Every time I take a stroll down Robson Street, I’m constantly amazed by the sheer number of people that are lined up for Ramen Danbo. In order to maintain such a crazy line, I figured that they must be doing something right! . I ordered the Classic Rekka Ramen (10.95) with a soft boiled egg (1.75). The noodles had a great firmness to them and the broth was very rich. That said, I didn’t find that the togarashi really added much in the way of spiciness or extra flavouring…so I might as well have opted for the regular Classic Ramen instead and saved myself the buck. Most other ramen shops tend to have the powder in a shaker at each table so I found it interesting that they infuse your ramen with it prior to arriving at your table. The meat was tender though and the egg added a nice finish to the dish.
Super tasty ramen! I love to eat here with my partner.
I don't recommend groups larger than 2 people because the space is small.
There is always a line but it goes by fast, well worth it.
If you want to eat here, get here early. There is almost always a line out the door but it moves pretty fast. It is also totally worth the wait.
The best part is, once you're inside, you don't feel rushed at all. The service is quick and the food is always great. Perfect for the Vancouver rain. My favorite is the standard bowl with all the fixings.
Highly recommend!
This place was recommended by Becki & Chris(YouTube) there was already a lineup at 10:20am waiting for the doors to open at 11am i ordered the Spicy Miso Rekka Ramen with thin noodles,firm,standard,rich and a lot of Umami sauce with Soft-boiled Egg and Nori as extra toppings the meal was delicious(could have been spicier)and the service was friendly i would highly recommend this place,please note this place gets crazy busy bring a bit of patience
My ranked #2 best ramen in Vancouver next to Santouka which is #1. Danbo offers delicious Fukuoka-style ramen. What I like is that you can customize your ramen to your liking, from noodle thickness to noodle firmness to broth richness. Overall, good ramen and the side dishes (like the gyoza) are just okay for me.
This is the place that i am looking for. Their ramen is super good and i feel like im really in Japan. Must try.... its really authentic ramen
[3.5/5] I was pleased with the flavour of the classic tonkatsu pork broth at Ramen Danbo. The classic thin noodles with the extra firmness was not as firm as I had hoped, but they tasted okay. The broth was cloudy but the temperature made the oiliness acceptable and quite flavourful. Overall, the noodle soup was delicious and I could see why the place is so popular. The gyoza here is also very tasty. I would come back if the wait is short.
We stumbled across this place by pure accident and it was great! Authentic ramen at a very reasonable price. Excellent customer service as well. Highly recommend it.
Ramen Danbo offers a Fukuoka-style ramen.
You can customize your bowl of noodles, from the firmness of the noodles, richness of the broth, to extra toppings and sides. They also give the options to order extra noodles to add to your remaining broth if you are still hungry.
Their broth is rich and flavorful, and it's even better with their spicy sauce!
Be prepared for a little bit of waiting time until you get seated.
Today was the day I experienced real ramen for the first time. Today was the day my life changed.
In all seriousness, Ramen Danbo serves excellent ramen with excellent service. You get your choice of noodle size (two choices), firmness (five choices), broth consistency (three choices), amount of fat (or lard) used (four choices) and amount of Tare (spicy) sauce used (four choices). If the ~500 different standard customization options do not satisfy you, then the taste will. Regardless of any customization, you will be getting a wonderful mouthful of ramen in a broth you created. The ramen noodles themselves have a slight egg taste giving the noodles some uniqueness, and the pork being simmer fried in their special sauce gives the chashu a distinct flavor while being extremely tender. The best part has to be the kaedama, which is essentially a noodle refill. You can purchase a half or full order of noodles after you're done your first serving for just a dollar or two.
Taste: 5/5
Quality: 5/5
Service: 4/5
Price: 4/5
Total: 18/20 > 4.5/5
Ramen Danbo is a busy little ramen shop tucked into the west side of Robson. Getting there around 730 on a Sunday night, there was a line going out the door which took about 30 minutes for my friend and I to get through. It's clear that this place values efficiency and speed, similar to most ramen places down this part of Robson. We were seated and immediately given our menus.
