Walked past this place when taking a family friend who was visiting from NY. The food and the staff were amazing. We met with the owner and his two sons and they were super friendly and humble. We will definitely be coming back again with our friends. read more

Bone Marrow course was minuscule in size, there was not enough marrow for 2 small pieces of bread (out of the six pieces given). The crab fried rice and papaya salad were decent, though the rice was overly salty. The tartare was somewhat bland and not rich. Soup with fatty brisket was about 90% fat (uneatable kind) with bits of dry meat. It was bland and overpriced at $27. The soft shell crab was overly spicy and smothered in sweet sauce, so you couldn't even taste the crab. After these mediocre courses, we decided not to get a dessert. The "background" music was in the annoying dance/club vain, played at club level volume. Service was fine, but they did forget a dish we ordered (they did not charge us), and the server never asked us about the food once. Bone Kettle competes with Ración as the most mediocre "quality dinning" experience in Pasadena. Would not go back. read more

Love the bone marrow appetiser and beef brisket broth with noodles! Will definitely keep coming back!

This was a perfect date night for my fiancee and I. This filled both our craves and plus more. I'd recommend this place if you love ox tail or bone broth. Hell everything on this menu is amazing. They make the broth the right temperature for you don't burn yourself and they separate the noodles from the broth to make sure your noodles don't soak up all the broth. 10/10 would go again read more

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If it wasn't for work I wouldn't really venture out to Old Town Pasadena which is quite unfortunate because there are actually a ton of great places to eat (and shop). This place is worth venturing out to. They usually say it takes sometime before a restaurant gets its groove but for only being open for about 4 months this place deserves 5 stars. - Ambiance/Decor is great. Can be datey but can be a nice outing with friends. Intimate and upscale but not over the top. Just very put together. - Service is fantastic from walking in and being greeted by the host, to the very attentive staff that gave great descriptions and recommendations on menu items (I wanted it all), to the father of the owner of the restaurant making the dining experience so humbling and finally being able to meet the owner of the restaurant who is a fuckin hustler (working a day job and managing a restaurant by night). Outside of the food being amazing I would come back for the service alone. - No bar but good wine and beer selection. - Now to the FOOOOD. I've only had one other SEAsian/Indonesian Restaurant (Simpang Asia - Culver City/Palms - also worth trying) but Bone Kettle did an excellent job staying true to Asian flavors with a little bit of a upscale twist. It's unfortunate that there aren't more indonesian restaurants because besides those 2, I basically ate migoreng instant noodles throughout college. There is a loot of beef here.. I'm sad no beef ribs on the menu though I was looking forward to that :( tapas-esque style MY FAVORITE. honestly anything shareable or family style is my jam and if you don't like to share chances are we won't be friends.... BONE BROTH - 36hours, must try. thick ramen noodles with mushrooms. Sides of crispy onions and chili sambal to add to your liking. There were 3 proteins that could be served as the main entrees but also could be complimentary to your noodle soup (brisket, oxtail, ribeye). I tried the brisket and it was rich and deeeelicious. Like a take on ramen with the pork belly but not japanese not salty and beef. idk just get it. This alone could be a meal but..... BLUE CRAB FRIED RICE - with crispy onions. anything with crispy onions is good. FRIED OXTAIL TIPS - def made with fish sauce and lots of thai chilis and falls right off the bone good. STEAMED OXTAIL DUMPLINGS - cause i didn't have enough oxtails and honestly if you are wary because its a ox-tail, its basically just super tender beef. live a lil BLACK PEPPER CLAMS - that comes with a chinese donut cause you don't want to waste any of that saucy goodness i'm literally about to roll over and pass out now. I advise you go eat the nomnoms and do the same. read more

very delicious noodle and food. definitely a good place for dating with friends or family. highly recommend to everyone.

