We went to Chimera on opening night. First: Our waitress was SO sweet, attentive, and awesome. Wait staff on point from what I can tell. It was a very small menu since it was the first night (I've caught wind of the fact that they've already added ramen, YES). We ordered the pork belly bao, the duck dumplings, a cucumber appetizer (that one was fairly forgettable), and the seafood soon dubu. I had read up on Chimera before going and one thing that was clear is the owner's intent for the restaurant to offer options without being considered fusion. I love that. The meal was amazing, the decor and atmosphere is wonderful, and I would absolutely recommend this place. I really think he's nailed it in terms of giving Boulder a new & (most importantly) unique spot to enjoy. read more

Read a recent article in the Denver Post about Zoe Zoe Ma owner taking over the Sushi Tora space and creating a new restaurant called Chimera. Boy were we not disappointed. The restaurant itself was newly remodeled and felt very comfortable. After a warm welcome by the staff, we ordered several orders of "Little Eats" including soup dumplings, bao buns (savory pork in a soft bun) and their cucumber salad. Delicious! For our main course "Big Eats", it was a toss-up between the Chow Fun with Chicken or the Ramen. Both were excellent, but have to show you what they served me for my Ramen dish (See Pic). It was a "10". Not only the best Ramen in Boulder, but it would give the best Ramen restaurants in Tokyo a run for its money. Highly recommend you make a trip and be the judge for yourself. The picture says it all! read more

Dragonfly Noodle - Chimera's Ramen - Ramen Near Me - Boulder, Colorado

Best. Ramen. In. Boulder. No joke. My boyfriend and I just got back from Japan, where we ate ramen everyday, and Chimera has had the closest ramen we have found in Boulder to what we had in Japan. We opted to start with the duck bao. OMG if you haven't had duck bao, you must have it! Bao is so light, like a little pillow! And the duck is savory and soft! The service was awesome. I believe our server's name was Allan, but he was attentive, and super comfortable to talk to. We chatted about how no one orders unfiltered sake, but they should. The manager, or owner or both, greeted us and sat us, later coming to the table to genuinely ask how we enjoyed the food. It was like we were his guests, not just some customers. The atmosphere was really inviting. The red booths were very comfortable and lent a nice bit of color to the whites and woods used as decor. read more

Great place with a good atmosphere. The people who worked there were all very nice. The restaurant included the tip in our order price with a message about how they pay their workers a livable wage, which is always good to see. They had many options including vegetarian ramen, which can be hard to find. I recommend! read more

This place has good ramen! It's a bit on the expensive side and they charge a service fee on top of being expensive. If you want a $20+ bowl of ramen then this is the place. I had the Black Tonkatsu. read more

We came to Chimera to enjoy some fresh, authentic Ramen noodles. We were excited by the interesting options they had on the menu and the customizable additions you could make for your Ramen. When we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised by the restaurant itself. It gives the feel of a casual dining experience with the atmosphere of an upscale restaurant. We were comfortable with our 15 month old there and each of us wearing our boots and jackets, but could tell some families were there to celebrate a special occasion. The menu is pretty small, with a number of appetizers, ramen options, and some additional entrees. We tried most of the appetizers on the happy hour menu, but were underwhelmed. The wings and dumplings were lacking in substance and flavor. Our first round of drinks didn't go well either, with the waiter forgetting to bring me my sake, and my wife's pineapple mojito having almost no sweetness to it. It was very tart and bad to be sent back. The main course, on the other hand, was quite good. The ramen was delicious. The pork and chicken tasted wonderful. It was also a very filling serving of food. I'd go back to try some of the other ramen options and to add some additional ingredients, like another protein or an egg. All in all it was a good experience. The restaurant is pricey and the happy hour options were let downs, but I'd recommend it for the ramen. One last remark- the bathrooms. They are very confusing to get to because they are in a back hallway shared by other restaurants. I'd recommend some better signage to help people navigate back and forth. The other couples I was with all confirmed that they got lost on the way back from the restroom. read more

Very good ramen. Excellent sauces that include garlic and chili, but nothing too spicy. Nice service.

