Marumen

Reviews 4

MA

Manny Oh

This place is on point. I have had a constant craving for ramen and was always disappointed until I came here. A few friends and I had made a trip to DC for New Years and ended up in the Fairfax region for Hot Spot. The wait for Hot Spot was over 2 hours long and the atmosphere was damp to the point my glasses didnt stop fogging up for a good 5-10 minutes. We looked up and saw that Marumen was right next door. I made the final decision (since I can never turn down ramen) and we all went. BEST. DECISION. EVER. My friends and I pull up and it looked like an old renovated pizza hut shop but when we entered the shop, it was a completely different world. The colors, flooring, booths/seats/tables, lights and everything else about the restaurant made you feel very welcome/homey, with a higher end feel. The restaurant was definitely busy but it didnt feel overcrowded or clustered like when we walked into Hot Spot. We, a table of 6, were sat down after only 10-15 minutes of waiting.Completely shocked. We sat down and were handed a small piece of paper with the menu on it. Felt like most ramen shops with a very small, focused menu, not some restaurants with a 5 page novel. The waitress filled these cute mason cups with ice water and described the menu a bit to us before having to wait on another table. Customer service throughout the rest of the night was perfect: Waters filled as soon as cups were emptied, plates cleaned from the table as soon as food was eaten, etc. Wow. Just. Wow. My friends and I pretty much split all of the appetizers, and the ramens together. We ordered the chicharrones, pork cutlet, salmon, chashu, karaage, and pork buns. First of all, if youve never had pork buns, you NEED to try them here. The pork belly was perfectly braised and caramelized. My first thought when I took my first bite was that I had only eaten the bun because of how tender the pork was. I was completely mistaken as the rush of flavors coated my taste buds. Sweet. Salty. Savory. Crispy. Soft. Warm. Cold. It was just a complete sensory overload. When I looked back down at my pork bun to take another bite, it was gone. I wanted to order more but I knew that I had a big bowl of ramen waiting for me on the other end. As soon as the ramen came out, my mouth began to drool again. We had ordered the spicy miso, miso, shio ramen, and Godzilla tsukemen (all $14). Brace yourself, ramen is coming (corny but worth it). I myself enjoyed the shio ramen with an extra egg. The broth. The BROTH. I dont think Ive had a ramen with this much body in who knows how long. I took my first sip and every little bud on my tongue was excited to a whole new level. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as the broth continued to coat my entire mouth with flavor. I saw hours and hours of broth rendering flash before my eyes. It was as if there was a fully roasted suckling pig in each sip of broth. In some ramen shops, you have to drink the broth with the noodles in order to get the full flavor experience. At Marumen, this was NOT the case. The body of the broth was at the perfect thickness and consistency that it was a perfect marriage of broth and noodle. As I kept eating the noodles, I noticed one thing. They didnt end! I loved it! Finally, after who knows how long, I finally finished everything. There was maybe 1/3 of the broth left, versus the 3/4 broth usually left from the lack of noodles in my ramen, and I contemplated for a split second (only because of how full I was by the end of the meal) whether or not I should finish the rest of the broth. It definitely put me over the edge, but it was definitely worth it.

JE

Jerry Calubiran

After seeing the pictures from a friend on FB about the food in this restaurant, I mustered the time to go here and hoping that it will worth the effort and the time but I got disappointed. In fairness to the restaurant, I will give them 5 stars for cleanliness and staff friendliness but for the actual food, sadly I can only go as 2 stars as I expect more. I ordered the spicy miso soup ramen (which I always do on other ramen houses) and the pork bun on which both of them failed to exceed even my slightest expectations. The pork bun is big compared to Momofukus version but its packed with more greens and the pork itself is somewhat dry and not tasty as compared to Momofuku which slightly small yet very tasty even though the only greens you can see there is the cucumber. I asked for a sauce for the pork bun and they gave me a sriracha (which I dont like at all). The ramen part, I usually start by tasting the broth and the first comment I thought is, its not that hot but not too cold for a ramen and we can all agree that one of the key things for a broth to be tasty is the temperature it is served and at that time I was so very disappointed already so I tried finishing my ramen but couldnt really finish it that a large portion still of ramen and pork belly is left. I will try to come back again if Im in the area but I will not exert an effort or time to go here again. Id rather wait on the long lines of Momofuku or Yaki Tori which are both in DC and its very well worth it.

O

O haya

We just found out about this place (duh :)!) recently and had a meal there. We had the miso ramen, but my wife had it "extra spicy" (which it was) and with kimchee added (small extra cost). We also got an order of the pork buns (very tasty) and the fried chicken (karaage). The ramen was great! Soup was very rich and my wifes was, as expected quite spicy (which she likes). Came with a large piece of pork, which was delicious. Actually, we just got back from a trip to NYC where we trekked to an old favorite ramen shop up there (Sapporo), and also had the spicy miso ramen there so we were able to compare them, and Id say that the miso ramen at Marumen was better than the ones we had just had in NYC. I wish that Marumen also had Tan Tan Men (they dont) but their spicy miso ramen was good. The karaage was also a great surprise. Very reasonable portion of crispy, de-boned chicken, and really tasty with a kind of zesty mayonnaise and some other sauce, and super crunchy. Very nicely done. Tea was complimentary (as was a small dish of edamame) and the service was good. As others have mentioned, they are in a butilding that was convered from a Pizza Hut, but the interior of the restaurant is updated and nicely done and very clean and comfortable. We definitely will be going back now that we have a local place to go for good ramen.

MA

Matthew Cornwell

This place is great, but of course its not like back when I lived in Japan. My wife loves Pho cause see is from Vietnam; however, ramen is still the best and this place is the best Ive tasted that reminds me of living back in the Kanto region. Anyways, the noodles and soup is pretty awesome but I added too much which downgraded the flavor. Avoid the bamboo shoots cause the tast funny...Not fresh you know. Also, if you order extra noodles it comes separate and cold in a bowl. I added this to the ramen and it chilled my meal so not that great. All that aside, I gave this place a high review because the food is good, semi local Japan good. Also, I wanted to offshoot my wifes review as shes the type to rate everything at three stars. No I dont know these people but Ive always wanted to see more ramen and less Pho noodle places. This place is pretty authentic considering where we are so its worth trying. If I lived closer Id probably eat here once a month; otherwise, youd probably get fat and happy you know. Oh, and Im used to thin sliced pork. This was more like an oversized bacon wedge..Kind of fatty but still good.