Ramen. Everybody loves it. Well, at least college kids’ bank accounts do. It’s easy, cheap, and fun. Inside Snake River Landing lies a restaurant that puts a whole new spin on this casual dish. It’s called Hokkaido and is one of the only authentic ramen houses in the Idaho Falls area. This place’s interior design is inspired by that of western Japanese culture. But, what is a restaurant without food? The menu features several different variants of ramen, the three most popular taking up the upper half of the page. On the other side, they offered several types of boba. After a quick survey of the menu, I  ordered the crab rangoon, garlic tonkatsu ramen, and the brown sugar boba.

The boba came out quickly and was presented in a reusable plastic cup. The brown sugar syrup sat at the bottom with the boba pearls. The brown sugar flavoring melted in your mouth and the tea portion mixed extremely well. The only bad thing about it was the quality of the pearls, which had a consistency that was similar to that of rubber. The crab rangoon came out hot and ready to eat. The outside was crunchy and the filling was sweet with a hint of savoriness. Then the main dish appeared. 

The ramen came out with a soft boiled egg cut into two halves and was placed on the left upper half of the bowl. On the other side was sliced grilled pork. Mixed in were chives and the base consisted of pork bone broth. The actual noodles were soft, easy to chew, and delicious. All of this combined made a delicious bowl of noodles. The only thing to note is that the flavor was dull and lacked creativity.

Overall, Hokkaido was pretty underwhelming. The noodles and boba were mediocre, but despite this, I would probably go back there due to the atmosphere and amazing crab rangoon. The staff were sweet, attentive, and made sure to make you feel at home. So if you ever have a craving for something more than the average cup of noodles give Hokkaido a chance.