As a fan of their sister restaurant Zoe Ma Ma, I had high hopes for this place and spoiler alert - I was not disappointed! Stopped in for an early dinner right when they opened at 4pm. The space is beautiful, with zen-inspiring colors and lots of natural wood. Would make a wonderful date night spot. When I stopped in I was on a mission to try out their ramen. When it arrived I was shocked to see just how big the bowl was - holy cow it was as big as my head! I really enjoyed the ramen - they make their own noodles, which I LOVE! The broth is unique - a cross between tonkotsu and shio style, so there is a lot of flavor but it's not super heavy. The pork is delicious, slightly charred and cooked really well. I enjoyed my experience a lot. There were so many other things on the menu I wanted to try and based on the tastiness of the ramen I look forward to returning and trying more on the menu. read more

Dragonfly Noodle - Delicious ramen - Ramen Near Me - Boulder, Colorado

Food was good but very overpriced, $2 to add an egg to a dish that traditionally has an egg was too much. With so many choices in Boulder I will not be returning. Bathroom was disgusting. read more

Starts off gotta order before you sit. Then they bury 15 pct gratuity without telling you. Also Ramen has like nothing normal in it. All add ins EVEN the frikkin EGG? I have eaten ramen all over the world including china dozens of times and have NEVER been charged for the egg. This is bush league !!! Tables are gross. Gotta clean yourself and to top it all of food is barely mediocre. Don't waste your time or money here. Oh and the Bao is 1.50 cheaper next door at Zo read more

I've been there twice after hikes and have been disappointed both times. They make their own ramen noodles but vastly over cook them. I would not recommend read more

The ramen here is delicious! Do not trust some of the other reviews. I'm from Los Angeles and this beats out anything I've had there. The pork tonkatsu with a soft egg, absolutely amazing. And the owners are just so nice. read more

Great ramen. I had the butter lobster bowl and added bok choy. He had the chimera bowl with pork belly and egg. A cold front blew in today and this was the perfect for dinner on a cool night. Drink menu is limited. They are in transition from a full bar to limited beer and sake menu. read more

Came back while visiting Colorado for the summer. The name changed but everything else is the same. Absolutely delicious ramen, great service. read more

Excellent. Especially black tonkatsu. Added chili oil and soft egg. Also had the happy miso (swapped in rare steak for chix). Yummm.

The food is decent but expensive and they have a really nice manager. A bonus for the large portions.

The spicy Ramen and the Lobster ramen were amaze-balls. When in Boulder get yourself here! read more

Dragonfly Noodle - Ramen Near Me - Boulder, Colorado

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There's a conference I go to in Boulder every year, and I've visited Chimera two years in a row, now. Like most places in Boulder, they're vegetarian/vegan friendly. The veggie ramen is really delicious, as is the veggie bao. Perhaps best of all, I was able to get seated here with a group of 9 or 10 on a weekend evening in the summer, when most of the other places we tried were full. I'll probably be back again next year! read more

Ramen was excellent. Great flavor. Super fresh. Brody and Julia took exceptional care of us. read more

Dragonfly Noodle - Ramen Near Me - Boulder, Colorado

I just experienced a whole lot of delicious. The Pho broth is worthy of slurping. It is absolutely delicious and savory. The broth really enhanced the smoked brisket. Perfect balance of rice noodles (making this a great GF option). crunchy sprouts and scallions. Beautiful leaves of basil pulled from the stem, making it easy for take away. Very reasonably priced. My first of many visits. read more

My fiance and I both got the Miso Happy ramen and it was fantastic. I got mine with chicken and he got beef. Perfect, flavorful broth, homemade noodles, and super fresh ingredients. Definitely recommend and will be back. read more

Ramen traditionally comes with an egg. It's an extra charge here and not done great. We ordered and they sat us at a dirty table with no silverware or water and we had to ask multiple times. They brought dirty plates and served 2 of our party of 5 15 min before everyone else. Of course tip was included. Food was good tasting though. They just need to work out their service read more

So good I had to come back again the second night while visiting Boulder. The Thai green curry was astounding!! read more

The "Chimera Ramen" bowl is the best bowl of noodles I've ever had. And let me tell you, I have eaten some noodles in my day. This chef has done some really beautiful noodly things. The baos are heckin' righteous too. 100% recommend. read more

