| Japanese chain restaurant serving Nagasaki Champon and Ramon noodles |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 11/29/2006
Rating: 7
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I'll be the 1st to admit I blew it by not ordering the Nagasaki Champon. It's their widely publicized dish (chinese style noodles) and who knows why the food gods took control over my mind and ordered the chicken karaage and shoyu ramen (soy sauce). Maybe next time.
The interior of the restaurant reminds me of an American diner from the 80s with an asian flair to it. I recall reading The Ringer Hut is one of the largest chain ramen places in the world with a couple of locations in the United States. Arriving at noon and as usual, lunch rush is in full swing with 1-2 tables open. We sat down, teas and water where delivered upon request and orders placed. Prices are reasonable with bowls of ramen at $6-7 and lunch specials scattered across the picture menu.
Food took about 10 minutes to land on the table with the edamame ($2?) arriving first followed by the chicken karaage. The karaage is marinated chicken thighs cut into small pieces, lightly battered, and deep fried to goodness. It's a great appetizer for anytime of the day and most enjoyable with a beer. Chicken was juicy and a tad on the fatty side. It's worth re-ordering but be sure to share it with someone else as portion size is quite large.
Shoyu ramen is a soy sauce based broth mixed with bamboo shoots, sprouts, green onions, seaweed, half an egg, ramen, and piece of cold meat. It's a giant bowl and Ringer Hut gives you more ramen noodles more than other Ramen houses in the area. Noodles tasted pretty good and cooked firm. Veggies tasted ok and somewhat puzzled with the cold slice of pork. Although the broth was served warm, even submerging the meat didn't melt the veins of fat. I found the broth heavily flavored in pepper like they were trying to mask an ok tasting broth. The bowl of ramen was ehhh and would be more interested in trying other dishes on the menu, particularly the Champon.
Here's the deal, there's serious competition for ramen in a 2-mile radius; Do-Henkotsu, Ramen Halu, and Tanto. If you want to experience ramen at the next level, you visit the other 3 restaurants. If you want larger portions at cheaper prices, fast service, you come to Ringer Hut.
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Reviewer: wchane
Total Reviews: 148
Reviewed: 6/11/2007
Rating: 7.5
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Ringer Hut is starting to look like more of a dining destination then a quick quasi japanese bite every time i visit. I've been coming here for I believe over a decade, the original family that owned it has sold it to it's current owners which has obviously decided to make it a more sit down joint.
The Nagasaki Champon is the most promoted dish however the Yekimeshi (something like that, japanese fried rice dish) is the clear winner. I'm addicted to this stuff and they have not changed the recipe since I remembered it.
We dropped by for dinner and ordered the following: yakisoba, pork yekimeshi, spicy bamboo, and katsu curry.
The yakisoba is a little different then the tasted and is prepped different then i'm used to. they used a heavy soy sauce as the base then dumped what seemed like canned trimmings of various shrimp, mushroom, cabbage, beef, pork, a real mish mash of ingredients. However the noodles were al dente and it was ok. The yekimeshi...well you know my take on it already. totally worth it.
My katsu curry was very simple, a nice flattened fried piece of pork served with rice, pickles and curry. the curry is a nice consistancy, no mystery meat or obscure blobs, just even, smooth, curry. i love the pickles. The spicy bamboo tasted a bit spicier then the usual canned/bottled variety but not as crisp/fresh either. seemed like they were soaking back there for awhile.
Over all, it's not a usual dining destination for me, but i'd definitely go when i get a hankering for it again.
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Reviewer: takeru
Total Reviews: 31
Reviewed: 3/28/2009
Rating: 6.5
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I'd been here once before several years ago, but now that I've tried all the other ramen places nearby, thought it would be interesting to return and see how Ringer Hut compares.
I ordered the medium champon and pork fried rice combo:
Champon - Good soup base, smooth velvety texture, pretty tasty, just the right saltiness. Ramen style noodles also had good flavor and texture. And plenty of fresh vegetables. But was disappointed that there wasn't even a token amount of seafood included.
pork fried rice - not bad, but like the champon, no discernible traces of meat. Accompanied by slices of pickled radish which had a unique salty/sour flavor.
Portions were generous but this particular combo was starchy overload and definitely not worth the price ($13) given the lack of meat. I can't vouch for their other dishes, but from for ramen in this area I'll hit up halu, kahoo, tanto, or hana instead. |
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Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 187
Reviewed: 12/5/2006
Rating: 8
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I managed to get my chauffeur to drive me to Ringer Hut for dinner tonight. The outside around the restaurant is dark, with the neon open sign hanging from the window. I stopped by Saturday night for a late dinner and they closed at 10pm. This place used to open late, up to 12am.
I walk in and what do I see? This place looks so much cleaner, bigger, and brighter. This place used to be dark and stuffy, but now its so much brighter and just feels clean and refreshing to dine here.
We are brought over menus as well as a new dessert menu. Now Im convinced there is new management. There used to never be a dessert menu. Anyways, I noticed the price has gone up as well. Ringer Hut offers this mean combo option with your choice of one regular bowl of basic noodle and a side choice consisting of pot stickers, unagi donburi, or Japanese fried rice. I always pick the Japanese fried rice as the portion they serve is massive. The price for the combo used to be just under $10 but now its just under $12. If you order it separately it costs close to $2 more for the same portions.
Everything here is massive now. Sodas are served in this massive glass cup thats at least holds 24 oz of soda; I didnt even manage to get a refill as there was so much soda in this one glass. ($1.70) The Shoyu Ramen combo was $11.40 and my friends Champion combo was $11.45. We also ordered an appetizer with 9 pieces of pot stickers for $4.45.
Our regular bowls of noodles are massive. I can only imagine how the large bowls of noodles are. My ramen is just average, the soup base is a little on the salty side and theres not much fatty flavor. My pork piece is lean but still tender; my half hard boil egg is cooked to done. The plate of Japanese rice is massive and easily a take out item after the large bowl of ramen. Pot stickers are the ones brought frozen and fried. Not bad except I would prefer these to be served first prior to our dinner being served first.
Service was excellent throughout our meal as our waiter stopped by to check on us several times and asked my friend if he would like a refill on his drink several times. The restaurant only had a few patrons but Ive been to same restaurants as this with total lack of service. Ringer Hut service was poor previously as getting any type of refill was near impossible. After new management, they deserve the much improved service award.
My friend and I decided to try their dessert selections. He chose the green tea pudding (3.95) and I chose some custard ala mode dessert (5.95). His dessert basically consisted of green tea pudding with a dab of sweet red beans on top as garnishing. My dessert consisted of some type of custard flan with whip cream and a cherry on top. Within the center of my dessert consisted of some caramel sauce with cereal flakes, and down on the bottom was a half scoop of vanilla ice cream. Not bad dessert but I probably wouldnt order it again for the price I paid.
Would definitely come back to try their curry dishes. Final bill was $50 after tax and tip.
Pluses: Great service, good combo items, large portions, clean and relaxing atmosphere, plenty of parking.
Minuses: Price increase, average quality ramen.
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