Ramen House Shinchan — