Japanese Ramen Noodle Lab Q — Restaurant in Sapporo

I heard good reputation about this ramen store, they were featured on a Japanese tv show, a ramen YouTuber I watch raves about them. Locals including myself have not heard of this place so I was curious how good it could be.

I visited on Sat afternoon, they give out numbered tickets in the morning so that those people can come back at certain time to avoid lining up. We did not have the ticket so we lined up. It took us about 30min till we buy tickets and give tickets to the server, the long wait started after that. It took us another hour till we get served, we paid and gave tickets already so we had no choice but to just wait but there was no explanation except “we are full right now, please wait”. Which I found really confusing and not a great experience. While we were waiting the famous owner kept nagging at other employees, teaching how to be professional…other employees kept apologizing for nothing, I already felt uncomfortable before seated, I don’t know if I call any of that professional to be honest.

I tried special Shio, the soup was light but flavorful with hint of yuzu citrus. There were a lot of different toppings, I saw them explaining each toppings basically saying use local high quality ingredients, however they heard my partner speaking in English then they did not explain anything(I am fluent in Japanese). The toppings are good but not great to justify the 2500 yen price tag. Noodle was thin and texture was on softer end, it is not common in Hokkaido ramen but nothing special compare to ramen stores in Tokyo. Besides, the noodle potion was quite small in my opinion.

Inside of the shop, there was a big table in the center + counter seatings. But the thing is, they do not serve ramen when you are seated even though you gave the ticket like an hour ago. You’ll need to wait another 20-30min to receive the ramen. Which is very questioning operation, no wonder they always have line ups.

Service was not great, servers seems polite and friendly at first but you’ll quickly realize they follow script, say same things to every single customer.

They said no picture inside of store except the ramen bowl. They also said customers MUST hang jackets inside of the store. Washroom was really dirty, I bet no one cleans during the business hour.

It may be interesting to visit but. It worth returning...

This was the most memorable meal of my Sapporo trip. By sheer coincidence, I happened to be staying a at hotel that was a 2-minute walk away from this ramen spot. After learning about this place online during my trip, I HAD to check it out.

I came to the ramen shop at 08:00 and took a number for 11:30. There were only 2 of us there. One sign on the door says there will be numbers given out at 8:00, 9:00 and 10:00, the other says the owner isn't around so they will be serving a different menu (something they regularly do, I think).

Came back around 11:30 and went straight down to find a staff to place my order at the machine. There were a few people queueing but not too crazy during my visit. The machine not accepting new banknotes is quite frustrating, but thankfully I had one note that worked, otherwise I'm not sure what other options I had because the Lawson right beside it refused to swap notes (I suppose they get that request way too often).

I went with the ¥2600 option, which is kinda pricey but I didn't regret it one bit. Everything was just ... good. The broth was incredibly flavourful but light, the wonton skin was the best wonton skin I've ever had in my entire life (incredibly smooth, right amount of bite, right amount of flavour from the broth), the chashu and chicken was perfectly cooked (my guess would be sous vide is involved), just the most tender and appropriately flavoured meats.

I'm not a huge fan of ramen, but I'm a huge fan of this place. If I ever come back to Sapporo, I would definitely make it a point to revisit. Hope I get to try the menu when the chef is...

It was one of the best Ramen we had in our lives. If you like your ramen to be clear and light, this is the place you would look for.

We made a reservation around a month ahead which cost a little extra. When we first arrived at the store, we were a bit confused with the queue in front of the store and thought we would need to queue to get in as we came a bit early. It turned out that the queue is for walk-ins. (Didn’t aware that we can actually walk-in when we reserved.) There was no staff at the front door which made it quite hard to know what exactly we need to do. If you have reserved, skip the line, go downstairs, and show your reservation to the staff. Once we showed our reservation, they let us order from the vending machine. They will let us in after ordering. We waited a bit inside before guided to our seats at the counter.

We ordered different bowls of Ramen so we could also try both of their signature. I went with their flavorful Shoyu ramen and my bf went with their light Shio ramen. The aroma from both bowls was stunning. It’s strong and elevated the meal. They are very light Ramen that you can enjoy til very last slurp. We also ordered their special Shumai which also surprised us with the umami flavor and juicy.

I would highly recommend that you make the reservation as these reservations normally (and sadly) cut the walk-in line. If you are certain about your day plan, don’t risk waiting 1-2 hours...