Tabata Ramen

Ramen is too pricey for what a really is. And it’s really a quick fix kinda spot. Menu options are short and sweet but all go for over 8 bux a pop. The ramen is good but nothing special. The egg in the ramen tasted weird for me though. Mainly came here because all the other japanese spots on the block were either too fancy lookin or shut down. This ones the last one standing, goodluck tonit.

I love Tabata 2. I currently rank it at the top of my list of best ramen spots in NYC (yes, it beats out Totto, Ippudo, etc.). I’m not sure what it is about the Tabata restaurants (Tabata, Tabata 2, and Nippori), but there’s something special here. I could point to the service, the generous portions, or just the obvious care with which dishes are prepared, but I feel like that doesn’t really cover it. Tabata 2 is the best of the bunch.
Tabata shines most with the «spicy» versions (I’d rank the heat at around 5 out of 10) of their ramen. Their Lava Men and Geki Kara Shoyu Men in particular are standouts. It’s a bit odd, really, since those options aren’t advertised prominently on the restaurant’s menus (they’re shown online and on the paper menu in the window, but I think they’re been missing from the normal menu). The regular «greatest hits» (tonkotsu and shoyu) are indeed very good, but kicking up the spice level adds a much-​appreciated extra dimension to the flavor.
You MUST get extra noodles (kaedama). For $ 2, it’s a no-​brainer. A flavored egg is also a worthwhile addition. You could chalk it up to luck, but I’ve never had an overcooked one here. I can’t say the same for the bigger names in ramen or even for the original Tabata location. There’s nothing more disappointing/​irritating than shelling out extra cash for a rubbery egg.
The non-​ramen dishes are quite good. I’ve had various appetizers and donburi (rice dishes), and they’ve all been solid. I particularly like the Gyuu Don (gyudon), which has great, balanced flavors without the excessively sweet or syrupy sauce some other places serve.
Service is excellent; Thida has been at front of house most times I’ve eaten here, and she has always been great. The restaurant is small but clean and cozy – just avoid the counter stools when it’s freezing outside unless you enjoy getting blasted by cold air whenever anyone enters or leaves. Take-​out is always packaged very neatly.
There are few restaurants I’ve enjoyed more consistently than Tabata 2. I have on several occasions spent more on a meal here than I’d be happy paying at most fine dining establishments – and considering Tabata 2 doesn’t skimp on portions (I’m looking at you, Ippudo/​Kuro-​Obi), that’s saying something. This is the *only* ramen restaurant I actively recommend to friends. Eat here.

Ever sleep with someone and then find out later that person is an ex’s sibling? I ate here not knowing this is the little sister of an ex that I dumped in a horrible breakup, until after. Confused? Me too. I’m horrible at remembering names, streets, and restaurants. I can blame it on the alcohol, but I’m not a heavy drinker, so obviously it’s the weed.
The original hooker in question is Tabata (see my review). Tabata Ramen, is the better version of her older, bitter and cruel sister, but only in service. The broth here is light and has good flavor. The pork belly (or charsu? i’m not gonna look it up, because I’m too lazy right now) that come with many of the bowls is sliced thin, like bacon. Odd, but I’m kind of into it, which is what I usually say after a horrible date.
I’ve had a few of the bowls of Ramen in this joint and to make a long story short, it’s better then what you get at a deli/​lunch spot, but no where near as good as the top spots in the city. The seating is tight, because the space is small, the way a ramen joint should be. In a pinch and with time constraints, treat it like a booty call– it’s good enough.

My new favorite ramen place: D The wait staff are nice, the food is fast and Always delicious! I’m slowly working my way through the menu and have never been disappointed :)

I and my two sons were so disappointed with everything about this restaurant after we carefully read Unilocal reviews and picked this casual place for our after-​theater dinner.
I ordered seafood ramen. The broth was lukewarm, very salty, greasy and had not much flavor, seafood or vegetables in it. The noodle was overcooked and far away from being al dente. After a few bites, I had to stop eating.
My sons had two different rice dishes. They also said they were too salty and greasy. I can’t believe that I paid almost $ 80 for that awful food.
They were also playing a rap music radio station. The background music was so unsuitable for eating anything. Food, music and atmosphere caused indigestion to all of us. That will be our first and last time.

Really good ramen place if you’re in the neighborhood. Shoyu was my choice and it didn’t disappoint. Killer broth, perfectly cooked noodles. Price was totally fair for NYC, would definitely go again.

Hidden gem, on par with the other NYC spots flavors of rangoon, Myanmar. Nice people. Great chicken broth option.

