Kyushu Ramen Bar - Grandview — Restaurant in Columbus

I ate a delicious lunch recently [4-26-2022] at Kyushu Ramen Bar at 1280 W. Fifth Ave. [in the "Fifth by Northwest" neighborhood of Columbus].

I had seen a newspaper article, about a month ago, in the Columbus Dispatch, reporting that this restaurant had recently opened in a neighborhood that is a brief bus ride from my home so I decided to eat there, for my first time, earlier this week.

I intentionally arrived only a few minutes after they opened for the day so that I would be able to avoid the "lunch rush. " Several other customers had already been there when I had arrived, which immediately told me that this recently-opened restaurant has already become quite popular.

I had studied their menu on-line -- several times -- in advance of my visit -- so that I would not have to spend any time -- while at the restaurant -- studying their menu before ordering.

My food choice had been Spicy Tonkatsu Ramen [pork or chicken chatsu, half of soft-boiled egg, fish cake, seaweed sheet, mushroom, green onion, bamboo shoot, and black garlic oil].

I am familiar with Tonkatsu because I periodically order that item while eating at my favorite Japanese/Korean restaurant; in addition, I had been intrigued by the notion of "black garlic oil" [without actually knowing what it is]. For those two reasons, I ordered and eaten Spicy Tonkatsu Ramen earlier this week.

It took about half an hour, after I had ordered, for my food to arrive. The food had been absolutely delicious, which may explain why it had taken so long to prepare.

Another customer arrived and had his food delivered to his table within five minutes of his arrival; my guess is that customer had ordered his food -- in advance -- on-line.

The decorations at Kyushu Ramen Bar are well-designed and certainly add to the atmosphere of that location. The walls have been painted with many instances of the familiar "Under the Wave off Kanagawa" woodblock print by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai.

If you want some delicious ramen or other food and you are willing to potentially wait for a while for your food [that will be absolutely delicious] to be prepared, I definitely recommend...

Review Date: May 29th, 2023

Kyushu is Japanese for ‘a long weekend with friends’.

Nah, Kyushu is actually the southern most island of the nation of Japan.

It came time to wind down this awesome trip we were on and we needed a place to eat. Seeing as it was Memorial Day and our original destination was closed (North Market), our pilot called the other car and they settled on a ramen eatery. After some back and forth, they found Kyushu was open for business and was ready to fill our stomach’s needs.

We walked in to a quiet restaurant and quickly spread out at the bar. The waitress brought us all menus and drinks while we poured over the menu. Seeing as it was the last hurrah for the trip, we went all out on ordering appetizers and main courses. I got the Spicy Miso Soup with some Harumaki spring rolls. Emily got the Spicy Tonkotsu Soup and some fried Gyoza. I won’t list what everyone else got cause that would be quite the paragraph and also I don’t remember what everyone got. Ha.

It was fun to watch the main chef cook our meals while also possibly training someone? They spoke Japanese so it was a bit hard to follow what was going on. But again, it was fun to watch them cook and prepare our food. For how large our group was (we picked up Mike along the way), the wait time was comparable to a normal restaurant.

The food went down just as fast as the cooks made it. We were all starving. I’m not intimately familiar with Ramen bars due to there not being many around Central Illinois. But I am glad my friends knew they were plentiful around Columbus and suggested we drop in for some. The spicy miso soup was super good but somehow the harumaki spring rolls were my favorite thing ever.

We didn’t stick around too long after we finished our meal as they were picking up for a late lunch rush… plus we had a 6 hour drive ahead of us. I was thinking about those rolls all the way home and wished we had a place locally that served...

For Columbus fare one of the better ramen places!

6/27/23 update

Ramen is becoming more complete. Pork is nicely charred and smokey. Improved portion sizes.

Still solid quality of well cooked noodles, and synthesis of components.

I think what's missing is a cherry on top. Something that brings out even more of the components. Maybe spicy ginger scallion oil plus fattier/richer pork marrow in soup.

Forgot to mention service and atmosphere: Service is tight, for only one server, she is very attentive. Filling water quickly. Chefs are friendly and fun to watch over the bar. If u are looking for a more intimate experience this is the place.

Clean well lit.

I had the black garlic ramen and guyoza.

The pork is all seasoned, fatty, tender, and hits the right flavor notes, but is a little thin and skimpy. Skimpy. The accompanying sides of corn, sweet crispy bamboo, fish cake, we're on point and meshed well with the overall concept of the dish. The noodles we're okay, they are cooked well, definitely appropriate texture

The only thing that I think would make this dish an extra level be broth. Yes, it is fatty. Yes it is savory. Yes it hits that garlicky swirly note, but the garlic is kind of faint and on the side not really taking the front place in the pallet. It's also a little too salty. Salty. But it's piping hot. It's fatty creamy what you expect.

We definitely come back here again to try out the dishes.

Dave's score : Would drive 10 minutes to get food here

I came in a classic weekday, enough space for at least two or three parties of five, well lit, good ambiance, good for friend get togethers.

I only worry would be if the place got slammed. Not sure if they have enough staff to...