Ramen NYC Community

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“My first visit to Ramen Ishida’s Chelsea location, and unbelievably my first time trying the flagship New Tokyo Style Shoyu Ramen. At the LES location, I usually order the 80s Shoyu off the secret menu and had just not got around to trying what is arguably Ishida’s signature menu item. The soup is a chicken chintan with hints of porcini. It is clear and clean, balancing the chicken fat and mushroom umami. Mixing in the accompanying truffle paste transforms the soup into a richer, punchier flavor without being overbearing the way most things “truffle” tend to be these days. The noodles are thin and snappy, pairing well with the soup to achieve a very refined bowl. Three offerings of protein: a jammy egg, a tender piece of sous vide chicken and the signature smoky grilled pork chashu. In addition to some menma bamboo shoots, a piece of shiso offered a nice refreshing bit of texture and zest. A small glass of draft Premium Malt’s was a rare treat here in the US, which washed down some old school potato starch-heavy chicken karaage. Unlike the cramped LES spot, Chelsea location is spacious and takes reservations, fitting the vibe one might expect of such a refined bowl of ramen.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“Rockmeisha Ramen was great! The menu focuses on one main dish, but they do it really well. The broth was delicious, and I especially loved the pickled ginger. They also have a fun cocktail selection. The yuzu ginger bourbon cocktail was light and refreshing. I'm happy this place reopened after covid, Definitely worth checking out!”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 4.0 / 5

“I think one thing I will always appreciate Kin Ramen for and what makes them stand out is the broth. no matter the dish, it's very flavorful and carefully balanced. The ramen can get a little pricey, especially once you start adding an egg or other toppings. One personal preference for me is the chashu. I prefer a little more consistency in texture. Some pieces had more fat, while others were noticeably tougher to chew. I know some people actually prefer that variation, though, so I wouldn’t necessarily consider it a negative. Overall, Kin Ramen is a solid bowl with a broth that really stands out. lines are impossibly long at dinner time, it could be rough especially in the winter because the lines are outside, best to go around lunch time.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 3.0 / 5

“dont get me wrong, this place has good food, but specifically for ramen it's pretty ordinary. The bao's were great and the sushioples awesome, and their menu has a lot of variety. My rating here is only to say that the ramen is not bad, but just average. There's a lot of good ramen in this area so you have to really stand out”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 4.0 / 5

“Ippudo is famous for their Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen, but I have been enjoying working my way through the rest of their menu. Order of the day was their Mandala Miso ramen. Mandala is a Sanskrit word for “The Path to Enlightenment”, and in terms of Ippudo, that may be an apt moniker as this bowl brings the best of their offerings all together. The soup is their standard pork base, but amped up by an excellent blend of misos. There is also a hint of ginger that rounds things out nicely. The noodles are their thicker Tokyo wavy, which I prefer to their standard Hakata thin style. There were two types of chasu, a thin strip of pork loin and tiny slab or pork belly. Lots of menma bamboo shoots, corn and scallions round out this excellent bowl.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“no complaints at all, this place is solid! a strong recommend for people who love spiciness, they can add it to any dish with levels from 1-5. They had 3 different tsukemen on their menu, some cold noodles and some hot, this is mostly a special for the summer. The Ginger Shoyu and the Taka Shoyu was great too, you have the option to pick your chashu between pork and chicken. I've come to karakatta many years ago, but today this place is much much better. I strongly recommend people to revisit if they haven't been in a while @chewyaki”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“Decided to give the monthly special a try at the always reliable Nishida-shoten on 49th, which this month is the Kimchi Ramen. It is a chicken based broth, but I couldn’t discern that over the ample spices from the Kimchi. This was not usual tame version of kimchi one finds in Japanese places - this was much more sour and funky. The noodles were the thicker of the two varieties that are served at Nishida. The kimchi itself was at first difficult to find - it was only after I had polished off some of the noodles that I began to find some cabbage. I imagine when plating they are probably putting the kimchi right at the bottom of the bowl with the tare so that when the soup is added they are getting a good mix of those spices to turn the soup red. Three healthy slices of Kakuni pork and some delicious mushrooms were good toppings. I generally love age-dofu (fried tofu) but not so much in this bowl. As it soaked up the soup it just became soggy and difficult to pick up. And I didn’t love that this was an egg drop soup. Creative idea, but for me I would have just appreciated more kimchi. Still, overall a very good bowl, and I like that they have monthly specials to mix things up for the regulars.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 4.0 / 5

“my favorite here is the shoyu. chiken broth is surprisingly rich. Tare makes me confused tho but I think thats what makes me keep drinking the soup. yuzu and greenonions good combo”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“I’ve never had anything like this before. The level of craftsmanship was completely out of this world and honestly changed the way I think about miso ramen. I usually gravitate toward shoyu, but this bowl made me a huge fan of miso. The flavor was unbelievably deep, rich, and layered without ever feeling too heavy. Every topping brought a different flavor and texture, and together the bowl kept evolving as I ate it. The entire appetizer plate was also specially made off-menu for the launch event, and every item incorporated miso in a different way. From the miso-cured egg to the potatoes and special chashu preparation, everything felt intentional and thoughtfully connected to the ramen itself. The beer and sparkling tea pairings were also chosen perfectly to complement the meal without overpowering it. On top of all that, the atmosphere was warm, welcoming, and full of people genuinely excited about ramen. One of the most memorable ramen experiences I’ve had in NYC @zappa”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“The curry ramen is underrated.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“I've been here so many times. This is my favorite bowl, my comfort bowl, the bowl that made me fall in love with ramen. 🍜😁😄. Thank you Yohei Ishida for your craft.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 4.0 / 5