Small cozy place. Ramen is really very good. I dont remember the name but i ate one of the spicy ramen. Actually the first on one on the menu. It was really goodn I would recommend the ramen here. The appetizer were good too, tried crispy baby octopus, Gyoza and fried chicken.
And thumbs up to the server. Really nice and kind :)

Delicious ramen! I got the shoyu something (with the sliced pork) and my lunch partner got the dark men. The broth was so good! Also loved the poached egg. Noodles were a great consistency and not bland like other ramen places I’ve been to. One thing I didn’t love was that the pork was a bit chewy, but I’ve had this problem with other places that serve sliced roast pork.
Seating was quick, and although the initial and follow-​up service was a bit slower than I’d like, the food came out quickly and made up for it. Fair prices (about $ 10.50−11 for each of our dishes).
Will definitely be back (have gone twice, and it’s a decent hike from my job).

I was doing a little shopping during my lunch break when I walked past this place. If you blink, you will miss it. Nestled between an adult DVD store and a 2 bros pizzeria lies this little gem.
I entered and was immediately greeted warmly in Japanese, I assume? The restaurant was very clean and I was shown to my table by my server. He was very professional.
I ordered the tonkotsu ramen. The broth was on point, the noodles had a good thickness and firmness. The pork however was not as tender as it should have been. It was either over cooked or was cooked the previous day and the leftovers were served to me. Had the pork melted in my mouth, this place would have gotten 5 stars.
With that being said, I will definitely return to this spot. I’m looking forward to tasting everything else on the menu. I recommend you do the same.

If you’re looking for a (clean) hole in the wall joint that serves ramen. this fits the bill perfectly.
It’s nice to see Tabata Ramen do well enough to set up a little offshoot/​outpost on 8^th avenue. They serve pretty much the same menu as the main branch and I was pleased with my quick experience.
The folks here were friendly and service was fast and polite. My baseline is usually the shoyu ramen, which I like to use as a guide to see if they can at least get the basics right. The noodles here were pretty solid and the broth was excellent. Not greasy at all and the trimmings (bamboo shoots, roast pork) were all well made. I like the fact that the broth was not too salty or greasy and the flavor was excellent.
I’m a fan of this place. It’s a great place to grab a simple/​no-​frills bowl of ramen right in the heart of midtown.

Don’t believe i will try this place again. I had ramen before and it was great but not this place. It’s was super greasy and not much flavor.
Not a fan, but I really wanted to like it… didn’t work

Hole in the wall is an overstatement. I think I tripped on the front step and fell into this rabbit hole. The front entrance is just the width of the doorway wedged between an adult DVD shop (make sure you choose the right door for your purposes) and 2 Bros 99¢ Pizza. Inside, the space expands to just barely wider than a city bus. There is seating for about 25 people at all-​wood tables & stools with a built-​in high top wall counter for 5 singles. One hot summer evening, it was too warm for hot soup, but luckily they had specials just for this occasion. There was a selection of cold noodles (actually warm or room temperature) and rice dishes, in addition to the regular ramen menu.
We started with gyoza and kaki fried oysters which were quite crispy and tasty. Around the table, we ordered the Harami Teshoku (Spicy Marinated Skirt Steak) set, Miso Yakiniku Teshoku (Sauteed Pork) set and Tan Tan Hiyashi (Cold Noodles w/​Ground Pork) + soft boiled egg. All were quite good and great choices during a hot summer.
On a more recent occasion, when the weather got cooler, it’s Ramen-​Time! We had the very tasty Kara-​Age (marinated & fried boneless chicken thighs) followed by steaming hot bowls of the Sutamina and Tonkatsu ramen. The Sutamina had thin sliced pork with curly noodles in a spicy broth, while the Tonkatsu had thick cut slices of pork charsiu with straight noodles in a mild broth. I was even surprised with a sliced soft boiled egg! That just made me happy as Christmas morning! To top it off, we got a small Karubi Don as a side order. It was 3 slices of marinated short ribs in a spicy sauce over rice, but I could probably have just eaten that as my dinner.
The server is a one woman whirlwind! There are at least 2 guys in the kitchen, but front of the house is all her. She does it all, from greeting, seating, ordering, serving, bussing and billing. On top of all that, she keeps your water filled! I got tired just watching her run around. Leave her a nice tip because she really busts her butt.
Sidebar: Maybe I’m not Asian enough, but both times we were here (even during the summer), an Asian group sat next to us that were dressed for the polar vortex with heavy sweaters and puffy Uniqlo down jackets. And they didn’t take them off while slurping up their steaming ramen! Meanwhile, I’m in T-​shirt & shorts hunched over my bowl getting a steam bath and sweating my brains out. SMH, segue over.

Ive walked past this little spot many of times, and boy am i mad about that. for about $ 12 a non-​meat eater like me can enjoy a huge bowl of veggie friendly ramen. This is hard to come by since ramen is supposed to be pork broth. It was tasty and very filling. Service is quick too! I think theres another option for chicken but other wise everything is pork. The veggie broth tasted great!

