Ichiran ramen restaurant in Shinjuku has a unique system that’s captured hearts on Reddit

4 comments

1. The only thing ichiran can capture is tourist money with mediocre and over-priced ramen, which is glorified in social media for people with no longer than 5 seconds of attention span and cheering over “top 5 best things to try from convenience store or what do I eat from convenience store everyday “.

2. It’s great! …when I’m drunk at 3 in the morning and need something to eat and don’t want to talk to anybody. Won’t catch me there any other time.

3. Aren’t all Ichiran locations like this

4. My local Ichiran always has Disneyland tier lines out front so I’ve never been until recently. The Disneyland analogy fits well because it feels more like a theme park attraction than a restaurant.

   The first clue that something was off was the fact that the restaurant doesn’t really smell like anything. If you’re making soup, especially tonkotsu, the shop should smell like it.

   The ramen is ok and I can see why people like it. I think it’s really expensive when the basic one is almost 1000 yen and includes almost no toppings and if you want the one with toppings it’s pushing 1500.

   I didn’t like their booth system because it feels antisocial and cramped. If someone is serving me food, I want the very least to see them and say thank you. Instead, it feels like the little window where you trade your pachinko tokens in for money.