Jinya Ramen Bar

By far the best ramen I’ve had so far. The soup base wasn’t too salty which was perfect. You can get your ramen as a combo with a salad and tuna roll, gyoza, or chicken for $ 3.95 extra which is a super good deal! 15 $ for a bowl of yummy ramen, gyoza, and a salad? I’m so there!
There was no wait on a Friday night but no tables for 4 so we sat at the bar to eat. Our server/​bartender was super sweet and kind. He kept filling our water glasses up AND he gave me a dish of lychees. A++ for service!
I would definitely come here again!

Ramen battle is getting serious in the city. There are SO many ramen restaurants. Pop! another ramen shop just opened today. I didn’t know about this place until my friend told me to try. (shameful as I’m a huge fan of ramen cuisine)
This place was a hit! We went on Saturday around 8pm, it wasn’t crowded like many other ramen places in the city, good chill vibe. The interior was elegant and it felt like a smaller version of Ippudo. I ordered «Hinomaru» ramen (special) and it was so yum! Great texture of noodles with thick pork broth. The service was very friendly, and they gave us FREE garlic with a press! Many sake options and the price was very reasonable.
I was a bit skeptical about this place since there are many ramen restaurants that are just following the trend without knowing what ramen really is. But Jinya is doing it right!

West Village ramen at a decent price (and wait).
I’ve been to Jinya a few times for random occasions, although having a friend waitressing also increases visiting frequency I guess haha. The set up is pretty varied and you can get a table for the mood you’re going for. There’s an alcohol bar at the front, individual table seating in the back, a big shared kitchen table setting in the middle, and limited ramen bar seating right next to it. Whether it’s a date, large group dinner, or solo dining, you’ll get your fair share of seats.
Service is great, although servers don’t always have the best recommendations. However they make up for it in friendliness and courteousness. My friend and I weren’t the hungriest and decided to split the Jinya Tonkotsu Black combo, which is their most popular item, and we opted for fried chicken as our side.
Our chicken came out piping hot and deliciously crispy. Make sure to squeeze the lemon over it for a citrus burst. The dipping sauce wasn’t my favorite (reminded me of sweet chili sauce served with spring rolls) but I was content eating the chicken plain. It wasn’t over fried, and had a decent crisp to moist ratio. Our third piece was more of a niblet when compared to the other two strips, but with the salad, it was a tasty pre-​ramen bite.
The ramen itself is pretty standard in terms of taste and price. The broth is thicker and saltier than I’m used to. Their pork is very thinly sliced, which allows for portion control but not meaty (if that’s your thing). To be completely honest, the ramen isn’t mind-​blowing but is fairly decent. (I’m actually at a loss for words to describe it aside from the fact that I liked it and it was filling haha).
This place gets a good rating because it has decent seating (shorter wait) and prices aren’t outrageous (although the skewers are way overpriced). I wouldn’t go out of my way, but it’s a great place to fulfill that ramen craving if you’re in the West Village.

Oh my, Jinya. I started this review months ago after a positive first visit. My latest visit in late March left me gluttonously over stuffed, I actually can’t imagine going back anytime soon (though I still want to find room for the desserts).
I like the spacious ambience and décor, though sitting at the ramen bar seat closest to the kitchen was not a wise idea cause I could hear all the kitchen commotion and timers going off nonstop. Plus, I’ve never had a problem finding a table, and it appears an especially family friendly spot on Sundays.
Jinya is certainly a nice addition to the downtown ramen scene, although slightly out of my way. But I must say, I leave this place painfully full each time, which leaves me wary. On this last visit, I had the super pork tonkotsu special they had in March. It was globules and globules of pork in the thickest broth I have ever consumed. I can’t say this wasn’t carnivorously enjoyable, but my arteries told me that this just may not be a repeatable meal order.
3.5 stars y’all

