SAPPORO NOODLE ZERO — Restaurant in Sapporo

For the food, I break down each part of the ramen: Broth would be a 2.5/5 from me, it just tasted salty for me without much umami Noodles are a 3/5. They were quite firm which I prefer. The taste was just like regular ramen noodles that are bought. The pork was the redeeming factor at a 5/5. It was grilled and blowtorched and it was delicious. *The other toppings felt underwhelming for me and lacking in taste. This leads to my average of around 3.5 considering the taste of the ramen. The price is quite pricey as well so that lead me to lean towards 3, but most of that cost probably went towards giving us more of the pork which is great.

Service was great for us. It was 2 guys who were quite chill and positive. They were easy to talk to so kudos to them :)

Atmosphere is quite charming and the music is a nice mix of j-pop when we went there.

Overall 3/5 as I put more weight in the ramen in consideration of other alternatives and...

Tried the soy sauce ramen — salty ramen with chargrilled pork. The texture of the noodles was great and the meat was really delicious, but the soup wasn’t for me — a bit too salty and oily, the flavor felt overpowering after a while.

The owner is very friendly and great with kids. I also appreciated how he handled the queue — some guests tried to cut in line and he politely asked them to go back, which shows good discipline and respect for everyone waiting.

However, the restaurant could use a deep clean. I had to wipe the table several times before it was properly clean.

Overall, good ramen with nice people running the place, but they should improve the cleanliness and balance the soup...

When I lived in Sapporo I used to frequent this place. For cha-shu, this place is up there. A large thick slice of blowtorched pig belly is laid across your plate and this is basically what you go for. The soup is decent, as are the noodles but IMO, if they were accompanied with a normal medallion of pork, it would be average. BUT the flamed pork belly nudges it up to a 4. The shop is a bit smaller than it used to be before the renovation a few years back. There is often a queue and the staff seem a bit stressed dealing with non-Japanese speaking tourists so give them the benefit...