One of my favorite restaurants in Pasadena. Have yet to have a bad meal here. Eric is always welcoming and helpful with recommendations. highly recommend read more

I had dinner with a girlfriend at Bone Kettle last night and it was a great experience. I was able to make a reservation via Open Table the day before. The seating arrangements are tight as it is a small restaurant but I loved the ambiance of the place especially the decor. We ordered the rice fritters which were fried rice balls stuffed with braised short ribs and drizzled with a garlic aioli. The sauce underneath it was more Asian inspired and had a kick to it. They were very flavorful but too filling in my opinion. I ate one and was already half full. We also ordered the oxtail dumplings and they were AMAZING! The dumpling skin was thin but al dente and the oxtail had so much flavor. We each ordered our own bowl of noodles (which had sliced carrots, onion, and mushrooms in it) and we shared an order of the fatty brisket (per the servers' suggestion). I'm so glad we only ordered one protein to share as it's a pretty big portion. The bone broth was AWESOME and made the whole meal worth it. I was stuffed! My only complaint is that the prices are pretty steep. Considering you have to pay $11 per bowl of noodles and an additional $17-20 for the protein, it's pretty expensive for a bowl of noodles. Will I go back? Probably, but only for special occasions. read more

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The food here is great. However they only do takeout from 4:30 to 6pm. There's nothing posted here on Yelp and it's in very small writing on their website. Incredibly inconvenient. The staff member who picked up was also quite rude about it. read more

First time coming here! I would have to say if you want to dine in make sure you go ahead and make a reservation for this place since it is very popular and very hard to get a dine in sit! (ESP on Fridays & Saturdays) My boyfriend and I went on Sunday which was still fairly busy. With covid, they're handling it very well. Mask, face guard, gloves everything was on point. We ordered the Singapore Lobster Noodles (entree portion), the Carbonara, Bone Marrow & 7oz Bone broth. I would have to say the Lobster was cooked to perfection, it was not chewy and rubberish texture like how you would get if the lobster was overcooked. The bone marrow was delicious especially with the pairing of the little mix green salad and toasted bread. The soup was by far the star of the dinner. It was seasoned, it was just perfect *chef kiss*. The only down side was the noodles were over cooked... the texture was very how would I call it too al dente??, but it was just not my cup of tea. As far as the drinks!! The lavender spitz was magnificent! By far a go too spot for dates!! The environment and set up was so pretty! read more

I've heard about this place by friends so I had to try it for myself .... and it was by far it had the most amazing dishes !! My favorite is the garlic shrimp and the papaya salad !! Thank you to the entire Bone Kettle Crew, their service and hospitality was so warm and inviting - nowadays it's not as felt as often as it used to be!! I'll be back again soon with friends and family read more

AMAZING. So glad I found this place..food and drinks are so good! Staff was friendly and knowledgeable of their dishes.

It was a Friday night, we decided to go out for a drink and relax a bit, my hubby found this Indonesia fusion restaurant in old town. He definitely wanted to try out. We made the reservation for 8:30Pm, we wouldn't be seated by 8:45 or so. Hmm, it's was not that crowded at that time. -service: it's good, they kept tracking on how we like their dishes. The waitress was good, but not the lady who was a host to give us the seat. She seems having a lot of stress. No smiles on her face whatsoever. -oxtail dumplings: five dumplings filled with oxtail meat. The filling was good, but the skin which wrapped the meat was a bit too thick. The source was not bad. -fried chicken wings was delicious. We enjoyed it a lot. It's a little different from what we regularly have. It worth the try. -short rib rendeng is a must try dish. The meat was just cook perfectly. The oil came out from the ribs, but the mean was heavenly yummy, it's not too tender and not too chewy. We love this dish a lot. -Ube Gnocchi was a delicious one, there's duck meat and they put some apricot cubs, mushrooms, and the coconut source to enhance the whole dish. -Bone kettle noodles soup is what they famous for. Real thick ramen and the soup was pouring from the thermal pot to make this soup so special. Personally, I don't really like this kind of ramen. It just a little bit off with such a good broth. If they could provide different kinds of noodles to choose from, that would be nice. -price was not bad for this high quality food. read more

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Fun, trendy and modern way to serve Southeast Asian dishes. Indonesian food served well and not only pleasing to the eye but gastronomically satisfying. The servers and owner was on point and very attentive.make sure to make reservations since this place is quite popular these days. Great addition to old Pasadena. read more

