Top Noodle Shop in Castro Valley
Ramen 101
20923 Redwood Rd Unit B, Castro Valley, CA 94546, United States
We loved ramen here. It was our first time trying it and won't be the last. There are options for you to choose your broth, protein, and toppings, which is pretty cool. I ordered tonkatsu ramen with chicken and with butter.Really enjoyed it. Service is fast and very friendly. Here, you pay first and they bring it to you. I got my order in less then 10 min. It was delicious.They had chillie sauce on side if you want more spicy. Clean and cute decor. Broth was super flavorful and creamy. Ramen noodles were fresh. My boyfriend and my brother liked their ramen too. They were super nice and considerate of us will definitely going back and recommended!
Top other services in Castro Valley:
Luccas Italian Delicatessen
3121 Castro Valley Blvd, Castro Valley, CA 94546, United States
Still the best deli in Alameda Cty. Maybe the Bay area? Prices have risen substantially over the past year. While eating here is still a good deal (as compared to other delis - like Genova, who are just way over the top with pricing), sandwiches are creeping up to $11 each (most are between $8 & $9). Drinks (even bottle waters) are pricey. They have constant turnover with help, so service has suffered a bit too. But their following/fans are real. Get here B4 1130am on most weekend days, or stand in line for about 30 minutes (take a #, literally). Week days arent as busy but do get here as early as you can. Because after 1145am and there will be a line.Make sure you look for the red numbering machine (near the front register/counter). Take a number upon your arrival, or else youll waste time waiting. Call to pre-order is the best way to be served. You can still eat there, if you like but seats are limited. They also have other mediterranean foods for sale but prices are expensiveEdit: (5/30/2020) - Ate here/takeout dinner. I had the hot/dry cured coppa (sandwich now $9) with sourdough roll. It is still an excellent meal. But I noticed it is now filled with about 4 ounces of meat (used to be 6 oz.). I saw how the sandwich-maker measured it out on a scale. 4 ounces of meat is a joke. Never thought Id say it at Luccas (who have won best deli in Alameda county for over 20-yrs.) but that is downright skimpy. It is now not worth $9 for one sandwich. With the pricing going up and the amount of meat shrinking, this is not a place I frequent anymore. Its just too expensive for not enough meat. And I also noticed the help has turned over a lot. Not a good combination. I used to come here 2-3x a month but not for a lousy 4 ounces of meat for $9. Nope.
Lake Chabot Public Market
18911 Lake Chabot Rd, Castro Valley, CA 94546, United States
I live right around the corner and I couldnt ask for more!Theres mainly Asian Cuisine here and I cant complain.Right when you walk in, theres the Pokeatery to the left. As you may suspect, its the standard Poke Bowl concept. Its rather good and portions are hefty compared to some other places.Continuing down the left side, is Milk and Cookie Bar. Im sure youve seen the colorful ice cream creations all over Instagram. Milk and Cookie Bar definitely has some Insta-worthy treats and most definitely some mouthwatering flavors. Im a HUGE fan of their Ube. Ice Cream flavors rotate in and out so youll have to check in to see what flavors they have for the day!Shumi Ramen is the next staple in the food court. Not the best ramen place but not terrible either. It hits the spot on a cold day and when I dont feel like driving to Oakland just to get a solid bowl of ramen. Shumi Ramen offers a pretty extensive list of items so Im sure Ill be back to try more!T4 anchors the wall to the back of the Public Market. Youre standard boba place with a few other food offerings like egg puffs. I would prefer iTea over T4 but I cant complain too much about having a boba place around the corner from my house. :0)Last but very not least, Mama Chos sells some AMAZING Korean-Mexican fusion food. They sell meat and now, finally, PRODUCE! They have a great section of beverages that lines the back wall. Pricey but nothing too crazy. Ill sometimes come here to buy their Strawberry Milk and kimchi. If you love Senor Sisig or the Kogi Truck, Mama Chos has a similar concept.If youre ever in the area, perhaps having taken a nice stroll through Lake Chabot, you should definitely stop by for a bite or drink! Theres outside seating so you can sit out with your doggie! (I believe its service dogs only, inside)Yes, there are restrooms!