I ended up ordering the Shio ramen with extra char-siew. I really enjoyed how you can customize the type of noodles, their texture, the broth, the lard, and the spiciness. I chose the standard levels except for lard which I chose less (trying to be healthier? kinda haha). I got it fairly quickly and found the broth to be very flavourful and rich. The noodles were a bit thinner than I expected but texture was perfect. It was a decent portion size. On a windy winter Vancouver day, it was perfect. I left the place feeling satisfied and not bloated at all.
Prices were pretty good - I paid a total of $15 which I thought was reasonable. I liked the decor of the place and how friendly the staff were. Even the chefs were friendly! All in all, definitely one of the better Vancouver ramen places. Recommended.
Yes. We,re Eating Again.
+4
When we arrive at any of the 5 or 6 ramen places on Robson near Denman at noon on Sunday, we expect to wait. It's a fact of life. So when we found ourselves perusing the menu at our table in Ramen Danbo after only 20 minutes, we were happy. We were greeted enthusiastically by the staff upon arriving (and when leaving) which is always fun. It makes me feel like Norm from Cheers! Ordering is a little complicated so not for someone who can't make up their minds (choice of noodles, softness, broth richness, spiciness, add ons etc) but the wait staff recorded our choices flawlessly. My partner had the Tonkatsu with thick noodles while I had the miso with thin. We both had an egg which was amazing, and I had tasty crunchy wood ear mushrooms. Really excellent Tonkatsu broth which apparently is boiled (the bones) at very high heat. I would say that the method works well! We both enjoyed our soup very much and the gyoza that we ordered on the side. Small sized restaurant but comfortable and friendly. Also for the record, it was the prettiest bowl of ramen I have had (arrangement, bowl type, etc) and made an impression on me as soon as it arrived. The price can creep up with extras but it is worth it.
I LOVE RAMEN DANBO. Let me start this post by saying I'm quite the ramen lover and I have tried all the ramen Vancouver has to offer and ramen danbo is definitely in my top 3. Why? It has such amazing flavour and I love how you can customize what you want from the type of noodle, to the firmness of the noodle, to the broth. There is also a kaedama option where you get extra noodles for super cheap to finish off your broth. I always add an egg because what is ramen without the egg? And they always cook theirs perfectly. The restaurant is fast and some may think the portions are smaller than other ramen joints but quality over quantity! (And that's also why kaedama is optional!)
TL;DR
-Ramen Danbo is the bomb.com
-you can customize your bowl
-extra noodz for cheap
-lots of flavour
-10/10 would recommend to friend
Yet another Ramen joint steps up to Robson street for a challenge, how does this chain from Japan fair?
Overall it tastes better than Santouka which I consider the baseline for what's acceptable and the ability to choose noodle softness is nice, but the portions are notably smaller and Kintaro still stands firmly as my favorite in the city.
Ramen Danbo specializes in Kyushu Hakata style ramen from Fukuoka. It is one of my favourite types of ramen because the noodles are thinner, and that’s my personal preference when it comes to noodles. I also like the options to customize the firmness of the noodles as well as the options for broth in terms of customization.
I was told this is one of the most authentic ramen places downtown. The tonkotsu broth was very rich and the chili sauce added a nice touch. However, though cheaper than some other ramen nearby I found the portion to be quite small and a bit lacking in toppings.
While taking a stroll down Robson St, we got a little hungry and noticed a line up of people outside a rather new ramen shop. We decided to give it a try since the line up was not too long. If you are ordering ramen, you have many options to choose from compared to other ramen shops. Here, you must choose the denseness of noodles, the thickness of soup and noodles, even the fattiness of the pork and soup, and finally the spiciness.