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A favorite. Everything I've ever had here is incredibly flavorful. Good enough to go out of your way to go here. The broth was incredible and the brisket was divine. Go. read more

I hit up Bone Kettle for a late Thursday night dinner a few weeks back with my friend Ivy P., who loves Indonesian food and had heard great things about the place. We were coming off a reading at Vroman's, so it was 9:00 when we walked in, which I think is 11:00 in Pasadena time. We found parking easily across the street and the restaurant was calm when we arrived, and empty when we left an hour later. The place was lovely, elegantly decorated with blonde wood and warm lighting, with some cool artistic accents, including a dining room mural by artist Cleon Peterson (I got this from Google like just now). I liked the ambiance--it felt casual but definitely a little trendy and upscale, as you might already suspect of an Asian restaurant called "Bone Kettle." (I can picture the pho and sullungtang restaurant owners of LA going, hah? you paid someone for "font design"?) Given this, I was kind of bummed there was no booze, though from the looks of it, you can bring your own. Probably worth taking advantage of until they get their liquor license, which I'm sure is in the works. Service was solid. The menu requires a small amount of explanation, and our server did a good job telling us what the restaurant was all about. Basically, you go to Bone Kettle for one thing--the bone broth with noodles. Everything else is accompaniment. The food was great, starting with complimentary bar snack portions of pickled carrot and salted peanuts. We ordered a couple appetizers to share, and I'd recommend both of them. The steamed oxtail dumplings were meaty and delicious, ravioli-like dumplings stuffed with oxtail tips and mushrooms, with an addictive San Bai Su sauce. The citrus-brined fried jidori chicken wings were also on point. Not quite as memorable, but very good wings, tossed with chili salt and lime. The main event was that bone broth, a cousin of pho and sullungtang as well as tonkotsu ramen, made by boiling beef with onions, garlic, ginger, and spices for 36 hours, drawing every scrap of milky beefy flavor out of those bones. Bone Kettle charges $10 a head for the broth and noodles, and you can add a family style plate or two of protein. I loved that broth. It was silky and subtle with a deep, rich flavor. Our server told us to add rice wine vinegar and fried onion and chili sauce to taste, and I added some of the chili sauce to individual bites. It was satisfyingly spicy. The noodles were also on point, thick and chewy and wonderful with the broth. Honestly, the broth and noodles would have stood alone, but we supplemented them with a plate of braised oxtails. This cost $30, which more than doubled the cost of our noodle soups for what was essentially a nice extra, but I have no regrets. The oxtails were big knobs of bone holding what felt like an endless supply of tender, flavorful meat that just fell right off and became one with the soup. I'd get them again. I admit I don't know much about Indonesian food, but I grew up on nourishing Asian bone broths and Bone Kettle thoroughly impressed me. This might not be the spot to roll into in your sweatpants for a hangover cure, but it's worth seeking out if you want some comforting noodle soup in a nice sit-down Pasadena environment. read more

Definitely not a place to take your time and enjoy your food and company. After an hour and a half, THEY WILL KICK YOU OUT. And they're not even sympathetic about it. Yes, they're family owned, but they're there to turn the tables as much as they can. They won't even put an order in after being there 60 mins. It's a lousy way to dine - always checking your watch to make sure you don't get the boot! The food is good to fair - mostly with Filipino flair but to pay the price they charge and get kicked out a minute after being there an hour and a half is not worth it. We definitely don't feel welcome there. read more

Food 3.5 Service 5 OVERALL 3.5 I have heard a lot of good things about their bone broth. The broth was amazing and flavorful. Portion was good. I saw a lot of people mentioning the oxtail dumplings in the review. It was too salty for my taste and I didn't find it to be amazing. Rendang rice fritters was highly recommended by our waitress. It seemed over-fried but flavor was not bad. I would consider coming back just for the noodle and broth and maybe try some other dishes. read more

