4. Restaurants

Dohatsuten Japanese Ramen

43691 Mission Blvd, Fremont, CA, 94539
  • (510) 668-0959
  • Store is closed

Dohatsuten Japanese Ramen Menu

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  • Janet N.

    I was craving ramen for lunch after spending most of my morning in Hayward that was rather chilly and found this place which was on the way home. I decided between Dohatsuten and Ajisen, but ended up here based on the reviews. This little hole in the wall isn't particularly big, nor is done up too well but we all know what that means! I found a little gem in this part of Fremont and it's called Dohatsuten Ramen. I ordered the Dohatsuten ramen (their signature) with tonkotsu broth and a soft boiled egg on the side. There's only one size and the Dohatsuten comes with bamboo shoots, green onions, ground seasoned pork, half a hardboiled egg, seaweed and a slice of Charshu. This place really surprised me as the broth was delicious, not too salty nor bland tasting and it had a really clean finish. It wasn't overly garlicky or fatty to leave you feeling greasy or bloated. The noodles were the perfect thickness, were chewy and long. As for the charshu and soft boiled egg, they were perfect! Good thickness of charshu and tender, but not so much so that it melted away in the broth. The egg, I will say is similar to the way Orenchi does it and was amazing. The wait staff is really friendly and welcoming, pretty sure they're Japanese also! Good portions of ramen for a good price ~$8-9 a bowl. Another perk is this place isn't cash only, but there is a minimum of $20 on credit card payments. I hope to come back to try their appetizers like kaarage or croquettes.

    (4)

  • Kevin C.

    I've lived in Fremont for a while now, and can't believe this is the first time I'm hearing about this place. It was absolutely freezing, so we thought it would be a good idea to go for something warm. Luckily, we found this place! Be forewarned, this place could be hard to find; pretty much a hole in the wall if you will. Even for a Monday night when we came, there were a decent number of people scuffling in and out of this place. I ended up ordering #6 on their menu with the miso broth; definitely hit the spot on a cold day. I'll be coming back when I'm in the area again!

    (4)

  • Mar M.

    I'm sure this place is a hit with Ohlone students looking for a quick bowl. Like the score says I'm giving it an A-OK. The ramen was good BUT it's nothing that special. Their tonkotsu broth is a bit of a letdown as it isn't that hearty or rich compared to other places I've been to. But they are rather generous with the chashu pork which is always a good thing. The egg is already hard boiled (I usually like mine slightly runny) and the noodles are standard. It's great for the Fremont folks living along Mission Blvd though.

    (3)

  • Christine S.

    I love a good bowl of ramen... and although Dohatsuten's base is flavorful, it is a little too MSG-y/salty for my taste. They do fill your bowl up with lots of noodles and all the ingredients though, so you'll be full for sure! I usually order the tonkatsu broth and add an extra egg. You can never go wrong with eggs, right? :) The restaurant itself is like a small hole in the wall, and the parking is behind the big street. I'm not too big of a fan of the ramen here, but if I wanted to satisfy my cravings and was too lazy to drive more than 20 minutes, this place will just do.

    (3)

  • Arjun M.

    This is my absolute favorite ramen place. I just woke up and am too sleepy to write a lengthy review, but the first thing I woke up thinking about was of how perfectly they cook the soft boiled eggs. I've tried several ramen places including Ajisen Ramen, Bodo Lucky Japanese Restaurant, and some other places that serve ramen in addition to the rest of their menu. Dohatsuten has several things that set it distinctively above the rest, almost all of which have to do with food quality: +Their broth is amazing +The ingredients they choose for their ramen are better (other places don't add the right mix of stuff or add too much of one ingredient over the other and therefore don't create the same "WOW" with every bite like Dohatsuten ) +Their soft boiled eggs are more authentically prepared and seasoned (you can tell from the taste, but you can also see by the light brown-ish color because the egg white has absorbed the color of the sauces they use) +Their noodles are thin and have just the right texture and softness. They are cooked just right. +Their meats are so tender that I start feeling sad when I'm nearing the end of my meal. (their stewed pork belly is AMAZING OMGGGGGG) +The ramen bowl and spoon they serve with is really nice. It definitely enhances the experience because I always miss it when I go to other restaurants. Or rather, when I *used* to go to other restaurants. I've confirmed Dohatsuten is the best, so it's my only go-to Ramen place now. (unless it's between 2:30-5pm and they are closed, in which case I'll either wait or suck it up and go to Bodo Lucky Japanese Restaurant) --------------------- TL:DR SUMMARY: This place is the best. If it's your first time, get DOHATSUTEN SIGNATURE RAMEN with +TONKOTSU BROTH (+$1) +SOFT BOILED EGG (+$1) If you're really hungry, add on an UNAGI DON (sushi style eel on a bowl of rice) If you're HYPER HUNGRY, get the HYPER DOHATSUTEN a RAMEN. It's like the Dohatsuten Signature Ramen but bigger, already includes a soft boiled egg, and has super tender stewed pork belly. (But still get TONKOTSU broth!!) -------------------------- Their service is fantastic, and they are happy to give you more broth should you mistakenly take 100 sips of that delicious broth before remembering that you have all these other delicious things in there to eat. Did I say I was too sleepy to write a lengthy review? Oops. I've been salivating the whole time writing this, and am gonna head over to get ramen now. Shoot - it's 2:30pm! I wish they would extend their hours! P.S. Surprisingly, takeout actually works out really well. But only when your family is too lazy to eat out. The eat-in experience is always better because of the way they prepare the bowl for you.

    (5)

  • Chlyde F.

    They get better and better, despite lack of space. Because they have good food, I look past anything else tbh. I really enjoy the ramen that they offer, particularly the shoyu broth that they have. Besides ramen, they have other dishes as well, but the other dishes aren't as good as the ramen. I have yet to try the lunch combo though, because the combos offer different food that they do not serve during the lunch hour. One issue of this place is the spacing and the location. There is a small amount of seats available at the restaurant, which can be full. Also, this ramen place is near Ohlone College, which can provide good business, but the restaurant can get loud due to the random appearances of college students. Aside from that, this ramen place serves great food. xD

    (4)

  • Susan C.

    Coming from SoCal means that I've supposedly sampled the ramen of all ramens (Which I think is supposed to be Daikokuya or Shin Sen Gumi. Disclaimer: I'm no ramen connoisseur. I'm going by hearsay). So that means I should turn up my nose and say this place is only mediocre. But it's really not. Their signature Donhatsuten Ramen has an ingredient that I haven't had at the other ramen joints. In addition to the chasu meat, there's ground meat sauce and it adds a nice kick. Get it with the tonkatsu broth. Just my two cents.

    (4)

  • Rachel P.

    My first time here and I tried the Hyper-Dohatsuten Ramen with the Tonkatsu broth and Gyoza. Gyoza was off the hook, packed with a lot flavor. It was so good I had 2 orders. The ramen had decent broth, no real wow factor but the pork was cooked very well. I'm not a big fan of cabbage most of the time so I wasn't too thrilled with it, but that's just my preference. This place is definitely a hidden gem of Fremont. I'd come back whenever I'm in a dire mood for some ramen.

    (3)

  • Miranda K.

    I'd like to talk about the rest of the menu, since most of these reviews are just about the ramen. I come here for the Yakionigiri. 2nd best to Gochi, IMO! You don't have a choice of topping, but it comes with some pickled plums and veggies. It's crunchy and tasty, and goes great with the Fish (Tataki) or Beef Tongue (Tan Shio) tapas. You have to try the Iron Yakimeshi! It's basically like japanese dol sot bibimbap (for all you korean foodies). You have to let the rice cook a little more to get a good crunch on the bottom. I haven't gone through all of them, but love the two I've tried. It's a huge portion, perfect for sharing. The Chashu & Kimchee Yakimeshi is a must try. Unagi fans should be happy with the Unagi Yakimeshi. It's like a glorified Unagi Don! (Way more interesting than Unagi over rice.)

    (4)

  • Lan N.

    Good ramen joint. It's right across the street from Ohlone college They have a good variety of ramens and you can get each one with one of 4 different broths. The tonkatsu and miso tonkatsu broth is an additional $1. Being my first time here, I tried their dohatsuten ramen with tonkatsu broth. Flavors were pretty bold and I liked the texture of the ramen noodles. The bowl itself looks on the smaller side, but they fill it up with a lot of noodles and toppings. I didn't feel hungry after eating the bowl. I also tried the chicken karaage and it was good. Crispy and huge. 6 big pieces served with a lemon wedge a side of japanese mayo as dipping sauce. Credit cards accepted if over $20.

    (3)

  • Kevin D.

    Hyper Dohatsuten Ramen. That is what you absolutely must get if you're super hungry and just want a HUGE bowl of noodles. The soup is super tasty and noodles are always cooked perfectly. Service is not bad when they're slow, but almost non-existent once the dinner rush gets going. Do recommend if you're in the area and want some ramen that's not too shabby at a good price.

    (3)

  • June Y.

    3.5 STARS for solid ramen, great service, & not having to wait to be seated :) Came here on a weekday night & was super pleased to be seated right away. Dohatsuten is right across Ohlone College & it's quite easy to miss if you're not paying attention because it's located in pretty small & less frequented strip. They do get pretty busy once dinner rolls around & like most ramen places, they have limited seating space. Their ramen is solid in that the broth is flavorful & the regular portion size is just right. The texture of the noodles is thinner and not as chewy as Orenchi's but it's good nonetheless. I keep my order simple & always get their plain ramen with the soy broth plus an egg. The ramen comes with half a hard-boiled egg (similar to Ajisen's) but I'm a die-hard egg lover so I like to indulge ;) I'm a fan of their soy broth because it's got just enough of that "milky" + salty blend of flavor that goes well with the toppings that come with the plain ramen. Their cha siu is also good and slightly thicker than other ramen places. s3-media3.ak.yelpcdn.com… Service is awesome. Our friend was running late so we ordered for her & the waiter offered to serve our bowls a couple minutes later so the ramen would be fresh by the time she arrived. He also came by a couple of times to ask us how our ramen was which was very nice! Definitely a nice place to have a good bowl of ramen if you're in the area :) I only wish they would offer soft-boiled option for their eggs!

    (4)

  • Annie H.

    Came here with a party of 3 and had to wait 15 mins while 3 parties of 2 people who came after were seated before us. They are limited on seating but if you come with another person then it is not so bad. Quick service too. Small place and somewhat hard to find. Small parking lot too. Ordered: Dohatsuten ramen (signature ramen) with tonkotsu: added a soft boil egg too. I thought this was nicely presented and tasted good but at the same time lacked flavor. The soft boil egg was cooked to perfection. The noodles... I expected them to be a bit crunchy not so much soggy/soft. I think it was slightly over cooked. If the noodles were cooked better then this would have been a winning dish. Hyper dohatsuten with tonkotsu: has everything! Pretty hefty bowl and good amount of meat. This would be great for those who wants everything and is super hungry! Chashu ramen with tonkotsu : looked good. My friend said it was good but nothing to rave about. Honestly, I think there are other better ramen places. Worth trying though if you havent had ramen before. However if you are picky about your ramen, I suggest going elsewhere.

    (3)

  • Bo J.

    If you know ramen, then you know what to expect - a mostly flavorless soup with crappy cuts of meat. That said, Dohatsuten is about as good as any other ramen place. On the positive side, you will leave here full.

    (3)

  • George F.

    Last night we stopped in on the way back from Santa Barbara around 7:30 pm. The restaurant was busy but the wait was about 10 min. We ordered the following: Hyper Tonkatsu Chashu Ramen 5/5 stars Large bowl with tons of toppings/ corn, pork belly, cha shu, green onions, nori, bamboo shouts, soft boiled egg, ground pork Agadashi Tofu 5/5 stars we asked for regular tofu not the fried tofu and they accommodated us. It was served in a lite dashi broth. White Tuna Tataki 5/5 stars seared albacore tuna in a lite ponzu and radish sauce. Service was good. They did change the soundtrack from the Eagles to a Japanese soundtrack.

    (5)

  • Matt B.

    Try the signature ramen - just the right amount of kick and flavor! Let me start by saying I am not a ramen addict like so many of my friends - that said, I REALLY enjoyed the Dohatsuten signature ramen, and found myself craving it again the next day. There was enough kick to clear my sinuses and leave a tingle on my tongue/lips - but not so much where I wish I had a gallon of lemonade to put out the flames. The flavor was well-balanced, as were the ingredients. I do think it was a bit on the smallish side, serving size-wise, but then again - we're used to bigger than normal portions here in the US. That said, I felt satisfied when I was done eating. I'm docking it one star for the building itself - it is below street level, and feels a bit cramped/unkempt - even though after closer examination I could see that they did indeed clean regularly. Just a bit run down/unpolished. Our table was clean, seating was clean/well-kept, and the staff was very friendly/efficient. I'll be back for sure!

    (4)

  • Vicky L.

    This is one of my top five ramen spots in the Bay Area. -availability of kakuni (stewed pork) -the largest ramen has kakuni, chashu, and minced pork! -good quality tonkatsu broth available -egg always cooked perfectly runny, they also serve it whole The staff is always really friendly, which is something that a ramen place doesn't really need. Definitely one of the only reasons I will go to Fremont. This place is a gem.

    (5)

  • Desiree L.

    My friend and I ordered our own separate ramen noodle bowls and it was so overpriced and too salty. The portion size didn't match the actual pricing. We also ordered the fried oysters, which wasn't worth it at all. My friend and I ended up paying $40 all for ramen and oysters.

    (2)

  • Kelly L.

    First time eating Ramen! I really liked this place and thought that they did a fine job. Going back this evening to pickup some take out!!!! Yummy!!!

    (4)

  • Sasha P.

    Staff was friendly but soup was not authentic. We had the miso ramen & pork. The noodles is definitely not good, not freshly made; more like store bought. Pork was decent but base of soup a bit sweet. $13.99 for hubby's soup and my soup at &9.99 is not worth it.

    (2)

  • Buster B.

    Came here because I was craving for Japanese ramen and they have good reviews on Yelp The RESTAURANT Was small. The doors were wide open and flies were buzzing around. It also had a horrible horrible smell as if someone just took a dump someplace in there. It's either that or they were cleaning their sewage at that time. I saw a few people customers there, too, while the smell continued to linger and flies free styling around the tables. My table was somewhat sticky as if it was not cleaned well The FOOD Was good but didn't appreciate the flies lurking around my bowl of noodles. If I see flies in a restaurant, I think of them parking on my food every so often before it is brought out to my table. It is a sign of uncleanliness, period! Will I COME BACK? I don't think so. I have had better tasting ramen at other restaurants and cleaner, too!

    (1)

  • Zara A.

    I've never been so disappointed with my Japanese food ever. I ordered the potato cream croquette, which was literally panko crusted cream. There was absolutely no potato present in the entire croquette, which was a shame. Their panko crumb had a good texture though. I also ordered the fried shrimp, which was also disappointing because it was tiny!

    (1)

  • Sonya M.

    3.5 stars I ordered Shio based Dohatsuten Ramen. The broth itself almost had a sweetness to it (i want to say it tasted like cabbage sweet), the chasu is on the sweeter end as well. The broth's temperature was great, hot and steamy good for a cold day. I know there are reviews on soft boiled eggs but mine was rather hard and fully cooked (maybe the end of the day?) As mentioned earlier, Chasu was bit on the sweet end but the texture was very soft and tender, so if you are okay with that slight sweet taste you'll enjoy it. The server was very friendly and helpful, so that was a plus. Tip: If you are considering "spicy green onion ramen", its not spicy, the spicy comes from the green onions itself not the broth. Overall it was a fairly good experience on a cold rainy night, but as I mentioned, the sweetness of the ramen broth and chasu was bit unfamiliar to me, but doesn't taste bad just different. I would recommend give dohatsuten a shot none the less.

    (3)

  • Andrew Y.

    The first time I came here was 3 years ago. I was really happy that I didn't have to drive all the way to Santa Clara/San Jose to get some good ramen. I left not very impressed. My initial thought was more semblance than anything. It looked beautiful but thats it. Fast forward 3 years later... We were back from a road trip and wanted something soothing and warm so we decided on this place. It was much better than last time. We both ordered the Hyper Dohatsuten Ramen. We both could not finish it. The bowls look small but are packed with everything. There is no need to order an extra egg, corn, etc If you're not too hungry or want a little bit of everything, get their lunch specials. Super affordable and delicious If you're from Newark/Fremont and don't want to drive to SJ/SF check em out. Very friendly service too! *This place is sort of hidden. Its across the street from Ohlone.

    (4)

  • Vee L.

    So disappointed.... I went to this place about 2 years ago and really enjoyed their ramen. I'm not usually in this area, so I never got a chance to come back. I finally decided to come here again and it was so different from what I remembered. My friend and I both ordered the Dohatsuten ramen with tonkotsu broth. It came with all the basics: menma, green onions, ground seasoned pork, seaweed, chashu, and half a hardboiled egg. We added a soft boiled egg to our bowls too. We both barely ate any of it and lost our appetites. Although, the service was good, I don't think I'll be coming back here again.

    (2)

  • Maggie X.

    I've been here a couple times, and while I was wowed the first time and thought this was the best ramen I'd ever had, the second time fell a little short of expectation. I'm not sure if that was because the quality was inconsistent or if it was a personal palate thing, but overall this is still a really good ramen place. The price is a little steep in my opinion, but the quality is really good and portions are generous. Beef tongue topped with green onion with ponzu sauce: ( yelp.com/biz_photos/doha… ) I loved the abundance of green onion slivers on top of the thinly-sliced beef tongue; I felt like they really added a nice contrast of texture and a freshness to the meat. Unfortunately the sliced beef tongue was a bit dry for my taste, but it was good with the green onion and ponzu sauce. The ponzu sauce does have a kick of spiciness to it, which surprised me. I don't know if I would get this again, especially because it was a little pricey for the portion. Hyper Dohatsuten (extra large size): ( yelp.com/biz_photos/doha… ) Dohatsuten Ramen: ( yelp.com/biz_photos/doha… ) The main attraction here is of course the ramen, and I feel like they do a good job of cooking the actual ramen; the texture is perfect and it's never too soggy or undercooked. The broth is also very flavorful, regardless of which one you choose, although sometimes a tad salty (which goes for all ramen, so I think this is more of a personal preference). The extra large size is huge! I wouldn't recommend getting it unless you're used to eating double portions, which is essentially what this is. The toppings are good, especially the corn and chashu. The soft-boiled egg was good, but the one I got still had a slightly raw white center, which was somewhat unappetizing. Overall, I do like this place, and I would probably come back. The prices are perhaps a dollar or two higher than at other ramen places, but it's not so bad that I would hesitate to come here again.

    (3)

  • Ronnie G.

    I give it 3.5 stars; it's not quite 4 stars but better than 3 stars. You definitely need to arrive early or you'll be waiting for a while. It's not a big place, not recommended for a big group. if you like to be seated right away, bring no more than 4 people. The service was good and the servers were very friendly. I had the hypher dohatsuten ramen (tonkatsu) it pretty much has everything, alot of meat; signature ramen chashu, chinese chives, bean sprouts, spicy minced pork bamboo shoots, seaweed, soft boiled egg, extra pork belly, corn and korean chili. we also tried the fried baby octopus, white tuna tataki and deep fried fish. Out of the 3 Apps, the baby octopus were the best.

    (4)

  • Kirby P.

    I got the Dohatsuten Ramen special with Tonkatsu. It comes with everything I would normally add (soft boiled egg and corn) so it's worth just ordering the special. The portion of my ramen bowl was HUGE. I think next time I should just share with a friend. I ate about just half of my bowl/noodles. I also tried the chicken karaage (sp?) and that was good too. I definitely was stuffed after eating dinner at this place. I'm willing to give it another shot if I'm in a ramen mood. I would just split the ramen and try other dishes (appetizers or the rice dishes)

    (4)

  • Henna P.

    Been here a few times and have never been disappointed :) I'm happy to have a decent ramen place close to my house. The Ta-ro and Chashu are my favorite. My husband likes the Hyper Dohatsuten because you get a little of everything, but he says it's pretty spicy, so beware! We both like the Miso and Tonkatsu flavor broths. The meat is really flavorful and tender, especially the Ta-ro (pork belly.) So yummy! Generous portions. I'm always full when we leave, but if you want more, I really liked the Shiro maguro don. Service is fast and friendly. The location is kind of hard to see. When you park in the parking lot you have to walk down a narrow walkway to get to the restaurant.

    (4)

  • Kenny Y.

    I've been to this joint numerous times now since it's the closest ramen shop from my house. I would say that this isn't traditional Japanese ramen but more like a Chinese take on Japanese ramen. I usually get the hyper-dohatsuten which is really filling and around 12 dollars, so not a bad deal as far as ramen is concerned. The portions are decent and I never leave wishing I had more to eat as I often do at other ramen shops. Although the quality isn't the greatest, I think it's sufficient if you are looking for ramen and really hungry. Although I definitely wouldn't drive too far out of my way too come here. Overall, I would give this pkace a solid 3.5 but I'll round up since it's local. Haha There is plenty off parking in the lot off of Mission Blvd. And they do accept credit card

    (4)

  • Natacha M.

    Happy New Years to us. Exactly what I needed to help cure a hang over. The Hyper Dohatsuten Tonkatsu was delish. The flavor was on point and had a lil bit of everything in it...huge slab of pork belly, spicy ground pork, corn, cabbage, green onions, bamboo shoots, and a perfectly cooked egg. Did I mention a perfectly cooked egg! That's so important to me. I'm so glad we found you. This place has been added to our ramen spot list.

    (4)

  • Marevie T.

    Such a tiny little spot but the food was great! I did the one when you pick a soup and then a rice bowl. My goodness, that was a lot of food! As small portion as it was - it's enough to fill you 8) Will definitely come back again!

    (5)

  • Rick E.

    Excellent value for the price. BUT my pork belly wasn't as tender as I would have liked. I probably would try something else. Definitely get a soft boiled egg for extra. Soooo good!!!

    (3)

  • Michael W.

    Short Story: This place almost rivals Orenchi! :) That's saying a lot because I'm the world's biggest fan of Orenchi. Long Story: I came here on a Thursday night and we were promptly seated. I ordered the number 5 ramen that had the Tonkatsu soup base. The ramen came out quickly and it was quite well made. The soup was lightly salted which took a bit to get used to. I think I am slightly used to the heavy salt usage from Orenchi. The customer service was pretty good and you could tell that it was a mom and pop shop. The decor and ambiance was good. Very homely feel. Verdict: Dare I say that this can become my new favorite ramen place? It rivals Orenchi!

    (5)

  • Dee L.

    Being spoiled with places like Ramen dojo, Santa Ramen and Orenchi, this place falls short of being compared to them if at all. This place has been on my list noted for being a decent ramen shop on the east bay. Tried the taro ramen tonkatsu base for the pork belly lover in me with an extra egg. The menu didn't mention there would be an egg, so when the hefty bowl arrived I was puzzled to see it decorated with half a hard boiled egg and a full egg. Once I broke the egg I was disappointed to see it somewhat soft boiled but barely oozing. Having two different eggs was such a tease since I love soft boiled. The noodles were nice and chewy yet the mediocre broth could have been better. Then comes the pork belly-- there was so much of it! Huge slabs of belly--tilted the balance of what a balanced bowl of ramen should be. I felt like I was working to eat my bowl than enjoying it.

    (2)

  • Vinnie D.

    This is a this hands down The best Japanese restaurants in town. Bill was my server with this very nice young lady. Together they are the dream team. I ask them for recommendations and that they definitely delivered. I had this amazing Ramen recommended by Bill and this sheared fish I believe, recommended by the very pretty young lady. I am totally satisfied. Great job guys. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anybody in town as well as my friends and family keep up the great work!!! Vinnieboi out.

    (5)

  • Carey F.

    They are back to being good! They must have new ownership. The ramen is MUCH better, now. Nothing spectacular, but definitely solid. And their curry rice, while a bit over portioned, is a nice change of pace that a lot of Ramen places don't serve. My only gripe with this place is that they often have only one server even while the restaurant is packed. He is always overworked and rushing around; adding another server would really help this place and raise the perceived level of service by leaps and bounds. Otherwise, they are definitely doing their best. And they've solidly redeemed themselves by serving good food.

    (4)

  • Bryan R.

    It seems my Ramen adventures have been falling flat as of late & Dohatsuten Japanese Ramen was no exception to the slump... Had a late night at the office & then got a text that I occasionally look forward to from the wife... "Get yourself something to eat on the way home..." Yesssss! :-P Had Dohatsuten on my bookmark list for awhile & figured now was a good a time as any to swing by... Perfect timing btw as there were only 3 tables occupied when I arrived. I was immediately greeted/seated & the server was very friendly/helpful. Server suggested I give the fried calamari a try for an appetizer as well, which was actually quite good... For my main, I opted for the Hyper Dohatsuten with Tonkatsu broth. Within 10 minutes or so, out came this MASSIVE bowl with humongous (almost overwhelmingly huge) chunks of stewed pork belly... I recall back in the day when Kahoo gave some decent, tender chunks, but these things were on another level... Had I been eating with my work buds, we provably could've split the 2 chunks between the group of us & all have been content (I kid you not...). First impression with the broth? Well, there was a LOT going on... Though I requested extra spicy, the broth visually had no hint of spice (with only a slight bite, flavor-wise). The egg that I initially thought was missing, was actually buried beneath all the toppings & was already cracked/leaking yoke. The broth itself was a bit waterier than I would've preferred & the noodles were EXTREMLY thin. They were similar to hakata style but I'm going to have to say that they were even thinner, with not much chew to them. I wasn't a fan, but they sure as hell didn't skimp... Each scoop of Ramen didn't truly give me a ramen experience, nor satisfy my ramen craving... The ingredients, the consistency of the broth, the noodles, etc..., felt as though I was eating a Chinese/Taiwanese dish, similar to a Niu Rou Mian/beef noodle soup (sub pork & sans the deep, rich broth coloring). Probably a bad/Non-apples-to-apples comparison, but with all the cabbage, etc... floating around in the broth, this was the closest thing that came to mind... Though the stewed pork belly chunks were huge, they weren't the most tender of pieces (though still decent nonetheless). There were 2 sets of additional thin-sliced cha shu as well (different preparations), though they basically got lost in everything else that was going on (though one of the styles/texture reminded of dry flank & I wasn't really digging it). All-in-all, it was OK, but didn't come across to me as being truly authentic (though maybe that was their intention?). Great value if you're starving as this bowl was so massive, even my ass couldn't finish it... (though I sorta got tired of it after awhile as well). Service was decent, ramen was presented well, portions (at least for the hyper) were massive, though Dohatsuten's style was not really my cup of tea... As for now, I'll stick to my weekly convenient, go-to options, being Kotetsu & occasionally Misoya (if I'm hankering for their KILLER, thick-sliced cha shu)... I'm keeping their rating at 3 stars considering the pricing/value & service, though they appeared to be lacking a bit as far as authenticity...

    (3)

  • luxe o.

    based on what we always order, we are very happy with the food and service [= our typical order: chicken karage, Dohatsuten ramen special, chashu ramen, and chashu donburi bowl i'd recommend getting the soft-boiled egg in the ramen...it adds texture to the dish. the tonkatsu broth is always really good. the service is always good and the food comes out in a timely manner. when i'm craving ramen, but don't want to drive far....we always visit this place [=

    (5)

  • Janet S.

    Nice little restaurant with yummy ramen! Definitely try their signature ramen and the dry ramen with soup aside. Love it!

    (5)

  • Helen L.

    great food and great service :)

    (4)

  • Corey C.

    Desperate times (AKA Fremont) call for desperate measures. This place is only 4-star in my book because of it's location, but if you're in that area and need a ramen fix, I think this is the best you can do.

    (4)

  • Erica C.

    Been here a few times now, I'm not sure how long it's been here but it was out of my radar for a long time.....especially since I live so close. It's a hidden gem. Very little table space so don't expect to get seated immediately on peak hours. Dohatsuten offers really good ramen. The ingredients are fresh and it's nicely presented. The flavors are on point, not too bland or too salty. The service is good too. They are very attentive and always refills your drinks.

    (4)

  • Tracy V.

    This is my go-to ramen place. I always get the dohatsuten ramen with soy base and a side of that ahi tuna over rice for +$3.99. Oh so deliciously good. The reason I gave it 4 stars and not 5 because I wish they had a spicy choice or would give me lemon to squeeze in my soup. I know it'll kill their recipe but it is my choice of preference so why does it matter? The location is hard to spot out because the sign is small. Just know it is right across from Ohlone college. The service is good but again, they refused to give me that lemon. The restaurant itself is tiny so don't bring a large party.

    (4)

  • Mikey H.

    Ramen was good. Definitely get the combo with everything in it. Waiters are nice. Place is kinda small. Expect to wait during dinner time. I really think this place change ownership because it tasted better before. Idk.

    (4)

  • Rita K.

    Another one of my favorite ramen spots nearby! This may be the second best ramen spots I've tried in the East Bay. Ambiance: A tiny hole in the wall joint at a plaza across the street from Ohlone College. Upon walking in, we were greeted by a worker and another worker walked by with a fat plate of curry goodness sizzling on a stone plate. I knew instantly that this place was going to be good. In addition, I passed by a table with 2 people sharing a FAT PLATE OF karange chicken, aka fried chicken meat. Humongous portions and it smelt like heaven. We didn't order this but I will do so at my next visit! My friend and I both had the dohatsuten ramen with tonkotsu broth. The other broth flavors were miso, soy tonkotsu, and I forgot the other one. I asked the server to make my ramen spicy but the server informed us that the ramen is already spicy. We just chose the regular size and didn't upgrade it for a few bucks more to large. The noodles came out quick; within 5 minutes. We were taken aback at first with the portion; our ramen came out in the tiniest ramen bowl ever. We thought, how can this possibly fill us up? To our surprise, the bowl was deeper than it looked; they were very generous on the noodles amount! The regular size is good enough for a moderate dinner; if you're a starving beast or just a heavy eater I would advise you to get a large. I typically eat a lot but thought the regular size was just the right amount to get stuffed. The flavor of the ramen was very tasty; we enjoyed every bite and slurp of the ramen. The donhatsuten ramen comes with a hard boiled egg with fully cooked yolk, pork, bean sprouts, and some veggies. Great amount of each items we thought. The broth wasn't very spicy but had enough kick to it. What makes this place stand out is the portion, the flavors, and the menu options. I am eager to come back here and try the other items on the menu. They even had a combo set with ramen and another dish for a few bucks more. Total for 2 people came out to around $20. Our regular bowl each cost about $10 ish; a bit pricey but we were completely satisfied with our meal, so no complaints there.

    (4)

  • Jay J.

    So... I came here for the ramen and the ramen.... tasted so so (oh, I had ordered the Dohatsuten ramen with tonkotsu broth). Service is good, parking is not hard, wait time is little. The only complain is the ramen quality. If you have other choices, go for other choices.

    (3)

  • NG K.

    I ordered Ta-Ro Ramen with Tonkotsu broth. It is delicious and very large. I got three huge pork belly in my bowl and they are delicious. One star minus because they are overall expensive. (a little bit too salty too, maybe too much MSG)

    (4)

  • Vanessa P.

    Came here last night for the first time! I checked Yelp of course to see what other Yelpers were trying out. I ended up sharing a hyper donhatsuten which was gigantic! I'm so happy I shared. The portion size was huge but for $12.99 its a good deal if you are sharing. The meat in the noodles is as good as it gets! Its right across the street from the community College and it is very small inside. The service was wonderful and I hope to be back soon!

    (5)

  • Eric J.

    1st Ramen shop I've tried. Don't know why I've waited so long! Very small place, was just a hand-full of people at 1:30. I've read many of the reviews for here as well as other Ramen shops. I had an idea where to start for my tastes. Didn't want to get too crazy for the 1st time! Ordered Dohatsuten Ramen with tonkotsu broth and a soft-boiled egg. A glass of water was dropped off and the waiter returned in about 3 minutes with my bowl. The bowl looks small, but has a good amount of food inside. I broke open the soft-boiled egg to let the yolk mix into the broth and noodles. The broth was rich and silky with the yolk mixed in. The broth was not as rich as I thought it might be and was not salty at all. The noodles were just firm without being soft. The BBQ pork was very good. The portion was enough to satisfy me. I'll return soon to turn up the volume on my Ramen bowl!

    (3)

  • Krystal O.

