The Road to Ramen Expertise

I have a bad habit of wanting to try new places so much that I almost never repeat restaurants. Although this keeps my eating interesting, it still is kind of silly to not go to back to the ones that are awesome. However! There are a few exceptions. Some foods are so amazing that I want to become an  ultimate expert so I can always end up at the best venues. So far I've mastered froyo & cupcakes, and now I officially am taking on the ramen challenge! I don't think there are THAT many places that serve it, so it seems like a manageable task. Plus, Carlos is also a big fan, so it's a good project for us to take on contigo (yes, i know i'm using that word incorrectly).

Yesterday, we decided to start crossing off some of the places on the Yelp Silicon Valley "ramen list" and hit up Dohatsuten in very south Palo Alto. This place is down in almost Mt. View on San Antonio between 101 and el Camino. It is a very small little shop and looks pretty legit from the outside. We got there about 45 minutes before they were closing for the afternoon, and I was amazed that every table but one was completely filled. There were only two other white people in the place, so I was at first quite excited about the authenticity.

ramen focused menu

The menu was totally ramen focused with an entire sheet dedicated to picking the broth, type, and add-ons to your soup. The back had a few appetizers, but you can tell people come for the ramen. So far so good. We both ordered their "Dohatsuten" special. I added an egg to mine (<3 egg), and Carlos got the "Hyper" version. Points for using the adjective hyper in food context :).

dohatsuten special

Normally I am ok with crowds and noise levels, but I was kind of surprised about how loud the place was for a Sunday afternoon. There were a lot of families and screaming babies. It didn't necessarily bother me, but it definitely didn't add to the positive ambiance.

hyper dohatsuten special

I was starving and super excited when the food finally came; it looked very authentic and delicious. Unfortunately, the taste wasn't as good as the appearance :(. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was not outstanding. Granted we are both sick at the moment (completely coincidentally :P) and not on our tasting A-game, but we just weren't impressed by flavors. The noodles themselves really reminded me of Top Ramen for some reason. They were kind of bland. The broth was tasty, but not as spicy as I would have liked or strong enough to really flavor the ingredients. The "hyper" version didn't seem that much fancier, it just added some more meat, the egg, corn (so jealous), and some green onion things. 

Maybe it would have been better if we had paid extra money for different types of broth (lame! I think broth options should be free), but their "specialty" dish was not really worth the adventure. I'd vote any of the San Mateo shops over this.