Tokyo Ramen & Poké — Restaurant in Neptune Beach

I was really intrigued to try this place since I started working right across the street. I love ramen and I’m always down to eat somewhere I haven’t. I’m aware that ramen isn’t as universally great in most places, but I love noods so much that I mostly can never resist. So my first experience here wasn’t that bad. I came in and sat to have a bowl of ramen. A crab salad while I waited. And everything was pretty alright. It wasn’t the best bowl of noodles I’ve ever had or anything but decent and fulfilling enough that I was open to trying the rest of the menu throughout the future. Granted, I didn’t have a tonkotsu base because sadly, I can’t do pork. So my options of not having pork in ramen were slim. And it’s tricky to nail a shoyu, miso or veggie base. Most of the time they’re bland and not as rich as a tonkotsu. But that didn’t stop me. Nevertheless, I left pleased and satisfied and excited to next time try a bowl of poke. Which I did for lunch the next day. But as a pick up to eat during my break where I work. That’s probably where I made a mistake. Since I made my order online and left my phone number, I had imagined that they would call me when my order was ready. I hadn’t heard from the restaurant and within 45 minutes I nonchalantly took it upon myself to figure it was ready for pick up. When I got there, my bowl was more than ready. And I realized, in the 45 minutes or so that I was waiting for a call and I’m getting there, my order was sitting on their pick up counter, take out thing/area, waiting for me. I paid no mind, took it back to work and scarfed it down. It was great! I had a blend of tuna, crab, salmon, tempura shrimp and a bunch of other things,; peanuts were my favorite! But I def recommend and suggest to go with the wasabi aoli instead of the actual wasabi because when mixed, you eat sufficient chunks of wasabi which in most ways, disrupts your experience with a very itchy nose…it wasn’t until 3:30 in the morning later that day that I woke up from feeling nauseous and was sick for hours the following day. I pretty much had a stomach virus. Now I’ve never been sick from a Pub Sub, ever, in my life, which is what I had for dinner that night. But I have been from bad fish. And I for sure know of plenty of stories from others with a similar experience. Hopefully this isn’t a common thing with this place, considering their close to 5 star average, I’d think it’s not, but perhaps in the future, maybe this review will prompt the folks that work there to store poke bowls and anything else with fish in the fridge while they’re waiting to be picked up…and for anyone else reading this, heed these words, take them with a grain of salt even, just be mindful of your order is sitting out for long...

Ramen lovers rejoice! Even if you're new to ramen, this is a great intro to the world of ramen.

Normally, I would walk through my eating experience from appetizers to dessert. But, I can't help myself and have to skip to the main event first... which is the Tokyo Ramen bowl!

Their claim of a 12-hours process to make this pork broth is no joke. It had a delicate, silky flavor with some depth but not overly hearty. Delicious broth established, you need good noodles. These were thin, almost like angel hair pasta, yet sturdy. Next the mix of meats were all delicious which included beef, chasu (pork belly), and shrimp. The rest of the garnishment were perfect for the soft boiled egg to the bit of shaved ginger in the broth.

Now, I'll circle back to the appetizers. The Tokyo Pork buns were a spin on the classic Beijing roast duck setup, substituting their chasu for duck, and hd the hoisin sauce and straw sliced green onions. Even though they don't have a great assortment of sushi, what they did serve was done well. The Spicy Tuna roll had a spicy kick, while the Shrimp Tempura roll was warm and crispy. It's also worth to note that the filling is much bigger in proportion than the rice containing it. A trick some sushi places do to fill you up is have a lot of rice and very little filling. But, you won't find that here.

The inside was a simple, wooded decor that I found welcoming and calming. I ate there 3 times in 2 weeks. I got to know the server, Jing Jing, who was very helpful answering questions about the food and provided great service. A solid choice in my book. Can't wait to go back when I return...

My coworkers and I had lunch here yesterday.  The food was really good!  We all ordered our ramen "regular" instead of spicy since it was our first time eating here.  The seasoning was just right and the food was very flavorful.  It was filling, too.  Also, our waitress was excellent!  She was very polite and knowledgable of the food offered. She was attentive, but didn't hover.  The restaurant was very clean and welcoming.  We all agreed that we will eat here again.

FYI, I had the Shoyu Ramen.  Among my coworkers, they ordered Shoyu Ramen, Vegetarian Ramen, spring rolls, & a spicy tuna roll.  One ordered ramen, too but I can't remember which kind. Regardless, he enjoyed it.

UPDATE - 1/4/2020 Saturday:

I was finally able to return and took my wife this time. We started with the Tako Yaki, which was very delicious. She had the Tokyo Ramen and I had the Seafood Ramen (spicy). Both were very delicious. My taste buds were in ramen heaven. You can get the spicy seasoning on the side and flavor it to your liking. I used all of my spicy seasoning. Our server was the same nice lady as before and though they were busier this time, she was still able to provide same excellent service as before. Again, the restaurant was very clean and welcoming. By the way, it's so good that my wife is going to bring her mother here, too since she knows that she really likes ramen. This is now, officially, my...