Ramen Kamo to Negi Ueno Okachimachi Main Store — Restaurant in Tokyo

Maybe it was me, but I don't think this duck ramen is that special.

Don't get me wrong, the taste was fine. But, it's not worth your time waiting in line, at least for me.

Eithet at 2 pm or 6 pm, you still wait for an hour (or more) since they only have around 11 seats inside. Go there before dinner makes you wait in line faster I guess, compared to after/before lunch.

The broth is light yet tasty, but not that savoury. I don't taste the balance between the soup, mostly salty (in the right amount, not too salty). The taste not that rich-flavor.

If you have so much free time, just give it a try. But if you don't, you're not missing anything I guess. Once again, it's good but nothing special.

How to order: Go to the machine first. You need to make an order before lining. But make sure you see the lining across the shop since so many people didn't know that the lining in front of the store is continued to across the shop.

So they bought it with the wrong estimation time and ended up dissapointed or miscalculation. Eventhough you can cancel it by talk to the staff (they offered me to cancel when I asked about the ticket I bought in the morning to used at evening, but we didn't do it)

When you're closer to your turn, the staff will ask about the condiments you'll have. In my visited, they have 3 options: grilled negi chopped negi onion (not sure if it was pickled, but it's not fresh red onion). You can choose 2 of 3 (might be different...

Best ramen I’ve had, yet to find better after a month visit. The broth is light yet complex due to the duck and onion flavours and aroma working together so well. The duck is perfection, texture is just where it should be: tender with a little firmness intact. The taste is also as it should, they let the duck speak for itself without much other seasoning. Noodles are really good as well, they are thin with flavour that seperates them from other ramen shops. I could really feel as I ate that they pick their products with care…

The food overall was excellent. The service was good, they make sure to keep the line outside moving which makes the waiting time not too long. While seated you get your food quickly. They are not very attentive to you besides serving your food. But since you order from a machine, as in most ramen shops, that is also the point.

However there was one situation which somewhat effected my experience for the worse. Which was when the waiter asked us if we wanted forks instead of chopsticks. The intention might’ve not been to belittle us, but it comes of wrong when one assumes you can’t eat with chopsticks. This waiter shouted word of gratitude to every customer that left during our stay, but when it was our time he barely said anything. Which was different from our first visit (we had a different waiter then). It’s not that I really needed to hear it, it just felt like he treated us differently than other guests.

Food...

This restaurant didn’t live up to the hype for several reasons. SAVE YOUR MONEY AND SKIP THE LINE—GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!!! 簡單嚟講，鴨肉因處理不當臭宿，麵有鹼水味，溏心蛋唔溏心加唔夠味，無服務可言，劏遊客店，仲要排隊？大伏速逃！！！！！！

Duck Meat: Their signature ingredient is duck, but they don’t handle it well. The meat is pre-cut and stacked in bulk at room temperature in a stainless steel tray, resulting in a slight OFF-PUTTING taste and a lack of duck flavour.

Noodles: The noodles weren’t drained properly, leaving an unpleasant alkaline taste. This is such a basic step in ramen preparation! Plus, customers can’t choose their preferred tenderness.

Egg: The soft-boiled egg was bland and overcooked, lacking a runny yolk, likely due to the high turnover.

Service: The waitress spoke Mandarin, but she was neither friendly nor helpful. She didn’t offer any explanations or introductions—just took your order and left you to line up. Once seated, she dropped the ramen in front of you with no further interaction. The chefs were making noodles in front of customers, but they weren’t wearing masks, which I found concerning. I really don’t understand the high service ratings on Google.

While the yuzu pepper added a nice touch and the onions were good, it didn’t save the overall experience. It feels like they’ve shifted their focus to tourists rather than maintaining quality. Tourist trap, just...