When I was a kid, ramen came in a plastic wrapped package in brick form. You boiled it in some water, added in a mystery package of powder for flavor and you were off to the races with a nice, cheap 50 cent (or thereabouts) meal. If you splurged and spent about .89 cents you might even wind up getting one of those ramens with a flavored oil packet!
When this serves as your point of reference for ramen, it is positively confounding to go to a ramen place, wait an hour and a half for a seat and then get charged $ 15+ for a bowl of ramen that is about as satisfying as a bowl of Phở in Chinatown that I would only have to wait 15 – 20 minutes for.
So it was with a small amount of trepidation that I went t Jinya Ramen Bar to meet some friends. Everyone had spoken highly of it, and I was assured the wait would in fact, NOT be over an hour. I was pleasantly surprised and happy to see this was the case, and in fact when I arrived about ten minutes late, all my friends were already seated and had ordered appetizers.
The setting is a more traditional Japanese experience. A greeting is yelled out loudly as customers come in. Seating is set at long tables. There’s a lot of wood construction with dark colors all around which provide a comfortable and intimate atmosphere. Towards the back is a sushi bar you can sit at if you are a smaller party.
The staff was very attentive, from the manager to the waiter. Our water glasses were never empty and we were checked on at least twice during the meal. They were also very quick to take away any empty bowls or plates as the meal progressed. Kudos for the service.
Here’s a rundown of what I had:
Shrimp Garlic Cheese Bun
Exactly what it sounds like, a soft, white, steamed bun wrapped around garlic shrimp with cheese on top. A bit pricey for the size, but man, the flavor could not be denied. It was absolutely delicious and made me want another immediately.
Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna
The name describes the dish perfectly, but this isn’t some throwaway appetizer. This tapas dish is packed full of flavor and there’s a nice texture contrast between the rice and the tuna. I’ve had a version of this elsewhere that I loved, and this one was every bit as good, but different.
Tan Tan Men
Wanting to try something different than a broth based ramen, I went with this «brothless» ramen choice. Instead, the noodles are served in a rich sauce at the base. With it is ground pork, Tokyo Negi, Bok Choy, Red Bell Pepper and Chili oil. This dish took a few more minutes than the others being ordered around me but I didn’t mind waiting. The dish came in a very deep and impressive looking bowl, which is great because you need to do some serious mixing with chopsticks to get all the flavors combined. Don’t expect something light and refreshing here. The sauce for the noodles is thick, which allows it to coat the noodles beautifully. However this also means the dish is super rich and savory. I’m not complaining. It was absolutely delicious, I was just surprised at the explosion of flavor, and pleasantly so.
Jinya gives me faith that not all ramen places involve ridiculous waits and ridiculous prices. I’d definitely visit again.

The Ramen business seems like a high margin and high volume business, which is amazing because there are so many who flock to Ramen places. We were here for lunch at around 1:00 p.m. and it looked like we were the second table to be seated in an otherwise empty restaurant (the venue opens at 12:00 p.m.).
Food: The spicy tuna appetizer is not recommended, but the Gyoza were quite good. I went for the spicy Ramen and probably should have chosen the «very spicy» level instead of the medium spicy — something advertised as spicy should probably have had a higher intensity, though.
Service: relatively responsive. Something weird about this place is that the servers for some reason like to pack people together in an otherwise empty restaurant. I don’t know whether this is because the servers are lazy or if there is some type of policy against seating people further apart.
Décor: I found a dirty spoon on my napkin. The place seems quite clean, otherwise =).

Wow, one of the best chicken broth ramens I’ve had in NYC! It was rich and hearty, not watery at all like a lot of other chicken-​based broths. Best of all, portions are reasonable at $ 11-​$ 14 for a regular serving! All in all, this is a serious contender for my go-​to ramen place from now on.
Downside? Some of the chicken chashu I got with my bowl was so dry it was inedible :(
If you have vegetarian friends, consider this: the vegetable ramen was mad decent. It comes out as a bowl topped with enormous mound of salad greens! And it was delicious and not a cop-​out bowl. Yay!
Also recommended: shishito peppers, tempura fried brussel sprouts, and the homemade tofu made to order at your table. Eat the tofu with the ponzu sauce. Forget the mapo sauce — it overpowers the mild flavored tofu.
Service was super awesome and the place is great for groups. There was no wait on a Monday night for 4 people at 6:30pm.

