Seattle is known for its diverse and delicious food scene, and ramen is no exception. World-renowned for its seafood, coffee, and outdoor recreation, the Emerald City also hosts a variety of top-notch ramen restaurants.
Seattle’s neighborhoods are known for their diversity in cuisine. Heavily influenced by Eastern culture, some of the best ramen chefs in the world call this city home.
With so many restaurant options in Seattle to choose from, it can be difficult to know which ones are truly the best. From traditional Japanese-style ramen to creative fusion dishes, Seattle represents with its selection of noodle-based comfort food.
Whether you’re looking for a quick lunch or an intimate dinner escape while staying at your cozy vacation home, these are the top ten places to get your ramen fix around Seattle.
Midnite Ramen
- $$
- Website: https://www.ramenseattle.com/
- Location: Multiple
Elmer Komagata is renowned for his exquisite cooking that fuses French techniques and Japanese traditions—a combination he has been perfecting since the 1980s in Los Angeles. Initially unable to find the perfect spot when he brought his cooking to Seattle, Komagata opened up a mobile ramen shop which is now a staple of the Seattle scene.
At selected local breweries, Midnite Ramen offers a vibrant yatai experience. Their light base broth can be transformed with tare to flavor it like shoyu and miso. The onomichi ramen is especially noteworthy – with fish powder providing flavor and pork fatback imparting texture and richness to the soup.
Since they’re mobile, you’ll have to keep up with their schedule–but we promise it’s worth it! Find their schedule on Midnite Ramen’s website.
Yoroshiku Japanese Restaurant
- $$
- Website: https://www.yoroshikuseattle.com/
- Location: 1911 N. 45th Street, Seattle
The shoyu and shio ramens at Wallingford’s izakaya are both incredibly tasty, but the miso ramen stands out with its distinctive, earthy flavor from the soybean paste. Plus, this restaurant has the fattiest pork chashu around!
Unique and interesting choices include wagyu shoyu ramen and a Fisherman Ramen with seafood in miso broth. With a mantra to “prepare with your heart, share with your soul,” you can be sure you’ll have a memorable dining experience at Yoroshiku!
Nuna Ramen
- $
- Website: https://www.nunaramen.com/
- Location: 501 N. 36th Street, Seattle
If you’re looking for delicious ramen, this rustic eatery has it all!
Known for putting a modern interpretation onto Japanese favorites, try their Nuna Ramen dish, which includes kimchee and a rich pork broth. You can also choose from different types of noodles and add small touches like bamboo shoots and bok choy for extra flavor.
Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya
- $$
- Website: https://www.kizuki.com/
- Location: Multiple
The Pacific Northwest branch of the ramen chain Kukai, opened in Bellevue in 2012 and has since grown to span far and wide.
Kizuki’s ramen variety includes a garlic tonkotsu shoyu that is flavorful enough on its own. Still, even better is the yuzu shio with its light yet well-balanced brothy blend of salt and Japanese citrus flavor. The thin slices of chashu bring an added smoky taste to the dish.
Alternatively, for those who favor no soup, tsukemen where noodles are dipped into a separate cup of flavourful broth.
Betsutenjin
- $$
- Website: https://betsutenjinramenusa.com/
- Location: 954 E Union Street, Suite 102, Seattle
The outstanding pork bone broth served here, which has a luscious, creamy, and dreamy consistency, is all you need—no other options required when something tastes this divine.
This place has the kind of word-of-mouth reputation that lets you know it must be good. In the past, you would have to wait in line for ages for their Hakata-style broth, but now you can get it for takeout and enjoy it back at your cozy accommodation. Don’t forget to ask for the condiments like crispy garlic chips and spiced bean sprouts!
Ooink
- $$
- Website: https://www.ooinkramen.com/
- Location: 1416 Harvard Avenue, Seattle
Chong Boon Ooi, the chef-owner of Ooink, makes a signature silky pork broth that inspired the name, though not calling it tonkotsu. Located on Capitol Hill above a QFC grocery store, Ooink dishes out exquisite ramen crafted from house-made tares and noodles.
