Kogane — Restaurant in New York

We came on a Thursday night at 7pm and they were quick to seat us for a party of 4, even though our 4th person wasn't there yet. Waters and menus were doled out very quickly, which I appreciated. My boyfriend got there within 5 minutes of us being seated and by 730pm, the place was a madhouse. The place is small to begin with the line to get seated was now out the door. The service never suffered and we never felt rushed even though there was a huge line of prospective diners, all jonesing for our seats.

We got the large (375mL for $9) house hot sake, an order of edamame ($5), sauteed brussel sprouts ($7) and pork gyoza ($6 for 5 pieces) to start. The edamame was standard fare. It is pretty hard to mess up edamame! The gyoza was also delicious but nothing to write home about. The sauteed brussel sprouts were the star of the appetizer show. Perfect balance of spice and umami flavor from the fish sauce. For $7, the portion was very small, maybe 10 brussel sprouts cut in half, at the very best. It comes in the same size bowl as the edamame and we could have easily eaten 2 servings of it, without question.

Next, we got 2 orders of shoyu ramen ($14), a chicken broth based ramen with chicken breast, corn and mushrooms, a parco ramen ($14), which is the pork bone broth and curry based ramen with a pork cutlet and I got the red tonkotsu ($13) ramen, which is the spicy pork ramen. The ramens came out hot and fast. We were pretty stuffed from all the appetizers so we barely had time to digest before the entrees were presented.

My spicy ramen was pretty good but definitely not spicy enough. They have a condiment jar of chili garlic oil on the table and I added some in my ramen, which helped but I did wish that the soup was as spicy as advertised.

My boyfriend and daughter were not crazy about the chicken shoyu ramens. It had a layer of fermented fish sauce (called "patis", in Filipino kitchens) floating on top and you're supposed to stir it through the soup. My boyfriend didn't know this so his first ladle of soup was all fish sauce. He was shocked as to how salty the food was and I noticed the culprit floating on the surface of the bowl. After stirring it through, it definitely tasted better. My daughter has a sensitive palate to anything fishy so even after stirring, she was still overwhelmed by the fish sauce permeating through her soup.

3 appetizers, sake, and 4 bowls of ramen, with tax and tip came out to $107. Not the cheapest option for dinner but not that bad either, considering its Brooklyn Heights.

If I were to come here again, I think it'd just be for appetizers and drinks. The service was good but the ramen could be...

My first ramen restaurant in New York. I had the Red (spicy) Tonkotsu Ramen. It was good. In terms of taste and quality, better than all the ramen restaurants I tried in Houston. The broth is creamy, spicy, and flavorful. The pork belly is soft and tender, melts in your mouth. The ingredients meld together quite nicely. The service was great. The owner (I believe he was) was nice. The waitress was cute and quick when taking my order and serving the ramen. Wait time was maybe 3-5 minutes. My major complaint about the place I have is the price ($13 for a bowl, $1 for tax, and $2 tip). That’s about $16 for a bowl of noodle soup. It may be New York, but $10 instead of $13 is what I think it is worth. In addition, they don’t take card if the order is below $20. Make sure you have cash if you come by yourself. Another complaint I have is the noodles. The noodles don’t absorb the broth that well. They kinda just sit in the broth, but this is a minor issue. Lastly, the soup could be more creamy, less watery. Towards the end of my meal, I felt that I was drinking spicy water. Again, not a huge deal but a minor complaint. Overall, great place. Would definitely recommend for first-timers, but wouldn’t go again and again.

Edit: I come here often because it's so close to the EHS housing, which is where I'm living temporarily. The ramen isn't the best in the world, but after comparing it to other ramen places in NY, it's definitely on the better side. Their ramen always comes out super quick: almost always in about 5 minutes or less. Highly recommend for anyone looking for some quick and...

Kogane used to be our neighborhood go to place. Love the wait staff and food until recently when it seems management has changed. The 4 of us ordered the same Yuzu ramen 2 days ago on Friday. One bowl has a piece of broken glass, curve & sharp (like it's broken off from the mouth of a very small bottle). Luckily our friend saw that as she picked up the ramen and did not get cut/hurt. We informed a wait staff immediately. The staff took the broken glass and we asked her to show that to the boss / chef. She did, and they threw away the broken glass, then came back to apologize & offered to replace that bowl or cancel the item. We declined, and then we found another smaller piece of broken glass. Called the wait staff again to show her but this time she almost immediately discard the glass. We told her that she should inform the chef again. She came back to apologize again and offered us more discount on this meal, or 50% our next. We made sure they understand that we were not expecting free meals but food safety is SOOOOO important. That could kill someone. The most disappointing thing is that the head chef didn't even bother apologizing to us in person. The wait staff was not the one to be blamed. Kogane is now on...