Ramen Tales — Restaurant in Municipality of Thessaloniki

Let me preface this by saying that, in general, laying down reviews for restaurants is definitely not my thing… I always believed that anybody who has the inclination to order a dish and put a few sentences together afterwards about their “experience” is predestined for pretentiousness and insufferableness. But let's be real, nobody really cares about your “entitled” opinions. That’s why perhaps you shouldn’t care about mine either… But god damn this place hits it so far out of the park, that it was impossible for me not to spread a good word…for numerous reasons.

As much of a multicultural city Thessaloniki is, the city has always had one MAJOR gastronomical concern. There were ZERO decent East Asian (even more so Japanese) restaurants in the city. Our flimsy understanding of what that cuisine really entailed was based off of the Internet (looking at you No Reservations) and brief trips to other parts of the world, where we could visit a viable establishment. I’ve been lucky enough to live in megacities with vibrant Japanese restaurants and have also visited that beautiful country a couple of times, albeit short business trips. I must say though that whatever Ramen Tales is serving you in the heart of Thessaloniki, is no different than what you would find in a city like London, New York or even Tokyo. You want proof for that you say?

Tell me, how many restaurants in around the world, or even in Japan, make their own Ramen noodles and Gyoza from scratch in house…? Much less than what you think! It’s the equivalent of gyro places making in house their own tzatziki, tyrokafteri and peeling/frying their own potatoes. It’s not likely, however, if you do find a place like that, you unquestionably know its special. That’s what you’re getting at Ramen Tales, the true “special” Ramen experience as it was intended. I’m overly happy that Thessaloniki now has a place like this, a much needed one. Using Peter Thiel’s infamous analogy, Thessaloniki’s major gastronomical concern has gone from ZERO to ONE...

This was a hard one. Just cannot give it a five star though. The service and atmosphere were great. Indoor and outdoor seating with heaters. The staff was friendly and prompt. Place looked cleaned. The food was of good quality (quality ingredients) but the ramen was not really ramen. It looks like ramen but just doesn’t hit the mark. We’ve been to Japan, ate ramen all over(also way cheaper) and this just didn’t have that ramen flavour. I am mostly speaking about the broth though the egg missed its mark too. The gyoza were good but I’ve had better. My partner had the pork belly and beef tongue and he said they were good but he also felt the same about the ramen. It looks like ramen, but is not. Sadly we would not come here again but I’d say...

I am a ramen fan and eat ramen everywhere I travel. So I must try Ramen Tales (apparently the one and only ramen place in Thessaloniki?). My opinion is that it is a very good attempt at ramen with some creativity (the rye ramen noodles!), it shows dedication of the cooks. The broth is really the type that takes hours and hours to make. And the rice dish we had was also proper short grain rice with simple and delicious toppings and it goes really well with ramen (just like they do it in Japan). But one point of criticism is that everything was a bit too salty. I strongly believe that if the salt was reduced the umami taste would come out better. The cooks and waiters were all friendly and welcoming. I would love...