If you’re craving ramen, Maru Ichi hits the spot. You have a selection of ramen to choose from: kuro, miso, soy sauce, and tonkotsu. Kuro ramen is their specialty made of browned/blackened garlic and it’s good! Toppings include seaweed, slices of pork, green onions, bean sprouts, and a boiled egg. You can also order the combinations which gives you an extra two sides such as cali rolls and gyoza. They have other dishes on the menu such as soba and udon, but I haven’t gotten sick of the ramen yet to check out those dishes. One strange item I thought were the little jars of kimchee at every table. Do they serve kimchee at ramen shops in Japan??

oh and you have to pay 60cents per cup of tea. boooo.

This restaurant is located in the chinese mall area near McCarthy Ranch. It’s a mall that’s filled with a bunch of restaurants, and somewhere in between is this restaurant.

The ambience is just what you would expect in a ramen place. Small, smells good, and is…well, just normal. But the food is pretty good. I always have a problem of not getting enough noodles when I eat ramen which ends up with me craving for more food. Here at Maru Ichi, ramen itself was decent in terms of the amount of noodles that you get, but there are different ways to get completely full.

First, order some ramen. Then, order a “Kaedama” which literally means another bullet. It’s basically a bowl of extra ramen for $1. If you think that won’t be enough, order a Fried Chicken and that’ll fill you up for sure. But be warned, I was full.

Here’s the best part though…it was very cheap for the amount of food and the quality of food that I got. I suppose the competitions in the same mall will keep the price lower, but still…good for us.

Definitely try it out if you’re in the neighborhood.

I have to give this place a 4 because it’s not the most authentic. I’ll admit it’s the second best in the South Bay though, having tried 5 – 6 different well known Ramen places.

The combos make the meal the best. Mix some CA rolls with Gyoza and noodles? Wonderful combination.

The Kuro Ramen is their signature dish, but you can’t go wrong with the Tonkatsu ramen either. They’re lighter on salt and MSG than some places and that could be more pleasant to the mouth. I feel the broth is tasty, but it can have a little more flavor, as the key to good ramen is a well prepared stew that’s at least been cooking for overnight.

I’ve been to the Milpitas location only twice, but I’ve journeyed to the Mountain View location at least a dozen times as it was my favorite place to try for my lunch break during my summer job.

Also, there’s an option for “extra noodles.” Ever try large sizes at places like Pho Hoa? You get a larger bowl, but are you getting more noodles or just more soup? Maruichi gives you a separate bowl with more noodles so you know you’re not getting ripped off.

I’ve gone to a few ramen houses in the bay area, and so far this is my favorite. I wouldn’t say it blew me away… but it was definitely very very good. The Kuro ramen noodles had a great consistency, the flavor was good, and it came with plenty of other stuff in the soup to keep it from being just a noodle soup. However, my favorite thing was the negitoro donburi — and with Combo C being a mere $9.95 for a bowl of ramen and a donburi, i thought that was a spectacular deal. It’s a very generous helping of negitoro, equivalent to about 4 pieces of negitoro nigiri. The kakuni was good too, but a little too fatty for my tastes. I wasn’t that hungry but really wanted some negitoro, so for two people we got the Combo C with the negitoro donburi, an extra portion of noodles and added kakuni as a topping, and we had plenty of food.

I think Ryowa is better.