    This ramen place is pretty good compared to all the other ramen spots in Fremont! It's hidden in a tiny little place, so hopefully you'll be able to find this place! There wasn't much of a wait during lunch, but since it's so tiny, I can see this place getting packed quick. I ordered the Hyper Dohatsuten with Tonkatsu broth, with the chicken karage for an appetizer. Chicken Karage: Extra crispy on the outside, super juicy on the inside. They did this right! Sometimes places fry it with too much batter, but this was the right ratio of crispiness to chicken. Well done! Hyper Dohatsuten: I read on yelp that this was a gigantic bowl of ramen, and it was! Priced at $12.99, you get hearty portions of stewed pork for your money's worth. It comes with a few toppings like corn, seaweed, cabbage, a soft boiled egg, & bean sprouts. I elected to get the tonkatsu broth, which was tasty, but it wasn't as creamy as I expected it to be. The pork was also very thick, which made it a little difficult to eat if you get pieces that aren't as tender. Overall, this place was great for their service and their portions of food at a great price!

    (3)

  • Shingo A.

    I'm being quite generous with my score. It's more like 2.5 stars. Simply put, I didn't enjoy the ramen here. Seaweed salad was horrible. I regret ordering this along with my ramen. It's possible my taste bud got toasted from eating this salad. I was expecting seaweed salad with ponzu dressing but it was seaweed salad served with sweet sour dressing. Ramen broth was bland and chashu was overly sweet. Ramen was served warm (not hot). I felt ramen was expensive for what it is but they try to make up for that by serving in larger portion. But in my book, quantity does not make up for poor quality. My lazy ass should've driven to Orenchi Ramen in Santa Clara instead. Not that it matters, is the chef in the kitchen Japanese? Maybe I misheard but the guy in the kitchen seemed to be speaking Chinese. But the lady who took my order seemed to be real Japanese. If you want authentic Japanese ramen, go else where.

    (3)

  • Shasta L.

    I've gotten ramen to-go from here several times and have always been happy with the flavor and quality. I love the tonkatsu broth! So rich and delicious~ However, out of the 4 times I've ordered from here, I've had mistakes twice. The people who take orders, or the people who make the food, need to have more attention to detail. The first time I came here, I ordered miso broth, but I'm pretty sure they gave me salt since it was a clear pale yellow color. The most recent time I ordered from here, I ordered for a group of 4 people. One person ordered the spicy green onion ramen, but was given just plain ramen....with no green onion at all.... I really want to love this place, but please please pleaseeee take more care to get your orders correct!

    (3)

  • Christine H.

    Would give this place 3.5 stars if I could but didn't want to bring down their overall ratings. Everything from food, service, to environment was OK. I tried the Dohatsuten Ramen with Soy-Based soup. The soup was alright (mild, refreshing but nothing special), and I liked how they gave a variety of toppings (bamboo shoots, half an egg, bean sprouts). I was sad how minimal the toppings were (1 slice of chasu? There was so little of each topping but a lot of noodles-(variety, but lacked quantity). I was feeling pretty full from the amount of noodles that they gave though! Our server was sweet and did her job (nothing bad, but nothing exceptional at the same time). Prices were alright ($8.99/ramen), at least for the one I ordered. It kinda sucked how you had to pay $1 extra to get a different type of soup (like Tonkatsu). They had these pretty cool lunch specials ($9.49 for a ramen+mini curry don+kimchi)=not bad! Oh and $20 minimum in order to use your card!

    (4)

  • Tiffany T.

    I ordered dohatsuten ramen with corn in the yuzu miso broth because according to the menu, it's spicy. But nope, it was not spicy at all! The ramen was just okay, and I wish their egg was yolky. Out of all the ramen places I've tried, this is my least favorite spot. Service was good though.

    (2)

  • Emily Z.

    Service is fast and waiters were so nice. They gave us a drink on the house and waited for us without complaining even after we ordered 3 minutes before closing. ALSO THE PORK WAS HELLA TASTY 10/10 RECOMMEND

    (4)

  • Angela W.

    Dohatsuten is an amazingly convenient ramen place near where I live! It's the place to go to eat back all the calories I burn during a jog hahaha! I have been here twice, but this is the first review I am writing for this little gem. My favorite item on the menu has to be the chasu ramen with tonkatsu broth, so worth the extra money! The noodles are cooked to perfection and compliment the broth perfectly. The meat is tender and flavorful and overall I love the big portions and how the ramen is filling, but not too heavy. Prices are awesome too. I definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone nearby. If you don't live nearby, it's still worth the drive to come check out this authentic delicious ramen.

    (5)

  • Qasim S.

    Not too bad of a place. In a bit of a sketchy location and the entrance isn't right in front of where you park but it's nothing intimidating enough to deter you from eating here. The inside is also a little clunky but sufficient for smaller groups or just two people. It may be a tad bit difficult to get a big group in here, but there is space to do so, it's just a matter of how many tables and seats are open. Still a very cute little inside that has minute details to be appreciated by observant individuals. The menu is quite bountiful as well as extensive. Besides ramen there are a lot of interesting appetizers and side platters. I had ramen when I went so I can't truly speak of behalf of their other food items but they all looked very promising. The ramen menu itself was also excellent. So many different options from meats to broths to sizing, really able to serve any desire for ramen. The thing that made me most happy was being able to change the pork broth out for veggie (awesome for muslims). Most other ramen joints I visit won't allow me to and force me to get the veggie ramen every time. Thanks to their flexibility I enjoyed the clam ramen and it was excellent. They definitely didn't hold back on the clams either, it was a very good ratio of clam to ramen to broth to everything else. Just a little too much for me to finish but I wasn't insanely hungry. The service was also overall great. The lady serving us was polite and came to check and see how we were doing often. This place does their best to put out some great ramen and they succeed. The place is a little small but still worth going to.

    (4)

  • Anuj C.

    We were on the hunt for some good ramen on a cold night. we tried going to another location but they weren't giving us attention so we decided to go out and yelped and saw this place close by. and boy i was glad we found this place, it does take some time to find it. I got the chasu ramen with tonkastku broth (not too thick or rich, some ppl used to heavier ramens might not like that) and the pork belly don. I was presently surprised at how good the chasu tasted and the broth tasted pretty good as well. I wouldn't say its the best i have ever tasted but i fairly confident in saying that its the best in the tri-city area. The pork belly don was even better in my opinion and that was the side order with the combo. I was extremely full by the end and couldn't finish it all. I am definitely going to come back here to try out their other menu options.

    (4)

  • Angelica L.

    This time, it's a 4 star for realz xD Not sure if it's because I came around 8:30pm near closing time, but the proportion is significantly larger and more filling. I got the chasu ramen with yuzu miso broth but it wasn't spicy like I wanted it to be. At first, I really enjoyed it and thought it was better than last time, but as I hit the half-way mark, the goodness disappeared (& my boyfriend agrees). My egg was a bit cold but the chasu was big and quality meat so it made up for the egg :) My boyfriend got the hyper - dohatsuten ramen which was a huge bowl. The egg was soft and he got a lot of meat! So overall, the experience was good for both of us!

    (4)

  • Chuck N.

    3.5 stars. A nice creamy tonkatsu broth with smoky char shu pork. Definitely not bad, but not great either. $10 regular bowl (normal). Everything is solid, come here if you're nearby.

    (3)

  • Eileen L.

    A hidden gem in the South Bay for ramen. Literally, hidden, because it's in this small alley area lol! They seriously have limited seating here, so I could imagine the waiting list for this place to be super long at times. I went here on a random afternoon during the weekday and there wasn't much of a wait. However, it suddenly got pretty busy after we've ordered and gotten our food. I got the regular Dohatsuten ramen (as pictured) and my friend had gotten the Hyper Dohatsuten Ramen. I contemplated whether I should've gotten the Hyper, but there is no way I could finish a Hyper, it's HUGE!! Looks absolutely delicious, but I can't do the ramen justice by not finishing! Flavorful meat, great mix of veggies and a broth that isn't too heavy. What's not to like?! They also have options, other than ramen, such as their donburi bowls. In addition, they offer combination meals that may tickle your fancy too. There was only one server there, she may have also been the owner. She was very polite and friendly with great service :).

    (4)

  • Jenn G.

    Dohatsuten is hidden in a strip mall in the back of the building. It is a small place, with seating for about 25 guests. We came on a Sunday afternoon at about 1:30pm. The place was not busy - there were just 4 other tables occupied. The servers were nice, but made lots of mistakes. For example, we asked for water, but instead of bringing 5 (there were 5 of us), they only brought 4. We ordered beer, but it never came, until we had to ask for it again about 10 minutes later -- which the server then asked us again which beers we ordered (because he could not figure it out from our order slip). I asked for small plates when the appetizers came so that I can eat off of a small plate, and he only brought one, when I asked for "small plates for the table." If you can get pass the service issue, the food is worth a visit if you're in the area. Two people got the Dohatsuten special which is 12.99 and an extremely large bowl of ramen. There were three kinds of meat in the ramen: pork belly, chasu, and minced pork. Both enjoyed their ramen very much. I got the chasu ramen, which looked small in comparison, but was plenty enough to fill me up. The texture of the chasu was just okay -- the meat kind of fell apart when I tried to pick it up. I got tonkatsu flavored broth but it was not what I expected; I expected a rich pork bone flavor but the flavor was lacking. The hubs also got tonkatsu flavored broth but his was more flavorful, perhaps because his minced pork had some spices that got mixed in the soup. My ramen came with half of a hard-boiled egg, instead of a soft-boiled egg. So I did an add-on. They should have just included a soft-boiled egg with every ramen, instead of a hard-boiled egg. We also ordered karage chicken, which was fried to perfect, and gyoza, which was decent. Overall, I'd say come here if you are in the area, but with so many ramen choices in the bay area, Dohatsuten has a lot of catching up to do.

    (3)

  • Lee B.

    Wonderful Ramen stop! Had their signature soup along with the mini unagi with rice. The portions are plenty and it was very flavorful. Will be coming back for more :)

    (5)

  • Roger D.

    The food here tastes pretty good. We ordered ta-ro ramen, chasu ramen, fried squid, and the hyper bowl. The portions are BIG. The pork belly in ta-ro ramen bowl I ordered was insanely large and fatty. Very good paired with the saltiness of the broth. The reason for the 3/5 rating is because service here SUCKS. There is one waitress and she is very slow to tables. You have to call her multiple times even when you're ready to pay. She will often converse with the chef, neglecting all the customers. They need to get more people. Since this place is close I could give it another go, maybe change my review if they do. Another annoying thing about this place is how they charge extra for half the flavor choices. When you choose a bowl, you pick a flavor choice and tonkatsu (a popular and signature flavor) costs $1 extra. It tasted good but my friend who got soy flavor (which has no extra charge) tasted to similar for them to charge more. They nail you with $1 and $2 add-ins like a soft boiled egg and such, so unless you want the "full ramen experience" don't think your bills stop at the base price ($9-$15) for a bowl of ramen.

    (3)

  • Bevi K.

    I've been searching for a decent Ramen joint near by and Dohatsuten was a good find. It's a small restaurant nestled away on Mission, actually below ground, so it can be a bit tricky to find. They have a good amount on the menu and the price is good. They also have combo specials which is ramen and a small cup of donbori. Great when you want Ramen and rice!

    (4)

  • Wendy G.

    Came here 2 days before Christmas because our usual ramen joint was closed. They likely weren't expecting too much business today, but the place was packed and they were SEVERELY understaffed, which is unfortunate. Got the regular shio (salt) ramen. The soup was good - not too salty, pretty clear, and not fatty. It was just a tad bit bland, and I ended up adding a lot of chili pepper to add a kick. I wasn't too fond of the noodles, either (they reminded me a bit of instant ramen noodles, but a little better). The chashu, however, was good! This place is okay. I've had worse, but I've also had better.

    (3)

  • Sora L.

    Love this place! I've eaten at many great ramen places across California. Really don't understand what all the negative reviews are about, but great broth and noodles and service.

    (5)

  • Ryan D.

    This is a nice, small and quick place for your ramen fix. Their small donburi bowls are just as filling despite it's size. Although I cannot distinguish good nor bad ramen, I enjoyed each independent flavor element Dohatsuten had to offer.

    (4)

  • Sarah P.

    Their portion sizes are HUGE. Or maybe it's because I ordered the hyper donhatsuten? Ehh it's worth the extra money. The bowl may appear small but be warned they fill that bowl up to the brim with never ending amounts of noodles and various meat. They gave me so much meat I didn't have enough noodles to eat it with. By the end of my meal I was just eating meat. Lol. I'm not complaining because that's a steal. I love the fact that the ramen comes with more than one type of meat. I commend them for this because most ramen places don't do that. Broth is not overly salty. They don't skimp on things like bamboo shoots, scallion etc. I ordered mine with egg. Can't go wrong there :3 comes in a small bowl on the side and you can add it whenever you want. Be warned this place is very small and hard to find. Literally a hidden gem in Fremont. Come early to avoid waiting. Surely worth the wait imo (at least for the ramen I'm suggesting). Whenever I crave ramen I always think back to this place. No joint in the Bay Area comes close to how tasty true ramen is, not to mention the great value.

    (5)

  • Jenny T.

    This is my boyfriend and I's favorite ramen place! I've tried most of their ramens but my favorite is their special one! I forgot what it's called, but it says it on their menu that it's a top seller! We also always get the fried tofu, I always tell them to separate the tofu from the soy sauce that they put it on since the tofu is fried, because I don't like it soggy. The fried chicken is also very good!

    (5)

  • Jeff C.

    This is our go-to place for Ramen in Fremont. Its located right at the south entrance of Ohlone College. Even though its a small place, we always get lucky and get before or after the rush. We typically get Dohatsuten Ramen special with either Tonkatsu or Soy-Tonkatsu. They're both worth the extra dollar. The egg with creamy center is extra since the egg included is half a hard-boiled egg. The ramen is on the firmer side and the broth is tasty. Although some of my friends say the soy-tonkatsu flavor on the blander side but I like it the way it is.

    (4)

  • koyko m.

    This was our first time here and we'll be coming back for more yummy chasu ramen! The tonkotsu broth was perfectly seasoned and not too heavy. The chasu was sweet, tender, moist and melted with every bite. The bowl was huge and very filling. My husband is very picky about seasoning in everything he eats and if he enjoyed this then it definitely gets a 5 star rating! The Aji fish was delicious also. Crispy and crunchy on the outside, moist and juicy on the inside. We have tried other ramen places but this place has the best tonkotsu ramen! :)

    (5)

  • Tiffany J.

    Pretty good. Great tasting noodles, but nothing special that would make me want to come back.

    (3)

  • Amy H.

    This is a pretty small joint with tables along the edge of the restaurant. Got a table for four during a weekday lunch and the service is pretty bad here. No one sees you wanted to order or get water or pay for your bill. I ordered the lunch combo c which includes regular ramen (tonkotsu flavor) and ground beef curry with two potstickers and kimchi. My friend ordered just a regular ramen and the bowl was the same size. The ramen is pretty plain with only a small piece of meat, half egg, shoots and very thing spaghetti like noodles. I think I like the slightly thicker noodles. The broth was pretty good as well and isn't thick and heavy. The beef curry rice was good too but I realized the combo is a lot of food. Potstickers and kimchi are a average but meh. 20 dolla minimum credit charge

    (3)

  • Edna G.

    I have to say service was great and the guy server (forgot his name) gave us excellent service. Was very helpful in choosing what to get and pretty entertaining! The place was small for big crowds but seems to be very popular since its right next to Ohlone college. This is not for large groups. There is parking in the back but not many spots. I loved the appetizers fish and tuna but the Ramen soup broth is what I didn't like in the Ramen soup. I tried to like it but it was not to my tasting. It was just ok. They didn't offer any spicy soup either but they did have many ramen soups to offer. The beers there were nice and cold. I wish they offered pitchers. I will update my review if I come back again...but mostly not, unless someone pays for my meal...lol

    (3)

  • Cheek O.

    Well time update. I haven't been here in a while. After they changed owners quite a bit ago I went a couple of times and it just wasn't the same. The broth didn't seem as good.

    (3)

  • Kai W.

    I ordered their signature ramen. I love the soup, it's not too salty not too creamy. Also we got the mini combo of unagi don, it is so delicious, but they only give out 3 pieces of fried eels over the rice.

    (4)

  • Elishia M.

    Place is a bit dirty, smells like restroom when u walk in. I ordered #2 it was good but could have done without the ground pork. A bit on the sweet side too.

    (3)

  • Yvonne K.

    Updating my review because this has become my go-to place for ramen whenever I crave it (and that is pretty often), and they consistently serve deliciousness! They now accept credit cards with a minimum of $20! I'm still in love with their Dohatsuten Ramen with tonkotsu broth. It has just a little bit of a kick that is enough to make the flavor unique and delicious. Their chashu don is also not a bad addition to the meal if you think that the ramen won't be enough to fill you up (although I personally can just barely manage to finish it off!). Lunch specials are a fantastic deal -- a bowl of ramen and a mini donburi for about $8. The only downside is that the specials only feature their regular ramen, which has less toppings. The mini donburi that comes with it should be more than enough to make up for it, though :)

    (4)

  • Tina C.

    I ordered their special (i think it was #12?) and it came with a bunch of toppings including soft boiled egg, chasu and pork belly. The bowl itself looks good and is pretty big - will definitely fill your tummy up for $15 (I forgot the actual price). Now what made me super disappointed was that the chasu and pork belly WERE THE DRIEST I'VE EVER HAD. Whenever I have ramen, the chasu and pork belly are always super mouthwatering juicy and tender. But my goodness, that was not the case here. I usually like savoring every last bit of meat I have, but that night I was struggling even eat it. It was seriously the toughest meat I've ever had in any ramen and it just made me kill my craving. Maybe I went on a bad night (about 1-1.5hrs before closing on a Sunday), but I don't think I'll be returning.

    (2)

  • Kathy N.

    Ahhh... this place hits the spot after a day of snowboarding in Tahoe. Eating something warm and rich is always a good thing after being in the snow all day. I hope this is a regular stop on our way back from Tahoe. This is a hole in the wall ramen shop that has some pretty decent ramen and then some. My friends and I stopped here on our way back from Tahoe. We arrived around 7pm and there was no line. Nice! It's hard to find a good ramen shop that has no wait, so this will be our little secret. =) My friend and I weren't too hungry so we shared a regular ramen with Tonkatsu broth ($1 extra dollar for tonkatsu broth, but it's the only way to go imo) for $8.29 and we added a small Chashu Don (Stewed pork belly over rice) for an extra $3.50. I've had really bad ramen before (Kotetsu in Santa Clara) and really good ramen (Orenchi in Santa Clara). The ramen broth at kotetsu is so thick to the point I can't finish their ramen, while the broth at Orenchi is super rich with pieces of pork fat floating in the bowl. Mmm.... pork fat. Dohatsuten falls between the two. Their broth was rich, but light at the same time. The only downside is that we only got one piece of pork and half an egg to split between the two of us. I got the pork, while she got the egg. The Chashu Don was pretty tasty as well. Can't go wrong with stewed pork belly. Between the two of us and the edamame shared between the group, our meal was $18 with tax and tip included. So if you're looking for a delicious ramen meal with no wait, this is the place.

    (4)

  • Lana P.

    Nothing is better then ramen on a cold day. Me and my friends walked in without high expectations. And we were surprised for the best. The place is pretty basic, but food was awesome. I had Pork Belly Tonkotsu ramen in Tonkotsu broth. Fantastic! You must try. Ramen noddle I will be back!

    (5)

  • Eve C.

    I have to say that I am just starting to explore the ramen world, so take this review with a grain of salt. On that note, be prepared to drink lots of water. The broth was extremely salty. (I know in lots of my reviews I have said that the food is salty but trust me I like my share of salt.) There isn't enough meat and the flavor is just kind of lacking minus the sodium. The waiters are nice and it's a simple but trendy feeling kind of place.

    (2)

  • LinLin L.

    Hmm..... I am not sure where to begin. I ordered the Dohatsuten Ramen their signature ramen. I added the Tonkotsu broth for my dish. Presentation was nice. The bowl did look rather small but it actually ended up being a lot. However, that may be due to me not wanting to eat anymore after eating 1/4 of the noodles. The noodles were thin and yes it did have the consistency of the top ramen noodles you buy at the store. I tend to like them a little thicker and chewier (like at Ramen Dojo - now they have yummy ramen).The broth for my soup was a little on the salty side. I am not sure if they use MSG but the soup had a flavor of salt and msg. I can't really rave about their ramen. It was just okay. The waitress said this was one of their spicier soups since it had chili in it. I didn't taste an ounce of spice in my soup at all. Although I have a super high love and tolerance for spicey, so maybe for the average palette one can consider this soup spicy; however for me I didn't even detect a hint of hot spice. I love ramen and I want so bad to find a good ramen house in Fremont. I may go back to this place one more time and try another soup, but my hopes aren't set high. The people here were nice. Dohatsuten Ramen $7.99 Tonkotsu Broth xtr $1.00 _____________________ Experience = Not Priceless =(

    (2)

  • Eva H.

    As sad as I am for Cafe Pyala to be gone, I have to admit......Dohatsuten rocks ramen. It's obvious they need to remodel the place STAT- give it some life and color please!! The space is really small and they really don't have room to expand, so maybe not a good place for big groups. The staff is really friendly and the menu has a lot of good choices and add-ons. My bf and I shared a large chashu miso ramen + sashimi bowl (sorry forgot what they are called!) My only gripe was they put too much green onions- whole bowl literally was covered green! But the miso broth was salty and full of flavor. The ramen was perfectly chewy. I loved the salmon sashimi bowl we got- pretty simple. salmon over soy sauce rice, good compliment to the meal and perfect for sharing! This place as the potential to stay for awhile -especially since Fremont is starving for some good authentic Japanese ramen.

    (4)

  • Stef B.

    I've been to Dohatsuten multiple times. It's pretty convenient because its only 5 minutes away from my work. I always order the Hyper-Dohatsuten w/ Tonkotsu broth. Sometimes the ramen is sooooo good (4 stars) but other times it's just so-so (2 stars). I'm not sure if they have different chefs or what. Another negative is that they only take cash. Boo to that! Every restaurant should accept credit cards. I'm planning on eating here tomorrow with a friend and I'm hoping its more of a 4-star experience. Either way I love me some RAMEN.

    (3)

  • Joie G.

    The boys and I stopped by on Friday night. We ordered a few things to try and knew that we would have a lot to take home to husband. We ordered Regular Ramen with Yuzu Miso broth Pork with Yuzu Miso Broth Chicken Karaage Spicy cod crispy rice House special ramen with Tonkatsu broth (takeout) The Yuzu miso broth was a little spicy and it hit the spot. I had a lot left over to enjoy the next day. We got about 8 big pieces of chicken served with mayo and lemon on the side. I really liked the crispy rice and hope to try the curry beef next time. They only accept cash but they do have an ATM in the back.

    (4)

  • Erick ..

    Ramen in the middle of July..go figure. It was cold, nearby Santa Ramen AND Ramen Dojo are both closed. Off to Fremont. I've been meaning to try their ramen anyway. First off, CASH ONLY, but no biggie. KiT & I both had their pork flavored ramen, and we opted for some stewed pork belly on the side. The noodles are just fine, nothing new. The pork flavored soup looked fairly opaque with about 1 mm oil layer atop. Okay flavor, somewhat flat. It could use more body, maybe more pork bones and more time. The stewed pork belly was tender but also flat. It needed some more mirin, sake, soy sauce, and some serious reduction. All in all, just fine. It was neither disappointing nor impressive. If anything, I'm just glad it is where it is. Hey, Ohlone College is a lunch place better on a cold day with Dohatsuten just across the street than San Jose State with nothing similar nearby.

    (3)

  • Lynette K.

    I ate dinner here last night and I really enjoyed it. I wanted to eat here specifically because they have vegetarian ramen, and Dohatsuten didn't let me down. My vegetarian ramen came with an assortment of veggies: cabbage, corn, mushrooms, and carrots. The broth was on the salty side, but I alleviated the problem by adding a few shakes of the red pepper shaker provided on the table. Keep in mind that all of the non-vegetarian broths contain seafood stock. My boyfriend is allergic to seafood and, luckily, he read the note on the menu that mentions this. He just ordered a ramen with meat and asked for vegetarian broth. We'll definitely come back again.

    (4)

  • KK M.

    Came here last nite with friends. DO NOT MESS WITH THE LARGE!!! It was a BIG DIFFERENCE. For $2 more it was definitely worth it, only if you were to share. Their donburi's are good too. Can't go wrong with the Unagi-Don. I would love to come back to have their beef curry rice clay pot thingy. I dont remember what its called but I tried a bit from my friend and I WANT MY OWN. But I felt bad to eat all of her food so I ate my own. NEXT TIME. NEXT TIME RICE CLAY POT THING YOU ARE MINE!!! mwahahhaa... great place to gather with friends and yummy food. Everything was authentic. I really came in thinking it would not be as good as the ramen in Hawaii but it is equally good. :D

    (4)

  • Sadie B.

    I live 25 minutes away from here and we have closer ramen spots in our area but the hubby and I still prefers this spot than the ramen spots near us. At first, we thought the bowls were pretty small however, they somehow are able to pack on the noodles. Its more than enough for one person. If you're extremely hungry, go for the big bowl for $2. Its massive. Great spot, great taste, great food, definitely will come back.

    (5)

  • Joseph G.

    Almost as good as the one in Palo alto. Close... I loved the ramen. Everything was perfect. The place is pretty small and seats about 25. Was sat down pretty fast and got the food even faster. Order the Hyper-Ramen with the Cha Su pork donburi bowl. The donburi bowl is where this placed failed me. The pork was chopped up and had no glaze or sauce on it. The one in pa was soooo delicious and moist/fatty I still dream about it. I will def come back here for the ramen. But i hope the donburi bowls get better.

    (4)

  • Gene B.

    This is my first visit here. I'm always on a hunt for the best ramen and thought I'd check-in to see what's up. I practically covered many of ramen joints in the Bay Area and can that this place is different. The style here seems to be reserved and delicate. I've enjoyed it to be honest, but not massively blown away. The karaage batter is quite perfected, but the meat itself lacked that extra kick of seasoning. I think some may like this style of karaage chicken. Nagoya teba were tasty. It's great to have with a ice cold beer. The shio ramen was balanced. It wasn't bland or salty at all. I can understand the chef's approach here where he allowed the charshu to accentuate the saltiness. And then there was the seared tuna don buri. At this point I was too full to finish a bowl of rice so I had it to go. Surprisingly when I got home I gave it a try. It was great! I enjoyed it even though it was cold. It's a good joint for the students from the college across the street and if you are in the neighborhood. However, I wouldn't drive out of my way to eat here.

    (2)

  • Roy J.

    This is a small place, and you have to walk around to the back of the little strip to get to the entrance, but once in, it's kinda... Cozy. I'm a really big fan of ramen, and this place did not disappoint at all. I ordered the extra-large Hyper-Dohatsuten ramen. LIttle did I know that their XL was big enough to feed a family of 5. It came sort of quick, and it was impressive. All of the toppings were nicely warmed, and the quality of everything was very good. The chashu was tender, the egg was PERFECT, and the broth stayed warm throughout the whole meal. The only thing I have to complain about was the fact that, although ideally cooked, the noodles seemed to be very similar to refrigerated ramen noodles. The chicken karaage was superb. The pieces are enormous, and it's served with this magical sauce. There is a light breading on the chicken. It's nicely crispy, and completely juicy inside. The wakame salad, was just that. Wakame. Nothing too special. The chashu-don was great. Mainly because of the quality of the chashu itself. The prices are a tad high, but I'm willing to pay it for the quality. I want to go again. Now.

    (4)

  • Addison C.

    Overall it's not a bad ramen place. Tasty tonkatsu broth, al dente ramen, lots of fixing with the hyperdohatsuden, a lil spice with the ground pork... The down side... a bit overpriced, cash and if you are looking for that golden running soft boiled egg, this is not the place! I think they have some mexican cooking the noodle and they pre-boil the eggs. By the time you get it in the soup, it's not completely hard boiled, but kinda weird looking inside, not running, not totally hard, felt like soft boiled balut!! I will prob go back just wont have any high expectation.

    (3)

  • Daisy L.

    Order the plain ramen with +$1 for tonkotsu broth and you can't go wrong. Their quality is more consistent than Ajisen.

    (4)

  • Jennifer d.

    Vegetarian ramen! My husband and I love ramen, but it's hard to find a place that has meatless choices that are any good. We went to a couple places, but the veggie ramen was so sad, with a few limp vegetables drowning in tasteless broth. The veggie ramen here is piled high with vegetables, the broth savory and slightly spicy. I like getting mine with an egg in it. (It's a buck extra.) They also have fried rice that they made without meat and agedashi tofu without the bonito broth for us. I would love to have an over-easy egg over the fried rice. It's the Filipino in me. It's an intimate little place, tables close together, lots of young people and young families.

    (4)

  • Carlo T.

    For a while, I though Ajisen was the only Ramen place around, but I found this place on Yelp while searching for izakaya. It's a little hole in the wall spot, but the people are very friendly. I ordered the Hyper-Dohatsuten in soy broth since it seemed to have everything in it and was a bigger serving portion The soft boiled egg was cooked perfectly and the noodles were just right. However, the meat was just ok as I felt some of the cuts were too dry. The broth was a tad watered down and could have been more flavorful. Overall, it was good. At $11.99, it was slightly overpriced, but that's OK. I also tried the Grilled Beef Tongue, which was not bad. It was not very flavorful on its own, but after dipping it in the sauce, it was pretty good. At $7.00, it was a fair deal. I'll come back another day and try their signature ramen. Stay tuned!!

    (3)

  • Mar A.

    My new favorite ramen place in the East Bay. The Tonkatsu broth is DELICIOUS! I finally tried the miso broth today and it adds a tanginess to the bowl that will knock your socks off. The noodles are not too firm, but not soggy. The regular bowl will fill you up.... don't be greedy... the "extra large" bowl can feed a family. The best part is that you can add a mini-don for $3-$4 and it's absolutely worth the extra money! The rice is perfectly seasoned, the portion is "mini" but very filling. The chasu is tender and is well seasoned. The veggies aren't overwhelming, but will not leave you wanting. Great bowl of ramen. Very good prices. If I lived closer, I would set up camp on their porch.

    (5)

  • Scott W.

    I'm a Ramen fan. Dohatsuten offers a unique approach to Ramen that is decidedly more Chinese in style than Japanese. Filled to the brim with extra vegetable toppings the additions can seem overwhelming to the sensibility of Japanese Ramen fans, where the emphasis is on the noodles and the soup itself. That being said, they don't fail to deliver on great soup, great noodles. I'm a huge fan of Dohatsuten style Ramen and recommend it to anyone who loves noodles or soup dishes.

    (5)

  • S Z.

    Well, this place passes my bar with flying colors on few dimensions: Ambiance & presentation: They just re-modeled in mid-February and the place looks so much better than before. It's bright and pleasant, and seems a lot more spacious. Oh, all the tables and chairs are BRAND NEW - that's a big plus to me. And even some of those bowls (used to serve ramen) look new to me. The food looks good! The chef seems to have put special touch onto the ramen - the presentation was really appetizing, with large piece of seaweed, 4-5 different colors of even probably doubling that quantity for toppings ranging from this red tasty stringy thing to yellow corn. (Maybe someone can tell me what that tasty stringy thing is. Is it actually saffron?) Food quality & quantity: The menu looks about the same as before, but I can taste the difference... My DOHATSUTEN RAMEN (the signature ramen) - Yuzu Miso flavor, was mildly spicy just right, with flavorful, thick soup that is not too salty. The minced pork was chewy, and I even tasted sesame in the bowl! I was hooked and actually emptied my entire bowl. My Chicken Karaage (marinated friend chicken fillet) was fried just right, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It has unique flavors on its own which I cannot really explain. I was just so glad that the portion was HUGE, with 6 or 7 big pieces for few bucks, that I had left-over to take home. (And I like my to-go container. It is of a good quality that I can use it to pack other food at home...) Well, as for suggestions, I would say they need bigger, clearer signs from the back of the restaurant. Parking lot is in the BACK of the restaurant. So when walking from the lot to the place, I would expect something as bright and pleasant as how the restaurant inside now looks... But I will be a regular anyway from now on, anyway...

    (5)

  • Gregg H.

