles.» Inside was a homey Japanese style family business. The menu featured Japanese box lunches, (bento) but it is Chinese by namesake and perhaps in another time. At any rate the food was served hot and fresh and oh by the way the menu was in English and Japanese, imagine my bewilderment when I was going through my check in feature on Unilocal and could not find a Japanese Restaurant, until I finally figured out it is Fu Lin. I’m such a semantic for my OCD.
There is a wide variety of menu options. What is spicy is indeed spicy and seasoned. I was pleased with the prices and service. Lose a star for restroom grit along the door and greasy handle. I was grateful they still have paper towel dispensers so I can cover my hands. I’m not a Germaphobe but when something looks like hasn’t been scrubbed down in years I’m afraid of it, perhaps it just needs a painting, so then take an afternoon and paint the little space.

One of my go-​to places before Seahawks games. Probably the best ramen in the ID. I usually get the spicy tonkostu. Good taste and creamy pork goodness. You can add a side of gyoza or fried rice for an additional fee to make it a meal. They also have a full menu of Chinese food which is OK, but there are better options close by. Bottom line — come here for the ramen and you’ll be satisfied.

My all-​time, hands down, favorite ramen in Seattle. It’s a hike for me to get to because I live all the way up in Everett. Ever since I first discovered this place, I make the time to get down to Seattle just to eat at Fu Lin. It’s THAT good.
If you’re looking for fancy, this is not your place. If you’re looking for delicious, Japanese ramen without the thrills and foo foo, this is your place.
I always get the soy sauce ramen and add on the pot stickers. Delicious! The broth is so good that I literally drink every drop out of my bowl. Lots of flavor! I never leave this place hungry.
Don’t pay for parking across the street. If you go during off hours like after lunch and before rush hour, you’ll find plenty of street parking. Just might have to circle the block once or twice. They are closed on Tuesdays.

Fu Lin is unique in Seattle. It is a very typical, homey Chinese restaurant that you would find in Japan. Not the authentic Chinese cuisine, but one that has adapted to Japanese tastes. You notice as soon as you walk in that there are menu items written in wood blocks hung on the wall — a very Japanese custom.
It is somewhat ironic that they should do one of the best Ramen in the area. Like many Japanese foods, Ramen has its origins in China. They don’t get the respect that they deserve for their Ramen because they are a Chinese restaurant.
Before the recent Ramen renaissance, I thought that Fu Lin’s was the best. Now, with the coming of up-​scale and Japanese chains into the area, I think only Kukai surpasses Fu Lin. but not by much. They have a good variety of broths. Their noodle is tasty and not over cooked — still with a good chew. In the summer, they do a delicious cold ramen plate.

Japanese ramen done by a Chinese kitchen. The broths are cleaner /​less rich than Japanese-​operated ramen places. This would have actually been ideal for me today, as I was in the mood for tonkotsu but my stomach needed something slightly less intense than the typical tonkotsu.
I ended up actually getting the soy sauce ramen (which I basically never get because I’m always gravitating toward tonkotsu) and it was really good. The charsiu here is very lean, adding to the cleanness of the noodle bowls here.
I also added the side of fried rice for $ 3.50, and FYI it is a standard Chinese fried rice.
We also ordered the deep fried chicken wings (super garlicy and super tasty) and the deep fried pig intestines (small portions but crispy and really good too). One bizarre thing about the chicken wings — they only had one bone in them. No clue how that happened.

Couple friends posted about this place and I was excited to try it out. I’ve been searching for a pretty good ramen place lately. The waitress greeted us right away. She was very nice and tried her best to make sure we were comfy and alright the whole time.
I got the soy sauce charsiu, my boyfriend got the tonkotsu charsiu, and we shared pork wontons in hot sauce for an appetizer.
We waited a while for our food but they were busy and only had one waitress on the floor at the time so we totally understood. Our ramen came out before the appetizer.
The pork wontons in the spicy sauce was good! It was garnished with cilantro but we thought it tasted better if you ate it with the wontons. The sauce had a nice kick to it; not too over bearing. Only complaint was that it was soggy. Not chewy like you would expect wontons to be.
The ramen was great! I was happy with my first sip down to my last one. The soy sauce base really fit my taste, the noodles were perfect consistency. Really good chew, the pork was sweet and savory (and they give you a lot more meat than other ramen places I’ve been to), the bamboo was also not too prominent like I’ve had in other ramen. It all balanced out well!
My boyfriend and I thought the soy sauce base was better than the tonkotsu; he said his was too savory/​umami for his taste, but he liked that the bean sprouts and bamboo were able to cut through it and balance it out. He would probably get the soy sauce base next time.
Also, I didn’t get an egg! Is that normal here? I kept thinking how great it would be to have a soft boiled egg in my soup… It’s my favorite part of ramen!!!
All in all, we really liked the ramen here! Next time, I would probably opt for the scallion pancakes as an appetizer instead of the savory pork wontons. Umami appetizer and heavy umami soup… Not the best combo. By the end I was really craving something crisp or/​and fresh.

We decided to have ramen last night as it was freezing and soup sounded like a good way to warm up, we found this on Unilocal and decided to give it a shot as a lot of places closed early for New Year’s Eve. When we walked in, it was completely empty but we were greeted right away and she told us to pick our table.
I ordered the Tonkatsu and the food came out pretty quickly. The ramen was pretty bland and the broth seemed greasy without any flavor. I added chili oil and soy sauce hoping to give the broth some body, but it didnt do too much for it. The most memorable part of the meal was the fight that broke out in front of the restaurant and provided entertainment. I wouldn’t go back as the ramen wasn’t to my taste, but i’ll give it 3 stars as the waitress was really friendly and provided good, friendly service.

This place has really gone downhill. I used to come here fairly often because there were very few ramen spots in town, but I haven’t been in for a few years.
My family and I were actually looking for a new ramen spot that I had found on Unilocal,but we couldn’t find it so we settled on Fu Lin since it used to be decent.
The appetizers are still good and reasonably priced. I still think they have some of the best potstickers I’ve ever had. The fried tofu was a little too soft for me but the flavor was good. They also have these fried curry wontons that are delicious! Just a hint of curry, not overpowering.
The ramen in the other hand was terrible! A lot smaller than I remember too. The broth was pretty bland and quite oily. It left a film on my lips. It didn’t even taste like shoyu broth. The noodles were severely overcooked and there were way too many noodles and not enough corn and meat.
If you’re going to go to Fu Lin, just go for the apps. Don’t waste your money on the ramen. They have way better ramen at Arashi Ramen in Tukwila

It seems that most people who ate here usually have the ramen, but I was just not in a ramen mood even though it was freezing cold outside. So I’d like to let others know that their Chinese dishes were pretty good as well. What my dining partner and I did have was the hot and sour soup, which was really good. It had just the right balance of hot and sour. We also had ordered chicken chow mein, salt and pepper chicken wings and braised pork belly.
The chow mein was okay, it’s your usual chow mein. The salt and pepper chicken wings were crispy and flavorful. What was strange about it was that they used the middle section of the wing and cut it in half so they were smaller wings. I’d say there were five whole wings in all. They were tasty but I just haven’t seen it prepared that way before.
The braised pork belly was outstanding as it was braised perfectly in a slightly sweet soy sauce. It was accompanied with steamed buns, scallions and cilantro. I would come here again just for this.
I pass by this place everytime I’m in the ID but usually don’t think much about it. It was until I saw a segment of «Bizarre Foods» that I thought I would try this place out.
It’s a nice casual place, nothing fancy. I will be back for the ramen and gyoza on my next visit.