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I've been a huge fan of Komodo so I was super excited to try Bone Kettle since it's owned by the same people! Just went tonight and everything was amazing. Our server, Caleb, was seriously so attentive and so nice and helpful, 10/10 server. The food was so yummy along with all the drinks, but the dessert was the best part (get the ube cheesecake!!!!) Thank you Bone Kettle for an amazing dinner! read more

Ordered through Grubhub, it was amazing! Got the Top Sirloin, Veggie and Beef Broth by itself. Everyone loved it and it arrived hot! My wife has gastro issues and beef broth was recommended, we will definitely be ordering more Good job! read more

Thanks Sony for the nice recommendation ! Pleasant and profession team. Yummy looking and tasty food. Reasonable priced and comfy ambient. read more

Bone Kettle - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Pasadena, California

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Yes, it was good food. I enjoyed the atmosphere. I prefer to go when it is not so crowded.

Great atmosphere, staff was so kind. Loved the design of the space and the food was very reasonably priced. great for wanting to try fusion foods, loved the cocktails! read more

Tasted like authentic Indonesia food. Seriously felt like we were on the streets of Bali, but with a twist. You have to go to Bone Kettle! Try their squid ink waffles wit crab, chicken skewers, and their watermelon mint mojito. Everything is so flavorful, and this restaurant just gets it. Bone Kettle is a MUST try! read more

From start to finish, this place was great! Upon walking in the hostess greeted us and seated us right away. Our server, Scott, was so patient with us as we asked so many questions about the items on the menu. Service along based on Scott, the staff and the hostess would be 5 stars. Ambiance is clean and modern. The communal table at the front of the restaurant gets the most light, but don't be deterred if you walk by and it seems empty as the tables for 2-4 (or maybe more?) are towards the back of the restaurant where its definitely more dim. We tried the oxtail dumplings and beef tartare for starters. The dumpling order came with 5 handcrafted dumplings that I found to be a little on the salty side but my hubs absolutely loved them. The beef tartare is served with a quail egg on top and shrimp chips (prawn crackers?) on the side to scoop up the tartare. Genius! Upon sampling the broth I immediately put in my order for the broth with fatty brisket. The broth can be ordered on its own as it comes with noodles but I wanted to "beef it up" and opted for the brisket, which is served on its own for you to add at your leisure. The beef was enough for the both of us to share. We also ordered the short rib randang and a side of rice to go with it. The short rib is a rather large hunk of meat and sits atop the curry. The rice came with fried shallots and furikake. Again, I found the curry to be a bit salty but the rice helped cut it down. A trio of condiments is brought to the table for you to adjust the broth to your liking: housemade chili sauce (like sambal olek), rice wine vinegar and fried shallots. A warning on the chili sauce!! That stuff will put hair on your chest!!! We were so full from all of it that we had to pass on dessert but really look forward to having the cassava cake and avocado ice cream. You can definitely have a meal in itself with all the appetizer offerings. My hubs is not a 'soup person' and was full from the 3 (plus rice) that we ordered. I will be back for the papaya salad and bone marrow. read more

Tried out Bone Kettle for brunch over the long weekend, now I can't wait to try the dinner menu! Apparently only their second weekend open for brunch, I recommend going NOW before lines start forming out the door! What we ordered: - Citrus Brine Chicken Wings - Brisket Hash - Pandan Waffles - Egg Foo Young - The Broth Everything was DELICIOUS, but I have to say the ones I kept going back for were the Wings, Pandan Waffles, & The Broth. The chicken wings were crispy with the right amount of citrus, I wish we ordered more for the table (like a dish per person would be ideal cause we inhaled them so fast). The Pandan Waffles were deliciously green with mixed berries & black sesame flavored whipped cream (omg the whipped cream was heavenly)! But let me talk about The Broth for a second. The BROTH. With noodles. What more can I ask for -- this is literally my favorite type of food. First sip of the broth and I was like "wait, is this real?". It's all I can think of even to this day, I can't wait to go back to eat some more. It's so warm & hearty & savory & the noodles have this perfect texture, I don't even know how to describe how perfect the taste was. Carnivore? Me too, but I didn't even notice the absence of meat whilst inhaling this dish. This is one of those cases where you have to try it to get it. So just go try it. You won't be disappointed. Service was amazing, everyone was super friendly and attentive. In terms of parking, there's street parking (but was pretty limited) and also public garage parking ($6 flat rate). No wait, however we did go right at open. No idea about dinner, but we'll be back to try! :-) read more

Have been here twice and both times the ambiance, service and food all delivered above expectations.