    This place was okay. I decided to check it out because I lived near it. The price was pretty expensive for getting a bowl about the size of a cereal bowl... plus they charge you for more add ons. like 1 dollar for a soft-boiled egg or 2 dollars for extra chashu (they only give you one slice if you dont buy extra) I got the spice green onion with soy based soup and my gf got the Dohatsuten Ramen. Again, they were only okay. Another downside was that there is no credit and you have to draw from an ATM if you dont have cash. Theres a 2 dollar charge...which seems like no big deal, but really, no one wants to pay an extra 2 dollars. The waitress was really friendly but she didnt come around too often to fill up my water glass (I was eating spicy ramen so I was going through my water pretty quickly.) She only filled up my glass once and when she did, she got distracted and only filled half the glass. what the heck? right? All in all, its only okay. I've had better ramen.

    (2)

  • Margaret C.

    Dohatsuten Ramen has just changed ownership. My friends and I approve of this place. We tried out the Dohatsuten signature ramen and it was terrific. We enjoyed the friendly service and had a great conversation about our various travels in Japan. I would definitely return.

    (4)

  • Chris T.

    OMG!! a real ramen house in Fremont! I'm not sure if this is true but I believe Dohatsuten is the only ramen house in the area. So even if it was mediocre, I would have gone here just for the sake of convenience. That's not the case at all. My friend and I checked the place out a few weeks ago during lunch. What we found was a quaint little place that for some reason smelled of Indian curry. It looked like they were still building up the decor and the music they were playing was a mix of obscure alternative and obscure 80's pop music. Looking at the menu, I decided to try the Dohatsuten ramen with a miso base (you get to choose 1 of 4 your soup bases) and my friend got the same. What seemed like only minutes later, we got our food and dove right in. Compared to other ramen shops in the bay area, this place definitely puts more attention to the quality of the ramen and ingredients instead of the quantity. To be quite honest, quality is why I eat ramen over pho any day of the week. The noodles were tasty, the broth not too salty, the meat was perfectly cooked, and has just the right amount of toppings to not overpower the flavor. My friend was equally impressed at this ramen and plans to come here often. The only gripes I would have for this shop is that the location is somewhat odd. Trying to find this place is a little difficult even with the sign out in front. Another thing is that the ramen meal might be a little too small. My friend and I both were still hungry after having our lunch there. If you are looking for a hearty meal, try their fried rice lunch (crazy big and crazy delicious). Other than that, I recommend this place wholeheartedly.

    (4)

  • Jonathan Y.

    It a really really random ramen shop right in front of ohlone. I think it used to be an indian restaurant but dont really remember. Anyways we got tonkatsu ramen and i will say its not the best one yet its not the worse. Since they are new, im just going to assume the place will get better with time. There was no wait and the place is like a typical small ramen shop. I will say i will give this place a try again when they perfect their broth. Waitress was really nice and answered all our questions so that is a definite plus for customer service. I would suggest ordering the signature ramen as it was just the right portion at the time.

    (4)

  • Mike M.

    Simple, clean, good, eating. The ramen soups are great - portions are generous, and the broths are tasty and hearty. The soy broth is good, but the tonkatsu is my favorite. My only complaint is that they charge extra for certain options, i.e. tonkatsu broth, hard boiled egg, etc. Still, prices overall are reasonable despite this. The restaurant has limited seating so be prepared to wait a bit if you come at busy time. Can't wait to come back here to try out the rest of the menu.

    (4)

  • andy w.

    Food was really good. I am normally not a fan of noodles, but this was really good. I ordered the Dohatsuten Ramen with Yuzu Miso and a Kurobuta Chashu Donburi combo. The aroma from the yuzu (Japanese grapefruit) just really made the soup and the noodles too very tasty, and before I knew it I was done with my meal. Service was not bad at all. The waitress tried very hard to be very attentive - and she was. The only surprise was the whole "cash only" part, and I had to scramble to make sure I had cash. Wished that there was a bigger sign on the front door. I will come back of course.

    (4)

  • Beverly F.

    This is truly finding a diamond in the rough. I mean I am not saying it's the best ramen spot. It's the best in my hood so far. We have already been here a few times. I had their Donhatsuten Ramen w/tonkotsu broth. Hubby had the Hyper-Dothatsuten Ramen w/soy broth. The kids shared the Vegetarian Ramen w/soy & vegetable base broth. Mine was good but of course it doesn't beat Orenchi Ramen's Tonkatsu ramen w/it's rich pork broth & garlic flavor. But when I get my ramen I always ask for some fried garlic or freshly minced garlic to add to the ramen. The broth was flavorful, rich and not salty. In my opinion it is better quality than Union City's Tamasada. The Hub's ramen was also good and not too salty. The pork belly was fatty! But he enjoyed it & everything was filling. The kids enjoyed their Veggie ramen. We also order the chicken Karage. Huge pieces of fried crispy goodness. They served it w/some lemon wedges & mayo. I have had better but for this area this is the best so far.

    (4)

  • Mira A.

    The ramen was ok, nothing very special. But I did love their fried chicken, very juicy! Btw, this place is hard to find.....

    (3)

  • Mark B.

    First time at a ramen restaurant, so I don't have another experience for comparison. I went in for lunch and the place was fairly busy, but the service was great. I ordered the vegetable ramen with the soft boiled egg and miso broth. I liked the dish. It has a variety of toppings, such as kernels of corn, small baby corn, spring onions, cabbage, carrots and one of those "seaweed papers". Overall, the food was good, but I was a little suspicious of the cabbage. It looked a little dark around the edges, like it was either old or dirty. Naturally I noticed that toward the end of the meal. I'm thinking it was just an older piece of cabbage that needed the edges trimmed a bit. At any rate, I'll probably come back in because of the convenience and speed of service, but I'll be sure to check the cabbage before I dig in:) However, I would like to see fresher ingredients. Perhaps they could even begin sourcing some of the vegetables from local farms (organic farms). That would put them on a different level for sure.

    (3)

  • Sandra G.

    Right across from Ohlone. Weird location.. You take some stairs to reach this place, kind of like a backway alley. I liked that the waitress was actually Japanese. The two-seater tables were kind of bare. No napkin dispensers. And the chopsticks were those inexpensive wood ones that sometimes still have the little pricks of wood when you break them apart. I'm kind of picky, I prefer the smoother chopsticks that don't taste like wet wood when you're eating with them. My guess is that they haven't been here for very long. I ordered the vegetable ramen with soy (flavoring?) and soft-boiled egg for an extra dollar. It was alright I guess, I just felt it was missing something.. Restaurant is okay overall; nice cafe ambiance. Music selection is random. I could've sworn I heard a Fergie song. I'd only come here again if I had to. I definitely did not fall in love with this place.

    (3)

  • Novy T.

    It's probably the only ramen place that sell tonkotsu broth around fremont area. I would say it's pretty good not having to cross the bridge and go to either san mateo or SF to get a tonkotsu ramen. The ramen itself while I wouldn't say it's the best one I've ever had, it's definitely pretty good. The price is kinda steep, but ramen in general are pretty expensive. The portion is on the small side, which is good for me actually. Two of my coworker need to order the large size cause the normal size apparently not filling enough for them. Chicken karaage and chicken wings are good too. They also have chicken knee cartilage which I'm not a big fan of. I guess some people might like it..

    (4)

  • Brian C.

    Overall, I'd recommend this place b/c the ramen is pretty good. It's located across the street from Ohlone in a small strip mall. After parking the car, walk down the alley between the two buildings and the restaurant is on the right hand side. Pros: -The ramen was delicious. I had the house special ramen with soy soup and it was packed with noodles, pork, veggies and a boiled egg. -Pretty good sized portions for $8 ramen. Cons: -Too many flies buzzing around. -Interior looks really cheap.

    (4)

  • Anna W.

    I am so surprised that ratings are so low, especially compared to Tadamasa in Union City (which I thought was inferior to Dohatsuten). We went with my young toddler (whose high chair was covered in ramen when we left). Ordered Hyper Dohatsuten and was pleased with both the beautiful presentation (very refined looking and elegant) and the taste. Delicious! Service was lovely and very attentive, not surprising since we were the first ones there right when they opened at 11:30. Only deducted a star for the obscure difficult to find location and somewhat odd layout (crowded and narrow, almost felt a bit claustrophobic walking in next to that wall).

    (4)

  • Jennifer N.

    Yum yum yum!! I love ramen, and this is one of the top ramen places in the bay area. They just opened a 3rd one in Milpitas!! Yey!

    (5)

  • Anthony T.

    The best kept secret for ramen in mission. It is hard to find this place, but once you do it's worth it. The service is great. The ramen and broth reminds me of the authentic Japanese ramen.

    (5)

  • Christine H.

    I'm so glad there's a decent ramen place close to home! I arrived here around 12 noon to a nearly empty restaurant, but within 15 minutes the place was PACKED. I felt really bad for the one poor waitress running around serving all the tables. My friend and I waited about 20 minutes for our tea, but I wouldn't hold it against her. The ramen here is pretty good, and portions are huge. The bowls were really small, though, so it was kind of tough maneuvering through my lunch. The noodles are chewy, the broth was flavorful, and the vegetables were plentiful. Would definitely visit again.

    (4)

  • Huy P.

    Small little restaurant kind of tucked away, would have never known about it if it wasn't for Yelp. The ramen is ok, but the rice bowl is great! Cash only (ATM machine conveniently located to the rear). -Dohatsuten ramen ($8) with tonkotsu broth (+$1), 3-star. It was okay, the broth was a little better than Ajisen Ramen in the same area, but it still can't touch Orenchi Ramen! -Iron bowl, beef curry crispy rice ($10). Delicious!! The iron bowl comes out burning hot, crisping the rice touching it. You have to instantly mix the rice, beef, sauce, and egg yolk so that the bowl cooks the yolk as it coats the rice. It's a simple dish (seasoned perfectly, not too salty), large portion (can barely finish it), and the crispy rice in almost every bite adds a great texture. Must try!

    (4)

  • Jennifer L.

    Cash only! Small place. I really like the vibe here (evening), good music (nice mix of j-rock and pop) and free wifi. They have a vegetarian option! I haven't tried it, but I know it can be hard finding a place with veg broth. Be careful, there's a vegetable ramen and a vegetarian ramen. It's cool they have both. I had an appetizer, Tataki tuna which was really tasty and had a really nice light flavorful sauce. Sometimes tuna can be bland or covered in something heavy other places so I was pleasantly surprised. The ramen was just ok, nothing really stood out (so I didn't give it a 5 star) but I'll have to come again.

    (4)

  • Jeff L.

    I like the other Dohatsuten a lot more so far. The pork belly I had in the hyper-donhatsuten ramen wasn't that good. It didn't fall apart in my mouth/chopsticks as much as I would prefer. Some advice for those thinking of ordering this dish: Get only the egg, pork in its various forms and then pick one or two of the additional parts of this ramen. When it is served normally there is way too much going on.

    (3)

  • Angela C.

    3.5 stars I'm really excited that there is a decent ramen place close to home in the fabulously dinky town of Fremont. Here's the good part: The ramen was good, I got the tonkatsu broth (pork base- yum) with the Signature Dohatsuten Ramen. The noodles were delightfully chewy, the flavor spot-on, with a hint of spiciness to it. It was the perfect place for warm food on a cold winter day. ok, Here's the bad part: They gave me one itty bitty slice of pork which consisted of 95% fat, and 5% meat, which okay- yum, but seriously?? one slice?? UNO?? so sad. By 10pm I was hungry enough for dinner #2 when all the broth was digested. We also ordered the Agedashi Tofu, which was covered in this really strange, gloppy stuff- isn't it supposed to be fried? It was as if my tofu were covered in sticky rice... um, did the cook use the wrong thing? And then forget to fry our dish? I don't know what was up with that. I'm willing to come back, but will order the ramen with more meat.

    (4)

  • Charmian W.

    Service was incredibly nice, although I've definitely had better. I think tea was free, but I was still pretty surprised that they served regular cheap tea and not the standard Japanese green tea that other restaurants usually serve. I ordered the Dohatsuten ramen ($7.99) with the tonkotsu broth (+$1) - surprised again, as tonkotsu is standard ramen broth. I ordered it as a combo with the sake (salmon) donburi, so that brought the total to $12.98 before tax and tips. Ramen: - spicy! It was tolerable, but they should've noted it on the menu... - came in a small bowl... How sad! - salty - I've never tasted tonkotsu broth to be so salty, spicy, and... non-pork taste before. Sake Donburi: - I REALLY did not like how they seared it - outsides were well-cooked while inside was raw. It was pretty fishy-tasting, so I guess the salmon wasn't fresh to begin with anyway.. - they put a ton of ginger off to the side to probably "fill up the space". I would probably go to other ramen places instead. It's not exceptionally bad, but I wouldn't say this place is good either. =//

    (3)

  • Toni C.

    Definite hole in the wall...no signage, 10 tables, cash only, and yummy food. I had the regular ramen with egg and shoyu flavor. My husband had their signature ramen and added a unagi don to his meal. We got an order of gyoza for the kids. The broth was very flavorful and I agree with other reviewers who say that the bowls look decievingly small. They heap a good amount of noodles in there! I only had one piece of chasu in my bowl, but it was fatty and tender and oh so good. The gyoza was crispy, but not greasy, and the filling was tasty. We will be back!

    (4)

  • Diesel K.

    I would give 4 stars for here! We went here for dinner, and we ordered Chashu Ramen (with Donkotsu flavor), the long-named Ramen (I forgot the name but it was $11.90 or something), Gyoza, Shiro Maguro Don, Chashu Don. The portion could be little bit small for some, but to me, it was good enough. The Ramen was really great. Not too dry, Not too salty. The noodle was actually good! Gyoza was good, too. It didn't seem like a freezing stuff. Just good to eat. Shiro Maguro Don was little bit something-missing, but it was not bad! The environment is kind of small for dinner, but it was OK. Service was OK. Cash only, but they had an ATM machine. Not that pricey, but not that cheap also. : p

    (4)

  • Anh T.

    Fast & Good. Hole in the wall kinda Ramen place in Fremont. Not many seats, so if your coming with a big group, be prepared to wait! We were lucky to go on Sunday before the Super Bowl. The house special Dohatsuten Ramen is highly recommended and we got that. The side of Unagi was great as well!

    (4)

  • Denise T.

    Very happy with my lunch stop at this little ramen house. Needed to get food to go with not a lot of time on the clock. Dohatsuten Japanese Ramen fulfilled my urgent need for tasty ramen. I got the Dohatsuten bowl spicy. MMMMMmmmmmMMMMmmmm....... wish i was off of work and had a beer with it but i had to settle for an ice cold coca cola. it did the trick. Extra friendly wait staff. With quick service. Will be going back tomorrow if all goes to plan.

    (4)

  • Steph N.

    I'm really sad....why? Cuz I REALLY want to like this place. I returned with a friend after being refused the first time since we arrived 10 minutes before closing. I had the Dohatsuten Ramen with Tonkotsu broth and it was almost as good as the Palo Alto location. What I like about the Dohatsuten Ramen is that the the spicy minced pork gives it a good kick. The service on this particular night was just one mistake after another. The waiter flipped my chopsticks off the table when he brought my ramen and spilled my tea.. He had the food tray half off the table so when he lifted my bowl off the tray, the other table's entree nearly flipped off onto the floor. When my friend's ramen came, it was with the wrong broth. Later throughout the night, the waiter stopped by our table twice with two things we didn't order and kept asking "are you sure you didn't order this?" With one of them, he returned to the kitchen to verify which table it belonged to and again he brought it to our table. *shakes head* There were only a total of 3 tables dining that night. The poor waiter guy just looked so confused all night. There's no way this place will survive if it ever gets half as packed as other small Ramen shops.

    (2)

  • Vera W.

    My husband and I are big ramen fans. We've waited hours for a bowl of ramen (Ippudo NY). and ate ramen almost every day for 2 weeks while we visited Japan. When I stumbled upon this new place on yelp, I wanted to try it right away. So we checked it out for dinner today, and it was good, but we've had better in the bay area. Hubby tried the Hyper ramen - with miso yuzu. He prefers my shoyu broth. I tried the miso yuzu, and I can definitely taste the yuzu flavor, so it's a little bit unusual for a ramen broth I thought, but it wasn't bad. Noodle was chewy and the portion was definitely bigger than usual. My rating is more 3.5, but I'll give the extra 1/2 star because I'm nice :) Service was great. We came in right before 5pm so it was quite empty. If we're ever in the area, we might come back, but we probably won't drive all the way there since we're closer to other (better) ramen places in San Jose.

    (4)

  • Raymond Z.

    Came her after night class. $8 for a bowl of ramen IMHO is way dam too much. And people add extras to it, which is more of a RIP OFF. I had the ChaShu Ramen in Soy - I only have 2 words to describe the food : SALTY and NASTY. Having to pay extra for a soup base is RIDICULOUS! How about start charging for better chopstick? The SOY soup base was already salty to the point where I have to drink lots of water. I can't imagine how it would be like if I ordered it with SALT soup base. Rating Breakdown: 0 Star for Price - not worth the money 0 Star for Quality - WAY TOOOOOO SALTY 0 Star for Portion - think of paying $8 for a KimChi noodle bowl 1 Star for Location - they have a parking lot 1 Star for Service - at least she filled my water Bottom line: NOT coming again. I want to give it a 0 Star but have to follow my rating standard.

    (2)

  • Wendy T.

    I love ramen and I've practically been to every ramen place in the bay area. You name it, I've tired it. This place was a big miss for me. However I didn't think it was bad, but I've had way better. I wish I can say more but it wasn't very memorable. Although the karrage chicken was good and they give you a lot which my friend and I were unable to finish. I won't be back.

    (3)

  • Joy S.

    I've been making the rounds around the bay area searching for the best ramen restaurant. This is only so-so, but compared to the choices in the east bay I will say that besides this place and Ajisen these two are probably the better choices. Like all ramen restaurants it is small and of course cash only. The base bowl of the ramen is your basic price, however if you want to add anything to it your ramen can easily go over $10 making it very expensive. I had the Dohatsuten ramen which was pretty good. As stated in another review it is a bit spicy, but tolerable.

    (3)

  • Yukari H.

    I used to love this place. But our recent visit changed my mind. The boiled egg was completely cooked, hard egg... It was just okay.

    (3)

  • christina m.

    I never really like ramen .. But this place was good :) the broth was really tasteful .. I had the special with everything .

    (3)

  • Tiff W.

    soup was too salty but wait staff was nice.

    (3)

  • Eri S.

    Real Japanese ramen- I finally got to Dohatsuten, despite the mistake I made last time and ended up at Ajisen. As I entered the restaurant, a very pleasant Japanese waitress greeted us- check! I ordered the Hyper Dohatsuten ramen with tonkotsu-base. Everything about it was soooo good-check! Then the Japanese salary-men customers came in- check! Finally had a authentic Japanese ramen after being at Orenchi in Santa Clara....

    (5)

  • Dianna N.

    Pretty random location for a ramen place. It's super small and there's no waiting area. So when all the tables are full you have no choice but to stand awkwardly by the door. There aren't that many tables for 4, and since they alternate the table sizes for 2 and 4 they don't have the option of pushing two tables together. My family ended up eating at two separate tables. But anyways on to the food. There are 4 broth choices: soy, salt, miso, and tonkatsu. The last two choices are $1 extra. I tried the soy with their signature ramen ($7.99). I like that it includes minced pork along with chashu. The bowl does look small when it comes out but they get a lot of noodles in there. The broth was very light but I didn't find it that flavorful. I compare all broths to Kahoo and this was just another place that didn't measure up. My mom tried the miso. The waitress warned her that it's a little bit sour but she tried it anyways. I just had one tiny sip and did not like it at all. And FYI, this place is cash only.

    (2)

  • Alex C.

    Dohatsuten, you are hard to rate... I think you're more of a 4, but just from the meal today, I can only give you a 3... Your service was kinda slow as I think you have newbies working this afternoon... Your table smelled kinda funny, like u wiped it with a dirty cloth... You would be hard to find normally, lucky I know the area well... And, you are cash only =(... However, your food was pretty good, Dohatsuten's Special w/ Soy: I got the extra large bowl and damn it was a large bowl. Compared to say Halu's it's probably an extra large bowl but about $5 cheaper... The noodles were pretty good, the toppings were excellent especially the charsiu!... The soup however, not very amazing... it tasted interesting, it was sweet and a little salty to me... in other words it wasn't that great... maybe I chose the wrong flavor, maybe tonkotsu or salt would be better... your ramen however does atleast deserve a 4... I think you can be a 4 star ramen shop, but you are not anywhere near Halu's or Santa, my two favorite ramen shops of those I've tried so far in the Bay Area.

    (3)

  • Steve T.

    This is only my second review on Yelp. I'm not usually motivated enough by any establishment to actually take the time to write up a review online but in this particular instance I am making an exception. While I could mock or use derisive language to detail my experience with Dohatsuten I will instead just state objectively the sequence of events that prompted this review and because a zero/no star review was not possible, 1 will have to do. I searched online for a local ramen house. Dohatsuten came up near the top of the list. I called at 8pm to ask what time they closed on Monday, Memorial Day, 5/28/12. I was told 9pm. My girlfriend & I arrive at 8:20pm to see a "Closed" sign on the door. Thinking that was just an oversight, I walked in & asked "Are you closed?" With a frown I was told "Yes, we are closed." Well that wrote this review itself. I wish I could review the food, service, ambiance, etc but I will never know. From a subjective standpoint I wanted to state, as an employee of a retail establishment, I absolutely understand the desire to leave work at a reasonable time especially considering the holiday but to be so disrespectful as to tell a patron over the phone specifically asking their closing time then arbitrarily changing to a time more convenient is just mind blowing. I honestly hope the owner of a member of the management staff understand what is happening while I cannot say this is happening on a regular basis, the fact that it happened at all is fairly reprehensible.

    (1)

  • Leslie B.

    I had the donhatsuten ramen ($7.99) with the tonkatsu broth (additional $1) with and a soft boiled egg (additional $1). I thought the dish was pretty good and tasty. The meat was tasty and the broth is delish! Tonkatsu broth is def the way to go. My only complaint is it's a bit small for the price once you start adding in all the extra stuff.

    (4)

  • Daniel G.

    My wife and I just so happened to be in Fremont this past weekend, and being as the weather was crappy, we decided to check out Dohatsuten to see what they were all about. Nique ordered the signature Dohatsuten ramen with tonkotsu broth and a soft-boiled egg, which came out to be $9.99. I ordered their hyper-Dohatsuten ramen with the yuzu (a type of citrus fruit) miso broth, which was basically the Dohatsuten ramen with all of the extras already added in, such as char siu, soft boiled egg, corn, and extra roast pork, which came to $13 or $14. We also got an order of their age dashi tofu. Given the choice again, i would have ordered the tonkotsu broth, because while the yuzu miso had a unique salty and slightly tart flavor to it, the tonkotsu broth was just plain good. The real noteworthy items for me were their eggs and their age dashi tofu. First off, the eggs were PERFECTLY soft-boiled so that when you crack into one, it is still semi-creamy and yolky on the inside. Once that yolk mixes in with the broth you have got yourself a delicious broth, no matter which one you ordered...drooling just thinking about it. Next, the age dashi tofu, which i have said many times before is my 'barometer' Japanese dish, was excellent. They used slightly more (or a slightly different mixture) of the starch coating on the outside of the tofu so that after sitting in the sauce, it soaked up a lot of flavor and had a slimy, but still firm texture to it. As for the sauce itself, typically age dashi is served with just daikon, green onions, and fish flakes; at Dohatsuten, they also add finely minced ginger and some sort of (what i think was) seaweed which add some kick and additional texture to the dish. CASH ONLY with ATM onsite...$2 service fee My wife and I love ramen and it has definitely a regular meal in our rotation. And while Dohatsuten is a solid ramen house, it's not my favorite and i don't see my self driving from San Jose to Fremont just to eat it. However, if i happened to be in this area, or if i lived in this area, i would come back to eat here in a heartbeat. 4 stars for solid ramen.

    (4)

  • Kat C.

    The ramen at Dohatsuten is only okay, but their crispy rice bowls are soooooooo goooooooooood! I could eat the chashu crispy rice (with kimchi on the side, please) all the time! Served up in a stone bowl, the rice is crispier than most bibimbaps, and the chashu is "melt in your mouth" good. For a ramen fix without driving to San Mateo, this place is better than most in the area - but there are plenty of other better ramen houses if you're willing to drive.

    (4)

  • Cecille G.

    Their Dohatsuten ramen is so good. I crave for it about once a week :) My sister recently took me to Ajisen, but this is still way better. Love how the egg that they put in your soup is seasoned & soft boiled. My favorite part is eating the Kashu (very tender & flavorful pork), oh it's solo good. Keeps me coming back for more.

    (5)

  • M. K.

    Nice local find. Modest & simple, but tasty menu options.

    (4)

  • Ken L.

    Dohatsu Ramen was good, and the broth had good flavor. Tons of corn (and I do like corn) which was nice. Also got a rice dish, the curry rice. Portions for the rice were pretty big, so I took the rest to go.

    (4)

  • Tetsu N.

    I haven't done the sample crazy restaurant outings very much lately, but this one is just too good to pass up. Dohatsuten is tiny, the entrance is through a lower path narrower than a back alley, and seating is very limited, with enough space for maybe 30 people or so....It's long and narrow, with more two person tables than four person seats. But you know....who cares? It's delish. Really. The system is fairly straight-forward. There are four soup flavors: Soy sauce (simple, subtley flavorful), salt (robust but not overbearing), Yuzu Miso (bit of spicy bite, but not overly so), and Tonkotsu (deep pork broth). Note that every version of soup contains a mix of chicken, pork & seafood broth, fairly typical of ramen broths. For any given flavor, there are 9 versions of topping combinations you can get (you can also customize the toppings to your heart's content. The versions are: - Ramen: Green onion, bean Sprouts, chashu & bamboo shoots. - Dohatsuten Ramen: Chashu, chinese chives, bean sprouts, spicy mined pork, bamboo shoots, korean chili - Spicy Green Onion Ramen: Spicy green onion, bean sprouts, chashu & bamboo shoots - Vegetable Ramen: Cabbage, chinese chives, bean sprouts, carrot, bamboo shoots, green onion, sweet baby corn - Chashu Ramen: 4 slices of premium pork chashu, bean sprouts, green onions, bamboo shoots - Ta-Ro Ramen: Stewed pork belly (droooooooooool), green onion, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots - Hyper-Dohatsuten Ramen: 2 slices of chashu, chinese chives, bean sprouts, cabbage, spicy minced pork, soft-boiled egg, stewed pork belly, green onion, bamboo shoots, korean chili - Tsukemen: Cold noodles with special warm Yuzu-soy dipping sauce, soft-boiled egg, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts. - Vegetarian Ramen: Soy and Vegetable broth with cabbage, chinese chives, beans, sprouts, carrot, bamboo shoots, greed onion, sweet baby corn. They also have some yakimeshi (rice bowls) and they have a mini version too, as well as some appetizers. There were a few of us, so we tried a few combinations. - Hyper dohatsuten/salt $11.99 - 4 stars This was probably my favorite. Robust flavor enhanced with a simple salt. The Hyper has so much good stuff on top, but my favorite was the stewed pork belly. Yuuuuuuuumy! - Hyper dohatsuten/tonkotsu $11.99 - 3 stars I expected this to be more complex in flavors but the pepper was a little over-powering. - Dohatsuten/yuzu miso $7.99 - 3.5 stars This was a little spicy, but not overly spicy. Not over-bearing. But a good "bite" - ???/soy $X.XX - 3.5 stars The mark of a great soy ramen is subtlety, not overly flavored with soy sauce but used as an enhancement. This one is very well done, if a just a smidgen on the too-subtle side. And for appetizers and yakimeshis: - Age Gyoza (deep fried gyoza) $4.50 - 4 stars. This was near perfect to what I typically eat in Japan. And that says a lot. - Nankotsu kara-age (deep-fried chicken cartiledge) $6.50 - 3 stars I was really looking forward to this and it certainly wasn't a bad dish, but not as good as I'd hoped. a little too fatty. - Tan shio (grilled beef tongue w/ ponzu) $7 - 4 stars Wow....just wow. simple pan-fried thinly sliced beef tongue, with a great light dipping sauce. Apart from being a touch overdone, it was just about perfect. - Mentai & Takana yakimeshi $9 - 3 stars Mentai is tiny fish eggs and takana is a mountain veggies, not dissimilar to spinach when cooked. This was a pretty good and simple dish, but I wouldn't order it again. At $9 it's way too expensive for what it is. That's $9 for a tiny side dish version too.... All in all, a great experience and I would go here again. What's left to say except.... Yay! I'm a fan!

    (4)

  • Daniel M.

    I came here not to long ago with a friend a few nights ago to get my ramen fixed. Me and my friend both ordered the Tonkotsu soup for the Dohatsuten Deluxe Signature ramen and a side order of kimchi, gyoza, and some hot tea. The first 2 orders that came out were the kimchi and gyoza. Haven't really tried the gyoza, but my friend said it was good. When our order came out, I liked how the decorations looked on our ramen and how it came out. First thing I tried was the broth (broth means everything and key point if its good or bad) and man was it yummy. Ate so fast and thought about taking it to-go since it was so damn delicious and wanted to savor the moment for later on when I was hungry again. I will definitely look forward to coming back here again and try other portions of the food here.

    (5)

  • Rob C.

    for Fremont, this is probably the best there is. (compared to Tadamasa, Ajisen, etc.) same as the one in Palo Alto, but here the focus is on the ramen and yakimeshi, which I need to try. The price is higher since you have to add $1 for tonkotsu broth or egg. So the classic Dohatsuten ramen is similar to Ramen Dojo style. The spice overwhelms the porkiness of the tonkotsu broth. so the chili ground chicken (pre-cooked) is added on top and works, the pork slice is very good. wavy noodles ok. hope this place does well.

    (4)

  • Jeremy K.

    Came here on a friday night with wife and another couple. kinda like a hole in the wall, nothing fancy with the decor. We didn't have to wait long at all...maybe 3 minutes. Seated quickly, ordered quickly and the food came out piping hot. I had the dohatsuten tonkatsu and found it to be pretty good...I would have liked the bleeding boiled egg in it. My wife shared the curry rice...which was ok too, great texture with the hard burnt rice on the bottom but great flavors from the curry to give it that sweet and salty flavor mixed in with the neutral hot rice. We also ordered the fried chicken wings, pretty good if you eat it while hot still...and a pitcher of beer.....uuuuuuhhhh beerrrr...yummm...just needed a good drink after a long tough day. The servers were attentive and pretty nice, came back to us several times to see how we were doing. .....wasn't too busy at that time.

    (3)

  • Linda L.

    Came here with a friend and her boyfriend and it wasn't bad. The portions are huge but still prefer the city when it comes to ramen. I have to say though, my brother makes better ramen than most of the restaurants in the east bay.

    (2)

  • J.P. C.

    This place was a little bit tricky to find if you end up parking in the back parking lot and that its main entrance is facing the street. Once you do find the place, you'll find a nice little gem that serves very good ramen. If you're looking for the Maruchen type that you get for 50 cents at the grocery, this is NOT the place. This restaurant serves very good quality ramen soup with your choice of ingredients. I came here on a day when I was very sick, but yet I was still able to taste all the wonderful flavors my soup had. In closing, this place has some of the best Japanese comfort food around and I highly recommend it.

    (4)

  • David Y.

    My coworkers and I have been looking for a good ramen place near our work for a while. We've tried Ajisen but when we nickname a place "the salty ramen" place, I think that explains itself. Although Dohatsuten was a little of out the way, we decided to check it out. They had a menu similar to Ajisen with what I thought was reasonable pricing for ramen. Anything from a standard bowl for $6.99 to the hyper-Dohatsuten at $11.99. Also, one thing that was different was the type of broth. They had the usual salt, soy, and miso but they also offer tonkatsu, which was very good. I ordered the hyper bowl and it came stuffed to the brim which led me to wonder why they couldn't fit it in a different bowl? Unfortunately, I'm a somewhat sloppy eater so I didn't keep my area to clean. We also tried one of the mini rice bowls and while it was tasty, I wouldn't say it was great. Next time, I will try the crispy rice dish and perhaps my rating will go up. I would definitely recommend this place, friendly staff, tasty ramen, and the fact that I'm not dying of thirst right now has given me a great first impression.

    (4)

  • D Y.

    chashu ramen was ok. dohatsuten ramen was pretty good. hearty and like that little added spice. also like that u can get a side of donburi rice for about $3 more.

    (4)

  • Nick D.

