Ganko Ittetsu Ramen — Restaurant in Brookline

[4/5] I’ve been coming here for quite some time. I first heard about this place in an article from Eater Boston ranking the top ramen shops in the area. After trying out a few places, I was getting disappointed but kept on trucking trying to find my go-to ramen joint. Does Ganko Ittetsu deliver? Well, you’ve stumbled across the best review. Read more below.

Food (65%) Taste to price 4/5 Quality to price 4/5 Portion to price 4/5 Average = 4

Service (20%) Friendliness 4/5 Promptness 4/5 Average = 4

Cleanliness (15%) Bathroom n/a Dining area 4/5 Kitchen area 4/5 Average = 4

Overall Score = [F(.65)]+[S(.20)]+C(.15)] = [2.6]+[0.8]+[0.6] = 4

The Pluses... Simple, easy MENU to follow. It’s literally a piece of paper printed on both sides. Nothing fancy or gimmicky. Just 6 types of ramen soups, sides, and a beer section. They don’t waste time trying to sell anything else, they know exactly what they are. I like it! Clean, nice, modern interior and AMBIANCE. I only come here for the GANKARA MISO RAMEN. I don’t even need to try the other soups. This one is nicely spiced and rich in pork flavor. The egg is perfectly cooked, and the egg noodle texture has the right amount of chew for my liking. For a tiny place, they are very efficient with handling the WAIT TIME. You can join the wait list on Yelp, check in, and walk around the area. They’ll text you when the table is ready. Fortunately there’s lots of window shopping and people watching in the area to kill time. The wait team works really well together. Speedy, responsive, and harmonious like synchronized swimmers :)

The Negs... No major negatives here. If I had to knit pick it would be that the broth can be salty but I found this to be true at 95% of ramen places I’ve been to. Parking can be difficult. There’s public parking in the back and street parking but these fill out quick especially during weekends. This place is small. Anticipate sitting close to strangers and moderate wait times.

In Conclusion... Yep, all it took was one visit to Ganko Ittetsu and I was hooked. Ganko Ittetsu Ramen, imo, is one of Boston’s best ramen shop. It’s no surprise why people keep coming back here including myself. They offer a very solid experience: delicious ramen, ambiance, service, and speediness. They know exactly what they are and they don’t try to be anything else. I’ve been coming here for years so I’d say it’s worth a...

CAUTION EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE OWNER

The OWNER aggressively approached my car “claiming I took his parking spot.” (He was in the middle of the road blocking everyone from getting around) also there are no assigned spaces. He then honked at me and approached my car aggressively . Banging at the window of my car which is my own personal property, he kept aggressively asking “Are you going to do the right thing?? Huh…” and “You better watch out.” My two year old daughter was in the back seat and told me she was afraid . I was afraid. He would not leave the side of my car or the back of it. I kept telling him I had a two year old, she’s scared , I’m scared. again told him the spot was not his, he was not signaling for anything and he was in the middle of the road seemingly double parked. I again told him he scared me and my two year old. He did not care. I was preparing to call the police because I felt so afraid but he walked away from my car door before I could. I was trembling and shaking and my daughter again told me she was scared. s he exited the vehicle he told me essentially “Karma wilI get you and it will be good to me because I did the right thing” I went in to complain and turns out this guy says he’s the OWNER. He aggressively approached me AGAIN outside the restaurant. His tone was arrogant and attempting to intimidate me. He was quite honestly out of control and was smiling, seemingly getting some type of thrill of trying to bully and intimidate me. I’m shocked by this behavior from the owner of a business, representing himself in public and in the company vehicle. A grown man trying to intimidate me, and especially around my two year old daughter. He offered no apology, no empathy and was further aggressive in how he dealt with the situation. I feel terrible for any one in this man’s life who has to deal with him on a daily basis because he is out of control and has no respect for women or children. There are plenty of ramen places in Brookline, why go to one associated with an aggressive driver and aggressive person. Below you can see the photo of him yelling at me , again in front of my daughter. If this is how the owner of a business presents themself in public, it’s scary to think of what else may go on. He also had extremely bad breath I could smell as he was yelling at me, I wouldn’t want to eat any food prepared...

This place is inside the Arcade Building, so you might never know this place was there unless you were curious what was inside the building.

They did not seat me until I was ready to order, so I stood outside looking at the menu to make a decision before they let me in. That seemed a little weird to me, but it did allow me to place my order as soon as I was ready without waiting for someone to come by my table. This restaurant was also on both sides of the arcade. They seated me on the side with the waitstaff outside. There were a few bar seats and tables on this side.

I ate the Gankara Miso, which was ramen with cha-shu (braised pork), tan-tan pork (sweet ground pork), aji-tama (egg), bean sprouts, nappa-cabbage, wakame (seaweed), scallions, and sesame seeds. It was definitely on the spicy side, but it was a flavorful spice, not the kind that burned my mouth or nasal passages. The broth is definitely pretty spicy. Without drinking the broth, the ramen and everything else was not too spicy. The cha-shu looked dry, but it was fine tender once dipped in the broth. I've never had tan-tan pork, but it was very interesting and a sweet contrast to the rest of the savory and spicy dish. The aji-tama and the rest of the toppings were all great.

I also ordered the Kara-Age, which is Japanese fried chicken made with soy marinated chicken thigh meat. I ordered the original, instead of extra crunchy, and chose garlic ponzu for my sauce. It wasn't my favorite karaage because the chicken pieces were all very chewy. I also thought original would be a little bit crunchy, but it seemed like it was more like very light panko breading on top, which was barely crispy. It wasn't what I expected, but I'd try the extra crispy next time and maybe the chicken meat will also be less chewy. This arrived several minutes after the ramen had arrived.

Service was great once I was seated. My water was refilled regularly.

The restroom is part of the Arcade Building and not public, so you'd have to ask for a key from them and...