Outstanding ramen, incredible fresh noodles, and excellent service from Aaliyah…read more
Okiboru Ramen Takumen in Duluth was absolutely worth the visit, and honestly, I'm just mad at myself for not trying it sooner.
I started with the Okiboru buns (chicken and pork) the crispy gyoza, and the garlic nori fries. All three were a great start to the meal. The buns were soft and fluffy, and the pork bun worked really well with the garlic aioli, soy glaze, and pickled cucumber. The chicken one was good too but the pork one beats it on flavor. The gyoza had a nice crisp to them and came with a shoyu dipping sauce that tied everything together well. The garlic nori fries were also really good, crispy and well seasoned, and a fun side to snack on between everything else along with the garlic sauce to dip your fries in.
For my main dish, I ordered the tonkotsu ramen, which comes with rich pork broth, pork chashu, half a soft boiled egg, scallions, and thin Hakata noodles. I also added the thick noodle refill on the side, and I'm glad I did because both noodles were excellent in different ways. The biggest standout here was the noodle quality. You can tell immediately that these are fresh noodles because the texture is just on another level. The thin noodles were fantastic and worked perfectly with the tonkotsu broth, but the thick noodles were incredible too. It's one of those meals where after the first bite you immediately understand why people talk about fresh noodles the way they do. The broth itself was rich, flavorful, and comforting without feeling overly heavy, and the pork in the ramen was very good too.
Service was also a big part of why this visit stood out. Aaliyah was incredibly kind and welcoming, and she did a great job making the whole experience feel comfortable from the start. Good food is one thing, but good service is a huge part of what makes people want to come back, and she absolutely deserves a shoutout.
The restaurant itself was clean, spacious, and comfortable. I was dining solo, so I sat at a smaller table, but they also have booths and larger middle tables that look like they'd work well for bigger groups. Food came out pretty quickly, and parking was easy since it's in a shopping center.
And of course, everything got washed down with a Coke Zero. Not fountain, just canned, but it still hit the spot.
This was an excellent meal from start to finish. Great appetizers, outstanding ramen, truly impressive noodles, and service that made the whole visit even better. I'll definitely be back.