There is a lot of hype around this chain and due to the often long queues I have been unwilling to visit them until now (April 2021) as there are a lot less foreigners in town making the lines a lot shorter or non existence....Also I have a few very good local places that I frequent and am really happy with their product but for the sake of comparison and to satisfy my curiosity I needed to try them out.
I'm so glad that I did. I was impressed!! No waiting time and their automated ordering/ticket vending machines, as well as their personal booths that they have for you to sit in are well designed with everything you need - water, hashi & oshibori, a pen to fill in the final preferences for your order. From looking at photos of others I thought this seemed a little impersonal but with Covid I guess it's an excellent system. But sometimes I like to see the guy behind the counter making my ramen and watching him tend to the stock or boiling eggs and peel them or even having a little light banter with the owner/chef.I got the 1550yen (or thereabouts) set that includes ramen with green onions, extra chashu, and egg, kikurage and 2 sheets or nori.
I guess I was ready to be harsh with my review as they are a chain with a lot of hype surrounding them as I said before but I really really enjoyed my ramen!! With the preference sheet you can really be specific about the richness, level of spice, tenderness of the noodles and a few other preferences. They hit the mark in every way!!! Excellent level of spice, and perfect "bite" to the noodles and the soup (that dreamy pork broth) was just pure awesome.
I still like my local places but I guess that with Ichi Ramen, being a chain, they are able to deliver consistency all day every day, whereas one time out of a hundred, one of my local places will just miss the mark on say the soup (not tasting just right) or the noodles.
Well done Ichi Ramen I will be back.More