Superior Avenue is where many Clevelanders go first for noodle soup, but there are good bowls of ramen and pho outside AsiaTown too, closer to where people live and work. Some are a few blocks from a downtown office, and others sit in Cleveland Heights, Woodmere, Parma, Rocky River and Mentor.
This story goes by part of town: downtown and the east side first, then the near west side, the west and south suburbs, and finally Lake County. For the AsiaTown shops, including Superior Pho, and every other bowl in the area, open the full ramen and pho guide.
Downtown to the suburbs
Ramen and pho by part of town
Downtown
Pho Thang Cafe
Best for: Southern-style pho downtown
Pho Thang Cafe is a Vietnamese cafe at 815 Superior Avenue, close to the center of downtown. It serves pho, banh mi and stir fries, and its broth runs sweeter, in the southern Vietnamese style. It is the easiest bowl to reach from a downtown office. If you want pho with a cocktail instead, Saigon Restaurant & Bar on East 4th Street serves pho, noodle and rice dishes with a full bar.
University Circle
Otani Noodle
Best for: Tonkotsu ramen near University Circle
Otani Noodle is a Japanese noodle shop at 11472 Euclid Avenue in Uptown, close to University Circle, Case Western Reserve and the museums. Get the tonkotsu ramen, yakitori or katsu, with bubble tea on the side. It has a second location on Euclid Avenue downtown, so it works in either part of town.
Coventry, Cleveland Heights
Pho and Rice
Best for: Pho on Coventry Road
Pho and Rice is a Vietnamese and Thai restaurant at 1780 Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights, serving pho, banh mi and rice plates in a small dining room. The Thai side of the menu helps when not everyone at the table wants soup. It sits right in Coventry Village, so it is an easy dinner before or after an evening on Coventry Road.
Woodmere
Bowl of Pho
Best for: Pho and a cocktail in Woodmere
Bowl of Pho at 27339 Chagrin Boulevard in Woodmere is a good east side option outside the city, serving pho with an aromatic broth plus Asian beers and cocktails. It is well placed for anyone in Beachwood, Pepper Pike, Orange or Shaker Heights who would rather skip the drive into town for a bowl, and diners speak well of it.
Tremont
Corner 11 Bowl and Wrap
Best for: Tonkotsu ramen or poke in Tremont
Corner 11 Bowl and Wrap is a ramen and poke shop at 2391 West 11th Street in Tremont. Order the tonkotsu ramen or a poke bowl. People who eat here are about as happy as anyone eating ramen or pho in Cleveland, and its spot on West 11th makes it an easy lunch or dinner on a day spent walking Tremont.
Ohio City
Mason's Creamery
Best for: Ramen from an ice cream shop in Ohio City
Mason’s Creamery is an ice cream shop at 4401 Bridge Avenue in Ohio City that switches to ramen in the colder months, serving big bowls of noodles alongside its house made ice cream. That makes it the one place here where you can follow a bowl of ramen with a scoop. The switch is seasonal, so check that ramen is on before you go.
Rocky River
FUNSHI Revolving Sushi Ramen Boba
Best for: Ramen and conveyor sushi in Rocky River
FUNSHI Revolving Sushi Ramen Boba is at 21605 Center Ridge Road in Rocky River. Sushi plates come around on a belt at a set price, and the ramen is ordered from the menu, so one person can graze the belt while another gets a bowl. Boba rounds out the order, and diners here are a happy crowd.
Parma
Taydo
Best for: Family-run pho in Parma
Taydo is a small family Vietnamese and Chinese restaurant at 11725 Snow Road in Parma. Order the pho, the lemongrass chicken or a Vietnamese iced coffee, and allow extra time, since orders can take a while. Customers speak warmly of it.
Farther southwest, Nam Wah on West Bagley Road in Berea serves Chinese and Vietnamese food, and its pho comes with culantro on the side.
Independence
Lobster & Pho
Best for: Pho and seafood in Independence
Lobster & Pho at 6901 Rockside Road in Independence serves pho alongside lobster and other seafood dishes, which makes it a good pick when some of the table wants a seafood dinner and others want soup. It is handy for the south suburbs and for anyone coming off I-77 near Rockside Road.
Mentor
Ichiraku Ramen
Best for: Anime-themed ramen in Mentor
Ichiraku Ramen is an anime themed ramen shop at 9853 Johnnycake Ridge Road in Mentor, and it is the Lake County stop for a bowl of ramen. People who go come away happy. It is worth knowing if you live in Lake County or are passing through Mentor and do not want to drive back toward the city for noodles.
Ramen or pho
How to choose between ramen and pho outside the city center
Pho is the easier soup to find close to home. Downtown has Pho Thang and Saigon, the east side has Pho and Rice and Bowl of Pho, and the west and south suburbs have Taydo, Nam Wah and Lobster & Pho, several of them with banh mi or rice plates on the side.
Ramen is more spread out. Otani and Corner 11 cover the east and west sides of the city, Mason’s Creamery adds a seasonal bowl in Ohio City, and FUNSHI and Ichiraku handle the west suburbs and Lake County. The ramen and pho map shows every bowl in one view.
If you are near Superior Avenue
The AsiaTown bowls to know
When you do end up in AsiaTown, Superior Pho is the longtime shop most people name first, and its banh mi gets as much praise as the soup. A few doors down, Number One Pho has a deeper Vietnamese menu with com tam broken rice and banh xeo crepes alongside the brisket pho.
Good to know
Questions before you go.
Is there ramen in the south suburbs?
Corner 11 Bowl and Wrap has a second location in Strongsville serving ramen and poke, in addition to its Tremont shop.
Is there ramen on the east side outside the city?
FUNSHI has a second location in Beachwood, with the same pairing of conveyor sushi and made-to-order ramen as its Rocky River restaurant.
Every bowl in town
See every ramen and pho spot on the map
The full guide covers ramen shops and pho kitchens across Greater Cleveland, AsiaTown included, with a map and details for each one.