JINYA Ramen Bar - Vancouver Downtown — Restaurant in Vancouver

TL;DR disappointingly small noodle portions, invest your ramen monies elsewhere

I have never left a ramen place hungry. EVER. Until today. And considering I had a late and satisfying lunch at 2pm, and dinner was at 5, this sort of situation should not have happened

Service was standard, water refills were plenty. Happy hour had just ended at 5pm when we arrived, so our group was seated right away at the high top table in the back. The music was overly loud and it made it hard to hold a conversation. The staff were extra loud in greeting customers in order to be heard over the noise, but I'm okay with that. I get they are trying to create a hip and trendy atmosphere for the post-work crowd to relax in

In terms of their menu, I think Jinya have lost sight of their original goal. I think they are too busy pursuing the latest food trends. There's nothing wrong with adding deep fried brussel sprouts to my Sprouting Up Ramen, it was good but I don't find it was necessary. However for $14.80 per bowl, I do expect a good portion of noodles, just like they use to serve at their previous location prior to moving this year.

At their old location, noodle portions were larger. You were usually satisfied post eating, especially when ordered in combo with a salad and gyozas. Today the noodle portion was tiny! You could do kaedama for extra $1.50 but judging by the amount served to me, I would need a minimum of two kaedamas to fill me up. Others in the group who also ordered ramen agreed their ramen portion was smaller than normal

I did also order the spicy tofu salad. Though it's not a salad but more like a cold tofu platter. Good, delicious, and competitively priced at $5.80, I would order it again. But even having this to complement my ramen, I was still hungry after the meal

Things I also noticed on the menu: crispy chick peas, Jinya bun (their version on the popular Asian bao), quinoa salad, brussel sprouts tempura, caramelized cauliflower, California poké bowls, and substitution of quinoa and bean mix for rice. It's great that Jinya is offering their take on these very popular Vancouver food trends, but they should be focusing on ramen as they're a Ramen Bar. It doesn't help that their authentic ramen listings appear as if they were added as an after thought to their menu; thrown to one side on a fly out flap. Yes, their current special and chef's special ramen take up an entire menu page but you would think for a ramen bar, their regular ramen offerings should at least appear more prominently to the customer

If this place was advertised as a trendy place for drinks and appies that also served a small selection of rice bowls and ramen, I would of been okay with that. But knowing what Jinya was, and what it has become: I'm sorry but I don't think I'll be back...

This place had a line up outside with a host taking people's names and a designated seating area with heat lamps. He was quick, friendly and knew how to run incoming traffic and manage waiting guests to be seated inside. The first thing that struck me was how well this place is managed. He told us it would be a 15-20 min wait and that's exactly when he approached us to be seated inside. Once we were sat our server came by right away and she (MONIKA) was super friendly. I mean she was definitely in the right line of work!

I ordered the Spicy Chicken Ramen, Octopus Balls, Salmon Poke Tacos and Crispy Rice Spicy Tuna.

Spicy Chicken Ramen: The level of spice you can pick - mild/spicy/hot. I ordered the spicy and it was just right. Not mild and not hot...just perfectly spicy. The consistency of the soup base also just right....not watery and not too concentrated to take away from the other ingredients. What was great was the chicken was nice and juicy and not dry at all. The noodles were also cooked just right....al dente and all the other ingredients were incredibly fresh. Liked it. Would try the pork next time.

Octopus Balls: I had never had that before and was really curious. It was super fresh and just a bomb of flavour. It's like you're chewing it and at the end there's the base of the octopus and with the combination of various creams and sauces goes perfectly with the crispy centre. Loved it. Will get again.

Salmon Poke Tacos: This thing had so much flavour it was ridiculous! The taco was super fresh and crispy, the salmon was very tasty and the seasoning was brilliantly and daringly on-point. Loved it. Will definitely get again.

Crispy Rice Spicy Tuna: The crispy rice on the outside was crispy and the rice inside was mushy topped with spicy tuna and a slice of jalapeno. Liked it and will try another item of their small dishes.

In terms of the setup and atmosphere: It was really great to see how up to date these guys were. The place was running like a well-oiled machine at lunch rush and in one of the most demanding dine out cities. The tables were set tastefully and the branding was spot-on and the service was wonderful!

Really well done!...

As someone who frequented Jinya pre-move, I was very excited to get my fix when they reopened. The experience was confusing. Instead of the welcoming, warm and homey experience that made me fall in love with jinya years ago, the place was very hip and trendy, with a huge open concept bar and servers in also black get up. The restaurant doors were wide opened and there were only maybe 5-6 tables occupied, tons of open space, yet the hosted asked us for our names and told us to wait outside... bizarre. We waited about 4 minutes before the same hostess came out, seemed to act like she didn't recognize us, and asked us if we were the table for two from earlier. For context: we were literally the only people waiting to be seated. Seemed needlessly complicated, but not a huge deal. We were seated quickly then and then presented the menus. Ramen is still served, but it seems they're primarily focusing on appetizers and share plates now. The server raved about the brussel sprout tempura so we went with that, and I got the vegan ramen as my partner got a pork ramen. If you came here before, expect that the ramen is different. The pork comes ground instead of traditionally sliced. I found the noodles in the vegan ramen a little slimey, but the broth was very good. The brussel sprout tempura was crispy on the outside, but the sprouts themselves were undercooked, bitter, and tough - I expected them to at least be cooked properly after how much hype the server generated! This is the first time I've left Jinya disappointed. Part of the charm of the place was the atmosphere - almost a home cooking vibe, like you were visiting a close friend. Strip that away and vamp up the menu with fusion-Asian tapas, and its just another one of the many trendy Japanese restuarants sprinkling the city. After years of patronage, I'm sorry to say that I'm going to be looking for a new...