    Alright so, I'm not a fan of ramen. The last time I had it was when I was about 6-years old, which was decades ago, more than most of you were alive, damn I'm old. But, the s/o wanted to check this place out so I went along with it. Talk about a hole in the wall. The resto is super tiny and had no personality, no warm and fuzzies at all. But, it was packed so, it had to be good? I ordered the Dohatusuten Ramen w/soy broth for $7.99 and made it a "set" by ordering mini Chashu Don for an additional $2.99. $11 for a meal, not too bad I suppose. I forgot what the s/o ordered, which never fails, but we shared an order of the Nagoya Toba, their sweet and peppered fried chicken wings. The food took a long time to come out, the s/o's order and the wings came out at the same time. The wings were, I don't know, they tasted funny to us, almost had a chemical after taste but I think it was the spices that were used. The s/o seemed to enjoy whatever it was that was ordered! My ramen came out and it was piping hot. The presentation was great and the ingredients were fresh. Don't let the small bowl fool you, it's weight in food is significant. The broth, IMO, was overly salty, then again, I ordered soy. Also, I only had one piece of pork in my ramen, what?? I totally forgot I ordered a "set" until my little rice bowl with meat arrived. I don't think it was worth $2.99 as it was packed with rice and just had a few slivers of meat. Our server, this young Caucasian dude who was as hot as my ramen, pretty random, huh? He was nice but, a little scatter brained. It was probably his first server job as we had to hunt him down to refill our glasses and ask for the check. Overall, my distaste for ramen sustains but my distaste doesn't carry any weight on my rating for this resto. But hey, if they open up a sushi bar, I'd certainly come back!

    (3)

  • Fred C.

    Dohatsuten is definitely one of the better Ramen places I have ever tried. I have been there 2 times. The first time I had the Hyper-Dohatsuten Ramen (2 slices of chashu, chinese chives, bean sprouts, cabbage, spicy minced pork, soft-boiled egg, stewed pork belly, green onion, bamboo shoots, korean chili) with the salt broth and I thought it was ok. The rest of my family had the Chashu Ramen (4 slices of premium pork chashu, bean sprouts, green onions, bamboo shoots) with the either the Soy or Tonkotsu broth. After trying theirs, I felt the Tonkotsu was the best of the 3. Went there the 2nd time and ordered the Chashu Ramen with soft boiled egg and Tonkotsu broth. This was the winning combination for me. Another dish I loved was the chicken karaage (deep fried chicken). The chicken karaage had a crispy crust on the outside and was moist and tender on the inside. Very tasty..Loved this dish. Finally, my wife tried the Chashu on the crispy rice. The crispy rice is a must for everyone who eats here. Not sure what type of rice it is but Dohatsuten places the rice on top of a iron bowl causing the rice to crisp up on the bottom. The bottom crispy rice was excellent.

    (5)

  • Michael H.

    Came here for dinner meeting up with some friends. Have to say the prices are ok, you get a lot of food for your money. However, the noodles they use are terrible, which greatly detracts from the ramen. They also put in lots of extras like lettuce, corn, in the dohatsuten combo which I'm not a huge fan of. The broth they use is ok, but not great. Definitely doesn't compare to some of the other ramen places in the bay area. Probably one of the only ones in the immediate area, but if you have a choice I would go elsewhere.

    (2)

  • Shelly L.

    First time came here about a month a go. It was opened not long a go, so I was dying to try it out. First experience, I love it. I got the dohatsuten ramen, which is their signature ramen with salted broth. The noodle texture was great. Bamboo shoot didn't smell at all. I don't normally eat bamboo shoot. The broth was excellent. I also got the agedashi tofu and beef tongue. I love them all. The noodle bowl is smaller compare to Maruichi ramen. However, it's very filling and the ramen stays hot all the time. Agedashi tofu can be a little chewy when it's left too long in the sauce. Beef tounge is oily, but I still love it. Second time came here, got the same ramen with different broth, tonkatsu flavored. It was good, but need to pay extra for $1. The broth was definitely thicker than the salt broth. I also ordered the gyoza. The presentation was excellent. The taste was alright, not bad, not great either. Third time I got the same ramen, again, this time I got the Yuzu Miso broth. To tell the truth I was disappointed, since I love the ramen so much from my previous visits. On top of it, I also need to pay extra $1 for the broth. For some reason, I got tons of green onion this time and the broth was very bland and oily. However, I'm still going to come back to this place. It's near my house and I still want to try their other menus.

    (4)

  • Jin H.

    Being there a couple of time. Not a good experience. Would not repeat.

    (1)

  • Mack T.

    Portion was kinda small for my liking... good soup, decent flavor. Have had better.

    (3)

  • Steven C.

    We came in around 12:30 and the dining room was about 80% full. We sat down got our drink orders in and looked at the menu. Pretty simple really and that is not a bad thing. You get to chose what kind of ramen toppings you want and what soup to have it with. I ordered their "deluxe" house bowl which had cabbage, corn, stewed pork belly, spicy ground pork, a couple slices of a differently prepared pork (in a pinwheel shape) and a soft boiled egg with the miso-yuzu broth. The broth was a dollar more than the soy or "salt" broths and I also ordered a mini donburi of sliced seared white tuna for four or five bucks more. My wife had the pork belly ramen with the tonkatsu broth (also a dollar more). My ramen was on the whole a nice bowl of noodle. The spicy pork (good but not for wimpy taste buds) and the pork belly were great but the I particularly enjoyed my soft boiled egg. The yolk was just barely cooked and oozed out like golden lava over my noodles. The mini donburi was no slouch either although the fish was covered in an orange sauce that I thought added little to the bowl of flavored rice and fish topped with a little too much green onion. The only problem I had with the meal was my broth. I thought that with all of the different pork preparations and the soft boiled egg I would want a light broth to prevent the bowl from getting too heavy on me. There may have been a little aroma of yuzu but I did not get the bright acid notes that I had hoped for from my broth. The miso itself was sweet, almost cloyingly so, especially when combined with the corn already in the soup. I was looking for deep flavors with a salty punch offset with bright citrus notes and was let down. My wife's tonkatsu broth was much more enjoyable than mine and considering how one note mine was, it would have been a better choice. Despite my disappointment with the broth, there will be a next time for me. The other ingredients and the flavor of the tonkatsu broth itself merit other trips. Next time I'll just either order the tonkatsu broth instead, or save a buck and order the soy or salt broths.

    (3)

  • Mike S.

    The one good thing about this place is you don't have to sit so close to people, like other places. The ramen is great.

    (4)

  • Brendan N.

    Finally got to try this place tonight with my girlfriend, and I really love it. For the longest time I've been driving past this place and I've been wanting to give this place a try. I'm really glad I've finally got to try it. I ordered their signature Dohatsuten ramen with the soy soup. My girlfriend ordered the same but with the miso soup, she didn't like it very much. I however enjoyed my ramen alot, I can't wait to come here on cold and rainy days when something warm to eat is needed. The ramen was cooked right and the soup nice a flavorful, I think its just right and now overwhelming like the other ramens I had before. The place is small and almost hidden, the parking is in the back and you have to walk through the center alley way towards the small sign that says "ramen". I've enjoyed this place al

    (4)

  • natalie l.

    Donhatsuten (Signature) Ramen is yummy. I usually get soy flavor broth and douse it with the chili powder and it perfects into a pretty good broth. My only complaint is they only give you one piece of char su! WTH... okay, I guess all ramen places do. Haha.

    (4)

  • Janine M.

    My friend recommended this place to me when I told him I was craving ramen, and after reading all the amazing Yelp reviews about this place, I decided to give the food a try. Getting here wasn't hard. It is hidden in a strip mall across the street from the main entrance of Ohlone College. To get there, you'll have to park in the back parking lot and walk through an alley past a chinese restaurant. When I first walked in, it seemed a bit small and decorations were minimal. However, it was clean and there seemed to be quite a few people. I'm not sure if I came at the wrong time or something, but the Ramen here was almost inedible. My friends and I decided to order gyoza, a large Dohatsuten Ramen with Tonkotsu broth and a large Hyper Dohatsuten Ramen with Tonkotsu broth. The gyoza seemed to be deep fried, and was hard to bite. But, the meat still tasted good. The serving sizes of the ramen were big, but still only enough for maybe one person. The quality of the ramen noodles were pretty good, but the soup was extremely salty, almost to the point where it was inedible. Several of my friends decided not to eat because of how salty it was. On the other hand, service was great. Nevertheless, I will probably never come here again, as that definitely the worst ramen I have ever eaten. 0/5 for food 4/5 Service 3/5 for Location

    (1)

  • Where Is Barstow ..

    I'm not qualified enough to judge good/bad Japanese food since I do not eat it often. The pros of this place are that the food is fresh - noodles, veggies and other "toppings" on the soup all taste flavorful and not old. I would come back if I wanted Ramen. The service was fast and the servers were polite. I wish they would take credit card but I cannot complain about anything else. Best of luck to the new owner because this place always seems to be changing hands from one Indian restaurant to another.

    (4)

  • Shane R.

    shoyu ramen was 5 stars. broth savory but not too salty. noodles were chewy. this is what i expect when i order a shoyu ramen. tonkotsu flavor is very good too. pork is tender.

    (4)

  • Randell C.

    This is my second ramen place I ate in the East Bay. The ramen itself is more like 3.5 starts. I had the Tonkotsu broth which was very pork milkly slightly more salty than I'd like.The noodles were average not too much spring or bite to them. I must have gotten used to thicker noodles with my tonkotsu ramen at places like Santakoa, Orenchi and Ramen Halu in the south bay. Bean Sprouts were unecessary. However my wife and I loved the Pork Belly over the rice and the tofu. I'll be back to try the non-ramen items.

    (4)

  • Nguyen N.

    finally was able to get here maybe 2 wks ago? i had the miso based soup with the house special... plenty of meat!! very filling, love the ramen and the egg was cooked to perfection! but i gotta say... the soup was a little salty for my taste... of course i like things bland so for those of you who likes lots of flavor this is definitely the place to go!! will def. be back to try more varieties =)

    (3)

  • Ronald C.

    I finally made it back here to give this place another chance. This time I tried the miso ramen. It was ok but nothing special. The service was pretty good. I have no complaints over there. I think I am throwing in the towel this time for this place. There are just too many ramen places I would rather go to instead. Not bad but not great.

    (3)

  • Grace L.

    I've had a lot of ramen. The house special ramen had a strange broth. May try something different next time.

    (3)

  • Milton C.

    Went here with my wife and kids(2). my whole family loves noodles and ramen and pho noodles are a staple and popular choice whenever we are out and want a casual lunch/dinner. my wife heard about this place in fremont way up near Ohlone college on Mission Blvd, so we decided to stop by for lunch. Got there, yup, this place is pretty obscure. A total hole in the wall place. The parking lot is in the back. You park there and then walk in an alley. there really isn't a sign but one of the windows says "Ramen". Across the place is a chinese take-out restaurant. We got there rather early for lunch and we were the only ones. Small place. no decoration. the walls were wallpapered with some kind of wood striping which gave it a very dark look. hmm, interesting. I don't really care about decor when it comes to a ramen place. It has to be clean which it was. There is a rather large blackboard with the choices of ramen they served. We were greeted by the waiter and seated. Tables were good size, enough to hold all of the bowls of ramen and other goodies we were going to order. our waiter was nice and answered our questions about the menu. they mainly served ramen but had donburi as a side order. other little side orders were available too. other wierd thing is that the place sits below the street(Mission Blvd), so when you look out the windows, you just see dry wall. I ordered the dohatsuten ramen and so did my wife. I ordered a side salmon donburi(salmon over sushi rice) which was 3 dollars more. there was four different types of ramen based on soup. my kids had a simple soy ramen without the pickles or onions on top. Quality of ramen noodles was good. Al dente, chewy. Soup for the dahatsuten was a bit spicy which I liked. it had some bean sprouts and pork, seaweed slices too. portions were small given the price we paid. I think one bowl was like 9 bucks. the kids did like it but hey, they aren't the ones paying for the meal. : P The salmon donburi was good. good flavor with the dressing and salmon was fresh. I was glad I ordered the donburi because the ramen was not enough. I ain't a big guy too. for my wife and kids the portions were enough. Overall: Good quality ramen(noodles particularly) but too overpriced. Decor was nonexistent. Not sure if I'd go back again. There is Ajisen down in Warm Springs which give bigger portions for about the same price.

    (2)

  • Mary Grace E.

    My ultimate guilty pleasure.... RAMEN! and nope not the instant kind! I had to go here twice because the first time I did, I had a cold so I can't fully taste it, but I can already tell, it's so yummy! So I gave it another shot, got the Dohatsuten Ramen with the Tonkatsu broth.. great comfort food. Plus, I don't think it's too salty or MSG-laden. The Chashu pork and the minced pork were very tender, but I wish there were more meaty goodness.. You get to upgrade the ramen to XL for additional $2 I believe, order rice bowl sides($1-4) or additional items I can't even pronounce well (I was so silly not to flip over the menu! there are great items at the back of the menu like edamame, gyoza etc..It was too late when I realized it :p). I am peeking secretly at other tables and saw interesting items like their crispy fried rice they set on what I think is a hot clay pot, which would make the rice crunchy similar to a Dol Sot Bibimbap. I think it can feed more than one person! I have yet to try.. Depends on how small or big your appetite, I person can spend $10-$15(Ah, there is a Hyper-Dohatsuten Ramen for about $11, which the server described, has everything on it) Oh, and this Ramen joint is in a small plaza at the corner of Mission Blvd and Pine. Parking space limited at the back of the plaza.

    (4)

  • David L.

    Hella damn good. Go here for the ramen, but don't sleep on the curry. I know this place is not Hawaiian, but it satisfies my local palate. This is a no frills, just good food kinda joint. If your uptight high society type, don't come. Ramen is best seved on a plain counter with little interruption so you can slurpe away. This should not be confused with bad service.

    (5)

  • Adrienne L.

    yum yum yum!!! this is a soild place AND it's in fremont (land of chain restaurants). i really like the veggie ramen. it looks like a small bowl, but that thing is PACKED with veggies and deliciousness. their hyper-dohatsuten ramen is also good. a little pricey though. while i'm not a huge fan of tonkatsu broth, this one was quite tasty and the meat was cooked really well. i'm on the fence about the egg. sometimes the yellow is runny and sometimes it's solid. i'm no expert on cooking eggs, but i'm an expert on eating eggs and something needs to be done about the quality control on the eggs. if i'm paying extra, i want a nicely cooked egg. this place is definitely better than ajisen. (fyi: they also have rice dish options)

    (4)

  • Mary L.

    i love this place. i enjoy how the ramen noodles are not the ones from the instant bags. its actually noodles. i love the broth variety and the mini donburi set. the food is yummy and filling. the place is very small but i like the feel of it. makes it feel authentic, like its straight of out japan. you can use credit card if you order more than $20. i ordered the Chicken Ramen set with mini donburi shiro maguro don with a soy broth. the white tuna was delicious and the rice was perfect. i could eat this 3 times a day. cant wait to return

    (5)

  • Kat G.

    The place is tiny and hidden. You would miss it if you weren't specifically looking for it. We went here for dinner the day after Christmas. When we arrived around 7pm, there were about 4 other groups of people who seemed to be enjoying their food. I've been to a few ramen joints in the Peninsula, but having another ramen place near home is always a nice option. When we walked in, there was only one guy who not only took your order but bussed the tables as well so service was a bit slow but wasn't too bad. When it was time for us to order, dude tells us that they're out of chashu AND rice. Umm, excuse me?! How can you claim to be a ramen place WITHOUT chashu...and rice, how do you run out of rice? Don't you just have bags and bags of that in back? Right away I was pretty annoyed as we were limited to just the plain ramen on the menu. We also ordered the agedashi tofu to ensure that we didn't leave hungry. The tofu flavoring was good and is better than some I've tasted. The ramen, on the other hand, came in a smaller bowl than I'm used to. The flavoring tasted plain and forgettable. I'm all about supporting small, local businesses, but c'mon, it's not that difficult to make ramen taste good! It's safe to say that I won't be coming back here.

    (2)

  • Caleb R.

    i liked the simplicity of the restaurant and menu. the food is good and you get a great variety of food with your order: seasoning and ingredients. the place is always busy even with its not-so-ideal location. now i cant figure out if it like ramen more than pho now.

    (4)

  • Hobby-less R.

    Great foods at great prices!! Service was slow, but the waiting staff were nice.

    (5)

  • Ray N.

    Very delicious but small portions.

    (3)

  • Eddy C.

    Considering there's a shortage of Japanese ramen places in the Fremont area this place is a solid choice located in a small plaza across the street from Ohlone College where the old Bonfare Market used to be. The ramen selection is pretty good with a wide variety of side dishes as well if you're not into ramen. However the drawbacks are the hours this place is open since they are open at relatively confusing times and tend to close the doors 30 minutes before what they post on the door. Also they charge extra for certain soup bases and parking can be horrible at times. I literally had to parallel park down the block which is unheard of in this area.

    (3)

  • Pikachu P.

    We tried this place three times. Not too bad...At least we don't have to wait too long. The broth was not too bad...but still like sountouka better yay

    (3)

  • Alex F.

    As other have said, finally a good ramen place in Fremont. Here is my experience having lunch there this past Sunday. We arrived shortly after 12pm, the parking lot is small but wasn't too hard to find parking space. The restaurant is small and can only fit 6 4-person tables and 2 2-person tables (and 3 highchairs). They can be move around and reconfigure for bigger group (within the limited space there). Because they just opened, there are no window bind/linens. The first table assigned to us me facing the sun and we asked to be moved to another table what was still available. There are many items on the menu but in general, the ramen is pretty pricey comparing to other place I have been to. You can pick one of the 4 flavors (Soy, Shio, Yuzu Miso, Tonkotsu) broth. The Yusu Miso and Tonkotsu broth cost $1 extra. The are about 7 different Ramens on the menu depends on toppings ranging from Basic Ramen ($6.99) to Hyper-Dohatsuten Ramen ($11.99). Except for the Hyper-Dohatsuten, none of them include soft-boiled egg. You can make it a 'Set' by adding a donburi for $2.99-$3.99. My wife always orders Miso Chashu everywhere she goes. And we have 3 small kids so we are ordering a unagi don in case they wanted rice instead of ramen. Here were what we ordered Chashu Ramen (include 4 slices of chashu) $8.99 with Yuzu Miso Broth +$1 & Unagi Don +$3.99 Hyper-Dohatsuten Ramen (include soft boiled eggs, 2 slice of chashu, 2 pieces of pork belly, spicy minced-pork, etc) $11.99 with Tonkotsu broth +$1 Nagoya Teba $6.5 - Sweet & Peppered Special Fried Chicken Wings (it looked good on the Yelp page for their Palo Altos store and want to give it a try) Tan Shio $7 - Grilled Beef Tongue w/Ponzu (we always like Gyu Tan) Chashu - 4.5 stars Yuzu Miso broth - 2.5 stars. Couldn't taste any miso at all. Tonkotsu broth - 4.5 stars. I think this is almost as good as santoka except Santoka broth is hotter. Soft boiled egg. 5 stars Pork Belly. 3.5 stars (tasty but not out of the world) Nagoya teba . 5 stars. Both the crispy texture and the taste are great. Tan shio. 3.5 stars. Taste good but hasn't been grilled enough to develop the aroma. Unagi don. Unagi - 4 stars, the rice seems overcooked or been cooked for a while 2.5 stars, the unagi sauce tasted artificial so only 2.5 stars. Overall 3 stars. Services 4 stars Price 3.5 stars. Within Fremont, this place is definitely better than Ajisen for its Tonkotsu broth but not for the miso broth. And u have to add an extra $1 for those broth and charging extra for the soft boiled egg make it more expensive that most places. I will come back for sure for a quick ramen fix and to try the shoyu and shio broth. But probably will go to Orengi or Santoka instead if time permit.

    (4)

  • John G.

    My wife and friends really enjoyed the authentic Japanese ramen noodles, served hot and quickly. Recommend it very much.

    (4)

  • Angela X.

    Ordered the dohatsuten ramen with pork broth. The broth could have been more flavorful, but the bowl was packed with meat and veggies. My friends complained about the chemical-tasting preserved bamboo, but I'm pretty used to it given that jars of the reddish stuff are commonplace in Chinese households. I had more of a problem with the noodles--maybe because I (unrealistically) prefer the hand-pulled kind. If you're looking for something warm and filling in Fremont, you could certainly do worse than this place.

    (3)

  • josh c.

    This place was alright... just tasted like regular ramen you might get. Service was normal and all... a little pricey but its acceptable. the environment is a little akward as it is a old building i think

    (3)

  • Robert R.

    I'm a big fan of ramen, my roommate and I usually eat at Ajisen ramen, in Fremont. but this place was just as good. It was delicious, I had the dohatsuten ramen with the tonkatsu broth. It had large portions of pork, with lots of noodles and broth, and tons of vegetables. The restaurant is a small hole in the wall place, right across the street of ohlone college. The service was really casual, it'd be a nice place to take someone out for a simply casual dinner.

    (4)

  • Henry Y.

    home of the recession-proof $17 bowl of ramen! i always splurge on food but that's ridic even for me lol

    (3)

  • W. L.

    Great good and reasonable price. The soup noodles are the best Japanese that I ever ate and this place is very good.

    (4)

  • Janice O.

    Went here with a friend last night. My friend had been here before and had been chomping at the bit to get back. I got the Vegetarian Ramen and he got the one with pork & an egg. The vegetarian was so tasty! And it was the perfect size. My friend really liked his dish, too. The place had just gotten painted to a nice yellow which opened up the place a lot. They now take credit cards if over $20.00.

    (5)

  • Diana L.

    Honestly, I came in with pretty low expectations, but the 2 minute driving distance sold me (that and my parents refused to drive all the way to San Jose for the good stuff). First thing I noticed was that this place wasn't too ghetto and actually had a decent amount of seating (unlike their Chinese neighbor). It also had people inside--a good sign. So I decided upon the Donhatsuten Ramen with soy and added an egg. Mom got the same thing, and dad got the cheapest one and added a mini donburi to his order. Shortly after we ordered, our meal came. 5 minutes tops, wow. The ramen was not bad! Not greaaat, but much better than I had expected. Surprisingly my dad didn't grumble much about it, considering how much he hates buying a $10 bowl of ramen when he can make the instant kind for a few cents, which is supposedly the same (in his eyes). So I think he liked it. He especially enjoyed the add-on donburi. It's a good addition if you're super hungry. He says he'll order some to-go for my brother next time. Overall, I'll probably eat this again sometime in my life, considering my parents live so close by. I saw people getting it to-go, I think I'll try that if I don't feel like eating out (and it won't get cold 'cause I live so close yayy). I'd say the ramen is a 3.5, but I'll round up for the location :) Wah I wish I didn't forget my iPhone... I didn't get a good snapshot of the food =(

    (4)

  • Jeff O.

    It's just ok. There are better ramen place out there. Went there once and it will be shame on me if I go there again to see if food will improve. Next door chinese restaurant is very good.

    (1)

  • Gilbert G.

    new ramen place in fremont? saw it got good reviews on yelp so i decided to try it out but turned out to be disappointing. we ordered the miso and tonkotsu. the miso was not the usual miso broth i've had, it was really salty and had a strong taste to it. the tonkotsu broth wasn't bad but i think they put a lot of msg in it because i got really thirsty and they had to refill my water multiple times. the service was good, very friendly. i would come here again for the tonkotsu and maybe try something else.

    (3)

  • Barry P.

    I ate here last night for the first time. I did enjoy the Ramen and thought the service was great. Cash only, so that is a little inconvenient. The dining space itself is kind of old and hole it the wall. I would still good there again if I craved Ramen since this is the closed Ramen to my home.

    (3)

  • Michifur C.

    Ramen lovers beware, the noodles are ok but 1/2 the width of the traditional noodles (I lived in Tokyo for 2 years, so I'm kinda a purist), not the same! For that it gets 2 stars, sorry! Otherwise the food is pretty good and would have received 3 stars. Interestingly, the cold noodles (tsukumen) has the traditional noodles I wanted in the hot ramen, maybe if enuf people asked for the thicker noodles, they'd switch on request.

    (2)

  • Frances n.

    Seeing all these yelp reviews, I had to try this place out. This is a small place and there was a stream of customers coming in, so you know it is well loved. There were only 2 servers, so they were super busy and can't really be attentive to everyone. We ordered the Dohatsuten Ramen with salt flavor, spicy green onion ramen with yuzu miso flavor, and karaage fried chicken. I would have to say the broth was not particularly impressive. I ordered salt flavor so I can really taste the broth. The broth was too sweet for my taste. I don't know where the sweetness comes from, all I know is that it covered up all the salty flavor. There was only 1 thin slice of cha-shu in both of our ramen, I thought that was kind of stingy. I tried the hubby's yuzu miso flavored ramen, and I didn't like it at all. The yuzu flavor was too overpowering. Everything else in the ramen was good tho, and the ramen noodles were perfect. The presentation is also great. The karaage was pretty good, the pieces were pretty big and was not overdone. The chicken was not marinated, so you'll have to rely on the Japanese mayo and/or the lemon wedge for flavor. I probably won't go there again, but if you live nearby, it's probably good to give this place a go.

    (3)

  • C. L.

    Finally tried out this ramen place after seeing it on yelp. I got the Dohatsuten ramen with tonkotsu broth and got the chusu ramen for my nephew and also add the soft-boil egg (also order extra large for myself). The Dohatsuten pork is a little spicy, spicy ramen tastes strange to me at first, if you don't like spice get the chusu instead. I definitely like the tonkotsu broth though. The extra large noodle is huge. The soft boil egg is good but I think Orienchi's one is better, the noodle at Orienchi is a little more chewy but I prefer Dohatsuten's broth and pork, I think the Dohatsuten ramen you only get 2 piece of pork and the chusu you get 4. This ramen place is not cheap like Ryowa or Maruichi but the broth and meat is definitely better, solid 4 star. Also the amount of food you got is decent unlike Orienchi. There is also only one lady doing the ordering and stuff so the service might be a little slow.

    (4)

  • zafir s.

    the menu is pretty limited, food is slightly overpriced and almost everything has pork in it (vegetarians beware). not totally horrible but ill take my business elsewhere

    (2)

  • Ya K.

    Love this ramen place! I didn't know it was a ramen place because I didn't match up the hiragana name (spelled in English) on yelp to the kanji name sign. I came here when I am craving ramen and don't want to drive far to Mitsuwa for Santouka. Usually this place is not crowded. The broth is good, a lot of things in the ramen, so compared to Santouka, Dohatsuten is pretty fancy. (But I am still a fan to Santouka :P) Unfortunately I don't like the spicy minced pork/beef, it just too strong and ruin the taste of the broth, in my opinion. Need to remind myself to ask them not to put it. Other than ramen, other dishes was ok to bad...very expensive and unimpressive

    (4)

  • Angela C.

    This place is really good! I like Dohatsuten better than Orenchi! The Tan Shio was really good here. It's thinly sliced grilled beef tongue. I know, it sounds scary but it really isn't. Worth a try! The first time I tried Dohatsuten, I got the Hyper-Dohatsuten ramen. It was way too big for me! I barely made a dent in the bowl. This ramen bowl is the super burrito of ramens and it contains all their best ingredients! Although it was too big of a portion for me, I tried to eat all the different things offered and it was amazing. A good choice for those of you who are extremely hungry and love ramen! After my first time, I learned my lesson and I ordered the regular Dohatsuten ramen bowl and it was delicious. This bowl has chashu and spicy minced pork that makes the ramen bowl complete. It's too bad that the soft boiled egg doesn't come with this bowl, but it does offer half of the hard boiled egg. I recommend ordering the soft boiled egg extra. The soft boiled egg is well worth it! Much more flavorful than the one offered at Orenchi. The ramen here is good overall. I like the broth as it is a perfect combination of spicy and pork flavored. I always get the tonkatsu broth and it's my favorite. I haven't tried other broth flavors so I can't provide a good comparison. The ramen noodles are good and fresh but nothing out of the ordinary. I expect ramen places to have good and fresh ramen noodles! I recommend trying this place! It's a hidden treasure located in Fremont. I prefer this location over the Palo Alto location.

    (4)

  • Steven R.

    Worst ramen ever. I ordered a vegetarian ramen, which seemed to be prepared with canned ingredients only. The server was very friendly and fast.

    (1)

  • Sonny W.

    It's local so I'd like to give it more. However, the key point of ramen is the soup and in that department, it disappointed. For me at least, it was little thin/less flavorful (perhaps it is because they probably skimmed off some of the fat/lard that comes when you make your soup). Otherwise, portions were decent.

    (2)

  • Manda H.

    I heard great things about this place and my regular ramen spots were closed so I decided it's a great time to try this restaurant. We thought it looked pretty crowded but we were seated fairly quickly (in about 5 min) and we all decided what we wanted after some struggle. The menu was a larger selection than most ramen shops. The food itself wasn't anything amazing. It wasn't bad but it is definitely not worth going out of the way for in the future. We also bought some ramen to-go for others and the people who ate that said it tasted like ramen in water. So if you are in the area and looking for just any ramen, this would be the place to go. Otherwise, if you have the time, pick your normal ramen shop.

    (3)

  • Joanne C.

    I had the hyper ramen and my boyfriend had their other signature ramen and we were both VERY pleased! The hyper ramen is very well worth the price as it came with two giant pieces of delicious pork belly, 2 generous slices of chashu, spicy minced pork, soft boiled egg, corn, cabbage, bamboo shoots, and green onion. I definitely could not finish the entire bowl. I gave half the meat to my boyfriend and I still couldn't finish all the noodles. The only difference between the hyper ramen and the signature ramen is the portion size and pork belly, cabbage, corn, green onion We got the spicy miso soup base for a dollar extra. And my boyfriend also added a soft boiled egg for a dollar extra. His bowl only came with half a hard boiled egg. It came out to be $25 before tip for 2 bowls. It was definitely worth it. Only con about this place is that the bowls are kinda small for their portions so somethings gotta give, and in our case, it was the soup. Definitely not enough soup because every bite we take, we get a spoonful of soup as well. Definitely recommended and we'll definitely be back!

    (4)

  • Judy V.

    I had Dohatsuten booked marked for a while but never had a chance to try it until today. I wished I went to Ajisen instead but I really wanted to cross this place off my bucket list. My coworkers and I ordered the hyper dohatsuten "deluxe signature" ramen with miso broth ($1 extra), wakame salad and fried squid. The deluxe bowl came with generous portion of pork belly, chashu, spicy minced pork, corn, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, cabbage and a soft boiled egg. The noodles were a little overcooked for me and the broth was meh. I thought that paying an extra dollar for miso flavor broth should taste good since miso flavor broth is usually standard for ramen places but I was super disappointed. The broth was very mediocre and extra thick. I asked for it to be extra spicy but I think the lady thought I wanted extra miso so my broth was more like a stew. For the priced we've paid ($21 per person, including tip) for lunch is kinda pricey and the sad part is that it wasn't even satisfying. I'll go to Ajisen if I am ever craving ramen.

    (2)

  • Lon H.

    Been here a couple of times and have enjoyed a couple different Ramen thus far. If you're trying to find it, don't blink as you get near Ohlone College, since you might pass it. I've had the Soy Sauce and Tonkotsu broth, but got the Dohatsuten Ramen each time. The broths are flavorful and the staff is friendly. I think they serve one of the best Agedashi Tofu appetizers around. I always find myself ordering it and have never been disappointed. Plus, it's not far from my house.

    (4)

  • Jeff N.

    Seems like the tonkotsu broth has gotten lighter lately. If I get any of the broths nowadays I have to get the spicy pork to mix in to add to the flavor. Lately, I have been getting the tsukemen because that has been good, but today, the flavor was on the weak side. Hopefully, it was just a fluke because it was my favorite tsukemen in the US, and I just visited Tsujita in LA.

    (3)

  • H L.

    This joint went downhill due to the poor service and lack in quality food. I used to enjoy this location, but I think things have changed for the worst. Usually one server works the restaurant at night, it's all good if you have the "right" person working. My evening was miserable! Our server was slow to seat us, he refused to seat us by the window when asked, stating he needed to clean the area, it took us several attempts to get his attention when we needed something, and he needed several reminders to get us simple items like our drinks or check. The food quality has also gone down hill. They have a new menu, it's rather the same items as before with less choices. Overall, the food seems greasy, and lack freshness. I did not enjoy the overall presentation or flavor profile. Lucky for us there plenty of good ramen shops and Japanese cuisines popping up all around. I would skip this joint in the future.

    (2)

  • Fiona N.

    Dohatsuten has some pretty good ramen! The broth was so tasty. I ordered the #6 with tonkatsu broth for an extra dollar (trust, it's so worth it). Their portions were very filling, I wasn't able to finish. I wished the egg was soft boiled and wish that they had chopped up the pieces of pork belly into thinner pieces instead of having it as large chunks. Their service was okay, the girl taking our order gave me attitude when I asked her about some of the foods on the menu.