The shoyu is delicious, but if you want to have your tastebuds tingling, try the spicy ramen (or spicy kotteri ramen) with a heat level ranging between one and four. A side dish of Ayam goreng (Malaysian-seasoned chicken) pairs perfectly with any noodle bowl.
Ramen Danbo
- $$
- Website: https://ramendanbo.com/
- Location: Multiple
Ramen Danbo initially jumped from Japan to Vancouver, B.C., before making its way to grateful patrons in Seattle.
At Ramen Danbo, you can enjoy Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen in shio, miso, or the unique negi-goma flavor. With customizable options for noodle hardness and thickness, broth intensity, lard amount, and spice amount, your bowl can be a customizable ramen dream!
For bigger appetites, you can even order extra noodles as ‘kaedama’.
Arashi Ramen
- $$
- Website: https://www.arashiramen.com/
- Location: 5401 20th Avenue NW, Seattle
Arashi, which began in Tukwila and then expanded to Ballard, specializes in the tonkotsu-style ramen from Kyushu Island in Southern Japan.
Menu options for this savory pork broth include shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), miso, spicy miso, and unique black garlic with the tonkotsu miso option. Although not indicated on the menu, customers can ask for their noodles to be cooked firm (katamen) or extra firm (barikata) if they would like to avoid the default preparation of slightly soft.
Hokkaido Ramen Santouka
- $$
- Website: https://santouka-usa.com/
- Location: Multiple
After initially introducing itself to Japanese supermarkets in the US and Canada, Santouka established its first American restaurant in Bellevue in 2014 and then extended to University Village.
This Japanese offering includes several types of premium tonkotsu ramen, such as shoyu, miso, and spicy miso-flavored tonkotsu varieties.
However, it is the conventional shio (salt) ramen that demonstrates the pork broth best. It is also the only type that comes with a pickled red plum. The noodles are not precisely straight but rather lightly wavy, enabling them to absorb more of the broth with each noisy slurp.
Samurai Noodle
- $$
- Website: http://www.samurainoodle.com/index.html
- Location: Multiple
Considering its small size, calling this restaurant “cozy” would be generous–but that doesn’t stop droves of excited diners from lining up!
This International District’s ramen-ya, which has a sister restaurant on the Ave, is a spot-on impersonation of Japan’s convenient tiny soup eateries. During mealtimes, queues often spill out onto the sidewalk. About 20 visitors can coexist in tight quarters with tables close together.
Unorthodox ramen dishes, including soups flavored with scorching chicken stock or miso paste, are enjoyable, but its star staple will always be tonkotsu ramen. A generous bowl of milky and creamy pork bone soup paired with thick ramen braids, slices of pork, green onion, and specks of mushrooms presents itself to guests that slurp this main course joyfully.
With gloomy weather outside, there’s no more fulfilling lunch than this one – only in Seattle!
Jinya Ramen Bar
- $$
- Website: https://www.jinyaramenbar.com/
- Location: 15600 NE 8th Street, Bellevue
Although its Stateside debut was originally in Los Angeles, Seattleites have eagerly adopted Jinya Ramen Bar as one of their staples.
Owner Tomo Takahashi started Jinya with the desire to bring authentic and rich Japanese ramen flavors to the States, and it has been well-received ever since.
The toppings are delightful, but a Jinya, the broth, and noodles will always and forever take center stage. Choose between their six signature broth balances, topped with classic Japanese ingredients such as miso, kombu, dashi, and onito.
The thick, handmade noodles bring the whole dish into balance. Selected by travelers as one of the Five Best Ramen Spots in America in 2017, Jinya is a must-try.
Eat and Stay in Seattle
Seattle is home to some of the best ramen spots in the country. From tonkotsu-style ramen to unique takes on traditional shio, there is something for everyone. Seattle’s Pacific Northwest nights will have you grateful for this soul-warming fare.
So grab your chopsticks and find your perfect bowl of ramen nearby one of our Seattle Vacation Homes!