Good local ramen joint that puts you in Japan. It’s kind of run down and small but I guess that’s how it’s supposed to be in Japan.
Ramen are relatively cheap around 10.5 as compared to other places. My friends and I all ordered different ones so I got to tried all of them.
Sutamina (aka stamina) — really garlicy broth. Didn’t really taste like regular ramen broth to me but reminds me of a winter hearty soup. The meat was boiled pork slices. Good but nothing spectacular.
Shoyu — really delicious broth. Light but flavorful. Probably my favorite broth of the four I tried.
Miso — standard but light miso flavor.
Lava men — eh nothing special about the soup. Interesting that this came with 2 halves of egg compared to the shoyu that only had 1 half.
Probably will not return since there are so many other ramen joints in the area.

Easily the worst Ramen experience I’ve ever had. I really wanted to like this place, and I don’t doubt that the food is good. It is Zagat rated, after all. If only I had the opportunity to try it… I placed my order to go, and since it was take out, as a gentleman handed me the check, I quickly signed it without adding a tip (it’s take out that I was picking up, I don’t tip the cashier at my bodega or supermarket either). He glanced down, subtly noticed, and returned shortly with my food (the Tan Tan Ramen), or lack thereof. I did not realize until I opened it later in the office that it was a container of greasy water, no meat, no yummy scallions, no egg, nada. Look, my standards aren’t ridiculous, I just expected there to be actual food in the container of food I just purchased.
From the reviews, it seems like the kind of place to eat-​in anyway, or so I’d like to think. I genuinely contemplated giving a second chance, but it’s much easier to forgive a bad dish or even careless service than it is to forgive malicious intent. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, so if it were simply the terrible food, I would give another dish a try another time. If it were terrible service, I’d give the server the benefit of the doubt as everyone has an off day. But to consciously and purposefully cheat a paying customer because they didn’t pay more than the food is priced (or worth, apparently), is insulting and demeaning enough to turn me away permanently, and to actually take the time out to write this review.

Midtown prices for pretty good ramen. It’s a great little place with tasty food. My friend got the Sutamina ramen and I got the veggie ramen. Got the gyoza and the ebi fry as appetizers. Both were great. Got regular refills on the water. Wasn’t busy at all but could see it getting busy during lunchtime during the week.

I was in here Thursday afternoon for lunch right before my volunteer assignment. I had read about this place a few weeks ago and thought that since I had to almost pass it then I might as well try it.
Upon walking in it seemed small. There were five chairs at the counter and maybe four or five small tables based on what I saw. I was greeted immediately upon entering and shown to the counter to take a seat. I was given a menu and water.
After asking about which ramen doesn’t contain pork or pork broth, the Tabata ramen was suggested which is a «coconut flavored & soybean powder noodle soup spicy chicken, red onions, flavored eggs, cilantro».
After I placed my order I was promptly served the salad which was mostly iceberg lettuce with the sesame dressing. I wasn’t expecting it so that was a bonus.
I had ordered bean sprouts to be included in my ramen, which costs $ 1 extra. I knew that from the menu so everything was fine.
When I was given my bowl of ramen, it had pieces of boneless chicken breast, cilantro, red onion slices, and a whole soft boiled egg. I was surprised to see a whole boiled egg because I’ve been seeing only ½ a boiled egg in my ramen.
When I was done, my bowl was cleared. I was given my bill without asking. That was fine since I was in a bit of a hurry.

Tabata Ramen 2 serves hot, delicious noodle soups in a wasteland of mediocre dining options. While the ramen is not anything to write home about, the affordable bowls, tasty broth, quick service, and varied menu are enough to keep people coming versus eating terrible fast food. A line rarely forms at this hidden, nondescript ramen joint, so it makes it an easy decision when I need to chow down before heading anywhere from Port Authority. However, the dining room is small, maxing out at 25 people or so. Don’t bring an entourage or your giant luggage.
I’ve ordered the following, which have all been solid:
Sutamina ramen
Tabata ramen
Fried squid
The soft boiled eggs are always perfect here!
Everything I’ve tried here is average to above average, but with a check under $ 15 each time, I think its worth it.

What to do when you are loaded down with heavy bags full of shopping, it’s freezing cold for us Floridians, and the wind is howling? Tabata provides a compelling answer!
Very tasty, very warming, very flavorful, and very well presented Raman!
Perfect on a freezing day!
The tonkatsu was quite good and the soft boiled egg was perfect. The Tabata with coconut milk broth was even better and unique in our limited but constantly growing ramen experience.
Don’t worry because this place is hidden behind one tiny door. It’s warm inside and the service provided the proper level of Japanese formality.