Yama Ramen — Restaurant in New York

Been on the feet all day long and finally heading back to the home base. With cars honking, people rushing around during rush hour, we had to cram on subway train like a pack of sardines so we decided we need a snack. Dodging and weaving the peeps on the street we see a little sign. “Ramen Here” with a arrow pointing up stairs. Without saying a word.. I look at her..she looks at me we both shrug our shoulders and dart up the long narrow staircase. We walk in and it’s a cute place. A small sushi bar is tucked in the corner to the right as you walk in. We are quickly asked “how many” and we are herded towords the main seating area. The place has a little buzz of people mostly of Asian dissent (good sign) none here looks like a tourist (another good sign). I think we stumbled onto a locals eats spot. Flying in the blind, I quickly jump on yelp to find a 4.0ish rating. Not bad. It’s happy hour, so we decide on some sake and apps. Pork Gyoza Yama Wings and something called Takoyaki. “Humm. Wonder what that is???” So after some nice chat with my beautiful dinner guest, sipping some wine and sake, The food hits the table. Everything looks pretty good typical Gyoza and chicken wing dishes but this Takoyaki. Quarter round fried balls decoratively placed in the center of a square dish, with sauce drizzled and Bonito flakes. Looks good. I go straight in for these deliciously golden looking balls. Very interesting texture. Like biting into a fried cheese ball with something somewhat chewy in the middle of it. Maybe a mushroom was at the center?? The second one was even better. The soft chewy textures and flavors are very nice. I can’t stand it any longer, I asked for a menu to find out what this delicious thing I’m eating is. “WOW! No wonder I like it. It’s a deep fried Octopus ball” If you come here you got a order those. Now that I have the main menu I see a picture of A pork belly bun. “Yes please I’ll order one of those”. The pork belly came soon. Two nice fat pieces of pork belly in the center of a center cut steamed bun with the typical accomplishments. But I must tell you the biggest surprise was not the octopus balls. Sitting all alone on the side of the table was a glass jar with a spoon in it. Thinking it was just your typical chili Flakes in oil, I didn’t really pay much attention to it. Wanting a little bit of spice on my bun I dug in and to my surprise it wasn’t chili oil at all. Get this, fried garlic and chili oil. Simply amazing. I drizzled it over everything that was left to eat.”Which I must say was not a lot”.

Really the only negative mark I’ll give this place is making me feel rushed and not relaxed. Normally I like it when staff pays attention to filling up the water, clearing plates, Which they all dead. However,there were times I felt like they were waiting for me to leave by asking me multiple times “can I get you something else.. would you like to order something else... etc. etc. etc. The three parties around me were all chatting and having a good time ordering no more food than I had. Watching everyone’s actions very closely I noted that they were not being given the rushed style questioning as I felt I was. Oh well just a Minor flaw in a great place to eat.

See you at my next meal.

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I liked this place a lot. The ramen was really good, prices for lunch were appropriate and this is totally a NYC gem. They have three options for vegetarians which is always tough at Ramen or some Asian cuisine spots but we went and all three and it was amazing. Their shoyu, miso, kimchi flavor broths were all really good. The kimchi broth, main in the photo is really good heat and good flavor. One thing I would recommend is some variation available for vegetarian to make up for the lack of protein in that option. Maybe add tofu or the eggs for no additional charge. When you walk into the restaurant, it is tough to spot if you aren’t specifically looking for it. Which I love. There’s a quiet hallway to a set of stairs to the second floor. It’s quiet and feels like you are the only one there. Once you get to the second floor and open the door you get hit with a lovely vibe of a hidden secret of NYC. There is a sushi bar to the right and tables for service on the left. They can probably fit about 40-50 people total and it’s cozy. Tables are close and smaller than usual. No frills here. Straight ramen. Service was really good and attentive. I think our favorite part of Yama is they have this roasted garlic chili oil on the table that is absolute bomb! It has just the right amount of heat, and stickiness you get from roasted garlic and has chunks of slivered garlic in the oil. Highly recommended you put this on everything. It’s the like the Franks Red Hot of Yama Ramen, I want to put that s**t on...

This is a very tasty restaurant. The location is near the 6 train, very easy to find. It reminded me of a ramen place in Japan where you must go to a different level for the dinning area. The dinning area is very cute and gives off a relaxing environment. When I went it there are many people sitting down and having their late lunch. Which was a good sign, usually at this time restaurant tend to be empty. Since all the office worker around the area went back to work or called it a day. I went it will a few friends and we deiced to share many dishes. We were very satisfy with our order. We order a very large bowl of noodle that we shared. The soup base were very flavorful. There were enough noodle and meat for all of us (3 people). However we love the eggs, so we added extra eggs, which came out to be a perfect idea. The eggs were cooked just right. We had also order of duck hand roll, which were very tasty. It was the prefect amount of fat and meat, not what I usually see that other places. The dumplings and shumai were on point, the dipping sauces were light yet very flavorful. The prices were decent and reasonable for the local it was it. Comparable to the prices in queens, a plus! Our server were very attentive and making sure we have everything we needed for our feast. One of my friend had a difficult order, meaning she had asked to removed/replace a couple of thing because of diet reasons, and our server were very understanding and very patient. Overall we...