Onya

Best Udon in New York City, hands down. The spicy miso udon is a winter time staple for me. They used to have these sushi rice cakes which were amazing but they got rid of them for some reason.
Loses some stars because of the food menu changing between lunch and dinner. Both are good, but when I’m knickering for some Niku udon at dinner time, they should have it.
The cooked dishes are absolutely delightful!

The place is currently closed for renovations. Saw that it was closed on here and got scared so I decided to go check it out further. Not sure when it will be back but hopefully soon!

A good lunch spot if you’re looking for something soupy and delicious. I’ve been here a few times for lunch and once for dinner. Dinner portions are pricier for the same amount of food.

Noodle assembly line at its finest.
The work crew was craving a good bowl of noodles, so we popped by Onya for a bowl one afternoon. During lunch, the line almost goes to the door. You grab a plate to choose your tempura from a buffet and place a noodle order at the counter. The tempura pricing is odd, encouraging patrons to get 2 instead of 1 piece ($ 2 for two versus $ 1.75 for one). The noodles were also a little pricier than I would’ve imagined, a big bowl running at around $ 10, 11. Tack on the tempura and you have a pretty expensive lunch.
I decided on the kitsune udon, which is different than the sanuki because it has a slice of tofu skin. I heaped on tempura flakes and a few dashes of chili powder, which are complimentary. We went upstairs because downstairs seating was taken. I couldn’t really complain too much about the noodles; they were a nice slippery consistency, the broth wasn’t too salty, and the tempura meshed well with the dish. The upstairs seating however is a stark contrast to downstairs. The first floor has the clatter of the kitchen happening over tracks of Jpop music playing on the speakers. The upstairs is quiet. Dead quiet. Conversation felt so awkward and despite the additional tables, I didn’t feel all that comfortable.
Long story short, it’s a good place for lunch, but be prepared to shell out $ 13 – 15 and sit downstairs if you want a more social environment.

We went here’s few weeks ago. Small entrance with single file line to make selections and pay. The small kitchen is right in front of you, and your bowl is ready within 2 minutes of your paying… The area opens up to a small bar and a pretty bright eating area with small tables. They were very efficient.
The noodles are gorgeous, and homemade. The Curry Udon with chicken was excellent. The broth was seafood based with just enough curry heat and not too salty.
I wasn’t as crazy about the Bukkake Udon (we choose hot, but they offer the traditional cold version too) as it was too sweet for my taste. I think the chilled version would be nice.
I will definitely be back for more !

Great Udon!
I ordered their Niki Uden (Beef) + an extra egg ($ 2).
It’s simple and its taste was similar to the one I tasted in Tokyo last year.
They have two sizes: Regular & Large. Regular is enough for girls, but definitely not for guys.
The restaurant and their restroom is clean!
*They don’t sell alcohol inside, but you are allowed to buy from outside and drink in their restaurant while eating there!

A delicious and amazingly authentic Japanese lunch experience in MIdtown East.
My office loves this place, and once I week I love indulging in a delicious rice bowl with all sorts of fried treats, too. Friendly, fun, fast. Love it.

Onya is consistently serving great soups and udon/​rice/​meat combos. They are also very quick fulfilling orders, don’t expect to wait more than 3 minutes to get your dish.
Personally, the seafood udon is my favorite. It is rich with flavor and the noodles are freshly boiled before they go in your bowl. I like to add a small scoop of the batter flakes and the spicy red seasoning.
Beware of the line that forms out the door during peak lunch hours, especially when it’s really cold outside and everyone is craving udon. It’s a real bummer to be cold and waiting outside for hot soup.

One of my favorite places for comfort food! Cheap prices, fast service and delicious noodle and rice bowls!

