Kintaro Ramen — Restaurant in Vancouver

3.5 stars maximum. I have been in vancouver for a long time and tried out different ramen restaurants, but this was my first time to visit Kintaro. Friends always told me that it was cheaper to eat ramen here, but the restaurant was not as nice as other ramen places. As a result, I didn't have high expectations before I came here. I just hoped that the ramen or food was good.

When I stepped into Kintaro, steam and heat was everywhere inside. The open kitchen without a wall or glass to separate the dining area makes the atmosphere uncomfortable. Customers could literally see four big pots of boiling soup or liquid with lots of steam right at the entrance of the restaurant. The dining tables and chairs should be clean but they were soaked in steam and heat for a long time, so they looked old and sticky. But I was sure they were clean, because I saw the servers wiped them before seating the customers.

I ordered a shoyu ramen with rich soup base and lean chashu and my sister ordered a miso ramen with medium soup base and lean chashu as well. The bowl was big that meant the portion was big. When we put in our chopsticks into the bowl and looked for the ramen, half of the bowl was actually full of spring spouts. That's why the bowl of ramen looked so big. The lean chashu was good. No fat at all. The soup base was quite fatty that we could see something floating on the surface of the soup base.

The customer service was okay. One of the older servers seated us at the beginning, took the orders and cleaned the tables for us. She had no smile on her face. She might be stressful serving many customers, but I couldn't feel she was friendly at all unfortunately.

I was supposed to get a stamp card with two stamps, because we ordered two bowls of ramen, but after I paid for the bill, the server did not give me the card even though I told her I didn't have one. I did not bother to come back to this ramen restaurant due to an unimpressive eating experience here, so I did not bother asking for...

Kintaro Ramen is commonly referenced as one of the most favoured ramen restaurants in Vancouver, so I had to try it and see what all the fuss was about.

Compared to other big name ramen restaurants in the city that focus on specific aspects of the ramen experience such as a rich and flavourful broth, perfect noodles, or a modern & vibrant eating atmosphere, I think Kintaro really strikes at the heart of Japanese ramen. In Japan, one would usually be able to find cheap portions of hot steaming bowls of hearty noodles and rich broth that serve as delicious soul food or a nice cure to a tough day inside of a quaint, small, cozy, often family-run restaurant. While no North American ramen restaurant will ever truly achieve the super cheap price points of restaurants found in Japan, I think Kintaro makes an adamant attempt at bringing this dream to reality. With large delicious, hearty noodles in a rich broth offered at a comfortable price point (especially for Vancouver), you truly feel like you're getting good quality food for a dednt price once you've sat down in the small restaurant and your large bowl of noodles are handed to you.

In the end, I got the miso BBQ chasu ramen with extra ramen noodles — and when the bowl was placed on my table, I knew I had made a mistake ordering extra noodles unlike my friend beside me (don't ask me how my other friend managed to finish his bowl with extra portions of every single topping on the menu). The portions were filling, the noodles were perfect to touch, and the medium-rich (and richness-customizable) miso broth really hit home. I also highly recommend getting the fatty meat if you ever come!

Overall an amazing experience and also a shoutout to the waitress who took our order while we were in-line and managed to fit our party of six into the tight restaurant. Would highly recommend checking out this Vancouver staple.

Presentation: 2/2 Taste: 4/5 Texture: 2/2 Quantity/Quality: 3/3

Cleanliness: 2/2 Atmosphere: 3/3 Staff:...

We ate at Kintaro with a local friend who recommended it. No dinner reservations were available but we went and sat at the bar and had terrific service from Klutz and Azure, made our selections, ordered and waited for food. And waited...our friends meal arrived and he deemed the sauteed opa to be lovely.

Our two meals arrived much later and while my partners combo dinner was okay, the lemon caper butter on my opa was insane. No garlic was listed and it there was a giant pile of raw garlic and salty capers completely covering the fish. I'm serious when I say there was a half cup of garlic and capers on this poor piece of opa. It was inedible. While my server dealt with the fish issue, I did enjoy the terrific tempura that accompanied the fish. Upon the fishes return it was still inedible. Bar staff was very apologetic and removed it from the bill. They also intervened when an inebriated woman began to verbally attack me and that was cool. Paid and left quickly at that point, later to find out that the tip we left for our bartenders wasn't added to our charge when closed out. They deserved a good tip. The front desk staff were gracious and friendly too, only good things to say about the staff we encountered. The kitchen however has some major issues to deal with. Klutz and Azure are...