If you come here for one item it’ll have to be the ramen. The ramen noodles are just right. Enough al dente where it’s chewy but matches well with the broth. We had the pork broth ramen and the spicey ramen and both were delicious with plenty of ingredients. Soft boiled egg, veggies, and flavorful pork and broth.
Had the yakitori as well and the yellowtail collar is a must. Pork buns as well. Overflowing with ingredients, pork belly, and veggies. It could of used some more sauce though. Nice ambiance but on this night they were quite slammed due to the living social deal and so service wasn’t quite as attentive as they forgot our sake and extra hard boiled egg for our ramen. If not for that i would give it 4 stars but hence 3. Skip the desserts, matcha/​jelly ice cream, and the cheesecake (so dry) as they were not up to par and can only put down one bite.

New York City is not a city that has a shortage on ramen joints. So what makes Jinya different from the other heavyweight contenders. Not much really which is not necessary a bad thing. You get similar quality food at probably less than half the wait time. We came here during a weekend lunch hour and while the tables were filled, there was plenty of seats at the bar (in my opinion the best seat in a Japanese restaurant).
Brussels Sprout Tempura with Truffle Oil ($ 6.00) — They give you plenty of sprouts in a tall cup so it is definitely one of the better appetizers for sharing. Each bite was very crispy, light, and had a nice subtle flavor. I didn’t really taste the truffle though. (⁸⁄₁₀)
Tonkotsu Black ($ 14.00) — The ramen broth was super rich, creamy, and flavorful but it is a little bit too salty on its own. I was worried the garlic would be too overpowering but it blended nicely. Also the noodles were top quality as well. There was two thick pieces of pork and an perfectly cooked egg with a runny yolk. (⁹⁄₁₀)
Pumpkin Cheese Cake ($ 8.00) — Wow, what an amazing dessert; you can really taste the pumpkin in the cheesecake and its evident with the orange color. The accompanying scoop of sesame ice cream went really well with the cake. (¹⁰⁄₁₀)
I would trade no wait service at Jinya over a hour wait in other ramen places anyday. Maybe the quality is slightly less but I am just as satisfied. Also the Gilt City voucher made it that much better in terms of price.

Finally made the effort to check out Jinya Ramen Bar. I managed to snag a decent GiltCity deal here for $ 36 (40% off), so what better way to satisfy the hunger than at an amazing discount? Located right in the West Village, this west coast ramen joint has made its way to the east coast. The restaurant itself is actually pretty clean. There is a nice little bar area in towards the front, and there are scattered tables along the wall, as well as a long table for that familiar communal seating.
For starters I decided to go with the chicken karaage. With 5 pretty decently sized pieces of chicken, the price to value ratio was definitely on par. The chicken was juicy, and for dipping sauce they had a ponzu-​like sauce as opposed to Kewpie mayonnaise.
Following that, I got my Tonkotsu Black ramen. With a pork based broth, this ramen came loaded with 2 slices of chashu, kikurage, green onion, cabbage, dried seaweed, a seasoned soft boiled egg, garlic cups, and garlic oil. With all those ingredients, I was a little afraid that this bowl of noodles was going to be on the salty side, but it proved me wrong. The broth was not overly salty. However, the chashu was a little on the salty side. Granted it was a thick piece of chashu, but the excess amount of sodium was definitely not needed. Furthermore, I didn’t really care for the noodles itself. They were incredibly squishy and did not have any life to them. I swear that my self made instant noodles have more life than these noodles. Sure, the amount was pretty hefty, but I really didn’t enjoy eating them.
Lastly, for dessert, I got the matcha affogart. This came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream mixed with matcha green tea, mochi, red bean, and some strawberries. This was actually one of the highlights of my meal. The presentation was incredibly clean, and it tasted pretty good as well.
Service-​wise, the folks here have it on lock. The servers were prompt, and even offered a free appetizer when they mistook my order. Prices for ramen are comparable to Ippudo and Totto ($ 11 – 14). and likewise for their buns ($ 8).
Jinya isn’t a bad ramen spot. It’s definitely not on my top 5, but it’s also not on my bottom 5. This is a middle of the pack ramen joint. Great location and cleanliness, but the salty chashu and lifeless noodles just weren’t my cup of tea. Thank god for GiltCity.