I love to eat here for lunch. Come early to avoid the huge lines that start around 12:00pm on weekdays! There is seating in the back, under a little glass /​plastic roof, or seating upstairs (that a lot of people don’t seem to know about)
Udon noodles are the best — they are thick and have a nice firm/​chewy texture and pair well with so many different flavors. They serve them in hot or cold soups with lots of toppings. If you’re not sure what to order — never fear! Their menus have pictures, and they even have the plastic food displays out front to get an idea for what the food will look like.
Dishes I love:
Kijyoyu Udon (cold) — for when you want something simple yet tasty
Bukkake Udon (cold)
Niku Udon (with egg — hot)
Any of the tempura except shrimp (I’m not a fan of shrimp), really love the sweet potato and pumpkin tempura.

Was brought here by my Japanese coworker and was not disappointed in the least bit. Arrive before the masses and you will be in and out fast and if you want to get a seat there will be a good shot you get one. The masses usually hurdle in around 12:15ish
On to the food: I had the Niku Udon, which is beef and it was really good and flavorful. I added tempura flakes to the top, but I also bought two pieces of shrimp tempura.
The shrimp was really tender and it was perfectly fried.
The small size and the two pieces were enough to have me feeling very full and I have a large appetite. The average cost for something like this depending on how many pieces you order is between 10 – 15 dollars.
All in all, for an area with not such flattering quick lunch options, Onya stands above the rest!

I love having bukkake udon in my mouth. It’s slightly creamy, slightly sweet, a tad salty, and all good for you. The thick noodles have a slightly chewy texture and gives way to a very satisfying bite. They’re also very generous in size! A small will definitely fill you up, I can’t even imagine trying fit all of a large down my piehole. Maybe one day I“ll try, since I do love just sitting there and slurping up bukkake udon. This is definitely the place to go and satisfy your most animalistic instinctual cravings… for noodles, pork and egg. Geeze.
Please forgive my juvenile humor. I am serious that it was good though. Can’t go wrong with apps or rice bowl either. Wait staff was super nice too.

Horrible waitress almost as soon as my friends and I came in the door. We wanted to browse the menu before sitting down and ordering (because it would obviously be awkward to leave once you sat down) but she insisted that we sit first before looking at the menu. That’s the first time I’ve heard of a rule like that.
It was a disappointment to say the least, the waitress was awkward and I had to repeat «That’s it, thanks» at the end of my order TWICE because she stood around, almost as if she wanted us to order more food. I appreciate a waitress who isn’t hovering over me, thank you very much. I was tempted to not leave a tip because of the service.
The food was alright considering the restaurant was closing in an hour, it came out rather fast. However the amount of food wasn’t worth the price paid. I honestly was expecting more from the bowl of Curry Rice and Vegetable Tempura set my friend and I shared. Not worth $ 20.
Although it was a bad experience, having taken a look at the menu and atmosphere (modernly cozy), I would recommend coming here during lunch if you wanted to try the place out. The lunch deals looked great.

This review is for dinner only.
Udon! Soup udon and soupless udon are both great! Soup is rather generic, it’s the udon that is gem. It is cooked just right, a bit chewy, soaks in soup but not soggy at all. Soupless is broiled udon mixed in raw egg, seaweed with choice of plain, beef or cod roe.
They serve food besides udon, like curry rice, steak, fish but they are all quite average. Kitchen and waitresses here are slow, so you wouldn’t eat here if you’re in a hurry.
While I’m a fan of Onya, I must say it used to be better. They claim their special appetizer menu is seasonal, but in effect they took away a lot of delicious choices (i.e. fried cuttlefish ball — absolutely my favorite) that never came back. Chicken wings are still on menu, but it didn’t taste as good as it did (meat is stiff and bland, sauce doesn’t soak into meat at all) — not sure what happened, but will not order it anymore.
In spite above criticism, I drop by occasionally for their udon, and I’d recommend Onya to friends.

I came here for lunch with my coworkers. The food is flavorful and honest. I definitely plan on being back especially since this place is so close to work. The rice bowls are great for lunch portions. The small is perfect for me because it allows me to stay awake for the second half of the work day. The regular sized bowl would be too much and put me in a sleep coma for the afternoon. The beef and scallion is good. THe vegetables are good as well but you better like your vegetables picked.
I haven’t tried to noodles yet, but they look delectable. I definitely plan on coming back to try it out.