Dragonfly Noodle - Chimera Ramen - Ramen Near Me - Boulder, Colorado

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Chimera is the sister restaurant to Zoe Ma Ma's next door. They are supposed to bring the flavors from the Pacific Rim. So it's a Pan-Asian-ish restaurant. One of the main entrees are their ramen. I tried their Chimera Ramen. It comes with their house broth. Their house broth tasted like tonkotsu broth, which is pork based. It wasn't to fatty or thick. It had good flavor to it. It also came with pork belly, enoki mushrooms, sprouts, seaweed, lobster-buttered corn, and soft egg. The noodles were house made. The noodles seemed springy and good. It's one of the few, if not the only, ramen place in Boulder. I think they have an acceptable ramen. It's great on a cold day. The staff were friendly and helpful. read more

The food was decent, hardly exceptional. But the way the place is run is annoying and detracts from the experience. I'll never go back. When we arrived there was a line in front of the counter where you order your food, but not enough space for the line inside the restaurant, so people had to queue up half inside, half outside in the rain with the door half open. They demanded that we all wear masks, even those of us (most people by now) who are fully vaccinated. Anti-science and pointless, as the people dining in the restaurant have their masks off anyway. Nearly all other nearby businesses are already masks optional for the vaccinated, as it should be . They automatically tack on 15% tip to your bill, which you pay up front, before service. (With explanation that tips are supposedly racist and genderist. Whatever). You can "opt out" of the mandatory tip, but who is going to do that, especially before they're served. We were seated at a high top with horribly uncomfortable stools. They gave us a small cruet of water, not even enough for 2 full glasses. It took several minutes before bringing glasses. The time it took for the food to arrive was many minutes longer than typical of other ramen places. And they never came by to refill the water. read more

Very cordial and nice staff. My daughter and I had their Udon Noodle special (stir fry) and was maybe an average meal. Heavy sauce that tasted ok but way too salty. The amount of sodium did not make the dish appetizing. Didn't want to send it back and get a new dish because we had two ordered two of them. My daughter wanted to go to Noodles and Company but I persuaded her to try a local restaurant. My mistake; Noodles and Co would of been a better choice this time. read more

Now open for dine in! Ramen was terrific, highly recommend the pork broth based bowls. read more

Ok if you want some ramen, but you won't ever crave the place. Chicken seemed undercooked and small spoons so bring your own larger normal one read more

I enjoyed my meal at Chimera overall. My one big complaint was with the eggplant bao because there was not a single grain of salt on this item which naturally made it very bland. It was otherwise served on a nice, fluffy bun and the eggplant perfectly crispy- please don't forget to salt and season!!! The ramen, however, was really yummy and my vegetarian version was thoroughly enjoyed. My husband ordered the spicy chicken ramen and also was very happy with his dish. We moved here from NYC and have high standards for ramen and were thoroughly surprised at how good this little ramen restaurant in Boulder performed! read more

Chimera is unfortunately the perfect example of good marketing and an Asian restaurant that gets away with a lot in Boulder. We like Zoe Ma Ma (not the most authentic tasting, but good and healthy!) and were excited to try their sister restaurant. The first time we went, we tried the spicy ramen and Chimera ramen. We felt they were pretty underwhelming (no depth of flavor), but we left thinking "that meal would have been fine if it were 1/2 the cost". We finally went back last night, at the request of a friend, and left feeling disappointed and bloated. The appetizers were very tasty. The poke was great in flavor, kind of sad in amount of wonton chips, but delicious. The pork bao had some nice texture going on. We were excited! Drinks - I ordered the Ryzing Seoul (joking that I was doing so because I'm korean) and my company both ordered a Dark and Stormy. The D&S was described to me as tasting like "a rail drink at the club" but, in Chimera's defense, the drink wasn't on the menu. For mains, I ordered the Thai Curry, which sounded delicious. The menu failed to mention that the curry might've used sugar instead of salt - or maybe that was a blessing in disguise. Not to be overly dramatic here, but the curry was really not nearly as good as less "trendy", more casual restaurants in the area. My friends, who are much nicer than I, tasted the curry and all shared at the end of the dinner that they were surprised that I was committed to finishing it. My friend got the Chow Fun noodles, which were surprising. Tasted fine, but nothing you couldn't find at a takeout joint. My boyfriend attempted the spicy ramen and felt the same disappointment. The best part was when the waitress told him to mix in the "umami bomb" for flavor because, well, .... what flavor? All in all, we initially felt like jerks for leaving the restaurant with the opinions we did. We had just been talking about how great it is that the Boulder food scene is blossoming. Hopefully the food will improve at Chimera. read more

