#oiistar

[csole23]

New spot... Hits the spot 🍜 #ramen #oiistar (at Oiistar)

[thegastronauts]

Oiistar

Alex Wen: I’ve long been on a quest to find the best ramen joint in Chicago, there’s been some hits with Wasabi and Misoya, as well as some misses--like Strings and Slurping Turtle. I’ve had a good experience with Oiistar once before, so I wanted to see how exactly it stacks up in the popular ramen field.

George Cheng: Yes yes! The search for the best ramen in Chicago. Well, I’ve only been to a couple ramen places in the Chicagoland Area. I would say, so far, Wasabi and Santouka in Mitsuwa would be in my top picks. This is my first time at Oiistar, hopefully I can add it to my list of go-to ramen shops.

AW: We both started off with some buns. I got the 6 Hours Pork Shoulder, which was adorned with sauerkraut napa pickles, cojita cheese and crisp onions.

GC: I got the Pork Belly Bun, topped with cucumbers, dressed in their Oiistar signature sauce, and finished with some micro wasabi. The bun was very soft and fluffy, and had a very subtle sweet taste that you get from the carbohydrates just breaking down in your mouth. Now on top of that, the savory flavors of their signature sauce adds another dimension to the bun. The flavor of the sauce is very similar to that of the Taiwanese braised pork belly over rice. As I bit into it, the pork fat gushes out and drips over my fingers. It was quite messy, but very oishii. What did you think of your bun, hun?

AW: The Pork Shoulder was tender and well-cooked. The pickles and onions added a nice crunchy texture to the bun. If anything, it made me appreciate traditional pork belly buns more. I found the shoulder to be too heavy when paired with the soft buns, making for a mushy experience.

GC: The ramen I got was the Oiimen Umami ramen, which was one packed ramen bowl. It had barbequed pork belly, ground pork, scallions, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and lastly soft boiled egg. The soup base was a spicy pork broth. It was very savory. It felt like there was so much going on, which may explain the soft-boiled egg being bland. The egg was not seasoned like the usual ramen egg. To get any flavor, I had to sip the broth with each bite into the egg. They may have done that to try to counter the blast of flavors from the broth. The noodles were their homemade original. These noodles had a very nice bounce to them, very QQ. They carried broth flavor really well.

AW: My Spicy Oiimen came with the same spicy pork broth. While I found the broth delicious, its strong spices mask much of the flavor coming from the other ingredients. It’s a shame because the cabbage and green onions tasted fresh, and the meat had a hint of charred taste to it--giving it a hint of smokiness.  I ordered it with the wavy noodles, an underwhelming selection when compared to their handmade ones.

AW: Oiistar! I think the restaurant has all the right ingredients, but it just doesn’t quite come together. Its individual spices and components make for mouth-watering food, but the inconsistencies result in a solid--but not spectacular--bowl of ramen.

GC: I am going to agree with you on this one. Overall it was a good bowl of ramen, but there were some parts that could be better. In the end, I would say if I was craving ramen, this might be my go-to, since it is close to where I live. I wouldn’t say, you have to go out of your way to get this bowl of ramen.

3.5/5 Rocket Boosters

[ramenadventure]

Oiistar has been slinging ramen for a few years now (long when compared to newer ramen joints). The difference with Oiistar is their french fusion-y take, which manifests itself in their bowl of musclemen (think noodle and muscles bathed in a ramen-style broth). We slurped this up alongside their classic Oiimen bowl. 

[talkofmichelangelo]

#oiistar #ramen #doitjustdoit #chicago #minivacation (at Oiistar)

[reallymakesyouthink-blog]

Hi Everyone! Hope you are all well. I was unceremoniously taken off the schedule at Oiistar last month after politely informing them that their policy of taking 30% of their servers tips for the house is illegal, and my favorite ever seasonal job as Team Lead at Family Fun Fest (playing with building blocks and reading books to kids) has sadly just come to an end.

Does anyone have any leads on jobs/job openings in Chicago? I have management experience and I am good at kids, food/serving, and the internet. Hit me up!

[reallymakesyouthink-blog]

entertaining the idea of suing my old boss for back wages / stolen tips does anyone know how to do that

i mean 99% not gonna do it but jus curious also itd be funny

[reallymakesyouthink-blog]

also the busser/our new friend told me he might quit if the two of us are gone

wtf is happening

[reallymakesyouthink-blog]

also apparently some frail 19 year old ukrainian boy happened to come in off the street asking for a job when the place was a circus and my boss's wife was serving and it was a full house and my boss hired him on the spot