These 19 Cincinnati Ramen and Pho Joints are Serving Up Some Steamy Noodz

Zundo Ramen & Donburi

220 W. 12th St., Over-the-Rhine
Slurp-worthy bowls make Zundo the new go-to for ramen in Over-the-Rhine. The restaurant’s traditional 14-hour broth, along with flavor-amping ingredients like pork belly and soft-boiled egg with custardy yolk, underpin the ramen options, like the stellar tonkotsu. Meanwhile, donburi choices range from pork katsu to curry to unagi. The large selection of sake pairs perfectly with anything from the food menu.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Kiki College Hill

5932 Hamilton Ave., College Hill
Kiki offers two ramen choices: shio ramen, a chicken broth with pork belly, negi, a tea-marinated egg and rayu; and kimchi ramen, featuring housemade kimchi and tofu. To warm up your pre-ramen palate, try the shishito peppers crowned with fluffy shreds of parmesan cheese, or the edamame, tossed in sea salt or tare. And you could never go wrong with the gyoza, either pork or mushroom, or the curry pan, a sort of fried bread or dumpling described as a "curry donut."
Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Pho Lang Thang

1828 Race St., Over-the-Rhine
Cincinnati Vietnamese eatery Pho Lang Thang recently opened their new location across the street from Findlay Market, offering a larger space and a fully-stocked bar. TVs at the bar means this soup-and-sandwich shop can quickly turn into a lively sports hub when a big game is on. Order from a wide variety of pho options, ranging from brisket and meatballs (nam, bo vien) to vegan mushroom pho or tendon and tripe (gan, sach).
Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Osaka Ramen House

8084 Beechmont Ave., Anderson Township
Osaka is a popular East Side ramen destination, well known in the Anderson area for its reasonable prices and timely service. As all menu items cost less than $15, Osaka is a hotspot for affordable and highly sought-after Asian cuisine. Their namesake is their speciality, like the Tan Tan ramen: noodles in a spiced pork broth, ground pork, bamboo, sweet corn, bean sprouts and green onion, complimented by a soft boiled egg — all for $12. If you’re feeling hungry, tacking on extra noodles will only cost you a dollar.
Photo via facebook.com/osakaramenhouse

Quan Hapa

1331 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine
"Hapa" is the word for a mixed-race Asian or Pacific Islander — the perfect nomenclature considering the street food-focused menu is an iteration of the best dishes and spirits from the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and China. Their menu is delineated into sections of small plates, okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes), noodles, ramen and bowls. Hungry patrons can get their noodle fix with the house Hapa ramen, spicy ramen or vegan mushroom ramen or build their own. Start by choosing your broth, followed by add-ons like pork belly, fried silken tofu, enoki mushrooms, roasted cauliflower, housemade kimchi, bamboo shoots and more.
Photo via Facebook.com/QuanHapa

Mochiko

A pop-up pastry and noodle shop, Mochiko’s noodles are made by Keizo Shimamoto, who operated New York City’s acclaimed Ramen Shack. Shimamoto now makes noodles in small batches and a Mochiko pop-up might be the only place to eat them outside of New York City. Past pop-ups across Cincinnati have featured delicacies like black truffle shoyu ramen and tori gyokai ramen with rich chicken paitan and smoked fish.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Noodle and Hot Pot

4750 Fields Ertel Road, Loveland
A gem in a sleepy strip mall in Cincinnati’s northern suburbs, this spot is hopping with fans craving hot pot. Owners Yuke Qiu and Jennifer Niu spare no expense on the soups that make up the menu’s backbone, sourcing them from a chef in Qiu’s hometown in China. The chef creates seven different bases with hard-to-find ingredients, then packages and ships them to the restaurant. The ‘nine boxes spicy’ soup, for example, includes chunks of beef fat, amplifying heat and flavor. Among the 80-odd choices of ingredients to dunk into the hot pot, the "one meter-long lamb" stars, with thinly sliced organic lamb arrayed on a wooden paddle.
Photo: Erin Celesti

Maki Ramen House

209 W. McMillan St., Clifton Heights
Formerly a sushi restaurant, Maki Express opened a new chapter serving up ramen and other Japanese dishes. The restaurant is small and intimate, and the atmosphere is a great mixture of modern and traditional. Sit down and enjoy a steaming bowl of shrimp tempura ramen, or dive into an order of takoyaki.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Fortune Noodle House

349 Calhoun St., Clifton Heights
You know your noodles are made with love when a restaurant dedicates an entire employee just to their production, but here’s the thing: Everything else at Fortune is delicious, too. Inspired by classic Chinese noodle houses, Fortune serves a La Mian-style of handmade noodles, a practice that dates back to the 1500s. The noodles are hand-pulled and stretched out into strands, then paired with everything from vegetables to squid and shredded pork to tripe.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Pho 96

7844 Kingland Drive, West Chester
Pho 96 is a traditional Vietnamese restaurant known for their authentic Vietnamese noodle dishes. Served in bowls fit for a king, this traditional pho will have you stuffed to the brim — you can even get the "giant" order for a mere $2.50 upcharge. Choose from a variety of beef, chicken, pork, seafood and vegetarian options. Garnish your bowl with a generous drizzle of Sriracha or plum sauce and round out the meal with a boba tea and egg rolls to share.
Photo via Facebook.com/Pho96

