Oishii Ramen Cafe

Small cafe since it's new in the area. They have some bar style seating with view outside or in front of the counter where they prepare drinks. Timely received order. Clean inside and there are restrooms for patrons. Nice mural to look at while dining. Edamame appetizer is a sizeable portion. Although menu does not have pictures of ramen, you can see some pictures by seating counter. The in restaurant menu is more extensive than the one I saw online.

This is a SOLID ramen place. Everything was on point. Springy, chewy noodles, savory broth, great toppings. Their takoyaki was also great! Prices are alright as well (though they do charge $4.99 for hot tea... )

Definitely will go back and try their specialty ramen bowls. The gyozas and buns are good, but a bit pricey and i believe they could be better ( I must admit I’ve tried A LOT of different gyozas and buns from several places.. so my judgement may be flawed)

I also got the spicy Tonkotsu. I wish it was spicer, but nice portion size.

Hands down though, I had a great experience with customer service. Knowledgeable staff and very friendly. I stopped by for lunch on a Tuesday, so that could have played a factor in it.

So, if you’re in the mood for ramen and in downtown Bethesda, try Oishii!

I would rank Oishii right behind Menya Hosaki and Oki Bowl in terms of best Japanese ramen/soup spots in the DMV. Yep, it's that good! Not only do some offerings hit peak level deliciousness (and that isn't just the ramens, but some of the BEST BOBA out there), but the sheer creativity in the menu will keep me coming back over and over again. Dish/drink ratings below:

1) Tarantula Ramen (5/5) - Sometimes, when you throw a variety of cool sounding ingredients together, it doesn't work, so when I saw soft shell crab tempura + shrimp + squid, I was a bit skeptical. But wow does this all go together! The lobster broth gives such a warming feeling with its smoothness and subtle spiciness. And the addition of fresh chunks of mushroom are a perfect compliment. It's hard not to compare this ramen to Oki Bowl's soft shell crab offering, which is cheaper and gives you a bigger portion of crab, though I think I'd rate this slightly higher overall due to the broth and other ingredients that work in such harmony.
2) Volcano Ramen (2/5) - Even though Oishii is unquestionably 5 stars, this was a big miss. Not only did none of the ingredients go together, but the broth itself was unpleasant to the taste. I had never tried pork bulgogi in a ramen, and it just didn't taste of high quality nor pair with the broth or noodles at all.
3) Tidal Special Drink (5/5) - Within the context that BOBA IS MY HAPPY PLACE, this was one of the best ones I have EVER had. $8.99 might seem hefty, but there is a lot of ube, a lot of fresh mango, and a lot of pudding in this, all of which was scrumptious. Trust me, you get your money's worth, and each of the ingredients is separated in a way that you can taste them distinctly, or mix together at your discretion (choose your own adventure!). SO FREAKING GOOD.
4) Tsunami Special Drink (4.5/5) - With tons of strawberry, pink boba, and cheese mousse, it's kind of like drinking a strawberry cheesecake if you dropped it in the Quantum Realm! It's super sweet in a good way, and the only reason I didn't give it a 5 is because of a bit too much cheese mousse vs. actual drink ratio.

My only small gripe with Oishii is the prices feel just a bit too high. $19.99 for some ramens, even if they have unique ingredients, is a bit much, and its hard not to look at Menya Hosaki and Oki Bowl and feel like the prices should be more comparable (as in lower). That being said, Oishii is amazing overall, and I can't wait to come back to try the other ramens (such as the ribeye steak) and drinks (basically every single one on the special menu).

Dec 2021
We ordered online for takeout ramen and bubble tea. Good food, good service, but the prices are a little too expensive for me.

The place is rather small, with a few tables and a bar along the front window. Note there are only high chairs. I think there's outdoor seating, but I can't remember. All the staff wore masks.

Interesting details on the packaging. First, they stored the drinks in the fridge while waiting for us to come pick them up. So the cold drinks are separate from the hot soups. They also put cardboard on the bottom of both the drink and ramen bags; helps stabilize them and reduces the likelihood of tipping over. The ramen were packaged in that two compartment bowl thing, where the noodles and other ingredients are in a separate, smaller, compartment of a big bowl that has the soup. When you're ready to eat, you just dump everything from the smaller compartment into the big bowl. It's a neat way to keep the ingredients from getting soggy, but I still feel like the overall bowl is too high and narrow. Makes it a bit awkward to eat. Also note the bottom of the small compartment may be wet from splashing soup.

We got the Oishii and Tsuke ramen. Both were very good with good portions of meat. Interestingly, the Oishii ramen had thinner noodles (what you usually think of when it comes to ramen) while the Tsuke ramen had wider noodles. The soup was delicious, flavorful, and not too salty. However, I'm not sure if they were really worth $16-20.

The drinks were also very good. The Taro Milk Tea had lots of taro flavor, but that also could have been the taro smash topping. Note if you get the smash topping, you may have to do some shaking to blend it into the drink. The special Tsunami drink had lots of mango and strawberry flavor. I'm honestly not sure what the cheese mouse is, maybe cream? Note the puree toppings do include fruit chunks.

Overall, excellent food and service. But the prices mean I'm more likely to come back for the drinks than the ramen.