“Ramen Danbo’s name roughly translates to “warm night”, and the ramen will certainly warm up your night. This chain specializes in Kyushu Hakata style ramen and has other locations in Brooklyn, Seattle and Vancouver. I went with the Classic Tonkotsu and it really hit the spot. The soup is nostalgic creamy pork bone that many places in the US try to emulate but few do it as well as Danbo. A couple of dollops of pureed fresh garlic transform the soup into an absolute elixir. The noodles are the traditional thin and firm, and they had good wheaty taste and bite. And so many of them! The chashu was thin and melted away with a few flavorful chews. Hakata is not my favorite style but when the mood strikes this place is very good.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“The ramen masters Karazishi Botan, Fumehiro Kanegae, studied bread making in France and also worked for a bit at Ippudo. The menu is an eclectic mix of Japanese izakaya items with Western influences. Order of the day was their flagship, The Iron Men IV, featuring a soup made from Iberico pork, chicken and oxtail. It arrives as just a bowl of soup and noodles, with the chashu and a soft boiled egg on the side. It also came with an eyedropper filled with rosemary infused olive oil. I was a bit surprised at the lack of other toppings, but the server explained this offering is all about the soup. The soup was indeed very complex - the pork was the most prominent, with a little brininess and a bit of collagen. A couple of dabs from the eye dropper transformed the soup, a bit piney and a hint of sweetness. The noodles were yeasty and a bit doughy. This was quite a unique bowl. While the rosemary was interesting, I did prefer the soup without where I could really taste the pork.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“The best I have had of the Jiro style ramens in the US. The soup was funky porky garlicky goodness. The pork back fat and tang of the shoyu taste were in perfect balance. The noodles were thick and full of wheat flavor. The chashu was thin sliced pork belly, a slight departure from usual thick hunks of pork shoulder, but was so succulent and flavorful. An outstanding bowl!”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 3.0 / 5

“Tenjou is located in the high rent district a few doors down from the Flat Iron Eataly. If one were to think of all of the Instagram-worthy Japanese/Asian foods in your feed, you can probably find them on this menu. Unfortunately, at least from what we sampled, none of them are worth returning for. I went with the curry ramen, and Mrs Enthusiast tried the miso ramen, and the best way to describe them both is mechanical. You can see from the pictures, asides from different proteins, the toppings were exactly the same - even in the same place, despite the very different ramen bowls. The curry broth lacked punch, the miso broth lacked umami. It was all just “meh”. We also tried the spicy tuna gyoza, as I have never seen this on a menu before. It was a complete mess - spicy tuna in a fried gyoza wrapper with two random pieces of raw kale, guacamole, fish eggs and Thai sweet chili sauce. Lots of colors for a photo, but the flavors did not work at all. Unless you are feeding the camera instead of yourself I would skip this place.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“At a whopping $36 a bowl, the Wagyu Black Truffle Ramen bowl comes with high expectations, but it delivers. The Wagyu is sliced thinly and served rare. As it bathes in the broth it becomes medium rare, which itself was pretty cool to taste how the meat changes as it cooks. The bowl comes with a side of onsen tamago (literally hot springs eggs, a consistency between raw and poached), and the idea is to dip the beef in the egg, just as one would do with Sukiyaki. Delicious! Like two meals in one. The soup has intense truffle and mushroom umami, but was nicely balanced with some acidity so it never felt too rich. The noodles are chewy complex multigrain made in-house and for me are the star of a pretty great bowl. Mrs Enthusiast, a fan of the bowl the refined clean style that Shuya uses for its broth, went with the Assari Yuzu Shio ramen, in which the clam and salt broth is accented with the popular Japanese citrus fruit. We yet to try Afuri here in the US, but for us this was the best yuzu ramen we’ve had here. The yuzu played backing vocals to the briny clam frontman. The noodles in this bowl were thicker and less complex than the Wagyu Truffle bowl, soaking up the soup remarkably well and providing a yeastiness to the palette. We began the meal with Tebasaki chicken wings, perfectly crunchy on the outside and moist and well marinated on the inside. Everything I try on the Shuya menu is excellent.”

🍜 Ramen Rating: 5.0 / 5

“Yasubee ramen (pronounced “Yah-sue-bay”) is a famous Tsukemen chain in Japan. They are very highly rated in the Japanese ramen blogs, so when they opened their first shop in Manhattan, I had to give it a try. Despite being known for their dipping ramen, I went with their Shoyu ramen, and it was one of the best bowls of Shoyu I have had in the US. The soup has a great balance between rich pork and umami. It was quite addictive. The noodles were thick and rough cut and scrumptious, soaking up the soup but keeping their bite. The chashu was thin and decently seasoned, but a tad chewy and maybe my least favorite thing about the bowl. The shoyu eggs were served hot (!) and were perfectly seasoned and had the right pudding consistency. Even the menma (bamboo shoots) were surprisingly crisp yet tender and delicious. This was a great bowl. We also sampled the curry wings, which are seasoned with a dry curry powder and a bit of Sichuan pepper. The chicken itself had been well marinated, and the rub had a nice spice kick and bit of tingly numbness. They even had Lemon High Balls made with Ichiiko Shochu. This reminds me of when I visited Ramen Ishida soon after it first opened. Get there soon, because as word gets out there will be long lines to get in.”