Details: Located at 39-34 Bell Blvd, Bayside, NY 11361. The official site is https://nipponcha.us/
Nippon Cha is pretty good quality Japanese restaurant on Bell Boulevard. The only downside of this place is that the prices are those of Manhattan when the restaurant is located in Queens.
Details: Located at 253 W 55th St, New York, NY 10019. The official site is http://www.donburiyany.com/
Donburiya is a Japanese restaurant in midtown Manhattan that is reasonably priced when compared to the other Japanese restaurants in the neighborhood.
Details: Located at 36-36 Prince St. Ste. 102, Flushing, NY 11354. I couldn’t find an official site so here’s their claimed Yelp page: http://www.yelp.com/biz/勝面-sheng-ramen-flushing
Sheng Ramen stands out in my mind because it has the best bowl of zha jiang mian (or jia jiang mian) that I’ve had in all of New York City. It isn’t the best by a wide margin, but it is the best.
Details: Located at 43-45 West 55th St. 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10019. Official site is: http://www.katsuhama.com/
Katsu-hama is a Japanese restaurant that specializes in… katsu. Katsu is Japanese style breaded chicken or pork cutlet.
Details: Located at 248 E 52nd St, New York, NY 10022. Official site is http://tottoramen.com/
It wasn’t that long ago that Totto Ramen was considered by many New Yorkers to be the best ramen in the city. Years have gone by, and while I’m not sure it’s the best ramen in the city, it’s one of the best bowls of ramen I’ve had in New York at a good price.
Details: Located at 210 5th Ave, New York, NY 10010. Official site is https://www.wagamama.us/
Wagamama is a chain of ramen restaurants that started in London (I think) and opened a new location a few months ago in New York City. I finally got around to trying it.
Details:172 Delancey St., New York, NY 10002. Official site is http://www.nakamuranyc.com/
I came here on a weeknight. The space is small. There are maybe around fifteen seats. We ordered a couple of kinds of ramen and some gyoza. I had the XO Miso ramen. It was okay… maybe less than okay. I don’t love ramen and I was reminded of that here. The price of ramen ranged from around fifteen to twenty dollars per bowl.
Score: 4/10 Not great.
Details: Located at 1209 Jackson Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101.Official site is http://ramennyc.wixsite.com/popup
Warning: this place only takes cash. They have an ATM on the premises for this purpose. They also don’t take reservations.
Had the hankering again for ramen so I looked up Mu Ramen. I think this place is run by a couple and that they both work in the restaurant. The wife handles the front of the house while the husband handles the back.
First thing you notice is the space. It’s got one room with at most about twenty seats. There is a bar with around five seats and a long table in the middle which seats the rest of the patrons. It’s got a kind of communal feeling, so be prepared to be in other people’s faces.
I ordered the Shoyu ramen (clear duck based ramen with shoyu, spinach, menma, and nevi). It was extremely oily, but tasty. The primary thing about the food here is that it is on the more expensive side compared to other ramen places. They have a bunch of interesting looking side dishes that I did not partake in. Again, it’s pricey and when I go to a ramen place, I want ramen. I don’t care to pay an unknown amount for a bowl of sushi or fifteen dollars for two chicken wings, even if you put a little foie gras in them. If I wanted sushi I’d go to a sushi place and if I wanted foie gras I’d go to a french restaurant.
Service was very friendly.
Score: 5.6/10 Okay place, but I wouldn’t recommend this place for ramen. If you feel like throwing money away and getting sushi, ramen, and foie gras stuffed chicken wings, then you should come here. If you wanted a bowl of ramen that you felt was worth the price in comparison to other, comparable ramen places, then go somewhere else.
Details: Located at 342 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10016. Official site is http://momosanramen.com/
Had a hankering for ramen one day so I came here since it was the closest ramen place I could find.
The first thing you should know about this place is that it was opened by Iron Chef Morimoto, also the owner of Morimoto, his other restaurant. Accordingly, this place is packed to the brim. There are no reservations and you can expect a line around lunch and dinner times.
I ordered the Tonkatsu ramen (pork chashu, aji-tama, takana, kikurage, toasted nori, garlic oil, soy tare) and a Kakuni bao (braised pork belly, lettuce, mustard mayo). The food was fine. Not extraordinary. Portion was a little small, but I feel that way about most ramen.
What was extraordinary was the price. My Tonkatsu ramen was only thirteen dollars (ten dollars for a smaller size) and my Kakuni bao was four dollars. If you’ve eaten around the well known ramen places around New York City, ramen prices generally range from fifteen to twenty dollars. This wasn’t so bad considering it has Morimoto’s name plastered on it.
The interior is trendy and modern looking.
The service was fine.
Score: 6/10
Muse Bank 