Reservation Under Cindy
+3.5
Ramen Danbo is a Japan-based restaurant chain famous for their fukuoka-style tonkotsu ramen. From humble beginnings in a small town of Chikushino, Japan the Ramen Danbo chain has grown consistently throughout the years with Vancouver being the first North American location outside of Japan. Located in the heart of Kitsilano, the drive here was a bit tedious but I was determined to finally give to this place a try after being on my Zomato wish list for over two years! Thanks Zomato for the constant reminder 😛
Excellent ramen, one of my favorites in Vancouver so far. The soup base is very flavourful and we'll balanced. They also have generous portions of pork
Quick service. Would highly recommend. Gets busy!
best ramen in Vancouver,don't no why the point is so low here. there are not much options, but all well matched, especially the stock -- very well balanced,rich yet not oily. hope the rating goes higher in the future,the rating here is really very misleading, this place really worth a try.
I like this location more than the one on West 4th. The ambiance is more fun and a bit bigger. I like how Zabu chicken is close by too if ever you're still hungry or fiending for another pitcher of Asahi and a bottle of soju.
I'm fairly regular at both Danbo locations. I like their signature Fukuoka style broth and noodles. I find that the best tasting combination is to have
Shio ramen
Thin noodles
Standard broth
No lard
Little Spicy
Order the Lunch Combination A: 1 ajitama + gyoza!
The stamp card is a nice perk because after getting 5 stamps you can redeem a free order of gyoza.. And then after 5 more stamps you can redeem a free ramen! 👍😋
Danbo is a Japanese franchise serving Fukuoka style tonkotsu ramen . The Robson location is their second restaurant outside of Japan! They recently rolled out a new ramen called Curry Tonkotsu Ramen so we decided to try it out at this location. The shop is larger than the Kitsilano location and offers the same great taste. The only thing is, we found the Robson location slower with getting our ramen after ordering comparing to the Kits location. The benefit is that this is a larger shop and there are plenty of seating for small groups of 2-4.
Very flavorful Fukuoka soup base. Delicious ramen. The mashed garlic sauce on the side was to die for. Love it love it love it. Will come again.
been to many ramen places , in Japan as well, this is definitely my fave place in the lower mainland! love the thin noodles, and their house hot sauce is yummy! it is authentic, if you're wondering why it cost a lil more. there are some Korean, Chinese , etc ramen places out there that are cheaper, but the quality is not even close!
I'm always down for ramen... you really can never get sick of it. Lol
I really enjoyed Ramen Danbo. I like that you can customize pretty much your whole bowl... by choosing the firmness of your noodles, level of lard, and even the spiciness!
I wasn't sure how spicy their spiciest was so I chose level 10, from the options of 5, 10, 15, 20. It was a good spice, but safe to say I will go higher next time.
The broth was flavorful, eggs was perfect. They didn't have the option to add corn, but adding more noodles for a small cost made up for it!
It had been several months since I visited Ramen Danbo in Kitsilano. It was a pleasant experience then and they have since opened a second location on Robson in the space formerly occupied by VanVan Izakaya. I went to Ramen Danbo a few times recently for their lunch special and here is a review of my visits.
Ramen Danbo is known for their Fukuoka-style Tonkotsu broth, and if there’s tonkotsu I’m there. I’ve been meaning to try this place for a while now! I went around 12pm (Tuesday afternoon) and it was a bit busy, but the servers quickly found us a table. What distinguishes Ramen Danbo from your other ramen restaurants is that you get to customize your ramen – the thickness/firmness of the noodles, how heavy the broth is, amount of lard, and spice levels. I enjoyed it a lot more because of the personalization.
I love this place that customers can customize their own thickness and firmness of the soup and noodle and others. Some of the Japanese ramen are too soft which I don't like. I always choose firm noodle and light thickness of the soup otherwise it will be too salty. The service is great as well.