A great addition to the growing list of restaurants in Old Town Pasadena. The food and flavors are on point. Of course your must order here is their noodles, since that's how you can try their 72 hour broth. The menu says this is an individual order, but the bowl is large enough to be shared with a group of 2 to 3. The broth is so flavorful, full of meaty goodness. The noodles have the right consistency, a little bit of bite to a lot of bounce. Don't forget to order some meat to go with your noodles. We tried the brisket, and this was perfectly cooked. Fatty and tender, and the flavors were perfect to eat by itself or along with your noodles. They also have lots of small plate appetizers that are good for sharing. The Rendang Rice Fritters were so good. Fried rice balls stuffed with tender beef rib meat, covered with rendang sauce. The sauce was savory and spicy, and tasted like traditional Indonesian rendang. The oxtail dumplings were another great dish. Loved the mushrooms in the sauce that went with the dumplings. Overall, the food is great! The restaurant is small, so make sure to make reservations to avoid a wait. My only thing is that most of the menu is beef. I hope they expand their menu and offer dishes with other meats. Will definitely be returning to try their other items. read more

my husband and i came here for brunch on sunday and the place wasnt too crowded ~11 am. we ordered the loco moco and the pork belly hash with a side of twice fried french fries. the loco moco and pork belly were actually on the specialty menu but my husband think that maybe the pork belly should not be on there. it was relatively small and not mind blowing. the loco moco was actually really good and definitely secured its place as their specialty. the twice fried french fries .... i actually didn't think too much of it especially since there was no seasoning to something that should have been seasoned. overall i thought the food tasted ok .. the service was great though cuz the food came out SUPER fast! ( i have to commend them for that ) next time .. if i do go back, i would try their pandan waffles .. that looked amazing from the other tables. read more

Love this place. I'm surprised that this is rated as not kid friendly by yelp reviewers since our 9 year old begs us to bring him here for the ramen and tender oxtail and the waitstaff are very kind to him. Loved just about everything we've had here - great papaya salad and phenomenal spicy shrimp or lobster over fried rice. The cassava cake is one of the best desserts I have ever had anywhere. Very highly Recommended read more

Comfortable outside seating area. Shrimp and papaya appetizers were good. Pork bits dish was very disappointing. It was mostly potatoes, and the pork pieces were tiny and few. read more

A little pricier than your standard noodle place, because this isn't your standard shop. The broth is amazing. I go here whenever it's raining. Easily my favorite noodle place in town. read more

Way to go Yelp!! We were super hungry after the nearby NailPro show and needed a late lunch/early dinner. We stumbled across this place and couldn't be happier. I think our favorites were the ox tail dumplings and the steak tartare. In all, we had that fatty brisket bone broth , bone marrow, and garlic steak fried rice. The steak was absolutely perfect, and tender and seasoned. I highly recommend reservations. We were lucky enough to get seated fright away. We walked in right when they opened. Now it's time for a nap. Happy food coma status! read more

