Seattle is infected with phở. It's freakin' everywhere! Don't get me wrong, I like the Vietnamese noodle soup, but phở places have populated so much that it's hard to tell the quality of items served there. Where I work in Redmond has about nine phở shops alone, not including it being offered in our own company cafeterias. I compare phở restaurants to teriyaki restaurants; it used to be hit or miss, but now there's this huge in-between area where the food is just okay. I mean, you have all these places opening and having to compete with each other, which means they have to lower prices and, consequently, the quality of their food. And that's how I feel about phở places now. I've never had a bowl of it and gone "Wow, that's some really good phở!" Thus, I never crave it.
On the other hand, ramen places are few in the Seattle area, so the attributes of the ramen shops are higher. Enter Samurai Noodle, one of the most popular ramen restaurants in Seattle. The first Samurai Noodle opened up in Uwajimaya Village in the International District not too long ago, and a new one just opened last month in the University District. I went to the original International District location a couple weekends ago with my family and sister-in-law. Continue reading the review by clicking on "Read more" below the picture.