Pictured: Ramen Danbo at Robson Street for lunch. They have lunch sets too! I thought this place was very good. Great flavours. I ordered the ramen with the extra pork slices (6 in total) and went with the classic thin noodles but personally I like thicker noodles and should have gone with those. Their lunch sets are great because you can add gyoza or drink for a little extra. My colleague said he had a weird food allergy reaction to the soup though after eating here… maybe MSG? Maybe the soy sauce? I will be back though. Adding this as a place to go for ramen in the Robson/West End area.
At Ramen Danbo you can customize the thickness and firmness of your noodles and the amount of fat and spice you want in your broth. I thought the regular broth had the perfect amount of fat to make it rich, but not too greasy. I prefer my noodles more firm because I find they soften up in the hot broth anyway. The firm thin noodles were perfect for me and exactly what I look for in ramen.
Another location of ramen danbo, this time is in downtown, where it'll compete with the likes of santouka, marutama, and many other ramen competitors in the area, and i must say it's definitely in the playing field, and definitely good because of the options that they give in broth, lard, noodle. just like in the one where i initally tried on west 4th, the broth i have tried the extra thick and standard, so far i'm liking the standard better than extra thick for the classic tonkutsu ramen, and the amount of lard just make it standard. i find it a little bit too thick for me. definitely good i'll say my favorite is still marutama because of the lightness of the broth but at the same time i'll put this place defintely in the top 5 for ramen in vancouver, defintely love the place, however i still think no one can beat the broth in santouka, but this place is definitely have a very rich layered broth as well.
When ordering this dish, you get to choose the spicy level, from 5, 10, 15, or 20 times spicier than regular broth. Last time I was here, I ordered level 10, and it was a bit mild for me. This time I tried level 15, and it was just right. It comes with regular toppings: two slices of Chasu (pork) and fresh chopped green onions. Aromatic! The boiled eggs are extra toppings.
1st visit had the Negi-goma tonkotsu - spicy. Spectacular ramen. Really good. Tender pork, delicious broth, loaded with green onions. Enough choices on the menu to satisfy just about anyone. Interesting tables, but don't go for the decor. Attentive service, great if you're in & out. Cozy noisy place, lots of mixing, sharing & blending. Great atmosphere. Lots of good choices on Robson, still would go back.
It was so nice! I ordered a pork ramen with a gyoza. The soup was so awesome. And the noodles was yummy. They also had a good service. So satisfied with this meal especially when I was so tired and hungry.
Ramen Danbo has their 2nd location on Robson Street. With Robson Street already having a huge cluster of ramen shops, you would think its hard adding another into the mix. On a Sunday night, this place was packed for dinner. I’ve been to their West 4th location and loved it.
Blazing Hot Rekka Ramen is 5x the spiciness of their classic ramen. It uses their Ichimi Togarashi red pepper imported from Japan to ignite your palete. You can select from 5, 10, 15, or 20 times the standard spiciness. I went and got the 15x amount of spiciness. It is awesome for people who love spicy. Good flavours.
Ramen Danbo has their 2nd location on Robson Street. With Robson Street already having a huge cluster of ramen shops, you would think its hard adding another into the mix. On a Sunday night, this place was packed for dinner. I’ve been to their West 4th location and loved it. What makes them unique is that you can customize the ramen you order by selecting:
Egg could be a little more runny, and small portions but broth is really flavourful and the chashu is so good. Would definitely recommend Danbo
Another ramen craving night! I know Ramen Danbo has been opened quite a while already at the West 4th location in Kitsilano then we saw their second location of Danbo on Robson Street! Ramen Danbo is an authentic Japanese noodles bar specialized in traditional Fukuoka Tonkotsu Ramen with over 20 locations across Japan. We decided to hit Danbo after work. We came here around 7ish and so lucky that the queue was short. We got to sit down after only 15 minutes wait, not bad!
It was my first time to try Ramen Danbo on Robson Street. It was about 9:30-10pm on New Year's Eve. This place was packed and people kept lining up at the door. Obviously this ramen place was good!