Pho Kimmy

11974 Lebanon Road, Sharonville
If you’re craving that Asian zing but could do without noodles and broth, Pho Kimmy has a unique menu capable of satisfying traditional Asian cravings in various dishes. Particularly, their Asian Grilled Pork sandwich is a unique take on Asian-style pork topped with greens and carrots that takes the Asian cuisine out of the chopsticks and right into your hands.
Photo via Pho-Kimmy.Business.Site

Saigon Noodle Bar

9220 Allen Road, West Chester
Opened in August 2019, family-owned and -operated Saigon Noodle Bar serves up a variety of traditional Vietnamese fare. Pho options include delicate vermicelli noodles with cilantro, green and white onion and well-done flank beef, rare beef, chicken or fried tofu and vegan ham. Venture into new territory with their Bún Bò Hu? — rice noodles and beef in a spicy lemongrass broth — or H? Ti?u Nam Vang — rice noodles with pork, shrimp, quail eggs, squid, green onion and cilantro.
Photo via facebook.com/saigonnoodlebarcincinnati

E+O Kitchen

3520 Edwards Road, Hyde Park
This beach house-inspired Hyde Park eatery is the best of both worlds — the Earth and the ocean — focusing on a fusion of Asian and Latin cuisine. E+O offers a variety of sushi, small plates and ceviche, but guests here can indulge in the Ramen Heaven: a hearty bowl of tonkatsu and fresh noodles with braised pork, crispy pork belly, egg, chili oil and scallions. Wash it all down with a specialty cocktail, beer or sake.
Photo via facebook.com/earthoceankitchen

Bao Bun Bowl

4752 Fields Ertel Road, Mason
Hand-pulled noodles made, served and devoured in Cincinnati. Need we say more? Bao Bun Bowl has already received plenty of attention since its opening in June, and with good reason. Customers can watch their meals being freshly prepared in the eatery’s open kitchen. Their specialty noodle bowls feature a choice of hand pulled, knife shaved or stir fried noodles with everything from classic beef, braised pork belly and vegetables to lamb and a Beijing-style noodle.
Photo via Facebook.com/BaoBunBowl4752

Song Long

1737 Section Road, Roselawn
Song Long is a mash-up of Chinese and Vietnamese cuisines serving the Roselawn area. Their absolutely packed menu serves a combination of cultural dishes rooted in Chinese and Vietnamese tradition. The eatery serves up noodle soups and specialties for every palate, like the Mi Xao Don — stir fried vegetables with shrimp, chicken and beef over crispy golden noodles — and the Hoanh Thanh Mi — fresh egg noodles paired with stuffed wontons, barbecue pork and chicken topped with a shrimp cracker.
Photo via instagram.com/eat.play.cincy

Tea n Bowl

211 W. McMillan St., Clifton Heights
Tea ‘n’ Bowl is a Bearcat favorite — if you go to the University of Cincinnati, you either know or will know this place by graduation time. Students and Cliftonites alike go crazy over Tea ‘n’ Bowl’s famous bubble tea. Bubble tea is tea and flavorings poured over tapioca balls or "bubbles" to create a delicious, fun drink. The tea is not their only specialty; they also offer authentic and americanized Chinese food.
Photo via Facebook.com/TeaNBowl

Mei Japanese Restaurant

8608 Market Place Lane, Montgomery
Coming up on its 20th year of business, Mei categorizes itself as a "fine dining establishment specializing in traditional Japanese cuisine." Culinary veterans, Mei’s knows how to make a mean noodle bowl. Their pork bone tonkotsu broth is made with 100-percent Iowa-raised Berkshire pork, considered as prized as Kobe beef. There are over a dozen ramen, soba and udon options sure to satisfy noodle enthusiasts of all dietary persuasions. Enjoy your meal at the bar, in the main seating area or step into a special cultural experience in Mei’s tatami rooms — traditional Japanese dining areas.
Photo via Facebook.com/MeiJapaneseRestaurant

Cilantro Vietnamese Bistro

235 W. McMillan St., Clifton Heights
Cilantro, which had been a Clifton Heights favorite for more than a decade, closed in March of 2018, reopened briefly as a steakhouse under a new owner, and then was — thankfully — reopened again as Cilantro under control of its original owner Darren Phan. After a light remodel of the smallish dining room, fans of his fresh Vietnamese cooking can find favorites like pho, banh mi and bun noodle bowls made with his family recipes to eat there or to take to go. Sit down for a warm bowl of traditional pho "just like the owner’s mother used to make it" or kick it up a notch with saté — Mama Phan’s secret recipe sweet and spicy chicken broth. All soups come with a choice of noodle (rice, vermicelli, egg or mung bean noodles) and sides of bean sprouts, basil, lime, jalapeno and, of course, cilantro.
Photo via Facebook.com/CilantroVietnameseBistro

Stone Bowl

3355 Madison Road, Oakley
Stone Bowl offers a Korean take on the assembly of a delicious bowl topped with meat of your choice: chicken, pork belly, beef, shrimp, octopus and barbecue eel are options readily available to put on top of lettuce, pickled radish, bean sprouts, carrots, rice and a sunny-side-up egg. Stone Bowl’s sushi menu is temporarily out of commission, but noodle options here abound. Fill up with ramen (with options for meat and seafood, vegan and spicy karai ramen) or the Noodle Teriaki: fresh udon wheat noodles stir fried with salty and sweet bulgogi sauce, carrot, onion, zucchini, scallion and organic tofu, chicken, pork belly, beef or shrimp and the option to add a poached egg for just a dollar.
Photo via Facebook.com/StoneBowlOakley