Not my favorite ramen, but it's pretty good for Boulder. Parking is a pain since it's on Pearl street. The service is great. They do their best to help you, especially if you've never had this sort of Asian food before. The soup dumplings look nice in presentation but aren't great. They break a little too easily. I didnt feel like the soup had too much flavor. The crab had some hard pieces which made it unenjoyable. The ramen on the other hand was more enjoyable. I got the spicy ramen. The soup had some good spice flavor to it. The meat was tasty. I tried my friends pork belly and it was quiet good as well. The noodles are on the firmer side, but that comes down to your preference. I wish we could have customized and added to our ramen like most places. Overall not a bad experience if you're craving ramen. read more

My girlfriend and I got the Chimera and Miso. I'm from LA so I'm a bit of a snob and my gf has only been to one other place. We both thought our ramens lacked flavor. The egg was nice but it wasn't marinated and the broth in both tasted store bought. I definitely won't be going back. Sorry Chimera. read more

Best ramen outside of Japan!!! I lived in Japan for almost eight years and this is as good as I have ever had. Is it exactly the same flavors as a Japanese ramen? Maybe not but their ramen is so good it doesn't matter. If you like ramen come eat here, you won't regret it. read more

First the service: waitress took my order and rushed away ignoring my husband who was ready to order holding the menu. When we waved her down 5 minutes later she finally took his order. Then another server delivered one of his appetizers along with one he had not ordered. He immediately told them it wasn't his. I was still waiting. Then I noticed another waitress at the next table did the same thing to a couple there: took his order and immediately walked away. The man called her back and said his wife was ready to order too. Now the food: the bao in a bun was great. The soup-filled bao was beautifully presented, kind of drippy but pleasant. The chimera ramen bowl was very good, not at all spicy. Tried to order dessert (only 2 on menu) but was told they don't have the fortune cookie. read more

Lovely restaurant and good food! One of the owners even came to our table to help serve and check on us. I always find that telling of how much care is put into a place with a solid sense of equality which is so important for moral. Also it was in a prime location in beautiful downtown Boulder. Great menu selection. I'd come again! Thank you Chimera read more

The food is good (nothing to write home about, but good), but they seriously need to step up their service. We had reservations through open table, but when we showed up they couldn't find it in their system. The host said that she needs to put us on the waiting list with the wait of 30 minutes. When I showed her the reservation on my phone, the host was very displeased and said "fine! if you really want I can seat you now". She really made us feel unwelcome, like we are an imposition. We were very close to turning around and never coming back. First impressions are important, and I would rather go to the restaurant where they value customers. The server was very polite, but gave us the wrong information about the sake they had on the menu. We ordered appetizers, but surprisingly our main courses arrived first. Looked like the communication was lacking, as multiple staff stopped by our table trying to figure out our order. I am not sure if we will return here... The food was ok, but it didn't make us overlook the service. Luckily there are many other fabulous restaurants in Boulder. read more

I went to this new restaurant with high hopes of a good ramen joint in Boulder. Sadly all I found was an over priced Ramen that was mediocre at best. Food quality was great but not what is expected of a high quality ramen establishment. Noodles: Fresh but not as springy as it should be for fresh Ramen. Broth: Broth was disappointing. It lacked flavor and they only had style of broth that they use for the 3 Ramen options they have. Presentation: Great! read more

Loved the food fresh, great flavors, good service, super local. Only complaint is the chicken in my dish was so small and few it was a bit hard to find. read more

Really good ramen. The Pork Belly Bao was amazing, as were the Duck Dumplings. We had the Chimera Ramen and it was wonderful. Homemade noodles and rich broth. read more

Dragonfly Noodle - Ramen Near Me - Boulder, Colorado