It's late October, which means it's ramen season! It's the perfect comfort food - warm, salty and filling. Ramen-ya is located in the heart of the West Village, which means it's a tiny space. There are probably 5 tables and then 6 seats at the bar. I like how it's similar to SF ramen houses where you put your name on a list on a clipboard instead of telling the host. That way it's easy to track where you are on the list without having to ask the host a million times how many people are in front of you.
Since it's so tiny, its easier to get a table for 1 or 2, so they recommend that if you're a party of 3 or more to go to their sister restaurant on West 3rd street. But there was only 2 parties in front of us, so we decided to wait it out. The menu is pretty standard - you've got your pork broth ramen as their staple item, then they have some chicken broth ramen, and a pretty decent line up of vegetarian (or as the menu called it "vageterian) options as well. We tried to get an order of veggie gyoza but they only had pork ones that night, which was a bummer. I got the Shoyu ramen which was a soy sauce flavor broth with sliced pork, wood ear mushrooms, scallions and a soft egg. It came with thin wavy noodles which were good and cooked to the right texture but after seeing the chewy noodles that Aarti and Mabel had with their veggie ramen, I was really craving a thicker noodle with mine. I wasn't sure if I was really hungry or my bowl was smaller but I inhaled my dish in about 5 minutes. The sliced pork was a bit on the fatty side but the egg was cooked perfectly and the wood ear mushrooms was the right topping with the broth. Strangely enough the veggie ramen looked a bit heartier than my pork one because it came with more toppings like corn, bean sprouts and bamboo shoots in addition to the mushroom and scallions. I also drank pretty much all of my broth which was salty but not overwhelming salty which was nice. While I know I could have put more toppings on my ramen to make it more filling, it was a bit surprising at how I was still hungry afterwards. So to make up for it, we ordered the green tea mochi ice cream - which were clearly the exact same ones you can get at Trader Joe's, which is actually fine because they're delicious but it's just funny when you realize how restaurants sometimes source for the same places you get your food.
The service was a bit touch and go. They weren't super attentive and we did have to hail them down for both the dessert and our check. There are clearly so many other ramen options in the city but if you live in the 'hood and the line isn't too long, it's worth a stop by. Total bill: $21/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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