Short version: Nice décor, pretentious and expensive. Not amazing compared to other ramen houses in East Village or Hell’s Kitchen. Skip.
Long version: In an attempt to traverse from West Coast to East Coast, they had to position themselves to succeed in the toughest market to please… West Village is just that. Why? Less competition. Not so fast. New Yorkers can get just about anywhere with a Metrocard and two feet.
Lofty expectations for a West coast transplant. Upon entering, the décor hits you. Modern flair, with a some darkness to it. Perhaps this was a sign of things to come? There wasn’t a wait, but it was on a night where it was pouring outside and it was packed, one would think… and i went with three others with finicky palates to match. Most of us ordered Jinya tonkotsu regular, I did get a side of seaweed salad with my set, along with gyoza which came with the set.
Not very memorable, like the ramen that came with it. The service didn’t help. The waitress did glare and roll her eyes at my friend often after seeing her red hair? lol not sure how that has anything to do with etiquette or mannerisms. I probably wouldn’t come back for two reasons, particiularly since it doesn’t happen to be along my route and with the overabundance of choices in the East Side.

Last Sunday after probably one or three too many happy hour drinks playing Balls-​to-​the-​Wall BINGO nearby (I won a 5 drink ticket which my friend Nathan E. and I promptly used up), we stumbled to Jinya Ramen Bar. Mostly because it was less than a block away and I had bookmarked it. I correctly assumed there wouldn’t be a line on a cold Sunday night.
Jinya really did a super nice job renovating the interior of what was previously a drab Japanese restaurant which served horrid, room temperature all-​you-​can-​eat-​without-​puking sushi. Everything now is trendy wood, clean and inspiring contemporary Japanese design. The room has a bar, food bar section, two-​top tables and a large communal table. We chose a two-​top table. Too bad the tables are spaced so tightly that you’re afraid your behind is going to knock over someone’s sake while scooting to your seat.
They were out of the hamachi kama yellowtail collar, but we didn’t miss it once we tasted their Brussels sprout tempura with truffle oil. What a treat! Perfectly fried and tasty. Hip and on point. We should have ordered two! Definitely try the sprouts tapa.
I ordered the special Tonkatsu Spicy Miso Ramen (mid-​level spicy) and added corn and a seasoned egg. The broth was pretty good, a bit on the salty side, but the noodles were cooked just right. There were so many ingredients in the bowl that I almost couldn’t finish which was unusual for me. Almost.
The hot sake came in a beautifully designed container filled with hot water to keep the sake warm. I was impressed.
The wait staff was ok and we just had to wave them down a few times. Jinya is not the best tasting ramen place in town, but certainly one of the trendiest places to eat ramen with a convivial atmosphere.

Jinya had nearly five-​star rating on Unilocal during its first two months in business, and now it has dropped to less than 4 stars. It’s actually a very accurate reflection of Jinya’s slight decline in quality.
My first 3 visits to Jinya were just fantastic. My usual is Kobe Beef Buns (or Pork, or Shrimp Buns) and a bowl of Jinya Tonkotsu Black Ramen — it already has a lot of toppings so I don’t have to add more. Noodle has great texture, and broth is rich but much less salty than Totto, Hide-​Chan, which is closer to my preference.
Sitting at wooden, communal table is my next favorite thing after ramen — so much leg room! It’s more brightly lit compared to dimly lit tables along booth. Most of waiters and waitresses lack experience, however, they are all very polite and patient.
My criticism for Jinya is their kitchen doesn’t work well under pressure. When I eat there during dinner rush, food comes out slow and sloppy. As they’ve become more popular, it can be a challenge for them to maintain quality. My advice is to go before dinner rush hits. I’m happy with Jinya but it leaves me a hint of disappointment in the end.
BTW their Chasu Over Rice is actually a bibimbap knock off. Don’t bother. (Why would you come to ramen bar for rice, anyway?)
On a unrelated note. My last Unilocal review of 2013. Cheers to a new year ahead!