    (4)

  • Kelvin T.

    Ate the 'hyper dohatsuten ramen" which includes two 2" x 2" large tender stewed pork/kakuni, 3 thick chashu slices, spicy ground pork, 1 whole egg, corn and veggies over ramen. The size is quite large, larger than "large" size Vietnamese noodle. Base price is 12:99, but highly worth it, even with $1 extra for tonkotsu soup. I always finish large size noodle, but this time I had left-overs for a decent lunch; I didn't even eat the egg. Cash only for less than $20. 美味しくてたくさん食べ物をもらいましたが、高くないです。いい映像がありました。

    (4)

  • Jennifer L.

    Great service and good prices for the portion size but the ramen was only okay in my book. Croquettes were fresh and the karage was really yummy. The ramen broth was a little too oily for my liking. Nice place to go for lunch.

    (3)

  • Louisa T.

    Such a random place to have a ramen shop. It's quite small and I don't think any of the other 4-5 business around it were open. When we got in, there were at least 3 tables that were empty, but weren't bused yet so we had to wait a few minutes for a table. After we sat down and ordered, the food didn't take too long to come. Each bowl was about $8-12 dollars (depending on what you get and if you add anything or want a different soup base), and if you make it a combo, the price goes up significantly. Value wise, maruichi in much better. I ordered a dohatsuten ramen with tokatsu soup base (which is + $1 - not sure why you need to pay for the broth. Though the soy broth does not require adding money). The ramen texture was just ok, and tasted more like Chinese noodles than Japanese ramen. The soup base was not bad, but I felt wrong paying a dollar to get my soup. The cha shiu was good, and I thought the spicy pork on top was unnecessary. Sorry but I think there are better ramen, with better value elsewhere. I can't even say there was much service either. Meh....

    (2)

  • Liz M.

    Came here after hiking Mission Peak and thought that I might have a biased opinion because I was absolutely STARVING. I am very happy to say that regardless of the starving, I really liked this place! I ordered the Ta-Ro Ramen (pork belly) with miso broth. There were THREE huuuuuge pieces of pork belly in the bowl. I was so overwhelmed, but in a totally good way. The ramen was al dente and there was a good portion of it. It was one of those...I'm so full, but not throw up full. I probably wouldn't recommend the miso broth - it's good, but has a sweet after taste to it that I wasn't so sure of. I tried my friend's tonkatsu broth and it was delicious! I'll probably go with that one next time. We also ordered the Chicken Karaage not knowing that the ramen would fill us up so well. It was basically spiced fried chicken with mayo dip, but I still really enjoyed it. I brought some chicken and a piece of the pork belly home - I just couldn't finish it all - and my boyfriend tried some and loved it! Stuff that tastes good even after you bring it home gets kudos from me :) Side note - the water they serve isn't cold...and has no ice...thought that was weird. But the service is great! :)

    (4)

  • Kylie G.

    A hole in the wall, but delicious, amazing, and unbelievably cheap! I love all of their ramen, rice bowls, curry.... basically, everything on their menu. Service is fast, friendly and you leave always feeling satisfied.

    (5)

  • Juju P.

    This place is definitely a hidden gem. It is a small place, but most of the time we get seated right away. I am one big fan of ramen, and have tried handful of places around the Bay. To be honest, I would list it as one of my top 3 ramen places of all (and Orenchi isn't one of them). Love the Chasu Pork here, favorful and melting in your mouth. I always stick with Miso flavor broth+ extra Spicy. Make sure to tell them if you like it spicy. The noodles have a nice texture- chewy but not being undercooked, which I love. Great and attentive service! As always :)

    (5)

  • Zan G.

    hole in the wallfor sure... located way at the end of fremont. lol nway to get serious, the place is a hidden gem. their ramen is absolutely delicious.. hits the spot for sure. food- ordered the Dohatsuten ramen, their special with tonkatsu sauce and addl seaweed.. The porkbelly is sooo soft and melts in your mouth. the way they cook the noodles too is not overcooked.. the flavour of the soup has a sweet kick to it.. well balanced. Also ordered seaweed salad. nothing special... If ever im coming back to the area, ill make sure to stop by to this place again... must try if you are a Ramen person... :)

    (5)

  • Addison P.

    It was okay. Not amazing. I got the deluxe ramen. The ingredients were of high quality. I would have liked more ramen and less ingredients. The flavor is above average. I would eat here again but I wouldn't go out of my way to come here. I like the places in San Mateo much better. Service was good. Got the A set special and it was great!! Ramen was much easier to get to and analyze. Good ratio of ramen

    (4)

  • Stephanie T.

    My first time here was in 2010. Since then there have been other ramen places opening up around Union City. (Tadamasa and Men-Oh Ramen) I've tried both, but they're nothing compared to Dohatsuten. Since '10 Dohatsuten expanded their menu, and can now accept cards over $10 limit. It's a small space (like traditional ramen places), and I'm not sure when it gets busy, But every time I've been, I never really had to wait. If I ever feel like having ramen, I go here. The best broth hands down out of all the ones they offer is the Tonkotsu-- which is some Pork Garlic Soy broth and their popular one. IT'S SO GOOD. My friend and I ordered our ramens with the Tonkotsu broth, and asked if we could have more broth when we finished it before our noodles. When I took my boyfriend there, he got the hyper-dohatsuten ramen, Which comes with a lot of stuff in it. His favorite thing is the pork belly. He said it was super tender and delicious-- And every time we go, he'll just get the pork belly in his ramen. I hear that it's busy during dinner, but it isn't that much busy for lunch. If you're in need of ramen because of hunger or hang over, This is the place! :D Ramen is better than Pho I also believe this is the best Ramen in the East Bay.

    (5)

  • Zaw P.

    When I went to Ohlone, I was a regular here. Love their signature ramen. Also, if you don't ask for the soft boiled egg, you're not eating ramen right. The Japanese lady that works there is also super nice and accommodating.

    (5)

  • Jessica O.

    I love this restaurant. I've come here so many times, rain or shine. I normally order the regular restaurant special of Dohatsuten ramen with spicy beef. It's really good with Tonkatsu broth! They also offer lunch specials that come up to a great deal. I come back every other week and I enjoy it every time :) highly recommend!

    (5)

  • Stephanie L.

    Im still looking for good ramen in Fremont. Ramen is really Chinese food culturally appropriated by Japan. You can tell by the way it's spelled in katakana. This place takes it back from the Japanese. It's run by Chinese people and it adds in some notably Chinese elements. Pork belly, cabbage? And lots of toppings. Not that I'm complaining about eating some pork belly, but I never had something like that in Tokyo. The bilingual menu is all for show folks. Read below. The noodle quality is average. The broth was weird. Hubs got yuzu miso which was pretty tasty. I ordered "shoyu" ramen or "soy sauce" ramen broth which was light colored and devoid of soy sauce taste. I think the waiter was confused when I said shoyu and instead wrote "soy" which may have been the vegan broth. Seriously? You have something called soy and soy sauce? Then can't understand the word for soy sauce or when I say "soy sauce"? It was my first time there and didn't figure out the mistake until I was done with half my bowl. The bowls are piled high with toppings which makes it hard to get at the noodles and broth. You might need bigger bowls to make it easier to eat. Unrelated to food quality was an awesome conversation I was eavesdropping on. A man was questioning a woman aggressively about whether she would go up to a random mother and criticize her parenting skills. She kept giving the same (ostensibly incorrect) answer to the dismay of the man. It was so awkward it made me awkward at the next table.

    (3)

  • Ron E.

    Dohatsuten is actually one of my favorite ramen places on this side of the bay. I usually come here once a week during the weekends. Small hole in the wall joint on the corner right across the street from Ohlone College. Parking recently is a hit or miss. Their small parking lot can get full during peak hours on the weekends. Not from Dohatsuten but from some of the other small businesses in this very small complex. They changed ownership about mid last year. It was pretty obvious since there were new faces (waitresses/owners spoke Chinese). Their ramen definitely took a turn for the worst when this happened. So obvious I had to ask to confirm but they denied it. Came back again a few weeks later and I asked the same question to a new waiter and he basically said he couldn't comment on it. In the end, I am not sure if they got the original cook back or what but their ramen got back to their original and business picked up again (you can tell since it's usually full during peak time. I usually order their Hyper Dohatsuten Ramen which is packed full of pork (slice and chunks), bamboo, pork grinds in chili paste, full egg, etc. Bowl is fairly small for the amount they stuff in but it's all good. Usually end up with more toppings than noodles. I usually order a side dish (chicken) and have tried some of their newer dishes (fried oysters, etc). They are OK. All and all still come here often enough that the owners usually try to seat us in before others (without some of the guest knowing) which is pretty cool of them! Keep in mind that this place is not your very flavorful (greasy) type of soup base. It's actually mild to different flavor which maybe a turn off to some.

    (4)

  • Christine P.

    Wanted to try this place cause im a foodie. Its a small restaurant that can hold approximately less than 30 people. We were seated right away! Took us only 1-2min to decide what we wanted. When the waiter came and asked us if we were ready to order we were! but he wasnt ready with a paper. then after that we waited for our food and it didnt take that long..about 5min waiting and do you know what that means?? they didnt take the time to make a good meal! it was wayyy too quick imo. now it was time to dig in. As i was scooping up the ramen it didnt look as good as the other places ive been to and i knew it wont be as good. The noodle wasnt as chewy and the texture was too soft to my liking. i got the spicy green onion with tonkotsu base. My bf got the chashu with tonkotsu base. The egg wasnt even soft boiled. It was hard boiled wtf! The chashu was dry. The soup base was good and the green onion was also good! Also had the agedashi tofu and it was meh. I prefer yokohama iekei in union city!

    (2)

  • Jlyn T.

    me and my bf frequent this place like 3 times a month to the point where they know we like sitting by the door in that long hallway. I love the unique taste of the noodles that will keep you away from instant ramen forever. We always get the signature ramen with soy broth and extra bamboo. & the donburi set is a good choice for like 4 bucks extra. I love the seared white tuna. We're definitely pretty loyal to this place and we've become a little hesitant to try other ramen spots.

    (5)

  • Raymond W.

    The waiter had bad breath, the restaurant is filthy, and the kitchen forgot to make my order. My wife was practically done with her food by the time they acknowledged my missing order. Here's something positive though, they serve edible food.

    (1)

  • Alan M.

    Looks like a typical college place from the outside (which was fine for me) but this place is best avoided. I wanted just some noodles, not a lot of spice, so I asked for not spicey and no chili flakes. I also ordered some pork over rice. The pork over rice was tasty but my ramen came with chili flakes and was very spicey. The server recognized there were chili flakes and was happy to make another...I asked again for no spice and, even with no chili flakes, it came out too spicey to eat the broth. I ate as many of the noodles as I could (the flavor was ok at best) but, including a diet coke, I left $20 poorer and not at all satisfied. There aren't a lot of other options in the area but I would avoid this place at all costs.

    (2)

  • david w.

    It was really sad when I noticed my ramen and soy flavor soup quality went down a lot. The soup was watery and felt I was eating thin noodle soup and not a bowl of full flavor ramen. I kinda wondered if the owner or chefs were changed. I hope they continued to serve good old bowl of ramen.

    (2)

  • Jim D.

    Dohatsuten is located in a small strip mall across from Ohlone College in Fremont. I almost walked into a Chinese restaurant but I noticed that all of the writing was in Chinese -Mandarin or Cantonese. The décor was simple but the little restaurant was crowded. Dohatsumen offers Ramen, Tapas & Iron Yakimeshi. I know what the first two items are but the third item I had no clue. Yakimeshi is a Crispy fried rice with choice of meats/vegetables and served in a cast iron skillet. The third item seems intriguing but on this cold day I was interested in the ramen. I ordered the spicy chicken ramen ($8.99) as my entree. They offer four flavors: Soy, Salt Yuzu Miso & Tonkotsu and I ordered the Miso. Dohatsumen also offers ten different types of Ramen. The bowl was small but the broth was very flavorful. I wanted the kim chee but I didn't feel like spending $3.00 for the small dish. Looking at the menu I see some interesting items, I'll have to come back for a re-visit.

    (4)

  • Mama H.

    I live all the way in Hayward but I would still drive to Fremont for some Dohatsuten goodness! We always order the pork dishes... we love the tonkatsu broth with cha shu ramen plus the extra egg! The chicken karaage is always crispy and piping hot. The portions are generous and the meals are priced right. The food service is pretty fast and the staff are very respectful. Dohatsuten is definitely Fremont's hidden gem!

    (5)

  • bernice k.

    One of my favorite places for ramen when in Fremont. LOVE the Ta-ro Ramen with Tonkatsu... YUMMMM. If you like pork belly, this place will give you TONS of it. I could barely finish my ramen with 3 huge slabs of mouth-watering, melt-in-your-mouth pork belly. :) Will try it next time with the soy-tonkatsu! Customer service was very good. My 2yr old dropped his spoon and within seconds, the guy server was at our table with a new one. And my udon-loving 5yr old slurped up her ramen like there was no tomorrow. We'll be back.

    (5)

  • Erica T.

    This was the closest ramen place from Mission Peak. My friends and I decided this was the best thing to eat after completing Mission Peak. This place is very hidden and a bit hard to find if they didn't have signs telling us where to go. I ended up ordering the following: Dohatsuten Ramen (approx $8) w/ Tonkotsu broth: It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. At first I was afraid that the broth wouldn't be spicy or that it lacked flavor, but I was wrong. The broth did have a kick to it and it had a rich flabor to it. The ramen was chewy and the pork was very juicy (both a plus in my book). Mini Chashu Donburi (additional $3.45 or so): The meat is a bit too fatty and the sauce was ok, more on the bland side. Picture of the ramen and the mini donburi that I ordered: s3-media1.ak.yelpcdn.com… Two of my friends got the Hyper Ramen. What sucked about this dish was they don't give you a deeper bowl to get more broth. You are stuck with the small bowl portion of broth and twice the amount of ramen. If you are more interested in the broth than the ramen, I would recommend NOT getting this specific ramen bowl.

    (3)

  • Emily W.

    The place is kinda small/a hole in the wall but has yummy ramen. The Dohatsuten ramen with tontotsu broth is pretty good but I wish it had more "stuff". The only reason I might order the bigger version (hyper dohatsuten) is because it has more "stuff" e.g. meat, corn etc. The meat is cooked perfectly so that it is still tender. The broth isn't too salty and the noodles still have a nice texture without being under cooked (and that's coming from someone who doesn't ever order a noodle dish). The regular size is still way big and I never finish it but I wouldn't recommend sharing it because you'll be fighting over the yummy stuff! Bottomline: Nice go to ramen place in Fremont but doesn't blow my mind (that might just be because I'm not crazy about ramen in general). It is very reasonably priced too =]

    (3)

  • Rebecca M.

    Look folks, you're going to a hole in the wall Ramen shop in the suburban town of FREMONT, where I am sure the staffstr making bare bones bucks serving up piping hot bowls of Ramen. If you want white-linen service, then you may want to consider going elsewhere. That being said---this ramen shop has a 'down home taste' and feels like you've 'discovered' a hole in the wall. That's probably because you have: it's easy to miss. (Hint: its across from Ohlone and the parking lot has an entrance on Pine and Mission heading southbound). They sell beer and sake here in addition to Yakisoba, Ramen, and a few other random dishes. Their Chashu ramen ($8.99) with the Tonkatsu broth (+$2) and the soft-boiled egg (+$1) is arguably one of the best bowls of noodles I have ever had. It actually beats out many of the original ramen shops I have been to in NYC. Note: it can get crowded, the crowd can get loud (think lots of Mission kids and Ohlone Students, mixed with folks looking for a cheap eat), and the decor is nothing to write home about. But if you're down for a good bowl of ramen and to be left alone--here is your spot.

    (5)

  • Surge C.

    Donhatsuten is a ramen gem because they are one of the few ramen places that offers an authentic vegetarian ramen option. Seeing this as one of the options made me excited to go here. Unlike other ramen places, Donhatsuten offers a ramen & mini donburi set. I decided to get the vegetarian ramen ($7.99) with a mini unagi don (extra $4.99). The unagi don came first and was not as small as I thought. I loved how fatty the eel was and the dish was very appetizing. My only complaint is that I wish it had more unagi to create a better balance with the amount of rice served with it. The vegetarian ramen came with cabbage, chinese chives, beans, sprouts, carrots, bamboo shoots, green onion, and baby corn. The broth was soy and vegetable based and was very light. I kind of wished it had a little bit more flavor or a spicier kick because I found myself adding a lot of red pepper to it. Also the dish was overflowing with veggies and it was hard to find the ramen noodles. However, I still enjoyed it and would probably get it again but ask for extra flavoring. My friend got a chicken ramen and his ramen was very small in comparison to mine. I was expecting our portions to be equal, but mine was significantly larger than his. He enjoyed it, but also wanted more flavor with the broth. He gave me his boiled egg, which was really chewy and not appetizing. It was weird to have a boiled egg with this texture so I would recommend not getting an egg with your ramen. Our service wasn't amazing and our server seemed to be quite inattentive, but he was very pleasant during our few interactions. All in all it was a good experience and I would gladly return now that I know what to expect. *Cash only if your order is under $20 * $20 minimum to charge on a Visa or Mastercard only *Make sure to add one of the mini donburis to your ramen *Small restaurant located in the corridor of the tiny plaza *Small parking lot so expect to park on the street during peak hours

    (3)

  • Nerizza M.

    I've been to this place about three times already and it truly is delicious! The ramen is full of flavor, presented beautifully with detail and they really know how to soft boil an egg perfectly. Their charsudon is so so so yummy, simple yet so flavorful. I look forward to going back because I noticed another table ordered fried chicken. I was intrigued! Try not to expect or get disappointed by the ambiance. It's a tiny place with very few tables and it's wonderfully quiet. Some places have so much hype surrounding it and they're crowded and noisy. Dohatsuten is located off Mission Blvd. directly across from Ohlone College in a residential area. On another note, I tried a different ramen place recently (don't want to give the name out of business courtesy), but the ramen was just okay. I was surprised too at some of the hype this place gets I suppose just for it's location. I always liked Dohatsuten, but after discovering that this other ramen place had similar pricing and was just 'okay', it prompted me to write this well deserved highly marked review. Gotta spread the good news!

    (5)

  • Melissa S.

    Came here yesterday for an early dinner. We were looking for a ramen place and decided to come here due to its 3.5 stars rating since we were around the Fremont area. It's located right across a community college so we figured it would probably suit our student budget and taste. However, I'm a little disappointed. It's run by Chinese (I think), so the taste is not very Japanese. On a good note, the portion is pretty big. My bf ordered the Hyper ramen - he got lots of noodles and I like the pork belly that came with it. If you're not super hungry, order their Dohatsuten ramen with tonkotsu base soup - yum! Their Chicken Karaage is not too great I think mostly because of its overabundance of flavor. Overall, it was alright - we sort of just needed something warm to fill our stomachs up after a long hike.

    (3)

  • Tanu C.

    Ended up near here for a hike since the main entrance to Mission Peak was packed and had no parking. This place was such a hidden find. Post hike hunger led us here. Their cold noodles and their tonkatsu ramen were both yummy. Service was also great, the waiters came often and attended to our needs - refilling waters and even brought us extra bowls and spoons when they saw that we were sharing everything we ordered. Value for money too, very affordable. We're definitely coming back!

    (5)

  • Aida N.

    they opened my eyes that great Ramen is so much more ...thoroughly enjoy the mix of veggies and light broth. Love a good ramen find!

    (3)

  • Sung S.

    No alcohol. :(

    (3)

  • Candy C.

    Feeling the need to comfort a cold with a bowl of hot Ramen, I turned to Yelp for the nearest Ramen spot in Fremont. I discovered this place and quickly drove over. Located right across from Ohlone College, this highly recommended joint per fellow Yelpers did not disappoint. Though pricey, their servings are generously abundant. The waitress sat me in a convenient table, moving chairs around to accommodate my son who was sleeping soundly in his stroller. The place was clean, but worn down. I would love to come back and explore their menu further. And with Fall just around the bend, an occasional bowl of hot Ramen will hit the spot nicely on a chilly day.

    (3)

  • Josh K.

    Ramen here is surprisingly good, considering its relative isolation from the rest of civilization. The Ta-Ro Ramen has a generous amount of melty fatty pork belly. Also, the best broth here is the yuzu-miso by a long shot. Shoyu and tonkotsu were not that great. Finally, yakimeshi is great. If money is no object, get the unagi one. Otherwise, go for beef curry! Not too expensive and pretty quick to get in and get out. I can see it being crowded for weekend lunches though.

    (4)

  • Rochelle D.

    Just when I thought I'd tasted every bowl of soy, miso or tonkatsu ramen in the Bay Area, Dohatsuten kicked my ramen adventure up a notch with their tsukenmen ramen. Hubs and I were running errands in the Fremont-area and Yelped "ramen", something at least three-star range. We questioned the search because it lead us to a quiet part of Fremont, right in front of the desolate Ohlone College campus on a Saturday evening. We drove in to a tiny strip mall that consisted of a dance/ballet school and other closed-for-the day businesses. Walking down a long corridor between the buildings, a tiny faded sign read "Ramen" to the right. There it was! No gimmicks, no frills, and most importantly NO LINE!!! Immediate smile on my face as we were seated right away with menus under our noses. Not knowing how big the portion sizes were, we mistakenly ordered a chicken karaage to pre-nosh on, expecting that it may take some time for the ramen to come out. Actually, hub's bowl of the Hyper-Dohatsuten Ramen arrived first with a beautiful presentation of bamboo shoots, cabbage, green onions and a fatty slice of pork. Second plate to arrive was the chicken karaage, which looked more of a main dish in size, instead of a "tapas" size. Then followed my meal which consisted of 2 bowls: One bowl with cold ramen noodles, soft boiled egg and green onions, the other with a yuzu-soy dipping sauce. The next 20 minutes consisted of no talking, just DIP, SLURP and MMM! I was having a relationship with this bowl of soup. Not even the woman sitting next to us, blabbing about her experience at last night's Depeche Mode concert could deter me from DSM (Dip, Slurp, MMM). It's quite a trek for me to get back to Fremont, but if I'm every back in this neck of the woods, I'm making a bee-line back to Dohatsuen. Arigatou Gozaimasu, Dohatsuten.

    (5)

  • Jovi C.

    I come here literally once a week to bask in their incredible ramen! The service is absolutely fantastic. I am so embarrassed to say I don't know the name of our usual waiter, but he makes me and my friends feel well-taken care of. We sit down and he knows exactly what drinks we're going to order, and puts in our appetizer orders - he's fantastic!! One of the major reasons we go to Dohatsuten is because of that guy!! The food itself is great - we always order chicken karage (aaaah-mazing! Perfectly fried!) and bowls of ramen. I tend to go with the hyper, the dohatsuten, or the ta-ro, with tonkatsu broth. The broth is incredibly rich, savory, and amazing. The hyper and dohatsuten hit that perfect spicy point without being painful-spicy. The pork belly and chasu --- omg. So fantastic. They also do their egg very, very well. I love this little hole in the wall -- every time I feel like comfort food -- this is where I go!

    (5)

  • Patty L.

    First impression: very secluded place. I would've missed this place if my friend has not taken me there. Feels very family style. What was ordered: Mentai and Takana Yakimeshi: 3.5/5 - I love the burnt rice part on the bottom. It adds a layer of complexity with flavor and texture. Sometimes I order the yakimeshi just because i want to eat the bottom of the bowl. However, sometimes the flavor can be too salty or not flavorful enough, so it's based on draw of your luck. Dohatsuten Ramen with Tokatsu Broth: 4/5 - Dohatsuten has decent ramen with tummy chashu pork. Quality is quite consistent.

    (4)

  • Grant R.

    This little hole-in-the-wall restaurant has some of the best ramen in the bay area. When I come here I usually order the Chashu Ramen, Miso flavor with a soft boiled egg. As far as the ramen goes, the broth and the noodles together are always perfect. The broth is rich with flavor and the noodles have a nice bouncy chew to them. The soft boiled egg has a runny, creamy yolk and the chashu is very tender. The service is quick and the waiters are always very attentive. If I had one complaint about the restaurant it would be that the decor is a little worn down, but since the ramen is so good, this is pretty much a non-issue. Of all of the ramen places I've been to, this is by far my favorite - nothing else has even come close.

    (5)

  • Jennifer C.

    2 stars because "meh, i've had better." I ordered the Hyper-Dohatsuten ramen ($11.99) aka the works. Comes with a whole mess load of yummy stuff like: corn, bamboo shoots, pork belly, chashu, soft boiled egg, ground pork, etc. This ramen is a bit on the pricey side, but i wouldn't mind paying over $10 if it's damn good ramen. Unfortunately, it was not damn good ramen. I chose the salt broth and it was sweet tasting to me. My roommate chose the yuzu something broth and he also complained it was a bit too sweet tasting. With so many Asian places to eat around the tri-city area, i probably will not be returning here. Oh, another CON: CASH ONLY. :(

    (2)

  • Stephanie C.

    For a ramen place, I'd give Dohatsuten 3 stars, but as a restaurant probably 4. We ordered the extra large hyper-dohatsuten ramen with soy and a side of unagi don to share between 2 people. This was definitely enough food as we were both incredibly full and still had a little of the ramen left over. The noodles were thin and not as chewy as I hoped. The soup had less flavor than most ramen broths, but the pork belly and chashu made up for that! There were so many toppings that the bowl was almost overflowing! 2 large pieces of pork belly, 2 pieces of chashu, corn, seaweed, egg, green onion, bamboo - I've never seen so many toppings in my ramen before and for no extra cost! We got the side of unagi don, as an addition to our ramen. I usually never order unagi at restaurants because they're usually ridiculously overpriced, but this side was only a $5 addition, incredibly cheap for unagi. The dish was pretty simple, just unagi over rice, but definitely delicious. We also saw another party order chicken karaage, which looked really good also. It also seemed like a very big portion of over 6 pieces of fried chicken for only $6. I'll definitely give that a try next time I come.

    (3)

  • Reid Y.

    When I bought a home in Fremont the buyer's agent said I should check out the "raymen" place next door. Say that outloud. Yes, I tried not to laugh. We were a bit skeptical given that the lady called it raymen, but my wife and I have been here 5+ times and it's excellent. It's not Ramen Dojo in terms of quality, but it's fairly close. Their Hyper dohatsuten is a beast of a meal and the meat in that dish is tender and delicious. I normally get the tonkatsu ramen with a soft-boiled egg. They make an excellent soft-boiled egg like Orenchi. The agedashi tofu is also a dish I'd recommend. Excellent service, friendly waiters and waitresses, and fast delivery of your ramen. Bring cash unless you plan to spend more than 20 since that's their limit for using credit card.

    (5)

  • Matt L.

    Is it possible to get half decent food in the Mission area without paying absurd prices? I guess not. Dohatsuten Ramen is still a pretty convenient restaurant that serves some uniquely delicious but pricey ramen. If you're in the area its one of a few good restaurants on the Mission strip but its not really worth the price. I don't think it's really worth $7 for a bowl of ramen that has ONE slice of meat some lettuce, bean sprouts and seaweed. Really, that has to cost them like $1 on their end. Second; we get to choose our broth, neat. We get two choices: salt and soy. Or we can pay $1 more for the other flavors like tonkotsu which is basically broth flavored with pork bones. WTF Dohatsuten Are you telling me that adding something other than salt or soy sauce to your broth really is gonna cost your restaurant and my wallet a whole dollar? Not that I can't afford it or that a dollar is a lot its the principle of having to pay extra for something more than salt or soy sauce. Okay no biggie yelp I'm not going to go to a restaurant once and write a negative review lets give it another try. On my next visit i had the most expensive ramen (hyper dohatsuten ramen) with the fancy broth. After tax and tip it came out to more than $15. That's pretty steep and the execution of the dish (or bowl rather) was rather sloppy and thoughtless; it has a list price of $12 and you get served in the same tiny bowl as the $7 ramen. The result of stuffing $15 worth of ramen and toppings in a small bowl creates something like mud and mush that you have to dig through to get some noodles. I don't think it would be too much for the owners to buy a set of larger bowls for the more stuffed ramens? If you're gonna advertise something as a "deluxe" menu item how about a larger fitting bowl to go with it so I can better enjoy my meal? The food is honestly a bit better than three stars but the pricing is a bit ridiculous. Who knows maybe the rent is just that expensive that they need to charge high prices for the high price of commercial real estate in that area. I still think the principle of charging a whole dollar for a broth other than "salt" or "soy sauce" is just bad business practice. At least drop it down to 50 cents?

    (3)

  • Jessica G.

    SMORGASBORD! If that's kind of your thing... then you have to try their Hyper Dohatsuten Ramen. It has EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING in it. Definitely great for those who aren't very particular on flavor and just want something decent to feel full. The ramen at best is reminiscent to Aijsen's Ramen with a much heavier flavor. It was my first time trying their Yuzu Miso broth. It's flavorful, but the flavor was too powerful, perhaps too salty. I had to drink plenty of water to wash it down. I have to admit I am fan of Orenchi's Ramen in San Jose, so this isn't quite the same. I did enjoy their Iron Skillet Rice dishes. I've been looking for a place that actually makes the rice crunchy/caramelized and not just serve rice in an "iron" bowl. Sometimes the toppings can be a bit salty, but as I said the rice is crisp to perfection which makes up for it. Bottom Line: It's not instant noodles, but not glorious either. This small place has limited seating and serves okay ramen to satisfy any ramen cravings. If you're willing to spend a bit more than the usual ramen bowl for the epic Hyper sized ramen, you're in for a smorgasbord. The Iron Skillet Rice dishes are worth a try if you're craving some crispy rice.

    (3)

  • Christopher W.

    Satisfied my ramen craving! Enjoyed a large bowl of the "Hyper" Dohatsuten ramen with soft boiled egg, stewed pork belly, cha siu, ground spicy pork, corn, turnips and other mixed veggies. First thing I noticed was that the salt broth seemed much more healthy than other ramen shops that I've been to before. This was a plus (for the health) and perhaps a slight minus for the enjoyment factor. I guess I'm just used to the rich/oily goodness that most other places seem to have. Also would have liked to have less cabbage chunks in the soup and more noodles instead. I enjoyed the stewed pork belly and the soft boil egg quite a bit. They were quick to serve which was nice and it seems like all of the locals know this tiny shop exists--seems like good business on a Saturday night.

    (3)

  • Kathy T.

    I went here for a birthday dinner and got the #7. I believe that was their special in a"super size" form. It was quite amazing. Overloaded with everything you could think about basically. The price was really affordable compared to the amount of food you get (I actually had to take some of mine home because I was too full). The ramen was good and so was the service. The waiter checked up on us several times and made sure you always had tea or water in our cup. We also had the pot stickers which was okay; nothing special that really made me want to order it again. The wait was kinda long because the restaurant is small and the decorate is nothing too eye catching. Regardless, I would still recommend this place to any ramen lover.

    (4)

  • Ann L.

    CASH ONLY! 2nd time to Dohatsuten. It was busy for lunch on Sat 1/8/11. Took B. and he liked it. We got: Vegetable ramen - B. picked it, he liked it. Lots of corn, cabbage, bamboo shoots (he requested extra too), ramen, & veggie broth I think. He recommends it. I got Iron Yakimeshi Unagi (aka Crispy Rice Eel). It's served on those sizzling hot plates where the rice gets nice & crispy on the bottom. Lots of rice, some unagi (eel), green onions. That's it, tasty but gets boring to eat after a while. $13. Appetizer - it came after our entrees, duck tongue. Some pieces were too thick, the thinner cuts were better. Ponzu sauce was nice. Won't get it again. Hot tea given, asked for iced water. CASH ONLY!

    (4)

  • Sandra L.

    This review is by a Ramen Novice, on a friends recommendation, my wife and I joined them for dinner one night. I decided to get the Ramen & Mini Donburi Set...I went with their Signature Ramen ($7.99) and Tonkotusu broth (+$1.00). It was chashu, chinese chives, bean sprouts, spicy minced pork, bamboo shoots, and korean chili. I also ordered the Unagi Don ($3.99) which is grilled eel over rice. My Unagi Don came out first, the Unagi was cooked perfectly and just melted in your mouth. I ate all my unagi and went light on the rice so I had room for my ramen. The ramen came out pretty quickly... it looked and smelled lovely. It had just the right amount of heat from the korean chili and the noodles were cooked nicely. Everything they put inside the ramen bowl was flavorful and pared well together. I don't have a lot of experience with Ramen and can't really compare Dohatsuten to anything else, but I enjoyed my meal here and wouldn't hesitant in coming back again if I was in the area.