3.5 stars — The last time I visited Onya was for dinner over a year ago when my fiancé and I first moved. From I want remember the service was extremely slow — slow enough that it deterred my returning ever since despite pretty yummy udon noodle.
While on our way to picking up our howaboutwe ice cream deal, we walked by Onya and saw their express lunch in service. My fiancé convinced me that the express lunch was much better and I should perhaps try it once more. Since his office is just a few blocks away, my fiancé is a frequent customer for its express lunch service where you place your order, pay, grab your food right at the end of the counter. Since I wasn’t craving anything particular, I agreed and we were grabbing our orders off the counter in no time — 1 regular seafood udon and 1 regular naku udon to stay.
They weigh each order of udon to 250g with their scale. My seafood udon came in a fish broth. The seafood consisted of a scoop of clam, chopped up calamari, and small shrimp. On top of it all came with a small poached egg. My fiancé’s naku udon came with sauteed onion and beef and has been hist must get every time. Didn’t get a chance to have a taste of his but I found my fish booth a little too salty. The udon was more on the al dente side and found it a bit chewy — just the way I like it actually! In and out of there in less than 20 mins. A very light lunch for a regular size — definitely would need to get a large to be comfortably full. Will prob return whenever my fiancé has his noodle craving!

Went here with some buds after an event at Japan society… we wanted to remain thematically pure so this was our destination.
I have to admit, I liked everything. Service was great, the place was clean, food came fast and we all enjoyed our meals. One of my friends had lived in Japan for a few years and gave the food a thumbs up.
I will not make any immature comments about a certain type of udon they offer.
If you find yourself on 47^th St, this is a good option!

The rice bowl: YES! Two thumbs up, 10 fingers up, whatever.
I’m completely in love with rice bowl – it’s probably one of the best lunches I’ve had in Midtown yet. There is nothing better than stir-​fried beef with sesame and scallions. I recommend a whole bunch of tempura over it – go all out if you have to! As soon as I took my first scoop, I was taken back to my childhood, where my mom would feed me rice bowls with different meats. There goes reliving my childhood in a whole lunch break. There is nothing better than a good, $ 5.50 bowl of rice that will keep you full for the next few hours. Yes, their udon is good but the rice bowl is a real winner, especially for a lunch deal in Midtown – I mean, come on!

Get to the Chase:
Pros:
1) HAND-​MADE ramen noodles
2) Amazing dishes, which are not greasy at all! I could eat 3 bowls of miso ramen and not get the layer of grease-​lining in your throat like when you go to Ippudo, Totto-​Ramen, etc.
3) Very polite staff
4) Calpico Drinks! :)
Cons:
1) Pretty small (go at off-​peak times and make reservations)
2) Not all dishes are winners (seafood udon, curry udon was ok)

Awful ambiance and ubberly awkward service!
/​/​SERVICE /​/​Bad and awkward on all levels.
— Temperature: It was an NYC summer, sweltering hot in the restaurant, and we were eat hot soup! We asked the waitress to turn up the AC, and reluctantly, she would go and turn it down ONE degree! Not going to make a whole lot of a difference when you feel like you are eating boiling soup inside an oven. The restroom had absolutely no circulation and felt like a sauna.
— Waitress: She was tres awkward. English was a major issue with her completely messing up on our friends order. In addition, every time we asked for our water glasses to be refilled, she would make a big fuss with comments such as, «I just gave you ONE glass of water already!» when there were 5 empty glasses on the table. The icing on the cake was when we intentionally gave her only a 10% tip for her awful service and she chased us to the curb to harass us for a bigger tip.
/​/​FOOD /​/​
+ Grilled squid: Very tasty and flavorful. Reminiscent of Filipino-​style grilled squid
+ Shrimp tempura udon: Decent, but not the blow-​me-​away by any means and definitely not worth the bad dining experience here. The portions are also on the smaller side with my guy friends ordering two bowls of udon to get full.