Soba House Konjiki-Hototogisu — Restaurant in Tokyo

Probably due to my concerns over my sodium intake, I don't crave ramen as much as I did years ago when I could bore people with my nuanced insight into all the different broths, noodles, and toppings. That's why when I was chatting with our server Noriko at Den, I was surprised the conversation shifted to where the best ramen was served in Tokyo. Understand that my husband and I just had the most amazing dinner at Den.

Of course, we were all ears. Noriko recommended this spot which she said served an excellent shio ramen in quite a small space. We looked for it on Google Maps and found it was conveniently located in Shinjuku Ni Chome quite close to the city's gay bars. You didn't have to twist our respective arms. When we found it in a quiet alley, there was already quite a queue of hungry people. We took a number and waited about twenty minutes for our turn.

In the meantime, we were preparing ourselves to enter our orders in the terminal just inside the entrance. There was a Type-A guy who was impatiently policing the process, and believe me, you don't want to do anything to frustrate him. Once our number was called, we were told to sit on a bench to wait for our seats. We got lucky and secured a table for two and didn't get stuck at the packed counter. We both ordered the ¥1,850 Shio Soba with Extra Pork Chashu.

It was a hearty bowl with a clean broth, al dente thin noodles, and a couple of large slices of Iberico pork chashu. We didn't realize we were getting a separate plate with each of us receiving three more pork chashu slices. We thought they were already in the broth, but we devoured it all with relish and surprising ease. Not that we were complaining, but competing for room in our bellies was a shared order of ¥550 Duck Loin Rice.

Given the bargain price, we were surprised at the size of this side dish and quite enjoyed the succulent duck pieces accompanied by rice, green onions, and tonkotsu sauce. Although he didn't snap at us to hurry up, Mr. Type-A was likely pleased we were among the most expeditious diners in this compact space since the queue only got longer outside. Now that we know what to expect, we'll definitely come back. Domo arigato, Noriko-san.

FOOD - 5 stars...shio ramen done right plus delicious pork and duck AMBIANCE - 3.5 stars...it's a tight fit even if you get a table SERVICE - 3.5 stars...Mr. Type-A didn't become a Facebook buddy TOTAL - 5 stars...it's all about the...

If I could I would give them negative stars...

My girlfriend and I were really excited to try this Michelin Star Ramen house while we were visiting in Tokyo. What a waste of time! We were worried about lines and got there 1h10mins before they opened and waited patiently in the cold, if you dont know, Tokyo gets really cold in January even by Vancouver, Canada standards. We were first in line and no one even showed up for 30mins to line up with us, at the time we thought it was ok bc we were just excited to be there. Everyone else came roughly around 15mins before their scheduled open at 11am this Wednesday morning.

Doors actually opened more like 11:05am and we were rushed in. Because everyone was cold the people behind us rushed in behind and really made us feel rushed as to what to pick to eat.

There are 10 seats at the bar and 2 tables seating 2 people each at the back of the restaurant. We unfortunately had no choice but to sit closest to the door, even though we were first in line, where the cold air kept coming in. After we received our ramen i took 2 bites and realized that this was not going to be enough so i tried to get another ticket for more pork and gave it to the chef by which he proceeds to tell me "sold out". How on earth can he be sold out, they just opened. I think he meant to say was I'm not allowed to order anymore... they gave me a refund and we finished up eating.

At the end of the meal my girlfriend went to the washroom quickly and they then told me I had to wait outside for her. Disgruntled I grabbed all our stuff and was about to head to the door when she came back to our seats.

One would think this was over the course of an hour or so but no... this incident all happened within 20mins, from ordering to leaving.

I'm just so flabbergasted. I would never come back here or recommend them to anyone. If you must, go be the 15th-20th in line or just plain wait in line. You'll at least feel like you have time to order everything you want to try.

To be honest this place wasnt worth the wait though, it honestly just tastes like ramen with truffle oil. I would go somewhere else.

Bottom Line: Ramen soup is nothing fancy other than truffle oil Noodles are decent You get 2 pieces of pork Service is so BAD I wouldn't go or recommend this place to...

Went here on vacation following rec from a friend. He did say the ramen style was “simpler” compared to others but still very tasty and given my naivety to the food scene in Tokyo (and Michelin star) I decided to try it.

Was aware of the ticketing/return system which worked well, we came back 30 minutes later and got let straight in. Ramen was served promptly when we sat down and it was very reasonably priced. Unfortunately beyond that I didn’t have the best experience. I felt the environment to be oppressive. We were under pressure to order our ramen and I think the size of the restaurant is clearly causing issues with their ability to provide a commendable service due to pressures from customer influx. Passive aggressive signs all over the walls: “please don’t use your phone whilst eating”; “no long conversations” (!!); “please ensure you leave once finished”; “if you are taking longer than expected to finish your ramen then staff will call on you”. I completely understand the reasons behind this and that the business is experiencing complaints due to waiting times but eating out should be an experience, not a tick-box exercise. It’s hard to enjoy food when the entire time you’re being subliminally told to hurry up. I also think governing people’s conversations verges on absurdity.

I also felt unfortunately the ramen just didn’t make the cut for me, especially given the amount of rigmarole involved in getting it. The meat flavour from the broth was tasty but it still lacked depth in my opinion, and the ingredients were basic (duck, egg, noodles). I tend to prefer more veg in ramen and some spice etc, but that’s just me. This may be a more traditional style of ramen in which case, excuse...