    (4)

  • Andrew C.

    ******CASH ONLY****** The second outpost for Dohatsuten which opened in Palo Alto last year ( yelp.com/biz/dohatsuten-… ). Small menu. They have 9 ramens (ok, one is Tsukemen. dry noodles with dipping sauce) with 4 broth choices (Shio, Shoyu, Yuzu-miso, Tonkotsu), a dozen small plates / apps that they call Tapas, and a handful of Iron Yakimeshi dishes which they describe as "Crispy fried rice w/ your choice of toppings in a hot cast iron skillet" Topping choices include cod roe, stewed pork belly (called chashu) & kimchi, unagi, and curry beef. 5 Ramen + mini donburi sets are +$3-4 depending on the donburi choice ranging from "Chashu" (stewed pork belly) to seared salmon. I went with the Hyper-Dohatsuten ($11.99) with Tonkotsu broth (+$1) which comes with 2 slices of chashu, chinese chives, bean sprouts, cabbage, spicy minced pork, soft-boiled egg, stewed pork belly, green onions, bamboo shoots & Korean chili threads. Whew, typing that is a workout! Because I'm Korean and many ramen-ya offer it for free, I also ordered Kimchi ($3) to see if it was worth shelling out cash for. The Kimchi was a mini-donburi bowl filled with cabbage kimchi ( yelp.com/biz_photos/VhzS… ). Probably the best kimchi I've had at a ramen-ya. It was a lot of kimchi so probably a better item to share with a group. The Hyper ramen comes in the same size smallish bowl as all their other ramens so looked a bit crowded with all of the various toppings sticking out of the broth filled almost to the rim of the bowl ( yelp.com/biz_photos/VhzS… ). They might consider a larger bowl for their "Deluxe Signature Ramen" to give the multitude of toppings "room to breathe". I started out just eating toppings before I could grab some noodles without making a mess on the table. I didn't think the tonkotsu was a good match for this ramen so the +$1 seemed wasted. It was overpowered by the flavors of the toppings especially the spicy minced pork. Either that or it wasn't porky enough to start with. Miso may have been a better as the typical spicy ramen broth of choice. I'll have to try the tonkotsu again with the chashu or ta-ro ramens. The slightly wavy noodles also didn't impress and were well overcooked. The toppings were the stars of this bowl. The two small chashu slices are made from pork belly and were fatty, tender, and delicious as was the stewed pork belly with a sweet shoyu braised flavor. The egg was also perfectly cooked with the silky yolk oozing into the bowl with the first bite; I wish they had cut it in half to make it easier to eat, but I'm lazy like that. 3.5 stars. A little out of the way for me, but a decent bowl, if you're in the area.

    (3)

  • Jerry G.

    Me and a few friends have been exploring Fremont for options on where to get ramen, and I'm happy to say Dohatsuten is as good as it gets! Pricing for a bowl is comparable to any other ramen house ($8-$12), however for the price, Dohatsuten has most other places beat in terms of quality. The pork that they use in their specialty ramen and their chashu ramen is neither overcooked or too fatty. They go as far as to garnish each bowl nicely, making each dish very presentable.

    (5)

  • Joey N.

    Pretty good but. Tons of buts. Tiny place The bowl looks small but it's just deep has lots of noodles in it. Got the special should have got one with more meat. Pricy pricey Get the tonkotsu flavor The extra egg better than one that comes with it cAuse it's still runny The big meat ( pork rib) is really just fat. MSG sleepiness Bummer is egg isn't good unless you get extra. And you pay extra for the diff soups.

    (3)

  • Ee Vonn Y.

    This place is hidden behind some dental offices across the Ohlone campus so it's incredibly easy to miss. This hole in the wall is kinda grimy but the food is totally worth it. The service here is fantastic but it's only one lady but she really makes sure you have everything you need. The only reason why this place got a 3 was because of the cash-only inconvenience, and its rice plates were really really tasteless for the amount of stuff in it. They could have given us steamed white rice and that would have had more flavor. If you can only come here once for whatever reason, the dohatsutsen ramen in tonkotsu broth is what you have to get. It's their best dish. It's not very big so sharing is futile.

    (3)

  • Eric M.

    I came here with my Mom for dinner and it was a bit difficult to find. While, the photos on yelp make the restaurant look like a modern classed up joint, it's not. We got sat next to the wall in the hallway and always had people walking past us. There was seating in the main dining area.... I don't know why we didn't get seated there. I got Chashu ramen and it was just okay. I don't think it was anything to refer to a friend but it wasn't terrible. My issue with this place is that while not terrible, I'd rather go to Ajisen which is very close. For the price I'd just expect better quality.

    (2)

  • Edward W.

    Ramen is my favorite Japanese noodle and the Dohatsuten Japanese Ramen (their special) was average. The noodles are really thin and the amount of substance inside the soup was minimal. The tonkatsu broth (extra $1) is well worth the extra flavor. I didn't know before hand, but they have the option of upgrading the The unagi dish they have is absolutely delicious although it was slightly pricey ($13) . The portions are substantial and the unagi is juicy and tender. TLDR; This is a nice little store that sells average ramen and has an excellent unagi dish. Definitely check it out!

    (3)

  • Tammy K.

    This place located across Ohlone college is literally a hole in the wall but it's definitely a hidden gem! Came here with a bunch of girlfriends, the place was busy but we didn't have to wait. Good selection of different kinds of ramen with soup base, portion size is ridiculous! You could probably share with someone. I had the gyoza and tofu ginger appetizer, really good. The ramen dishes were flavorful and not too salty at all If I'm ever in Fremont, will be back!

    (4)

  • Stephanie E.

    My "go to" place when I'm craving ramen and lazy to leave Fremont! The chashu rice bowls are yummy!

    (4)

  • Arnold T.

    Through and through, Bun and I continue to scour the baron ramen less land known as the East Bay. On one Sunday evening, in an attempt to find another good ramen location, we made Dohatsuten our destination. There must be a curfew in these parts because everything was virtually closed up within a mile radius of Dohatsuten. Upon arrival I parked in the back. Behind the restaurant is a shared little parking lot among the other businesses in the same building. The pathway leading to the restaurant is a little weird unless I took some kind of idiot man's route. It was half an hour to closing and we quickly made our decision on what to get. To start things off, we ordered the gyoza. Bun got the signature dohatsuten with miso and I got the hyper-dohatsuten with tonkotsu broth. The tonkotsu is an extra dollar, as is the yuzu-miso broth which sounded tempting at that moment. Believe it or not, within two minutes of ordering, our ramens and gyoza arrived. Our gyoza was fully deep fried, and actually the best part all around. Of both ramens, the most eye grabbing detail were how extremely packed the bowls were. I sat there thinking how I was going to attack this thing. Portions are admirable and the most commendable feature. Whatever good that does, the shortcomings overshadow it. Most of the ingredients were overcooked or tasted pre-made; the broth being a culprit too. Exception to that would be the soft boiled which was actually well done. The thin noodles were missing the standard chewiness of good ramen noodle fare, and tasted like the broth were cooked together. When summing this place up, think of a slightly downgraded version Aijisen. Many parts to the ramen were reminiscent of just that. The pre-made nature of everything boils down the comparative judgment. Grade of service was fair and friendly though. I haven't tried the one in Palo Alto with the same name, after this attempt at this location, I'm thinking twice.

    (2)

  • Jacqueline N.

    I came here with 3 other people, 3 of us ordered ramen (hyper donhastu,miso, and tonkastu) and one ordered the curry iron pot. None of us really liked our ramen..it was a bit lacking in flavor and the noodles were too thin for our liking. The curry didn't come with the usual pickeled veggie/raddish, we asked for some but they did not know what we were referring to (it traditionally comes with Japanese curry). However, the curry dish was the best out of all of ours, though it could also use some more seasoning. I'd recomend going to a place that serves strictly ramen if that's what you're looking for. So far I've tried 5 different ramen places (orenchi, shinshin, santouku, and another that I cannot remember) and unfortunately I liked this place the least. The service was friendly and quick though.

    (2)

  • Sam Y.

    We really love the Ramen here. Their stewed pork belly is delicious. It isn't a fine dining type of experience, but the service is always fast and efficient. My boyfriend usually gets the Hyper ramen and my favorite is the pork belly ramen with salt broth. We recently went to Tadamasa for all of their great reviews and were actually very disappointed. Dohatsuten's broths are so much better! Their mini shiro maguro rice bowl is also really good! Definitely worth the trip now that we live in Hayward.

    (4)

  • Alfred Y.

    You'll hardly notice this Japanese owned noodle bonanza if you every pass by. Seated below ground, you'll find a traditional array of ramen including tonkotsu, salt, and soy sauce. But what makes this place stand out amongst all the ones I've been lucky enough to grace? Not much. I understand their effort, but the tonkotsu broth wasn't creamy enough, and the crippling blow were the noodles. It stood close to mediocre texture and bordered on an instant fare. It could have been hand made or fresh, but it didn't appeal to my tongue that way. The roasted and chashu pork didn't taste fresh either. Presentation and portions were great, except that everything was jammed into a small bowl. There was no one way about being able to eat this except digging through the extra toppings they provided to end up finding mediocre noodles. However, in spite of all of this, I would not pass this place up. Especially when it's located in the boonies of the suburbs. And even more so if you're looking for a cozy hang over cure.

    (3)

  • grey h.

    Accepts Credit Cards if over $20!!! I think the Miso broth here is pretty unique- it's creamy sweet and a bit savory, super thick! I want to come back to try more flavors!

    (4)

  • Jamison B.

    Whenever I crave some nourishing ramen, I goto Dohatsuten in Fremont across from Ohlone college. Quite possibly the best ramen place around, this place is small and cozy, and deliciously authentic. My favorite dish is the chashu (pork belly) ramen with the mizu broth. I think the broth here is what makes it so good. Also, they have an excellent Unagi iron yakimeshi rice plate and some great chicken karage.

    (4)

  • Steven N.

    Dohatsuten is the best ramen place that I have been to in the Bay Area and is usually my go to place when I am craving some ramen. This place is really a hole in the wall because it is kinda difficult to find. I first heard about it from my friend so we all went out to try it. Their signature dish is called the hyper Dohatsuten ramen with Tonkatsu soup which lives up to its name. Make sure to come hungry because the hyper gives you 2 big tender pieces of pork belly as well as your standard 2 pieces of pork that come with all other ramens, spicy ground beef, a soft boiled egg, and lots of assorted veggies. Most Ramen places usually don't fill me up, but this ramen bowl is so filling I wasn't able to finish it sometimes. The hyper is a bit expensive at 13 dollars, but because there is so much meat and food, it is worth it When you first get the bowl it is so full that you just have to eat the top food first to prevent it from spilling so you have to work your way towards the noodles. I have only ever tried their hyper ramen which I can vouch for, but their other ramens don't seem that special to me so I don't know how those are.

    (5)

  • Navy C.

    I am RARELY in this area. Good thing for friends and their word of mouth otherwise, I would've disregarded this place. I tried their Dohatsuten Ramen with an extra egg, and it was pretty goooooood! I don't even know wtf was in there, but all the concoctions in that freakin bowl meshed well with each other and the broth was delish. My sister on the other hand decided to go with the vegetable ramen (idk why --she's not even vegetarian) Well, that bowl came with massive amounts of lettuce, sprouts, carrots, baby corn, etc, and plus the noodle --it was pretty heavy. We also ordered the Agedashi tofu (which I've actually had way better at other places) and their Karrage chicken which was good. Anyway, I'm giving this place 4 stars only because their tofu wasn't up to par, and this place is such a drive for me. I mean, I'd come here again for sure... but only if I'm in the area. Thanks!!

    (4)

  • Mandy C.

    I came here on a late Sunday afternoon. I ordered the Dohatsuten ramen with the soy broth. The bowl of ramen is pretty small, but it smelled very delicious. The broth was pretty oily and rich in a milky yellow color. The ramen was topped with shredded korean chili, green onions, bamboo shoots, a piece of seaweed, minced pork and chashu. The ramen is pretty chewy and hold the broth flavor pretty well. Overall, it was pretty flavorful. It was more on the expensive side though.

    (3)

  • Chrissy M.

    I visited Donhatsuten and I'm so happy that I've found a ramen place that is on this side of the bay. I ordered the taro ramen. The bowl may look small, but the portion is huge. I'd like to come back at lunch because they offer really good lunch deals. Just make sure you bring cash.

    (4)

  • Mike C.

    So, so Ramen. Nothing to write home about and nothing really to complain about either. The best way to describe the this place is "Politically Correct Ramen House". It seem like the place is afraid to bold. Here is our Ramen, not too spicy, not too salty, not too much flavor, and the noodles are not too soft nor too hard. We are not sure what we want to be. Nothing to offend the customer and nothing to excite the customer either. If you are in the mood for some boring Ramen, eat while you sleep, this is the place for you.

    (3)

  • Michele C.

    From all the places I've gone and ordered chicken karaage , this place by far has the best the chicken karaage. Also recommend going during lunch time for their box sets which is worth it. Only under $10 for a bowl of ramen, a small bowl of chashu don , kimchi and potstickers. Gotta love the staff!

    (4)

  • Becky N.

    Great place. I have yet to try the ramen (odd, I know) but I did try the chashu + kimchi yakimeshi which is HUGE. You can probably split that between two people. The rice is delicious at the bottom, and there's PLENTY of chashu and kimchee to compliment the rice. Not only that, but the service is amazing. I didn't catch the name of the server, but he was willing to answer all of our questions and kept checking back on us! I think he had long hair, tied low? Not sure but he was very nice.

    (4)

  • Laura C.

    To be honest, I'm not a huge ramen fan, but I do get those quarterly cravings. A few weeks ago, my tummy was asking for some ramen, so I hopped in my car and trekked my way down Mission Blvd. I drove with some hesitation as I wasn't quite sure which tiny little complex Dohatsuten was located in. I eventually found it, and even now, I can't recall which specific plaza it was in. It's somewhere in the vicinity of Starbucks/BOFA, but a block or 2 down. The actual shop itself is quite obscure - you'll need to walk down a tiny little alley where you'll see a small sign that says "Ramen" - walk around the corner and you'll see the front entrance. There was even a Chinese place off that alley - I have no idea how these shops survive in such seclusion. The restaurant is on the smaller side - probably a dozen or so tables available - clean and simple. About 3 to 5 tables were occupied when I went in for dinner. I ordered the hyper-dohatsuten ramen ($11.99) with the regular soy broth - it came with chashu, chives, bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, minced pork, soft boiled egg, pork belly, green onion, and bamboo shoots. It looked pretty delicious when it arrived on my table - lots of goodies on top and it was piping hot. The chashu was nice and tender - same for the pork. I started to work my way towards the noodles and broth - I chewed and slurped and slurped and chewed some more - not bad I thought. As I dug my face further into the bowl, it started tasting more and more bland. I added some of that ramen spice hoping it would add some kick - it helped a little, but not much. I realized that I would have to ration the meats/egg in order to survive the blandness of the rest of the noodle. I would eat some of the ramen/broth and wash it down with small pieces of the meats or egg. ....fast forward to two thirds in. Oh man...I can't waste food, but this is so untasty and I feel like I'm eating a soupy salad (cabbage, corn, carrots, chives, etc). I shovel as much as I can and leave about a quarter on the table. I can live with wasting a quarter bowl. I think the broth could use more flavoring and the noodles weren't anything special. Adding too much veggies on top didn't really help - I felt like it made it worse. The waiter was very friendly though, and the noodles came out within a reasonable amount of time. Overall, I'm not sure if I'll be coming back. After my meal, I had to go to the nearby McDonald's and eat a McFlurry to help kill the blandness in my mouth.

    (3)

  • Robert Y.

    3.25 Got the hyper dohatsuten ramen for which came with all the toppings they offered: soft boiled egg, charsu, stewed pork, cabbage, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots all in a tonkatsu broth. The good: Lots of veggies for your daily fiber intake The stewed pork was almost as good as santa ramen's Soft boiled egg was cooked properly Charsu was tender Service was good The not so good: The ramen was too thin and not chewy enough for my taste The broth was a little watered down and not too flavorful. Overall I have had better ramen but this might be one of the better ramen places on the east side of the bay. I might be back.

    (3)

  • Sophia L.

    This place is terrible for ramen. It's the same kind of noodle you find when you buy instant ramen at Ranch 99 (not the fried hard kind like Shin Ramen, but the kind you find in the fridge area). No place should call itself a ramen shop when I can make the same thing at home for $2!!

    (2)

  • Cristy L.

    My friend recommended this ramen restaurant telling me it was better than the other places in the tri city area so I tried it with her and was pretty satisfied. At first I was disappointed because the bowl was small but the noodles and meat were never ending how do they fit so much into such a small bowl? The waitress came over to our table often to refill our ice water and tea so that was nice. I came here again today during dinner time & it was busy but the service was pretty good. Don't really like how I have to pay $3 for kimchi it was my first time paying for kimchi at a restaurant and it tastes store bought more specifically the one from Costco and their gochujang (Korean chili sauce) was nasty. But the ramen broth was rich and flavorful and the flavors of the meat, menma, and green onion was so good! Overall, good ramen & wouldn't recommend any Korean stuff on the menu.

    (4)

  • Ronald S.

    Best ramen spot I've ever had by far. I get the dohatsuten ramen with extra egg. Broth is the best. Had Ajisen, wasn't as good. Tried ramen in San Mateo and Sacramento, but it just doesn't taste the same. The pork belly ramen here is also good. Tonkotsu broth FTW! MF'ers just don't know!! Small place, it's kinda hidden. They accept credit card now! Another thing, the unagi over rice got skimper, but it's 3.99 now. Still coo for the price. Gotta introduce everyone to this spot.

    (5)

  • Brice S.

    Service is champion. Food is exceptional. What more can you ask for? I love how they place j-rock all day.

    (5)

  • Christina C.

    3.5 for this place. At first when this place opened, I was definitely hesitant as a loyal Ajisen customer. However, this place did seem like it was less... MSG-y haha The noodles themselves are pretty good in my opinion - not soggy and have as much of an al dente bite that ramen sitting in broth can get. You also get half an egg and it tends to be pretty good. Mine usually come out not overcooked which is all I ask for but I doubt that there is much consistency heh. I think the quality of the actual food in the noodles is quite good but it really depends on the broth you get. I tried both the salt broth and the yuzu miso broth and was displeased. The tonkotsu broth is what changed my mind about this place. It has more of a full-bodied flavor and compliments the food well. I do enjoy their crispy rice dishes. I've gotten the chashu & kimchee rice as well as the curry beef rice. Both have great flavor and the rice is definitely nice and crispy. The service is OKAY. Very hit or miss. They're really nice and either really attentive or really forgetful. Also this place is cash only unless your bill is $20+

    (3)

  • D.J. M.

    They've now stood the test of time. First choice for ramen for this ramen enthusiast.

    (5)

  • Rila C.

    After a thought, I decided to give this place a 3 star although the sevice was good. Came here for lunch with friends. I got number 2 that was house signaturure. It was n't good and the noodles with ONE sliced pork . The noodles were too soft that seemed they cooked the noodles long long time ago.

    (3)

  • Mitty C.

    Not bad at all. Let's start by saying: CASH ONLY!! With that being said, this hole-in-a-wall (literally), serves up some decent ramen. Despite the fact I am only giving it three stars (I'd rather give it 3.5 if it would let me do half-stars), this is definitely a ramen joint worthy of visiting if you are already in the nearby area. I visited this place on a Monday night around 7 PM with my girlfriend. We shared a Dohatsuten ramen with soy broth and a Hyper-Dohatsuten ramen with tonkatsu broth. I've posted a side-by-side comparison photo of the difference, but essentially for $5 more (the hyper-dohatsuten), you get two pieces of hoc-meat (pork belly), a soft-boiled egg, corn, cabbage, and an extra slice of pork. In all honesty, I don't think the hyper-dohatsuten is worth the price difference; I thought the corn and cabbage in the ramen was a weird addition and definitely was not a fan of it (even though normally I love corn and cabbage...just not in my ramen). So the hyper-dohatsuten (priced at $12.99 during the time of this review), gets a thumbs down. The dohatsuten ramen however, was delicious just with the ingredients it came with. I will admit that I would probably modify the dohatsuten and add in one or two pieces of pork belly meat (which you can do for a $2 charge) to it, and order it with tonkatsu broth. That would be absolutely delicious. I really was not a big fan of the soy broth because it was a little bland yet still had a strong soy sauce flavor to it. The tonkatsu, although not as strong as some of the tonkatsu I have had from other ramen shops, definitely was still full of flavor. So what to order in the future? Dohatsuten ramen with tonkatsu broth ($7.99), add a pork belly piece (+$2). (And add a soft-boiled egg (+$1) too if you're in the mood for one!) Yummm. That should come out to about $9.99-10.99+tax, depending on how you order. For the real Japanese ramen they make, that's a great value. Yum! My overall opinion is that while I would not make a far drive just to have ramen at Dohatsuten Ramen, I'd definitely would be happy satisfying a ramen craving if I was in the neighborhood.

    (3)

  • Raquel Y.

    This place isn't that great, don't think I would come back again, but only because I've tried better ramen places. (Check out my ramen list!) Therefore, sorry Dohatsuten, you get a 2. It's a Saturday night, there was only one table taken in the whole restaurant. Seriously? Ramen places are always crackin! I mean, who doesn't love ramen? That's already a bad sign right there. DON'T get miso or the Hyper Dohatsuten. Why? Their Yuzi miso tasted really sweet, too sweet actually, and hyper dohatsuten was a small bowl with a bunch of toppings piled up that there was hardly any soup. It was like telling the bowl "calm down, you're trying too hard!" DO get the tonkatsu broth with anything other than hyper dohatsuten. That def had more flavor, and with other ramen choices it wouldn't be overflown with extra toppings and can actually focus on the noodles and broth. Hyper Dohatsuten was so overwhelming that I didn't finish. Since there was excessive toppings, I asked if I could get extra soup to go along with my leftovers. She said that it would cost $1 more if I got flavored soup, but would be free with no flavor soup. Me: "What's no flavored soup?" Waitress: "Hot water" Me: "......flavored soup please" *waitress walks away*.... HAHAHA. Wth? Seriously? I don't know about you, but I've never heard "hot water" referred to as "no flavored soup" lol. What I should've done was get $1 more for tonkatsu rather than what I ordered but oh welll. Next time. Actually, there won't be a next time. Rather get some Ramen in South Bay or SF! Boo c'mon East Bay! I want some legit ramen! #prettyprettyplease! :)

    (2)

  • James Y.

    This place is honestly pretty disappointing. As 1 of only 2 ramen houses in Fremont, they have a lot of leeway in messing ramen up and they did it. But I'm sure it's not on purpose.... or is it? Okay, so their signature ramen is pretty bad. It doesn't quite have the taste of how ramen should really taste. It's an awkward rendition of the classic Japanese take on noodle soup and I feel like the masterminds behind their specialty were trying to be cute... a little too cute.... and messed things up. The minced whatever-the-hell-meat-that-is in my soup doesn't cut it. And what's up with all the other fluff that you add into the soup to "garnish" it? Wait, or was it suppose to add flavor to it? Because if it was suppose to add flavor, you succeed in adding something that doesn't go well with your product. The bowls that come as a combo option with the ramen is also just mediocre at best. Seriously, this place took advantage of the fact that it's 1 of 2 ramen places in Fremont and that the other ramen place is on the border of Fremont-Milpitas. They took advantage and abused it. I've been here 4 times now and each time I've been wanting, or hoping that my previously disappointed experiences were a fluke... they werent. I'd make the drive to Ajisen in Fremont, Orenchi in Sunnyvale, Ramen Dojo in San Mateo or the plethora of better ramen places in the Bay Area NOT named Dohatsuten. By the way, one of the things I absolutely hate is when the wait staff starts cleaning tables and floors around you while you're eating using harsh chemicals giving off strong odors. I'm trying to eat. Of course you may clean but please just hold off on the harsh chemicals until after hours. Apparently the wait staff at Dohatsuten doesn't realize that this bothers people.

    (2)

  • Koko P.

    Our whole family really enjoys Dohatsuten Ramen restaurant! We love the mini-donburi unagi (and other options) to add on the side and their ramen is really yummy! My favorite is the Dohatsuten Ramen with tonkatsu but all the flavors are great. It's a small "hole in the wall" kind of place, good service and great food. We like supporting small businesses like this!

    (4)

  • Gary Y.

    This is probably the best that Fremont has to offer. Sadly, it pales in comparison to other ramen parlors in the bay (mainly ones in San Mateo). The broth is decent but the noodle is the weak link. Oh, you definitely get more bang for your buck with the hyper dohatsuten vs. the normal dohatsuten. That $3 difference gets you so much more - totally worth it.

    (3)

  • Jane N.

    This place is a bit hard to find as it's tucked in a corner and you cannot spot it from the parking lot. Definitely will be returning. I usually have a problem with ramen broth being too salty, this one is spot on! They have lunch specials, def consider sharing with a friend. One of you can have the ramen and the other can have the small rice dish.

    (5)

  • Claire Y.

    Hyper Dohatsuten Ramen w/ Tonkotsu broth for 2= Total $28. This is their special so we feel like we ate their "best". Pretty expensive for two bowls of ramen but to be fair, the portion was huge (dad and I were both really full and couldn't finish our bowls), the meat was super tender and the broth was delicious. The server was also very friendly and came by several times to check how we were doing and if we needed anything. I'm a fan.

    (4)

  • J Y.

    Did they just change ownership? I felt like I was having Chinese noodles than ramen. And the broth was so salty.

    (2)

  • Ishan S.

    My friends and I went here for dinner a few days back. The place was pretty busy, as it usually is, but the four of us were seated in the corner pretty quickly. Our waitress was pretty curt with us from the start. I figured hey, anybody can have a bad day. Maybe she had dealt with some jerk customer earlier in the night. At any rate, we place our order and a while later, a different employee brings us our food. She brought out one bowl of ramen too many, and the ones she did bring were incorrect. We didn't want to be "those guys" so we didn't bother sending the incorrect dishes back-but we did send back the extra one we did not order, thinking that it may be for another customer in the restaurant. A couple of minutes into our meal, our original waitress comes back to our table and starts yelling at us. I absolutely could not believe any customer, no matter what the issue at hand, could be treated like this. She was actually yelling, and everyone in the restaurant stopped eating and turned to look at us. She insisted we had ordered the extra bowl of ramen, and that we had confirmed the order she had repeated back to us. Now there were four people at this table, including myself. None of us heard the extra bowl when she repeated the order back. Absolutely dumfounded that a waitress had just interrupted our meal to yell at us, we returned to eating. 5 minutes later, she comes back and yells at us again. Repeated for effect: she returned to our table and yelled at us for a SECOND time. I've never thought of myself as a particularly difficult customer. I always leave a good tip, and try not to send things back. I'm also willing to admit that maybe something got lost in translation between myself and the waitress (who, admittedly, had a pretty thick accent). But, she didn't come talk to me about it. She didn't discuss it. She yelled at me, my sister, and my companions in front of a whole restaurant. Twice. Regardless of language, or culture, I don't think that's OK under any circumstance. Hopefully future customers receive better service.

    (1)

  • Herbert R.

    I have been here a couple times already and it has been a great service and delish ramen. First, this place a small mom and pops shop. The dining area is not too big but not too small. It can accommodate at least 6 or below party. Anything bigger than 6 parties could be an issue since sitting can be an issue. The second time I went, there was only 1 hostess and server. I was afraid that it would be a problem but being so busy at the time I went, she was able to handle being the bidder/hostess/waitress. I was impressed that she was able to handle all by herself. I ordered the Dohatsuten Ramen. It was perfect to my taste. Not too salty and it was full of flavor. I ordered the regular size though I could of gotten the large size cuz I was pretty hungry. All in all, I would definitely come back.

    (4)

  • Vinny W.

    This is closer to a 3.5 stars than a 3 star and is actually a decent place to get your ramen fix if you live close by. This isn't the kind of ramen place you would make a drive to eat for like the more popular places (Orenchi, Ramen Dojo). Service: I came here on a wednesday about 1pm. The place was half full and got seated right away. There was just one waitress I saw working everything and it was more than enough for the amount of people. Food: I had the tonkotsu ramen (pork broth) and added a soft boil egg. The order by itself comes with 1 piece of chasu and the typical assortments of bamboo shoots, green onions, and a hard boiled egg. The noodles were decent as well as the broth. Not the tastiest but not the blandest either. Overall a good place to get your ramen fix for locals.

    (3)

  • Oolong T.

    Conveniently located across the street from Ohlone College. Kebab Cafe used to be here. This place is CASH ONLY so be prepared before coming! There is a Bank of America 2 blocks down Mission if you need to go get cash :) I ordered the Dohatsuten Ramen with Miso Broth and I loved how the Ramen noodles were very Q (chewy)! Well it was more firm than chewy I guess? I just don't like it when the noodles are too soggy. The miso broth wasn't too salty either. The downside is that their prices are pretty high compared to other places and they charge extra for add-ons like egg, tonkatsu, etc. They have a lot to offer on their menu. I would get more if I had more money :)

    (4)

  • Fang Tzu C.

    The owner was change . It's not delicious at all. The soup is not tasty. The noodle is too soft.... I am so sad the ramen taste bad.

    (1)

  • Richard C.

    Stopped by here after a day out with the kids at the Niles Canyon Railway and it was... OK. Ordered the Dohatsuten ramen, tonkotsu broth, added the soft-boiled egg. Mini-donburi on the side with takana veggies, and a chicken karaage for the table. The ramen was perfectly delicious with a surprisingly subtle broth. The karaage was a disappointment, arriving somewhat soggy. Very friendly and hard-working frontline staff. I would most certainly eat here again and recommend it in a similar context, but (1) Would not travel specifically to eat here; and (2) Would not wait in queue for it.

    (3)

  • Amy G.

    I ordered togo from here and have eaten at the restaurant as well. It is very easy to miss if you're using a GPS, its tucked away. My first impression was not good but my friend brought me here again and the 2nd time was definitely better. The pork was melt in your mouth and the broth was so tasty. My own thing was that the bamboo wasn't sour. Besides that everything was good! I will probably go back more often since it is one of the few ramen places in Fremont.

    (4)

  • Miss H K.

    My bf and I came here tonight for dinner and enjoyed 2 bowls of ramen and chicken karrage on the side. The ramen was not bad-I had the basic ramen and asked for corn instead of bean sprouts and bamboo shoots with miso broth. The miso was a little bland but the noodles were good. The karrage was awesome- my bf said he'd come back just to eat this! Service was friendly and attentive and the restaurant had plenty of space to eat. This place is located in a small center across from Ohlone college. Prices were $7-$12 for a bowl of ramen and the karrage the $6. Decent price for the food though-would return again.

    (4)

  • Chad W.

    I don't know any place besides this where you can get decent ramen except for Saratoga or on the peninsula...sure you could do the Ajisen in Fremont/Milpitas but for me its always hit or miss with them. It does help that I live about 5min walking distance from them and run pass this place almost every day on my running route, but even if they were 25min away I would still recommend this place. Service is slow but who cares! I eat at places because they taste good!

    (5)

  • Robert C.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the Hyper Dohatsuten ramen. Unfortunately I can't compare this with other restaurants as I don't have prior experience with ramen.

    (4)

  • C T.

    Nice atmosphere, good service. The ramen was yummy and the tea was pleasing. However, I've had delicious ramen before, and this place has a lot of room for improvement!

    (4)

  • Claudia C.

    Recommended to me by my mother. Came here on a Saturday afternoon around 2 PM. Quick and great service! My mother and I shared the: 1. Unagi Iron Yakimeshi (Grilled Eel & Pickles, Green Onions and Seaweed served over Rice) - This crispy fried rice with unagi came in a hot cast iron skillet. -Price: $13.50. -Rating (4/5) Huge dish, enough for 2 small ladies with some leftovers. All in all, good food, great service and good prices! I'll be back to try the Ramen!

    (4)

  • Linda C.

    The ramen is so so really. I asked for 3 bowls of ramen with extra noddles. What came were 3 bowls of normal size ramen with 3 plain noodles. NO EXTRA SOUP for the extra noodles. Kinda ridiculous. Other ramen shop don't operate that way!!

    (1)

  • Beth W.