Caf Rumi
4799 Heyer Ave, Castro Valley, CA 94546, United States
I came here for dinner with my girl to try something different that we dont normally do. This place is small but feels very alive and full of soul. Their menu is not huge but what I did see on it sounded great. The two ladies working behind the counter were very sweet. My girl ordered a chicken Kabob Sandwich and I ordered the gyros platter and an iced coffee. It didnt take long for our food to be ready. When I took first glance at my platter I thought, damn this looks delicious. Well, I was right. The lamb/beef was tender and juicy. The rice was tender and plentiful. And the tzatziki was smooth, cool and just phenomenal. Finally, there was cut up vegetables seasoned to perfection that when I mixed everything together there was so much flavor fighting for my attention I didnt know what to do. So, I ate everything. Even the bread that came with my meal was soft and brought the meal together like a traditional gyros. My girls chicken Kabob burger was scrumptious too. A soft bun smothered in that delicious tzatziki sauce with onions, tomatoes and chunks of tender chicken. Everything was delicious, including my iced coffee. Its a little pricey but no joke I feel that it was worth it.
Pho Auntie 7
2690 Castro Valley Blvd, Castro Valley, CA 94546, United States
My husband and I came here for lunch on the Sunday before memorial day and it was BUSY! There were two tables outside and we wanted to the spot outside that just left. We walked into the restaurant and was greeted right away. We asked for the table outside that wasnt cleaned yet. The host called to another person to clean the table. The table cleaner was busy working on 3 to 4 other tables that was left inside. We waited some minutes for the table outside to be cleaned. The wait didnt feel long because my husband and I were enjoying the day. We were actually approached again by another person. They made sure we were helped.We got seated and it did feel like awhile before the server came out with menus. By this time we were very hungry. The menus came out and we looked through. They had many authentic dishes that were listed with pictures. I like to shop by the pictures so I looked for which picture looks best. In any case, we ordered shrimp ? rolls, banh beo, bun rieu, and noodle dish. They all looked very delicious.The banh beo was super fun to eat. We like the original one better than the one with the peanut sauce but in either case, both styles of banh beo was very tasty. Wed have to eat 20 of those too get full. I recommend getting this dish as an appetizer and to share. Also, their fish sauce was on point. It wasnt too plain. And one good trait that this restaurant did right was to have plain/raw fish sauce at the table for people like me that was it extra flavorful.They took our order and the food literally came out right away. Most of the dishes were hot. Though I thought my bun rieu could have been hotter but thats because I like my soups HOT. Even so, the temperature of the soup was good. I didnt burn my tongue. My husband thoroughly enjoyed his noodle dish because towards the end, he told me that he was full but he couldnt stop eating because the meat was so good so he kept at it until the plate was cleaned. We were so full and satisfied that we told our drinks to go.We ordered the plum soda and grass jelly drink. The plum soda was refreshing and flavorful. It was the perfect drink for a hot summer day. The grass jelly was fun to drink/eat. It cooled us down.
88 BaoBao
3330 Village Dr, Castro Valley, CA 94546, United States
Unexpecting hole in the wall.Honestly, was on the way to the post office, saw this spot out of the corner of my eye, and had to treat my lady for coming along the boring work errand ??♂️She found this spot online a couple weeks prior and we finally put 2 and 2 together. The previous photos looked good, so we gave it a shot.Walked in and was immediately sat. They give you a menu and dry erase marker to look over and select your items, but ultimately walk back up to order and pay.We ordered 2 XLB aka Xiao long Bao aka the best pockets of yummy soup goodness anyone could hope to enjoy. They have the right amount of chew and beautiful presentation. The folds were impeccable ?? S/o to the ladies and gentlemen in the back. We used the provided ginger, and table vinegar to make a wonderful concoction, ladeled on each soup pocket, along with a drop of house chili oil.You bite the top of the dumpling, CAREFULLY sip soupAdd some vinegar mixTop with chiliYoure golden ?? ??Then came the Bun. My lady got plain, but highly recommend getting it with condensed milk. Something about the light fluffy bread.. You just have to try it for yourself.We also got an order of the Leak, pork and shrimp dumplings, those came pan fried. Nice and crispy, great flavor. Watch for your bites, the juice will squirt out if youre not careful ?The front of the house were super attentive to our waters, and anything else we needed ??
i-Tea Castro Valley
20666 Redwood Rd, Castro Valley, CA 94546, United States
Best boba in Castro Valley. Popcorn chicken and fries calamari are favorite snacks; big enough to share or have as a meal. The ramen and rice noodles are surprisingly good; would not expect that from a boba shop. Tends to be noisy and crowded, so getting a table is often hard. Taking noodles home is fine, but eating them there isnt possible without a table.
