Ramen Nakamura - Oahu

It was raining in Waikiki (a place that supposedly never rains). Not only was it raining, it was simply pouring, thunderstorming, and whilst on a "sunset cruise" where we were completely soaked, we even managed to see TWO water sprouts (ie. water tornadoes). On such a wet soggy night, what better to eat than ramen?

In our previous wanders around our hotel area, we eyed this ramen store which had LINES waiting outside. So it must be awesome, right? Hence, in we go (the lines are gone because as usual, we're having a randomly late dinner).

Inside, we see a new "signing" wall of famous people who have visited. I don't think I recognised them... but most were in japanese.

My hubby orders an ox tail ramen with a side of gyoza. The soup isn't really anything special - just a salt-based one. But the Ox Tail is pretty good. Beefy flavour, meat which falls off the bone. They recommend for the super flaky off the bone beef to be dipped in a ginger mixture which kind of adds a medicinal nature to the dish. The gyoza was also just normal.

ox tail ramen

gyoza

I opted for a Hakata Tonkatsu ramen. Maybe I've been super spoilt by super thick, tasty porky soup from Ryo's Ramen and Gumshara but... this kind of just didn't do it for me. Sure it was tasty, but it was no where near thick or fatty enough. It just like a diluted version :(

Hakata Tonkatsu ramen

In all, it was an OK ramen joint. Ramen itself was average, the soup was average, but the ox-tail is pretty good. Not really sure why there was so much popularity for the place - my theory is, maybe there's just an overabundance of japanese tourists in Waikiki :P

Ratings:
Food - 6.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 27/40

Ramen Nakamura
2141 Kalakaua Ave
Honolulu, HI 96815
Tel: (808) 922 7960