    This ramen spot is located in the Mission District of Fremont, directly across the street from the main entrance to Ohlone Community College. There is no parking on Mission Blvd,. in front of the building, so you have to park in the back and walk up the middle, passing a small Chinese restaurant on the way (review on that one later!). Entering this ramen shop you will notice right away that it is rather small and narrow. The staff are friendly and seat you right away with menus ready for you to peruse. It's not an extensive menu but there's enough variety to keep you interested. There are rice bowls available as well as a small selection of appetizers. I'm going to try the beef curry next time! I've tried just about every ramen type available on the menu. Lately though, I have mainly ordered the Dohatsuten Ramen, which consists of Korean chili threads, Chinese chives, bean sprouts, spicy minced pork, bamboo shoots and Chashu. With all ramens, you have your choice of salt, soy, yuzu miso and tonkotsu. As of this past Friday, the tonkotsu is hands down my favorite Dohatusuten Ramen soup! It had a flavor profile that was unlike the others which proved too subtle for my taste buds. If I want a light flavor profile, I'll order one of the others. The service is good but can be spotty when the lunch time crowd swells. The staff cleans up each table and resets for the next customer. This ramen spot has been clean when I have visited with a large or small group of folks, both early at 11:30AM and later. It is CASH ONLY so be prepared.

    (4)

  • Lawrence L.

    Came back for the yakimeshi (crispy fried rice). I had the pickled vegetables, spicy cod roe, and anchovies... Unique and tasty! Served in a clay pot with the crispy rice on the bottom, and all the tasty ingredients layered on top. Mix it up all up (kind of like bibimbop) and let the flavors meld together for a tasty experience... I must say that the yakimeshi makes this place stand out in my book... Will have to try the other combos: Pork belly with kimchee perhaps... I have a feeling that I will be a regular here.

    (4)

  • Meuy S.

    Tonkatsu ramen with over boiled noodles :( I came here really with low expectations. I read the reviews, I saw the pictures, then I factored into consideration that great ramen shops were far and few in the east bay. So really, I came to try this place with the intention of just being able to say that I gave it a shot. Regular ramen-- Tonkatsu broth: nice milky color, suprisingly tasty!!! Cha siu: small but thick cut Bambo: too soft, not enough bite, tasteless flavor Noodles: overboiled, slippery, didn't hold any broth Dohatsuten ramen-- Yuzu miso broth: savory with a little sour? miso particles everywhere Korean chilie: what the heck is this doing here? Chinese chives: seriously, why is this here? If they turn down the DDR/J-Pop tunes and boil my noodles with better care, then I'll be back.

    (3)

  • Christine C.

    Located right across from Ohlone College. I ordered the Tonkatsu (pork based) Signature Dohatsuten Ramen. It's $1 more for Tonkatsu and another $1 for an egg. Remember, it's cash only. The bowl came out looking kind of small but it's pretty filling. The noodle is a little too thin for my liking, similar to top ramen noodles. I prefer my ramen a little thicker. But a bowl of ramen soup is always great for a cold sick night!

    (3)

  • Heidi C.

    Just got back from this place and it was really good. Dohatsuten Ramen, which is apparently the most popular, with miso broth. When I go to ramen spots, I usually get Shoyu broth, but I decided to try something different. And I'm glad I did. The broth was savory, but sweet from the miso. Kinda of addicting. With just the right amount of noodles and bean sprouts. However, someone was a bit too generous with the chives. Also, I wish they gave another slice of pork. :[ My friend ordered the Shio HYPER-Dohatsuten Ramen... That thing was LOADED with EVERYTHING. Almost couldn't find the ramen below it. He killed the WHOLE thing. I'll have to try that next time. Yes, next time. Meaning I'll be going back. :P

    (4)

  • Tad S.

    The second location of one of my fav ramen joints, Dohatsuten! Although it might not be fair to stick a 3-star (aka 'uhmm A-OK') to this place only after my first visit, the signature Dohatsuten ramen that we ordered wasn't as good as its original in PA and was just average (or even meh). It is also kinda located in an odd location in Fremont (near Ohlone College) and being far away from its competitions in South Bay. We stopped by here for lunch one day only because we had to run an errand in the area and remembered that tasty bowl of Dohatsuten ramen in PA. I think I will give it another shot or two when I am in the area again. But, definitely, it is not a kind of ramen joint for which I would drive all the way from SJ just to eat here.

    (3)

  • Victor G.

    Dohatsuten is literally a few doors away from "hometown favorite", a shanghai eatery. Dohatsuten has but 12 tables and occupies the front corner of the building facing the intersection. simple menu with shio, salt, tonkotsu, and yuzu miso broths & ramen, tapas, and iron yakimeshi (crispy rice with choice of toppings). music: rock decor: basically none besides wood sampling: -dohatsuten ramen(7.99) tonkotsu flavoring (1) nice ramen, toppings sparse, fatty cha su slices-nice came with nori, bamboo shoots, cha su, ..... ramen al dente, portion on small side. -agedashi tofu(4) 4 large pieces tofu braised and topped with garnish-nice enough heat to sear outside. still moist inside. -chicken karaage (6) large pieces of marinated chicken lightly deep fried. served with mayo dip. meat still juicy, not totally fried/brunt. -white tuna takaki with ponzu sauce (7) 6ish slices that looked and tasted like steak, not fish. ya, white tuna looking red. -soy broth heavy, dense. temaki: -ramen above average, toppings anemic, tapas reasonably priced and well done. more so than the ramen. -japanese people sighted eating here. -waitstaff young and very personable, helpful. -cash only

    (4)

  • Kaitlynn S.

    First things first, I should say that I have an acute soft spot for ramen. I've probably been here five or so times now and I have yet to be disappointed. The service is fast and friendly. Ramen ranges from around $8 to $11. Chashu and Toro are both very good. They have a signature broth (tonkatsu?) that is really great but my favorite will always be the soy. I haven't found a place I like better and will stay loyal :)

    (5)

  • Ai T.

    I've had better. The ramen is ok, not bad but not good either. It lacks in flavor I don't like the broth, not sure what is missing but since I'm a broth person this place is a big fail to me.

    (2)

  • Shannon L.

    3.5 Stars. Dohatsuten is Ramen Dojo's little nephew in training. There are some striking similarities and excuse my ignorance if this style is just part of a certain region. The most unique and common trait is that they both add ground chicken. Ramen Dojo adds it in the form of their chicken gravy which is incorporated into the broth. Dohatsuten adds it organically, almost as a garnish. I got the Dohatsuten Ramen ($7.99) in tonkotsu (pork) broth (add $1). Obviously by the name, you know that this is the restaurant's specialty and it has all the standard fixings (chives, bean sprouts, seaweed, bamboo shoots) plus some additional fixings (chili threads, ground chicken). Anything else, including an egg, is extra which makes me sad. Prior to the ramen, we got the white tuna tataki which was a-ok. Seared on the edges, raw in the middle, accompanied by tons of sliced onions and green onions. Our second appetizer was the chicken karaage which had heavier breading and a darker hue (reused oil?). The flavors were still good but the chicken could have always been a little more tender. I say this because if the chicken is really tender, I'll usually say it out loud. In this, oil makes a difference and I just didn't get the same feeling as I do with some of my favorite chicken karaage dishes. I do appreciate that they serve it with a side of Japanese mayo which seems to be slowly disappearing from many establishments! WHY?! Something to note is that they also have Yakimeshi which traditionally consists of fried rice variations but here it is like a Japanese version of bibimbap (rice mixed with other items cooked on a iron skillet). I had a bite of my friend's and it was really tasty. I may just come back for that. The décor of this place is very much Japanese; it has that darkened wood feel and is shaped narrowly. Like restaurants in random alleyways of Japan but this is located in a random alleyway in Fremont. I'm surprised this place is even here because it seems authentic, judging by the workers fluency in the language and they just look like they're from the homeland.

    (3)

  • Farrah F.

    So! There's a grand total of 4 things on this menu (main course/meal-type foods) that I can eat. (Everything else has pork in it.) I think the location might hurt this place, and having more space would definitely help it out, but it's pretty nice here. I had some of the white tuna takaki and ordered the soy-based vegetarian ramen. This stuff is wonderful on cold days. :] Our waitress was really friendly and kept our tea refilled. I'd definitely come back (especially for the white tuna takaki *-* it was pretty amazing). Cash only!

    (4)

  • Nelly Y.

    Inconsistent. The food is sometimes good. Ajisen is better.

    (3)

  • Margo G.

    Tried the unagi yakimeshi. I didn't want to share! I got the $1 extra dashi broth and I was in love! Not as good as Gotchi but definitely quenches the craving and it's way cheaper so totally worth it! The rice gets crispy and crunchy at the bottom and the unagi is perfectly cooked. I will be back for just this and time time, I'm not sharing!

    (5)

  • Chris T.

    Hunting for tasty ramen in the Bay Area is always fun, though often disappointing. But where other Bay Area ramen joints have failed to live up to the hype, Dohatsuten delivers scrumptious and satisfying ramen. Dohatsuten's signature ramen with tonkotsu broth features the best combination of veggies, meat, noodles, and broth I have tasted at a Bay Area ramen joint thus far. The veggies were sufficient, not overpowering the broth; the tonkotsu broth was flavorful, delicate, and not oily; the chashu pork was tender and flavorful; and the noodles were springy and al dente. To top it off, the service was fast and friendly and the kimchi fresh and flavorful. The ramen portions are modest, but sufficient to keep you full for a few hours. Plus, too much of this stuff is likely to shorten your lifespan, so I consider the smaller servings a plus. Tonight, Dohatsuten was fairly empty, but Bay Area ramen enthusiasts will likely flood this place soon as word spreads. If you like ramen, Dohatsuten has plenty to satisfy your palate and senses.

    (4)

  • Jeanette L.

    I guess I expected more from this place since my family has been eating here while ive been away at college, but to be honest this place isnt that great. The first and only time ive been here the service was below average. I waited at the table with my family, waiting for someone to take our order. Seriously i waited 20 minutes and the place wasn't even busy. I ordered the Dohatsuten Ramen with miso broth and it was alright. The broth was average and the noodles were as well. Nothing special. The design of this place reminds me of a cozy japanese setting which was cool. Overall this place is just a place to go to if youre feeling for a close by place to eat ramen [if you live in fremont] on a budget. Nothing too special.

    (3)

  • Jessica H.

    Once again, the price is not friendly. $12 for ramen (again...) I ordered chashu tonkoshu ramen. It was super good, probably the best ramen I had, except it was like one of the most expensive ones as well. I SUPER like the design of the place. Seems really Japanese like, very small and cozy with good lighting for pictures. There is this white waiter that speaks Japanese I think. He was pretty nice to us. GOOD RAMEN WITH A COZY FEELING, give it a try ;)

    (4)

  • Barb B.

    I think this is my new favorite restaurant on the east bay nearby home. If you don't mind a 'hole in the wall' decor, this is the place for you. Ordered agadashi tofu, it is delicious! Has a light, airy taste and they pair it with yummy ponzu sauce. As my main, ordered the spicy green onion soup in the tonkatzu sauce. Nice and hearty, warm, and although I was a bit concerned the green onion may be a but overwhelming, it actually wasn't! The broth pipping hot cooked it in the soup and I thoroughly enjoyed it with the other blended items, char siu, bean sprouts ands bamboos. AND, the best part of it all, it cost only about $9 bowl! That's a steal! Will be back for sure.

    (4)

  • Sylvia Y.

    If you are a Fremont local or are in the area and do not want to make a 34 min drive to another ramen place, this is the place to go. It is a pretty small restaurant, but they have a pretty quick turn-over time so the wait is never bad. I've been here a total of three times and the first time I absolutely wasn't the biggest fan, but I figured I'd give them another chance and it turned out I ordered the wrong things. Visits: 1st: Dohatsuten Ramen + Miso Base 2nd: Spicy Green Onion Ramen + Soy Base (comes with A LOT of green onions), Tuna Tartare in Ponzu Sauce 3rd: Chashu Ramen + Soy Base, Tuna Tartare in Ponzu Sauce If you are coin tossing between soup bases, get the soy if you prefer a lighter/clear soup base and the miso is if you prefer a stronger taste. Personally, I got sick of the miso after a couple sips. Tuna Tartare (partially seared partially raw tuna) was good the my second visit, but was a little too raw for my liking my third visit. Different chefs, maybe? Request it to be seared more if you like your things cooked.

    (4)

  • Bill F.

    Ramen was tasted naturally flavorful without msg. Saltiness level is slightly lower than orenchi and misoya - perfect for me. Ramen portion was relatively smaller than most other places but the karaage portion was huge for a reasonably priced appetizer. Ordered the Miso base as suggested by another reviewer for $1 more. Compared with the salt base my wife ordered, miso was very smooth but a little on the sweeter side so it tasted amazing in the beginning and then started to lose its appeal as I got to the bottom of the bowl. Great customer service. Brought my 3 constantly fighting boys and both waitresses were very accommodating.

    (5)

  • Darshini N.

    Ramenholics on a roll: Not to bad. Its out of the way to be sure, but the food was good. Ordered the dohatsuten, the broth was creamy good. Had a weird taste, think its the red seaweed thing. Other than that I liked it. My bf had the regular miso chashu (again) he was all over it. We got some appetizers, all were good. Place is hella small. Tucked in the corner next to another equally small Chinese restaurant. Cash only. That part was a bummer, had to use the ATM machine. Ambiance was really nice, they actually played Japanese music. YAY! Service was good as well.

    (3)

  • Veronica S.

    Dohatsuten is certainly an authentic Japanese joint, however, I always get that feeling that it's a little bit on the dirtier side for a ramen shop. If that doesn't bother you, besides that this is cash-only, it's a good option if you want a variety of ramen. Their ramens are a bit smaller than usual but still quite filling. You can add additional toppings like extra meat, or egg, etc..for $1-$2each, so if you start to get a lot, you can easily walk out paying $15-$16 a bowl. If you get the most basic Dohatsuten ramen it is $8. I actually really like the side dishes here and appetizer dishes and curry..nice!

    (3)

  • Alice C.

    So glad to have a decent ramen spot close to home! Really more like 3.5 stars, but I'll round up given it's location. I ordered the Dohatsuten ramen ($8) with tonkotsu broth (+$1). I kinda hate how they make you add a dollar to choose tonkotsu, as it should be pretty standard, but I guess prices are pretty decent to begin with anyway. Overall, the ramen was much better than I had expected for being in Fremont. The broth was tasty, and the noodles were chewy. I wish they would serve the ramen in bigger bowls though. They pack the ramen + toppings into smaller bowls, and while there's a good portion of it, the bowl could definitely use more room for broth. My first bite of bamboo shoot was also COLD... wthell?? While the rest of my bowl was a normal temperature, they should really make sure to heat everything properly. Service was SLOW. Food came decently fast, but they didn't give us our tea until awhile after we started eating. Given that we went at noon along with the rest of the working crowd taking their lunch breaks, it made sense. But there seemed to be only one waitress working at this time-- they could probably use more help at busy times like the lunch rush. Overall- Food: 4/5 Service: 2/5 Decor: 2/5 **CASH ONLY**

    (4)

  • Jenton L.

    To echo the reviewer before, WE NOW HAVE A GREAT RAMEN JOINT IN FREMONT! Don't let this place shut down. Come check out it and judge for yourself! I got the Hyper-Dohatsuten, which was your standard ramen soup, but with a lot of extras: Cabbage, soft-boiled egg, corn, and some more meats. The pork broth is quite good, but it costs an extra buck.

    (4)

  • Julie T.

    The food is delicious! I got the signature ramen bowl, "Dohatsuten Ramen" with Tonkatsu and a soft boiled egg. My son ordered "Pork belly on rice" along with aegadeshi tofu and fried chicken. Everything was perfect. I will definitely go back or order take outs from now on. All of this was $25, not bad for lunch. Oh ya, I forgot to mention, it's cash only. So if you forget cash, the friendliest atm available is in two blocks at "The Bank of America." The waitress (a Japanese lady) seemed timid a little nervous, please be nice to her. She is trying her best to run a restaurant. I can tell many people are excited about the restaurant. I went around 11:30 and there was no one until 12pm. The restaurant was starting to fill up.

    (5)

  • Ina A.

    Seat yourself. The waitress was very efficient, 5/5. Food was served quickly, 5/5. One of the better broths, 4/5. I will be a returning customer.

    (4)

  • Xi Z.

    Good small restaurant near where I live. Have good selection of Ramen. I have tried premium one and the most regular one. Both with soy sauce and they are pretty good. Ice water is with lemon. Good for a quick but ease lunch.

    (4)

  • Amy L.

    Let it be known that Amy L is a very unhappy sickie. When I'm sick, all I want to do is sleep until I'm better, but the boy dragged me out because he said I needed to eat something or I wouldn't get better [who knew that you had to eat when you're sick?! Haha just kidding.]. We were going to go to San Jose to get Bun Bo Hue [my number one comfort food when I'm sick], but I didn't want to go too far, so... we decided to get ramen because Dohatsuten is only about 3 minutes from my house. I got the lunch special [ramen [I chose shoyu [soy]], 2 pieces of gyoza, a mini chasu [pig stomach] donburi [rice bowl], and kimchi for $8.99] and the boy got the Deluxe boy [shoyu as well] and an unagi mini donburi on the side because I wanted it. Our food came out really quickly, which made me happy. I couldn't really taste anything the first time I came here [darn stuffy nose!], but the hot soup felt really good going down my throat! I think it may have been a bit salty because I could taste that part, but I can't say forsure because... my taste buds weren't working quite right. And I liked the texture of the gyoza, as well. The kimchi actually helped clear my nose for a bit, which was awesome. The boy looooved his deluxe bowl, and basically foodcoma-ed after we ate because he was so full! I only ate 1/2 my bowl, and saved the rest for later. The bill came out to be about $25, which wasn't bad considering the amount of food we got. Fastforward two days later. I was recovering [and could taste again! Yay!] and the boy was... getting sick [from me... :( sigh!] and we wanted ramen again haha. We decided to split the deluxe this time [we learned our lesson last time!], but we got the tonkatsu broth instead of the shoyu. I definitely recommend spending the extra $1 on the tonkatsu broth - it was SO delicious. We also got the unagi donburi on the side again because I love eel, and well, I'm definitely glad that I could taste better this time! We got the ta-ro ramen to go for his mom, and she said it was the best ramen she's had in the US [She visited Japan pretty recently, and is pretty picky when it comes to ramen!]. His dad also said it was really really good, so yayy! I think the tonkatsu broth really does make a difference though, so I would highly recommend it! I know this will be my to-go place for ramen. Service is good, food is good, and the chef is so cute [I think he's the only chef, which means the food is super consistent]. Yum!

    (5)

  • Christina C.

    This place is relatively new (I believe), and is a great find for local Fremontians (?). The ramen is very filling and yummy - also not too salty and perfect in these chilly springish nights (thankfully we're not dealing with the same snow storms that are terrorizing the East coast). I also like the mini dons that come with the ramen, and I really want to try one of their fried rice in a stone pot creations (think bim bim bap, but a la japonaise). Service is also great!

    (4)

  • Lisa Z.

    AMAZING! I had the Japanese Ramen (to-go) with a soft-boiled egg. It was LOADED with veggies and noodles and the broth was delicious :D. I added a teaspoon of red chili sauce to balance out the saltiness. It may seem a bit expensive, but one order of ramen served 3 people. The soft-boiled egg was also really good.

    (5)

  • Winnie L.

    Whaaat?!?! A new Ramen joint in FREMONT?!?! Yay!!! I stumbled upon Dohatsuten really randomly. I was driving by Mission Blvd and was drawn to it's attention by it's large "Japanese Ramen" banner. What?! A Ramen Restaurant in Fremont??? That's almost unheard of (except for Ajisen by Warm Springs Blvd)!!! Boy, I was excited! Although it's located on a main street of Mission Blvd, it's front entrance is really hidden below the ground level...you have to enter through the back of the building where they have a private lot shared with the rest of the businesses in that complex. The interior of the place was small and cute. It has about seven tables, about the capacity of 28 ppl of the entire place. One waitress and one cook. We got there at 1pm on a Friday and got seated right away. Other than getting a normal written menu, they have their Ramen menu on a large chalkboard as well. We quickly got our orders in fast b/c there was a larger party of six that got seated the same time we did too. I wanna get my order in before them or else I'll never get my order. But regardless, of the order situation, the waitress still got confused and brought our Ramen bowls to the other table first before bringing it to our's. Spicy Green Onion Ramen ($7.99) + Tonkotsu Soup Base ($1) + Soft-Boiled Egg ($1) = $9.99 - This consisted of Spicy green onion, Bean sprouts, Chashu, and Bamboo shoots. The best part was the Ramen. It was perfect. Texture was right on the dot and it was chewy the way it should be. The Tonkotsu broth was good too, not too salty but I wished it was a little bit spicy to go with the spicy green onion topping...but it was a easy fix after I added some grounded red pepper to it. The spicy green onion was actually not so spicy, in fact, I didn't even thought it was....improvement needed here if that's what the name of the Ramen is based on. The soft-boiled egg was OK, a little bit undercooked and it was a little bit too fulling having an whole egg instead of the usually given half an egg. Dohatsuten Ramen ($7.99) + Miso Soup Base ($1) + Soft-Boiled Egg ($1) = $9.99 - This was advertised as their Signature Ramen. It consisted of Chashu, Chinese chives, bean sprouts, Spicy minced pork, Bamboo shoots, and Korean Chili. Again, the best part is the Ramen. The miso broth was overpowered by the taste of the chives...I usually like chives but it was too much of it's taste for me. I do taste just a little bit spicy, I think it was the Korean chili. The minced pork was OK...not specially tasty. It was just alright...I don't see the thrill of it being their Signature Ramen. Overall, it was decent. The Ramen noodles were really yummy but I think it needs a little bit of twitch with the soup-bases that it comes with. If they can make it come together a bit better, there's obviously greater potential for them. But as of now, it's definitely was not the best Ramen I've had. I'm willing to come back here though.

    (4)

  • Michael L.

    Overdue reviews....gotta write'em sometime- We came here over Christmas break, and had the following: Dohatsuten's signature ramen with tonkotsu, extra large normal ramen with tonkotsu, plus a half boiled egg. The egg was perfect...soft-almost runny yolk inside the tasty egg white. While the tonkotsu pork bone flavor was not necessarily as strong as others I've had in ATL (of all places), it was still good. I realize Fremont doesn't have too many ramen joints, so I'm perfectly happy with this one to go to whenever I visit the parents back.

    (4)

  • Dexter D.

    Hyper-Dohatsuten Ramen for the win! Last week, we tried out Ajisen Ramen so we decided this week to give Dohatsuten a try. Apparently ownership just changed as there is a yellow Application for Alcohol License change notice taped to the window. We arrived a few minutes before they opened. When they saw us outside, they flipped the closed sign around, unlocked the door and invited us in. Drink orders were taken as soon as they laid down the menu. Having had a large lunch, we skipped appetizers ordered the Hyper Dohatsuten Ramen with Tonkatsu Broth at $11.99 each plus $1 for the Tonkotsu Broup. I added the Chashu Don (Stewed Premium Pork Belly Over Rice) for $2.99. While I understand how others may balk at the idea of paying the extra $1 for Yuzu Miso or Tonkotsu, we didn't have a problem with it. The fact is that each of these broths costs more to produce than the standard Soy or Salt Broths. On the plus side, the Hyper has Sliced Chashu, Chinese Chives, Bean Sprouts, Cabbage, Spicy Minced Pork, Soft-boiled Egg, Stewed Pork Belly, Green Onions, Bamboo Shoots and Korean Chili. Not on the menu but included in our bowl was some corn as well. Compare this to other ramen shops which charge $1 or $2 for each of these items to be added to their ramens which only come with cabbage, ramen and broth. The broth was flavorful, as were the other ingredients. The only "problem" I saw with the bowl of ramen was the type of bowl that they served it in. It wasn't a traditional Japanese ramen bowl. The sides were straight-sided and because there were so many fillings, you couldn't really stir items up from the bottom. You had to eat from top to bottom or risk making a mess. A slightly larger bowl with slightly slanted sides would make it easier to move things around. Of course then there would be those who would complain that the size was smaller. All in all, service was okay. Food was good. Menu selection was reasonable and fairly priced. We'll be back!

    (4)

  • Harold H.

    Not a big fan of the ramen here, but there are plenty of other things on the menu to try. Unagi yakameshi is well worth the price, rice is nicely fried and crisp 10/10. Chicken Karage is also a favorite, awesome fried chicken that's never too greasy 9/10.

    (4)

  • Dan C.

    I walked in an Ippudo fan, but was -very- impressed with this small-space-big-flavor ramen joint. A friend and I got a pretty deep bowl of the special, and I got a soft egg on top. Broth was yummy and chunky with very little grease. You won't walk away feeling ill after eating here. The egg was perfection, with gooey yolk spilling out and coating the noodles as I ate. Fantastic, tender pork. We also got the cow tongue. While not as well-marinated nor as tender as the ridiculously priced ($6, but totally worth it) cow tongue sushi at Uchiko in Austin, it was okay if you've never had cow tongue before. But it's really more like any other kind of meat that's been grilled and slightly marinated, as opposed to something special. A decent selection of Asian beers for this small joint really hit the spot. I'd come again if I were hungry and back on the west coast. A nice gem in a city of chains.

    (4)

  • Jasmin T.

    Thoroughly disappointed :( After trying Dohatsuten in Palo Alto last week and being blown away, I wanted to try this location since it was closer to home. Our waiter informed me that the menus were the same, but that the locations had been sold and now under separate owners. I ordered the chashu ramen with tonkatsu broth. The flavor was extremely UNDERwhelming. The broth literally tasted like chicken noodle soup. I let my boyfriend try for a second opinion, and he said the exact same thing. The chashu was also very tough. I had to use my chopsticks and spoon to rip it apart. I guess I'll just have to settle for Ajisen when I'm craving ramen and want to stay nearby.

    (2)

  • Vicki R.

    Excellent ramen, nice friendly folks, good prices, just go! Don't forget to order the soy boiled egg, yummy!

    (5)

  • Dave C.

    Im happy that there is finally a Ramen joint in Fremont and close by the house. Real Japanese ramen and not a fake Shabu/Ramen place that u see alot of in Milpitas/Fremont. I tried the Miso ramen with chashu pork. The broth was good but I think i should have tried the Tonkatsu ramen as that is usually my gauge of good ramen. The miso broth was good but I felt that the Chashu pork was lacking in flavor. It was a bit tough as well. The price here is also more expensive than the usual Ramen spots. $10 for a bowl of ramen. Usually $10 at most ramen spots will get you a set of Ramen + side dish. Still im glad there is finally a ramen spot close by and I will come back to try the tonkatsu shoyu ramen. Arigato gozaimas!

    (3)

  • Angela K.

    I walked in today on 9/7/12 at 11:31am--hoping for some ramen. HOWEVER, what I saw made me backtrack my butt outta there. The wait staff was cutting their finger nails in plain sight!!!!One at the front table area and the other was doing in at a dining table area. I almost puked in my mouth. It is disgusting and unsanitary!!!

    (1)

  • Henry C.

    3.5 stars for this place. It's a small restaurant with a small parking lot that is usually packed with Chinese families dropping off their kids for daycare or tutoring during the day. If this place ever gets popular the wait for a table will be extremely frustrating. Right when we sat down we noticed the table smelled like it was wiped with a dirty mop. It would have bothered our meal but either our noses got used to the scent or it just dissipates after it drys. I like all the ingredients in the Dohatsuten ramen and was very tempted to get the hyper dohatsuten but it seemed expensive. My brothers got the large bowl and it was a good deal since they got an extra CHASHU! I had the bad luck to get only 1 small piece that looked like half of each of their two pieces because I didn't large my bowl. I got my order of ramen with the miso soup and it was too salty for my taste. I felt like I could really have used one of the donburi to chase the saltiness with rice. The ramen was pretty good but being way up by ohlone sucks. Nothing really stood out that would make me drive up there for it but the yakimeshi does sound interesting from the other reviews.

    (3)

  • Enza P.

    So I get off work at 8:30 and I haven't had dinner. We are craving some ramen so I look up a new place. This place was about to close but we made it! We ordered the Wakame Salad which is a seaweed and sesame dressing. $3! We also ordered gyoza that had the best dipping sauce I've had in a long while for $4.50 For our entree, we got ramen. He got the signature ramen and I got the spicy green onion ramen. The ramen has different flavors also! I had the soy sauce and he had the salt. I think I would have the salt one next time but I really enjoyed my soy sauce flavored one. What makes this ramen place stick out the most to me is the amazing broth. It's so rich and flavorful, it's amazing!! On top of the out of this world taste, the prices for ramen were between $7-10. I was dying of happiness. This place also had great service. Our waitress was so nice and explained each type of ramen to us. I'll definitely be back

    (4)

  • Dave N.

    There's not a lot of ramen places in Fremont, and I am glad this place is around. The ramen is pretty good, but not as good as several of the places in the exploding ramen scene in San Mateo. The portion size is actually a bit bigger than average in that they give generous portions of ramen noodles. So much, in fact, that it tends to crowd out the broth a bit. Slightly larger bowls with the same amount of noodles and more broth would improve their ramen quite a bit IMHO. The people who run this place are very nice, courteous and fastidious, though I think they could be more efficient. The food comes out fast once you've ordered, but sometimes getting someone to take your order takes some patience. Sometimes this place feels like it is understaffed, especially during the lunch rush. It is a solid place, however, and I will probably be back, as the location is convenient for me.

    (3)

  • Ping S.

    I would give a 3.5. Pretty good ramen place if you are in the area but not worth traveling cross city for it.

    (3)

  • Annie Y.

    I had the Dohatsuten Ramen in yuzu miso broth. The broth had a good balance of heat and miso flavor. I'd come back.

    (4)

  • Kevin D.

    After I went to Kumako Ramen in Japantown in SJ, and since I discovered that I can go to Ranch 99 down the street with $13 I can get enough ramen, soba and udon noodles to last me a month...I was kindov on a ramen bender. I consulted my good buddy Yelp and discovered theres a ramen place in Fremont? By Ohlone no less? How did I miss this? ANYWHO - I came here and it was full. Predominantly with Asian people... that's a good sign. My sister and I ordered and it kinda took a while to get out. I remember the ramen tasted good...and that was about it. It was good and it looked pretty in the bowl, but it didn't knock my socks off. I'm looking forward to taking my weeaboo co-worker here.

    (3)

  • Steve H.

    Well, well, well ... a little gem was found in Fremont tonight. Now I don't have to venture to San Jose, Santa Clara, or San Mateo to get my ramen fix. My homie has been eyeing this place for a while and decided this is where we were to have our business meeting. Not your usual place to converge but it was comfortable. I ordered the Tonkotsu flavor Chashu Ramen while he got the Tonkotsu flavor Dohatsuten Ramen. That bowl exceeded my expectations with every spoonful. It was like a happy hour how everything mingled so well. I mean you have the al dente noodles, tender pork, and veggies encompassed by this rich, salty broth that just makes you want to curl your toes after each bite. Okay maybe not like that, but it was propertini. The serving size was decent and came out rather quick. Waiter dood was cool and didn't mind us staying an hour after we ate. A few downsides though. Although I salt everything, I felt the broth was a bit too salty. Perhaps I could dilute it with water like how my little cousin does ... or maybe not. Also this little mom and pop shop is CASH ONLY! Their ATM was broken at the time too. Will definitely eat here again.

    (4)

  • C K.

    Food was sub-par (2.5 stars) but good service (4 stars). I ordered the Dohatsuten ramen with tonkatsu broth. The broth was okay, but not as flavorful as anticipated. The noodles and soft-boiled egg were good.

    (3)

  • Andy C.

    I went for the more traditional chashu ramen with tonkotsu broth. I think it was good overall. Good flavors and not too heavy. I had a taste of my gf's Dohatsuten Ramen. It's kind of interesting. It's Japanese ramen with a hint of Chinese noodle ingredients. To me, it was a little bit on the sweet side. But it's nice to see them trying something different. We also had a side of fried chicken. It's really bland. Usually Japanese fried chicken are pretty flavorful without any sauce, theirs pretty much require you to dip it in the mayo before consuming.

    (3)

  • Derrick M.

    Tried this place for the first time Friday (January 13). People were waiting outside the door to be seated when I arrived with my wife and kids. We were seated fairly quickly. I ordered the Ramen and the white tuna tataki (slightly spicy). Both were very good and with the shortage of good ramen joints in the East Bay, Dohatsuten was a gold mine. Service was friendly and quick. Although the cleaning of tables could use a tune up (guy just wiped table with a dirty wet rag onto the floor. Despite this, everything else worked. I will definitely return when I'm in the neighborhood or graving some delicious ramen. Here is a link to some of the menu items. Not sure why they don't have a website: foodspotting.com/places/…

    (4)

  • Bubba G.