Mei Mei Chinese Market
3223 Castro Valley Blvd, Castro Valley, CA 94546, United States
I recently discovered this place when I need to Re- up my Asian food supplies...previously I would shop in Oaklands China town but since COVID I needed some place closer to home...the had a great variety of noodles, the one to make pad thai, Vietnamese bun noodles, the thicker noodles in Japanese soup and EVERY sauce you could possibly want for cooking. I am a big fan of oyster and black bean sauce stir Frys. A little sesame oil is a must and for THAI and some VIETNAMESE inspired dishes you have to have fish sauce. I was pleasantly surprised in addition to meat and poultry they have LIVE seafood!!!. You can get wrappers to make your own delicious steamed buns or wrappers to .make Vietnamese spring rolls. Enjoy shopping!
Silver Spoon Gourmet Cuisine
3563 Castro Valley Blvd, Castro Valley, CA 94546, United States
Havent eaten here in years. Now, I know why. Visited here for dinner. Place was less than half full, so I figured Id be in and out. Well, that didnt happen, unfortunately. Got seated, after two pairs of patrons stepped right in front of me [I guess, being a lone diner doesnt count for first come/first served]. Finally got seated, given the menu and my bottled water. I knew what I wanted but the waitress took a bit of time getting back to me, so I could order [she spent a lot of time going in and out of the kitchen, coming out with nothing]. She was the only waitress available [part of the timing/help problem here, at this place].I finally got to order a bowl of won ton soup and veggie pot stickers. I was hoping to get them at around the same time, which didnt happen. The soup came out first and then the pot stickers, about 25-minutes later. I know PSs take a bit longer but 25-minutes is a bit much. So, I ate the soup, waited for the PSs [eating both, items separately]. Which was NOT my plan. Consequently, the soup was decent tasting but only had about 6 won tons and very few veggies. Tasty but it really had half a bowl of ingredients. The late PSs were almost tasteless [there were 6 of them], so I used some hot chili paste to jazz them up, along with the supplied soy-liquid mixture [which was unbelievably sweet - strangely so]. The food taste was just OK, even though the PSs were bland. Pricing here is good/very reasonable.Overall, the service was terrible [hence, one star given]. While the waitress was cordial [and apologetic], she needed more help [even one additional waitress would have been better]. Having one waitress serving about 20-tables [most were empty, however] was puzzling, especially for a Sat evening. I would say, if youre not in a hurry, this place is OK. Dont order the veggie PSs, order the pork PSs. Order the wor won ton soup and not the won ton soup. I saw someone else have the wor won ton soup and that won ton serving was better/more won ton - another 2-bucks per bowl. I might return to see if service is better but there are so many very good chinese food places in our area that do a much better job at service. I also noticed their take out business was brisk but lots of take-out customers were challenging their bills. Hmmmm.Edit - I did return about a few months later, for a midweek dinner. Service was marginally better but it was on a Wed. evening and there were only two other patrons there [so I increased one-star on review]. I did order the wor won ton soup/11.50 and it was loaded with better/more ingredients, than the plain won ton soup I ordered in a previous visit [well worth it, for an extra 2-bucks. I also ordered the spring rolls/6.50 and they were delicious [there were four of them]. I asked for some of their hot chilli paste and that was better than the last time too. It had a hot/spicy/semi-sweet finish and was the perfect combo with spring roll and the proteins in the wor won ton soup. With an order of spring rolls, you get that a demi-dish of sweet/sour sauce and I skipped it, since I dont eat sweet with savory food. Overall a better experience than my first visit.
Shumi Ramen
18911 Lake Chabot Rd #1, Castro Valley, CA 94546, United States
The Black Garlic Oil Miso ramen is excellent! I wouldnt call this soup healthy as there is a good amount of grease in there, but adding some soy sauce and chili peppers does help add some depth - by underseasoning, they are letting you season to taste. Luckily, the soup is hot enough, so the next time around, Ill ask them to undercook the noodles a bit (harder). Shumi is in a warehouse that has been converted into a food court, so there is no table service (optional tipping). For non-authentic ramen, this bowl was excellent. Only the noodles were lacking, but I think that can be corrected by undercooking a bit.7/27/17 Update: so I tried ordering hard noodles a couple times (the second time I asked for 1 min less of boiling), but it made no difference. Overall, I feel that for this quality of non-authentic ramen in a food court/warehouse, its overpriced by about a couple bucks.