Unfortunately, after coming here a couple more times since the first time, the sheen has come off a bit from Jinya. Of note is that the ramen the past couple of times has been overly salty — it just doesn’t have the right balance to it. Additionally, the service has become substantially more inattentive than before. Ramen generally comes out quite quickly, but they lost our order today, and our waitress didn’t even notice until we raised the matter to her. While it was nice of them to compensate us with free desserts, it was also a bit overkill — particularly since we had already turned down free food they had offered earlier.
I might come back again — I had the homemade tofu, which was quite well done (nice and fluffy as freshly-​made tofu should be, with lots of flavorings on the side), and the pork buns are still delicious as ever — but there’s a reason why the reviews seem to be very much at the tails, instead of a solid distribution. Unfortunately, my experiences have trended downwards since the first time.

I really wanted to like Jinya ramen. I came here because a girlfriend had heard about the awesome Gilt deal and being the ramen lover that I am wanted to try. I got their lunch deal which allowed me and a guest to sample an appetizer, a ramen and a dessert for a great deal. I tried their creamy spicy shrimp tempura and ordered an additional pork bun to sample. The shrimp reminded me of the Chinese mayo shrimp with walnut dish except with a spicy sauce. It was okay but wasn’t great. The pork buns at $ 3.5 a piece are similar in price to Ippudo’s but lacking in flavor. The pork belly needs to be marinated longer.
I choose the tonkotsu black ramen. The soup base was okay but the noodles were soggy and not chewy. I was severely disappointed. The egg wasn’t cut in half. They serve you a whole egg. I asked our waitress if the noodles were made in house and of course they weren’t. I think because of this the whole ramen itself is not up to my ramen standard. The pork was thin and did not have the Berkshire pork that you can get at Basanova for the same price but with a better soup base.
The only Pro about Jinya Ramen Bar is that there is now wait. I would not come back, in fact I would rather wait in line at ippudo for 1hr plus and know that I will get quality. Or I would head down to Chinatown to get Basanova.

Decent ramen, but I wouldn’t go out of the way to come here.
For a place that wasn’t too crowded, service was slow. Extra noodles took a while to come out, and the gyoza we ordered came after we finished our ramen. Pretty sure they forgot our order.
Ramen was ok. Fresh garlic was a nice touch. The pork chasu was tender while not too fatty. But the medium spicy wasn’t very spicy at all.
Considering the lack of ramen places in the West Village, this place is fine if you’re in the area and have a ramen craving. But not a destination ramen restaurant.

Jinya earns an overall «okay,» for their ramen, environment and experience they give to the customer. I’m a long-​time fan of Ippudo’s ramen, and I would not consider Jinya a competitor after my recent trip.
In terms of ramen, Jinya’s broth simply is not flavorful enough. I tried their special, which was the Kara-​men (spicy ramen with chicken). The broth itself was a bit too spicy so I then asked for a small bowl of their regular broth to mix in the flavors (this actually tasted much better). The chicken was extremely tender and juicy. We also tried the Shrimp and Cheese Toast bun — delicious! It’s wildly heavy though with its fried shrimp, sauce and the slices of avocado tucked into it.
We came in at 6 PM on a weekday and there was no line whatsoever, we were seated right away and the server was mostly attentive and friendly. This level of service dwindled a bit after everyone else started pouring in around 6:45/7:00 PM. We looked up and suddenly the entire dining room was packed.
So would I come back? Yes, it wasn’t bad, but if you gave me the option between Jinya and Ippudo, Ippudo would be my choice. Especially because the prices are basically the same.