    So this place may be hard to find. It is on Mission Blvd. across from Ohlone College. The ramen is good but a little over priced at $10. You would do better by going to Ajisen on Warm Springs Blvd. Good.

    (3)

  • Michelle T.

    Hole-in-the-wall relatively new ramen place that is easy to miss. It's a pretty welcoming site considering the lack of nearby ramen shops in Fremont. I ordered the dohatsuten ramen with soft-boiled egg. I have to admit that the broth was a little bit too salty for my tastes, and there wasn't enough meaty/hearty flavoring to back it up. Not that it was bad, but I have tasted better-flavored broth. The vegetables weren't bad, but I am not a fan of the bamboo- the strong and pungent bamboo smell The noodles were standard, the meat was good though I wouldn't mind if they gave more. I am a huge fan of the soft-boiled egg though, and it really was worth the extra dollar; it's not fully cooked so it leaves the yolk a tad runny, which makes it taste delicious. It sounds like i'm nitpicking, but as a whole the meal was not bad. I felt satisfied and full at the end. Give this place a try if you happen to be the area.

    (3)

  • Chun L.

    Today we tried the Ramon with Yuzu soup base again, It is still salty. Actually, way too salty than before. I think it exceeded our salt tolerance. We tried another vegetable ramon with pork rib soup base. It is, on the contrary, just right. I think this is probably a better choice for people who want less salty ramon noodle. The space is too cramped and hard to squeeze yourself through the narrow space between tables to reach the inner seat without affecting people on the table next to you. Arriving before 6 PM for dinner is still ok. Otherwise, not only you have to wait, it is also hard to find available parking.

    (3)

  • Greg H.

    Typically I don't go to the ohlone village to eat food but sometimes you can find diamonds in the rough. This place isn't bad, but I think it has a lot of potential to be good. The location isn't hard to find; you can see it from mission blvd and it's right across the street from the main ohlone entrance. The ramen is alright but I really liked the add-ons you could do with your bowl such as: add on more noodles, add an egg, extra meat, etc. All at a relatively ok price (like $8-$10). You can only go so far with ramen but I think this place is better than most ramen places that I've eaten at. I'd recommend this if someone is in the mood for ramen.

    (4)

  • Steve G.

    I hope this place lasts. The location is a bit hard to find unless you're really looking for it. That is if you don't happen to already live nearby in and or go to Ohlone. We walked into an empty restaurant but the guys that were working there were very patient and helpful in introducing us to the world of ramen of which I know nothing about. (other than the top ramen variety) I can't for the life of me remember the name of the dish that I had but it was very good and the broth was especially tasty. Will be back so I can memorize the menu.

    (4)

  • Amy T.

    Nice spot to stop for a quality bowl of ramen. Noodles are cooked well and service is decent. Very casual environment, which is perfect when you have a toddler with you. Prices are a little higher than would expect (around $9 per bowl), but the ingredients are fresh and of good quality. Only complaint is the pork (chashu) is pretty fatty, but it is extremely tender and full of flavor. We had gyoza, which is prepared in the fried Korean style. You're really getting mandu, not gyoza, but it was still good. We had one bowl of tonokotsu and one of shoyu. I preferred the tonkotsu soup. It was full of flavor. The shoyu was good as well, but had a much more subtle flavor that kind of gets lost with the vegetables, etc. Will definitely go back since there aren't any quality ramen houses near us in the Tri-Valley area. Also, keep in mind, these guys are CASH ONLY!

    (3)

  • Anthony C.

    Pretty good Ramen! It is a bit hard to find but its worth it when you finally do. The line is short for dinner. I usually get the Soy flavor or the tonkotsu ramen. Good amount of flavor. Not overwhelming. My friend got a miso ramen which he said was bland. Definitely would go here again!

    (4)

  • Alex C.

    This is my favorite ramen place in Fremont & Union City area. Their ramen bowls are good. Wish they stayed open a little later during lunch.

    (5)

  • Sean C.

    I'll give the aggravating slow service a pass and assume it as a fluke. Because the food was genuinely worth the wait. Bim Bap style soup with Japanese Ramen noodles, Seared White Tuna tapas, and Beef Curry Bowl which is a rich protein mash-up.

    (3)

  • Stephanie K.

    Got the signature ramen with tonkatsu broth. It was just okay. The broth was salty, but didn't have the rich pork flavor that I'm used to at other places. The cha-shui was very soft and good. Wish there were more than one slice. It's suppose to soft-boiled and have a bright orange center, but instead it was hard-boiled. The noodles were definitely not traditional because it was the thin almost like angel hair pasta.

    (3)

  • Shun Y.

    The ramen was delicious! My girlfriend and I ordered the deluxe ramen with everything in the bowl + extra size. The food was served very quickly, and everything came in a huge bowl. I wasn't very hungry but I filled up two of the smaller bowls that came with the food and finished them. Included in the bowl were the delicious egg noodles, pork belly, braised pork (a lot!), cabbage, corn, carrots, egg, and more. Even though there were two of us, we left the restaurant satisfied with more left in the bowl. I definitely recommend anyone to try it at least once. Maybe you will put Japanese ramen noodles on your favorites list!

    (4)

  • Joyce L.

    This place is okay. I think their ramen taste a bit weird. I ordered the Dohatsuten ramen with miso broth and for some reason the broth tasted sweet. I don't know if it was just me or what but it was definitely a weird taste. I don't know if i'll give this place a try again. I've definitely had better ramen than this.

    (2)

  • Carina R.

    I love ramen...ok I love pretty much all food, especially that from Asian cuisines...but I really do love ramen. So, yesterday, when my parents said they wanted a nice bowl of soup for dinner on a cold rainy day, my first thought was ramen. I have been to several Ramen houses in Mountain View and Santa Clara. Those do not disappoint. I hadn't really found a tried and true Ramen house in Fremont, but when I went on to Yelp, I found this place. Alright, lets try it. The place is small, but works. We all ordered the house ramen just with different variations - more noodles, more egg, soy, miso, etc. Everyone thought it was delicious. I did too. BUT, I had other ramens to compare this too and I can say that this is not the best ramen I have had. The best is still Ramen House Ryowa in Mountain View. Sigh...I heart that place. I use to work near there so I had that for lunch at least once every two weeks. But sadly, I work in a different part of the Bay now, so I don't go there anymore. I digress....So, I'm sorry, but all I can give this place is 3 stars. Although delicious, it does not meet my love for Ryowa.

    (3)

  • Mongol T.

    I like yuzu miso ramen and unagi don

    (5)

  • Jennifer J.

    Not the best ramen I've ever had, but there's not a ton of options for eating in Fremont so it works for me! Got the miso ramen, probably should just go with the normal soy next time. It was still delicious, gave it 4 stars mostly because the restaurant is nothing exciting to look at... but the food is good and when I need to stay close to home this works for me!

    (4)

  • Zaydian A.

    I had lunch here roughly 2 weeks ago. I normally go to Ajisen during my work/lunch hours, but I wanted to test this place out. Arrived at 12:10 pm. All the tables were taken, and only 2 people ahead of me. 12:30 pm. We finally are seated, but I notice only 1 person is taking orders, bringing out the food, handling the money, refilling drinks, etc. I already knew what I wanted, so as she was seating us, we told her we were ready to order. However, she said she'll be back in 5 minutes. I kid you not, 12:55 pm, she takes our order. Before that time, we were about to just leave. The lady was nice and all, and honestly looked very tired, but the service was horrible. I understand if you wanna save on labor cost, but really? One person? Anyways, that's the lasting memory I will have with this place. The Ramen itself was good, but not good enough to makeup for the service. I ordered the Chasu Ramen, with salt base. The egg was really good, just like Orenchi. They gave us plenty of meat, and the broth was just okay. If I was rating just the food portion, I would say 3.5/5. Still, my lasting memory of this place will be the service.

    (3)

  • Vivian D.

    So the bf was in a bad mood so he wanted something soupy to cheer him up. Somehow we ended up here... Plain Brown walls, tables, and chairs do not help with the ambiance. Additionally, a random mixture of music coming from an iPod playing everythig from Elvis, Spanish, RnB, and classical music was an annoyance. I'd much rather listen to radio commercials. Or complete silence. Hoping the food would make up for the lack of decor, I ordered edamame for starters and a regular miso ramen. Strange to charge an additional $1 more for miso flavor. Bamboo shoots were not tender, noodles were lacking in texture, and my meal came with a total of 2 small pieces of dry chashu. On top of that, service was terrible despite the fact there were only 3 other patrons there. The one star is justified for the fact you can add a donburi rice bowl to your ramen for a mere $3 or $4. Totally worth it for the amt of food they give you. The bf packed his to go. Nonetheless, will probably not be returning. CASH only!

    (1)

  • S K.

    I'm not sure when this little ramen shop opened, but I was happy to find it tucked away where the old Indian restaurant used to be. You can pick what broth to get your ramen in, but the meat broths are a dollar extra. The best ramen I've had there is their signature Dohatsuten ramen in the pork broth. The salt broth is way too salty for my liking, and the pork broth is already fairly salty. The ramen has the perfect amount of meat and tons of noodles so it's very filling. The gyoza are a little more fried than I'm used to but all the better for that. For 6 pieces at $4.50 it's the best value on the tapas menu. Their rice dishes are very big and worth trying (and maybe splitting with a friend). The outer edge of the rice is crispy and comes with egg, veggies and meat you can mix together. Keep in mind this place is cash only though! There is an ATM inside but it charges a fee.

    (4)

  • Andrew H.

    Came here on an ordinary work day with my coworkers. They told me about this place and finally convinced me to try it. I'm a big fan of all noodles, but as far a Ramen places, most seems to make it super salty that leaves me thirsty for water rest of the day. But my co workers offered to buy me a bubble tea after, so of course I said yes :-) This place is a little hard to spot. It's a little hidden away and no real big signage to draw your attention. We got there pretty early around 11:30, and we took the last table avail! Evidently there is some type of cult following. I ordered a large Hyper-Donhatsu Ramen because my Mommy told me I was a big boy and I can eat like one....... well, I probably should have stuck with regular size because it did come with a lot of meat and veggies. Food coma promptly followed. The food tho was......... above average. I had better Ramen before, but it's the best I had in the East Bay so far. Their soup wasn't as salty as the other places I've mentioned, but their broth isn't exactly out of this world. Kinda lame they only took cash as others have mentioned. But the price was reasonable for most of their items and the service was friendly. I would stop by again if someone offer to buy me tea after again :-)

    (3)

  • S L.

    Not bad ramen. Service was fast and the waiter checked on us a couple of times despite being the only waiter during dinner. Will come back again.

    (3)

  • Jen B.

    Mehhh. I'm usually very optimistic when I'm trying a new ramen place because I love ramen and I love discovering really good ramen places. I came to Dohatsuten one night for dinner with my sister. The place was completely empty except for the two of us, which was fine. The restaurant itself has nice ambiance, it looks like a coffee shop which was recently converted to a ramen restaurant.. (but in a good way haha). I enjoyed the Japanese bossa nova music playing in the background. I ordered the Dohatsuten since it's their signature ramen. When it was served it looked amazing. Once I tasted it, it wasn't so amazing anymore. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. Know what I mean? I got the miso broth which I didn't like much so I tried adding lots of chili peppers to help. The noddles tasted like top ramen/ cup of noodles, I was not a fan. My sister got the Hyper Dohatsuten with miso and her broth tasted like peanuts, im serious. weird, right?. But I have to admit, the pork in her ramen was hella good. Not willing to accept that this place was a bust, I went back to give it a second chance. this time I got the spicy green onion ramen with tonkatsu broth. Dude, I really wanted it to be better, but it wasn't. The broth was way too salty and the noodles were disappointing yet again. Sadly I will not be returning to this spot, I'll stick to tadamasa in union city. +1 star for the sesame ice cream. noms.

    (2)

  • Evelina C.

    Tried the White Tuna Tataki, Wakame Salad, & the Curry Flavored Beef under the "IRON YAKIMESHI MENU". I'll start off by saying that I was very impressed with the Tuna Takaki, although the portion size was somewhat small, it was delicious! The Wakame Salad's portion size was TINY though, but then again, it was only $3. Despite the small portion sizes for the Tataki & Wakame Salad, the Curry Flavored Beef rice bowl was huuuge, we barely finished half of it and it was so yummy. Besides the food, the service is mediocre. It took a while for the rice bowls to come out and we were seated in a little hallway right next to the bathroom. (THERE WERE FLIES EVERYWHERE). Other than the setting and the slow service I would say that this place is worth a try.

    (4)

  • Jesse W.

    I like this place, and I am having some faith that there is good ramen outside of Los Angeles. If you read/follow my reviews, you will note that I am REALLY picky about my ramen. The most surprising thing is that this place is in the Mission district of Fremont. Dohatsuten does ramen right. First off, the price is right. At $7.99+$1.00 for the tonkatsu broth, it comes in under $10. Secondly, the noodles are good, perfectly al-dente, finally the soup is blended well with a nice blend of chicken/seafood/pork stock. I've only had the Dohatsuten ramen and it is a safe choice for ramen. It is garnished with dried seaweed, bamboo shoots, chashu, sesame seeds, chili, and two slices of chashu. Rich and memorable, Dohatsuten reminds me of Santouka. It's not quite as fatty as Santouka, but marries the flavors of the different stocks well. This place is quickly becoming a staple for me for lunchtime. If you are a bonafide ramen fan, this place is definitely worth checking out.

    (5)

  • Amanda S.

    Visited: weekday nights Service: 4 Venue: 2 Food: 4 Dohatsuten Ramen is my new neighborhood go-to! The restaurant is blandly decorated but cozily tucked away below ground level on a street corner, and you are warmly greeted by friendly waiters and waitresses at the entrance. The dohatsuten ramen with ground pork is my favorite - though it is slightly oily compared with most ramen that I've had - with the yakimeshi w/ kimchi coming in at a close second. The yakimeshi (Japanese fried rice) comes in ridiculously large portions, enough for 2-3 people. A few downsides are that they only take cash and they close at 9pm, which I consider early for a restaurant directly across from a college campus and especially for a ramen joint - never mind that it's in Fremont.

    (4)

  • Mercy B.

    Dohatsuten is quickly becoming a favorite and is guaranteed to quench those times when I'm craving ramen (and it seems pretty often lately). I've been to the other Dohatsuten location in Palo Alto, but I prefer this location. Located in a small strip mall near Ohlone College in Fremont - it's not the easiest to find - but once you do find this place, you're definitely in for a treat! The serving bowls aren't very big, but don't let that fool you. I ordered the Dohatsuten special ramen with tonkotsu broth. The bowl came brimming over with chasu, sprouts, bamboo shoots, seaweed and a sprinkling of Korean chili - tasty, tasty, tasty! Just enough spiciness to add flavor, but not to overwhelm. It took me a while to find the bottom of that little bowl. My tummy felt very full and satiated. This place is a little out of my way to come to, but it's worth the drive when I'm craving good ramen.

    (4)

  • Izel P.

    I don't usually crave ramen, but this place has changed my mind. I can't say I know all about ramen to tell you what's good but my review is based on taste (of course) and the fact that I went to a popular ramen place in Union City and this restaurant, beat that restaurant, in my opinion. I think I got the Dohatsuten ramen in tonkotsu broth and added a soft-boiled egg for an extra $1. Presentation was pretty. Broth was flavorful. I can say I really enjoyed it. Boyfriend got a large bowl and it was huge! You could definitely share the large with someone. I'm pretty sure the regular bowl would suffice but if you are hungry then go for the larger bowl. They are located in a strip mall and you might miss the place because it's hidden and only way to find it is by the sign that says "Ramen". -1 star: a little on the pricey side when you start adding options.

    (4)

  • d h.

    I'm glad I finally found a ramen place somewhat close to San Ramon/Pleasanton corridor since its off 680 in Fremont. My sister tried the Tsukemen but after having it in Japan no place here has been able to compare. We've now tried Tsukemen style at Orenchi in Mountain View, Waraku in Japantown etc but so far, no one can replicate our experience in Japan. If you go here, I highly recommend the taro pork belly. It is so rich and moist. Plus, they don't cheat you on the meat!

    (4)

  • Christine S.

    Love the noodle, love the soup, love the service. Hands down!

    (4)

  • Trinity G.

    Not sure how long Dohatsuten has been around, but I imagine that they didn't advertise themselves to be a ramen joint until the big ramen craze hit the Bay Area. That, or they just opened to profit from the ramen craze. Dohatsuten's ramen is decent, but sorry it just doesn't compete with other ramen houses in the area. What they should advertise themselves to be is a curry house, because their Japanese curry is some of the best I ever had. Not too spicy and the way the carrots are cooked adds the right amount of sweetness. It's cooked in a clay pot, so you'll get the thick crunchy rice "paper" on the side. If they served it with a side of kimchi it would be divine. Perfect alternative to a bowl of soup on a cold winter day. My complaints are the ramen (obvs) and that it's way too pricey. Also, the waitresses kept apologizing for everything! I mean eh, vuh, ree, thing. At first it was a little cute and endearing, but it got annoying really fast--especially when they couldn't answer simple questions like "Can I have an extra spoon?" They actually had to go to the back to confirm with someone if they had extra spoons to lend out. Weird.

    (2)

  • Jan P.

    Going to Dohatsuten for the first time.. here writing a good review about this nice small Japanese restaurant. I really love this small restaurant. Like so many places I eat out at in the city it feels really cozy with nice lighting and exposed brick walls. There isn't a ton of seating so if you have a big group you'll probably want to make reservations, but I've never had trouble getting a table for two during the weekdays just by walking in. I usually end up ordering their signature ramen, Dohatsuten Ramen. I like that there is some creativity on the soup such as square seaweed on top or on the side which is freshly decorated. I wished that their portion is a LITTLE MORE - you won't expect a huge ramen bowl, either. (I think you have to pay extra $2 to upgrade your bowl) My ramen tastes wonderfully tasty! Love the magic flavor they put in! I'm a type of person who bitches when it comes to customer service but I tend to be a little patient with their work. Here, they are a godspeed, one lady does the waitress and this one cool Japanese guy makes the food and refills my water all the time without having me to ask (A+ for that for refilling water!!) Will definitely swing by here again with a friend. I hate eating alone. gochisosama (deshita)!!

    (5)

  • Emily P.

    Hands down my favorite ramen place. Ramen is delicious, soup (get the tonkatsu!!!) is delicious. They don't skimp on the noodles or the works. I love getting the pork belly/kimchee rice or the Beef Curry rice. Sometimes i'll add on an extra pork belly rice with my ramen. I'd say the pricing of the rice is a bit steep (9+) but i'm always down to pay for a bowl of sizzling rice. I live right around here so I come here any chance I get. Best. place. ever.

    (5)

  • Betty N.

    This place is only getting 4 stars because: 1) The bathroom door was way too heavy to open -.5 star 2) The waitress was just being a waitress. You know...filling up water at appropriate times and checking up on. She didn't do any magic tricks! -.5 Hehe...All kidding aside, this place is really great!! MMM....spicy tonkastu broth!! So I was an oinker and ordered the hyper dohatsuten. They really aren't shy with the toppings!!! Soft egg was perfect. The only thing I really didn't care for was the pork belly. On its own with some rice, it would have been good, but the flavor with the tonkatsu broth was weird for me. The noodles were a little thin, but soft and not too chewy, so I still liked them. The real reason why this place gets 4 stars is they nickel and dime you for extras i.e. tonkatsu broth is $1 extra and so is a soft boil egg (if you don't order the hyper), extra meat ect. (the chashu is already quite small and thinly sliced) so it becomes quite costly and adds up. My bowl of ramen cost me $14 and some change, which is pretty pricey. At least they weren't shy with the toppings. Overall: I'll definitely be back. More likely in the winter though...I felt like I was gonna break a sweat eating hot ramen in this heat!

    (4)

  • Mi-tan M.

    FINALLY!!! A GOOOOD Ramen place in Fremont!!! I regularly go to Fremont for work with my boss and have been trying to find a good Japanese ramen place in the area that can satisfy my Japanese boss - with no luck what's so ever :$ But my little prayer has finally been answered and one of my favorite Ramen places in Palo Alto just opened their second shop in Fremont!! yeahy. Their menu seems to be exactly the same as the one in Palo Alto. My fav is their signature 'Dohatsuten Ramen' with either Tonkotsu (pork broth) or Miso based soup. I tend to go more for Tonkotsu during winter cause I want something heavier. And I always order an extra topping of soft runny egg. So delish when the egg melts into the hot soup... (drool) They also have izakaya-style dishes (like tapas) to share, and although I haven't tried them at this Fremont place, if they are the same as Palo Alto shop, Karaage (fried chicken) and Nagoya-style tebasaki (chicken wings) and the Crispy rice dishes that come in hot pots are a must try... God I am getting hungry by just yelping about them... (more drool) On a negative side, this place can be really tricky to find if you're not familiar with the area. It's right next to Ohlone College on Mission Blvd., but the parking is in the back and you have to walk through an aisle between the building and look for a little 'RAMEN' sign. The sign is soooo tiny I didn't see it at first, and had to ask some ppl. at the Chinese restaurant for direction. The guy smiled and pointed to a door next to where I was standing -- it was right in front of my face and I still didn't notice it!! Well, they just opened, so maybe they're getting around to buying a bigger sign.... If you want to try some really good Japanese Ramen, definitely check this place out*

    (5)

  • LeeLee C.

    Location is a bit hard to find, I drove up and down Mission Blvd for almost 20 minutes before I found this place. Tip to remember is to look for 3 big Chinese words, that was how I found the place. It was not a very big store but the food was good. We ordered the signature ramen with Tonkatsu broth, it was rich in flavor. I added an egg and it was also cooked to perfection, yolk was soft and moist. Although I have to say that I didn't really prefer the thin noodle, it lacked the bold texture to go with the rich soup. My friend said they tried the yuzo miso soup before but couldn't really feel any yuzo in it. The better part of the food was the rice dishes. We ordered an unagi rice and a fried fish rice and they were both served from clay pots. The sauce and flavors were very nicely mixed and at the bottom of the pots a layer of rice cracker was nicely formed. I would come here next time just for the rice dishs because that is why Dohatsuten earned its 4 star. Ramen wise, 3 star.

    (4)

  • Chi N.

    Meh is the perfect word to describe my dining experience here. My sister recommended this place and seeing that it had pretty good reviews, I agreed to check this place out. I wish I hadn't. Maybe it's because I just had the best Ramen experience ever the day before at Orenchi so it ruined me for any other experience. I ordered the Signature Dohatsuten Ramen with the Tonkatsu broth and I added a hard boiled egg. The thin noodles tasted like they came out of a Top Ramen package. Nothing like the thick chewy noodles I've had at Orenchi or Ramen Dojo. The soup was overly salty, as if to make up for its inadequate taste. Obviously, the broth was cooked pretty quickly and was not left to simmer long in order to get the rich flavor it should. The egg was inconsistent. Mine was overcooked while my sister had the right consistency with her yolk. I won't be coming back here. I'd rather make the extra drive to Ramen Dojo or Orenchi for the real deal.

    (2)

  • Justina L.

    dang it! I wantd to be first to review this. Anyways, my brother has been walking past this restaurant for weeks now and he kept telling me how it'll open soon and we should go try it. Well, on a night like today where the clouds are gloomy, we decided to go try it...WITHOUT my brother. haha. The soup was good. I wish the portion was a LITTLE bit more. One bowl, that I'll consider as small, was 8 dollars. (7.99) The waiters were friendly and greeted you in japanese. It was legit japanese too. If you want to upgrade your bowl, it'll be a 2$ extra charge. The soup was good, but I wish I had more than 2 pieces of chashu in mine. A lot of things weren't available, but I think they might have underestimated their stock being that it just opened monday. So, we will come back again and see how it is the second time. The first time is always unsure. I'd definitely come back. Oh, and if the owner is reading this, please change the color of the wall. Brown makes everything look so sad :[ I felt like I was in some poetry reading.

    (4)

  • Linh N.

    revisited this place again recently. Still the same great quality ramen i had last time but warning: it is not a great place to go to with a big party since the place is very small with very limited seating. and I wish they would change the playlist. Hip hop from last decade...meh.

    (4)

  • April L.

    I'm being generous with the 3 stars but overall since the ramen was almost decent and it's one of the only ramen places in Fremont, I'll probably be back. I had the chashu ramen with tonkotsu broth, which was a dollar more (overpriced). The menu indicates that the chashu ramen comes with "4 slices of premium pork", I only had 2 slices on mine. I'm not sure if that was an oversight or... the menu lies! My 3 criteria for judging ramen: 1. Toppings - Chashu: Good, pretty tender, but the slices are tiny. 2 slices was definitely not enough. Might have given a better rating if i had gotten the full amount of pork that I was promised. Other toppings of bamboo shoots, green onions, and bean sprouts were standard. 2. Noodles: Not chewy/QQ enough. They became pretty soggy by the time I was a little more than halfway done. 3. Broth: The tonkotsu (pork bone) broth has absolutely no pork flavor and is not worth the extra dollar. Was the flavor too subtle for me to taste? I highly doubt it. My palate is trained in pork detection. I was very disappointed with the broth. My search for tonkotsu ramen in the bay continues... I do like that they include pork belly in their toppings. My bf got the Hyper Dohatsuten Ramen and I stole one of his pieces of pork belly. It was good, but when is pork belly not? So really 2.5 stars, rounding up: pork belly is your saving grace.

    (3)

  • Monica L.

    Came here a couple of months back when they first opened. It's located right across of Ohlone College, and there's a parking lot in the back. I was really excited when this place first opened because it's one of the only ramen joints in Fremont. Ordered the hyper-dohatsuten ramen in tonkatsu broth with a mini unagi don set. The soup base is super salty.. I was contemplating asking for hot water to add to my soup. It is also a little overpriced for the amount of food they give you. I'm sad to say that I will still have to drive over to Milpitas to get a good bowl of ramen.

    (3)

  • Katie F.

    I was so excited to see another ramen shop in Fremont, especially one right by my house. I ordered the Dohatsuten special in the shio (salt flavor). The bowl looked small but it was actually more than enough. The special came with pork, bamboo & onions. We also ordered the agedashi tofu. Everything here was really tasty, in fact I'd like to go back here now for lunch, LOL! The atmosphere of this restaurant is really cool. I think at one point this restaurant was a hallway or snack bar but they transformed it into a very comfortable and spacious ramen joint, you should get here early because it tends to fill up quickly and there isn't much seating. The servers are very nice, attentive and friendly, just like in Japan. I will definitely be coming here more often. Oh and if one bowl isnt enough for you, you can order extra noodles to fill up your broth, I think its $1,75 or so. I went here with my husband and his friend and the total for all of our dinner was $45 including tip and everything. We all left feeling very full and satisfied.

    (5)

  • Erin M.

    I really liked this place. Came here on a sick stomach so I wasn't able to finish it all, but if I was at full health I probably would've upgraded to a large ramen bowl (for $2) or added one of their donburi bowls because I am usually a glutton. I got the dohatsuten ramen bowl with soy broth. SO. GOOD. My dude got the same but added a donburi bowl, and he liked the donburi bowl better than his ramen. The ambiance of the place is super cutesy, too. They played Beatles songs the whole time I was there and the place is very small and cozy, great for a quiet and pleasant lunch. Anyways. You must try this place. However, it still does not compare to the perfect little bowl of ramen I had in Oahu. :(

    (4)

  • Clarissa R.

    Dohatsuten is one of two good ramen choices in Fremont (the other one is Ajisen, a chain from Japan; there's also Tadamasa in Union City and Maru Ichi in Milpitas). It's up by Ohlone, and a bit neglected due to its weird location. I'll be honest: I would give it 5 stars just because I'm hooked on that yuzu-miso broth. That stuff is great! ($1 extra.) I'm trying to branch out from the Dohatsuten ramen with yuzu-miso, but it's so good...Their chashu is good, the Korean chilis they use add an actually noticeable amount of spice, and that broth is just wonderful. I also appreciate that they have some non-Americanized sides/snacks on the menu, like chicken cartilage. I didn't like it, I'm afraid, but friends did, and it was interesting to try it. There are other things on the menu that are less challenging (the pea sprouts were good). The yaki-onigiri is strangely way overpriced, but other than that, prices are par for the course. Also, they DO offer one vegetarian ramen with a vegetable-based broth. Few places do this, so if you're a vegetarian who's feeling left out of the ramen craze, go on over to Dohatsuten! It's not hard to find after your first time, and there's parking in back or a couple blocks away. Bring cash!

    (5)

  • Cerwina A.

    I'm not going back there! Hubby and I thought about trying out this place for the very first time and the food experience was very upsetting. I ordered the Ta-Ro Ramen (it's the one with the pork belly) - and mannn ohhh mannnnn...as soon as the waiter set down my bowl on the table I smelled the distinct smell of nasty pork - Even the Tonkatsu broth tasted nasty (waiter said it's their popular broth - eww). Also, whoever thought of the idea of charging your customers $1 for the broth must be on crack!! Don't ramen noodles usually come in a bowl of broth so why charge for it?? DUHH!! It was a waste of our $32.00 hard earned bucks!!

    (1)

  • Hao F.

    This is a fire ass spot for ramen, the service is good and fast, it's really small joint doe so most people don't even know it exists. I always get the house signature ramen its really good and I get extra large size which is $2 more but they give you a lot more than you would get with the normal size. overall a great spot, but i have been to better ramen spots.

    (3)

  • Heidi G.

    There's bad ramen, ok ramen, and great ramen. I would say this place is good, especially for being near by. Not my fav like Ramen Ryoa in Mt. View or Tadamasa in Union City. But it gets the job done. Their bowls are a tad small, especially if you get the specials or add extra goodies (unless you upgrade to a large) I need room for my meats and egg and what not to swim around! The prices are not bad at all but once you start adding stuff or substituting it can be a little on the pricey side. I say their tonkotsu broth is the best! So much flavor and not bland at all. Plus they give you a whole egg and not just half, saweet! Verdict: The waitress was super friendly and cute. Plus she was in charge of the music selection which rocked! I actually wish that they were open right now so that I could go get me some noodos!

    (3)

  • Jimmy C.

    I think this is the best ramen place in the Fremont area! I have been visiting this place for more than a year, and they never disappoint me! Dohatsuten ramen is excellent. I like the tonkotsu soup and add an additional egg. In addition to ramen, they have very good rice over stone bowl, such as curry beef and kimchi rice. Yum! And try their karage (it's a big portion) if you have large group of people so that you can share.

    (5)

  • Patrick L.

    was craving ramen while driving back to walnut creek from campbell, and found this place on yelp. restaurant was a tiny hole-in-the-wall in strip mall and actually quite a cute location. the place was 2/3 full, and a large table of young people there(prob co-workers), and another group from Tesla(car was in parking lot and one woman was wearing Tesla stretchy clothes, as if she was going to go biking)...i had decent expectations. there were many specials on the large blackboard and i chose the "C" combo(supersize me, upgraded to extra large). the service was solid as the waitress was friendly and i got my food fairly quickly. the good news - the chashu, noodles, and bamboo was pretty good. bad news - the broth was very bland(i ordered shoyu flavor). in addition, the two pieces of gyoza tasted like mush inside, worse than frozen ones from trader joes. also, the mini-curry don(curry over rice) was unrecognizable - tasted like a mixture of american chile and chinese mapo tofu...very strange. p.s. the most enjoyable part of lunch was actually chatting w/ the fellow next to me and comparing notes about the various ramen places in the bay area. yes, he liked the new ramen shop in rockridge(and i told him it was made by white people for white people, lol). nice meeting you ron - see you around.

    (2)

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Map

Opening Hours

  • Mon :11:30 am - 2:00pm
  • Mon : 11:30 am - 2:00pm

Specialities

  • Takes Reservations : No
    Delivery : No
    Take-out : Yes
    Accepts Credit Cards : Yes
    Good For : Lunch
    Parking : Private Lot
    Bike Parking : Yes
    Wheelchair Accessible : Yes
    Good for Kids : Yes
    Good for Groups : Yes
    Attire : Casual
    Ambience : Casual
    Noise Level : Average
    Alcohol : Beer & Wine Only
    Outdoor Seating : No
    Wi-Fi : No
    Has TV : No
    Waiter Service : Yes
    Caters : No

Dohatsuten Japanese Ramen

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