We ordered Classic Tonkotsu Ramen and Classic Tonkotsu Ramen with Shio. We could choose the noodle thickness and firmness, thickness of broth, amount of lard and amount of spicy sauce. The soup base was great. Chashu was very soft and tender that could melt in our mouth. We ordered thick noodles and everything else standard. It was an awesome late night snacks. We added a dish of Gyoza that was delicious, crispy and juicy.
The service was above average. Although this ramen place was busy, the servers could still take a good care of the customers. They were very efficient and kept checking on the new and existing customers.
The prices of their dishes were average. It was not too expensive. The portion was just a bit small comparing to other ramen places. But I wouldn't mind to come back here to eat their ramen again.
Located on Robson Street, this small Ramen bar had us in line for ONE GOOD HOUR! Thankfully, we eventually got in roughly 30 mins before close.
One thing I really liked about this place is that their ramen is really customizable. You can choose your desired noodle and broth thickness, as well as richness, noodle firmness and amount of umami spicy sauce.
We ordered the Classic Rekka Ramen (spicy), the Negi-goma Chashu-men with egg (xtra braised pork belly) and the Chashu Pork Donburi (pork rice bowl). We went with the standard broth and thick noodles for both bowls. I love green onions, so I really enjoyed how much was added to the dishes. Both ramen bowls were delicious! The thick noodles were a great call, however, I would recommend getting the strong broth and/or richer broth. The pork was really tasty and tender. The Chashu Donburi was excellent! I enjoyed how it was more on the savoury side than sweet.
Personally, I never think there is a wrong time for ramen so I totally recommend you stop by!
You want Ramen in Vancouver? There are many options. This is no-nonsense delicious Ramen. Yes, Ramen, like Art, is subjective, but I can't imagine a scenario where a bowl of this could be sent back. Danbo is more consistent than the rain in this fair city for its ability to deliver an all around great bowl of Ramen. If you don't want to quibble about semantics and just have a delicious bowl, accept no substitute. I eat at a variety of Ramen joints, this one just hits every time. No Question.
Small place, about 4-5 tables, decided to sit at the stools/counter near the kitchen, I like watching the ramen cooks in action
Ordered one A lunch set, 3 gyoza, 2 free extra toppings. B lunch set gives you 1 free drink instead of 2 toppings.
So many choices on the ramen, thin or thick noodles, spice level, soup density, decided to go "standard" on all choices.
Ramen broth had great unami flavor, even though I ordered mild spiciness, I felt it took away from the original broth flavoring, next time no spice needed.
A little annoyed by the overtly aggressive staff in our area, keep asking if we were done even though ramen was still in our bowls. As soon as we finished one dish, her arms/hands immediately appeared between us to take away the empty dish, quite annoying.
Great ramen spot in downtown Vancouver. We made it before the lineup got too bad. Service is extremely fast. Ramen is fresh. Broth is flavourful and the noodles are perfectly cooked. Lots of ways to customize your ramen as well eg. Firmness of noodles, toppings, etc. Will definitely come back here next time I'm in Vancouver
Was walking by and there was no line so took the opportunity to have a bowl of ramen. Definitely one of the best in Vancouver and recommend. Order was taken promptly and food came out quick. Still have physical barriers up so if you are worried about being jammed in next to people you don't have to be over concerned.
Edit: Been here too many times lately, tried all Ramen. I still like Classic the Best!
Small little ramen restaurant on Robson with Big massive flavors!!
I tried the Classic Ramen with Lunch Set C
Food came out fast and service was wonderful
Honestly the Gyoza was nothing special.. BUT.. The Ramen/Broth was absolutely incredible!!!! Mini Chashu Donburi was a delicious add-on!
Now, stop reading about it and go try the food yourself
Among the best in ramen. The food never disappoints. The highlight of the ramen is the exquisite broth, so flavourable. There is always a line up to get in but the wait is worth it!
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