Now I don’t understand the complaints about the service. My friends and I were promptly served and we had no problems at all. We were sat and fed all within an hour. So no complaints from us for the service.
The food was good, I have only been to two other ramen shops and I am by no means an expert. I ordered the Tonkatsu spicy ramen. It wasn’t overly spicy to the point you couldn’t eat it. We also ordered the gyoza and the various buns. The gyoza was well made and the buns were very tasty.
All in all our experience was very good. The food was fine, the service was prompt, friendly and respectful. The place was clean and had a nice atmosphere. I would go here again.

Very good ramen place. Is it up there with the best of them? Probably not. But it’s a great option to have when you don’t want to do a 2 hour wait.
Both of us ordered the tonkotsu black ramen and split a pork charsu bun. The ramen was very tasty. Noodles cooked well, lots of good veggies, soft boiled egg, rich tender slices of pork. Only thing was the broth could have used just a tad more flavor. I had to use the ramen seasoning at the table. The pork bun was delicious. Soft fluffy bun, creamy, flavorful pork that just melted in your mouth. Expensive, but it’s worth a try.
They really need to work on their service, though. Good intentions, but poor execution. Our service goes something like this: Server comes over, takes our drink order, and leaves. Two seconds later, a second server comes over, tries to take our drink order, confusion ensues. Ten seconds later, first server comes back, gives us our drinks, and asks if we are ready to order. Clearly we’re not. That was like 20 seconds that elapsed and we were distracted by second server. Finally, they leave us alone, we decide what to order, and then neither server is to be found. Seriously?
A good 10 minutes later, server finally comes over and takes our order. The bun arrives quickly. But the ramen takes forever. We wait… and wait. A third server comes over and asks if we want to order extra noodles. WTF? We haven’t even gotten our ramen yet! Is this code for, «you’ll be waiting a lot longer for your food so you might as well order extra since you’re going to be VERY hungry»?
Finally we did get our food, and they pretty much checked out. Needed refill on the water, needed to ask for the check. Good thing we didn’t need change. So yeah, let’s try to tighten that service up, shall we? I will say that they were very nice and apologetic throughout, so maybe they just need to work out the kinks.

We’ve got a serious contender here for one of the best ramen joints in NYC.
I don’t even consider Totto due to the ridiculous waiting time and the boring menu. Ippudo is up there, and the waits there should be better with the new location.
After trying Jinya though, I do believe this was my most enjoyable ramen experience so far in NYC.
It’s got the nice ambiance, similar in feel to Ippudo, down to the nice greeting screamed at each customer in Japanese as they enter. Similarly, it also has a great and extensive menu of awesome food in addition to the delicious ramen.
It sucks that I consider it keeping it light when I just get one heavy appetizer and one big bowl of pork ramen.
Anyway, since I was «keeping it light», it was tough to choose from the huge list of tapas and yakitori, but I chose to just go for the Kobe Beef Bun ($ 8.50 for 1). This was one of the best buns I’ve had so far. The bao was perfectly soft and fluffy and the beef was actually probably even softer. The whole thing could practically melt in your mouth. It better, at that price.
For my ramen, I got the Jinya Tonkotsu Black ($ 14). This was some a rare case where they got down both the noodles and the broth perfectly. The noodles were the very thin kind, but were still nice and chewy, and the broth was as thick, rich and delicious as you would expect Tonkotsu to be. The pork chashu was also really good and not too fatty. My only beef with this bowl was that the egg was overcooked — I like that yolk nice and runny, but this one was completely solid.
They are still in the mode of trying hard to please the customer since they opened recently, which made for a very pleasant meal. My water was refilled constantly, which is a must with salty ramen, and they were very attentive, with the food also coming out nice and fast.
The fact that you can walk right in here without having a whole mess of planning and leaving two hours of time for a possible wait is great. I suspect that might not hold for so long though as word spreads on how good this place is.
I will definitely be back when I have more room to try several of the great tapas on the menu, and the delicious-​sounding Spicy Chicken Ramen.