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Full disclosure: I came here last night with people who know the family who run Bone Kettle. However, that does not diminish the fact that I was thoroughly blown away by the food. I'm a bit jaded when it comes to dining out. I used to be very excited about food trends; there wasn't a slice of pork belly or Brussels sprout that I wouldn't swoon over. However, in the last few years things have changed. Life is no longer an endless string of splurge meals. I've put myself on a budget and have grown to look askance at "small plates" menus and anything that reeks of trendy pretentiousness. So when my friend invited me to her birthday dinner and said we were going to a place called Bone Kettle, I grew skeptical. "Bone broth," I thought, with a roll of the eyes. Well, now, a full 12 hours after our meal, I can safely say going to Bone Kettle was one of the best dining experiences I've ever had. We began with several small plate starters. My defenses crumbled almost immediately when I took my first bite of chicken wing. "Oh wow," I said. The entire meal was a series of "oh wow" moments. There was fierce debate around our table about which was best, the hush puppies or the oxtail dumplings or the beef tartare (the tartare was my favorite), but picking favorites seemed silly, because frankly, everything was delicious. The real pièce de résistance, though, was that bone broth. It was served like ramen, with noodles, and we ordered a variety of meats on the side (sous vide ribs, oxtail, and chicken with mushrooms). It also came with vinegar, fried shallots, and freshly-made, super-spicy house sambal. That broth though, let me tell you, did not need any enhancement. Simmered for 36 hours, it was given a full day-and-a-half to let all that marrow and gelatin render. The finished product was so flavorful and so silky; perfectly seasoned but not at all salty, just pure, delicious umami dancing across the palate. It was unlike any other broth I'd ever had, its depth of flavor made me want to take my time eating, to let my tongue explore, a new note emerging with each slurp. The food at Bone Kettle wasn't like most other Indonesian restaurants I've been to. Not only was everything presented in an aesthetically-pleasing way, you could really sense the refinement from beginning to end. It was so obvious with every bite that these dishes are the base of Chef Erwin's roots. This is legacy cooking, handed down over generations, then married with incredible technique. It was so nice to spend an evening with friends, geeking out over food and savoring every bite. Kudos to Erwin and Eric. I can't wait to dig into my leftovers, and to come back one day. read more

I went here during Dine LA due to cheap prices for food. The salad wasn't that good. Chicken wings and broth was delicious. I would come back and experience other foods. read more

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Horrible service and management, this place is in desperate need of staff training. I mean I get it in COVID it's hard to get good staff, but a minimum level of quality should really be enforced. The front desk we had was literally the worse I've ever seen. read more

I had lunch for the first time at Bone Kettle with my client. The decor was pleasant the tables weren't too, close together and it smelled delicious. If you despise Brussels sprouts you must order Bone Kettles Brussel sprouts. They are not to be missed absolutely delicious! I had asparagus also scrumptious! Ramen with the ox tail sent me to heaven and ecstasy in front of people I don't know! Caleb our waiter was attentive and I am certain that we will share moments in life together again because I cannot stop thinking about that ox tail. read more

Food was good - we ordered the crispy rice salad, oxtail dumplings, steak tartare, lumpia, sticky pork ribs and top sirloin bone broth. Crispy rice salad and sticky ribs were probably my favorite. We sat in the back "outdoor" patio (it's enclosed with a glass ceiling) on a warm summer weekend night and to be honest it was quite uncomfortable temperature-wise so we didn't enjoy the dinner as much as we wanted to because we were sweating through it. They have some sort of fan blowing air in there, but it didn't help. We didn't move at first because we thought it would be fine, but we were mistaken and in too deep at this point. I suggest asking for indoor seating where they had A/C blasting and it was nice and cool (and if you're having the bone broth - prob a good idea). They also have al fresco seating in front of the restaurant if you prefer outdoor. Service was okay. We were able to order what we wanted and got our food/drinks in a timely manner, but it took a good 15-20 mins before our server actually came to our table upon seating. I think it's a place worth trying because the food is good. I just wish the experience we had was better - will probably give it another chance, someday. read more

Surprisingly very good! Bone marrow soup is different from stock. It's not beef stock nor just plain soup. This had a nice citrus and garlic low tone to the whole soup. You can add whatever you want to it. Steak, tri-tip, bone marrow meat to the soup's order or have it plain! This was pricey but the quality and service was great. read more

Bone Kettle - Bone soup with skirt steak. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Pasadena, California

I went here a while ago for my grandfather's birthday. FANTASTIC! The service was great! Our waitress suggested us things to try and why we should order based on what we told her what we liked. We had never been there before. The atmosphere is nice and since we were a larger party we got a more private booth. The place itself was a little small but nothing major. It was clean and the food was great. A little pricey but definitely worth everything there. Service Food Atmosphere EVERYTHING read more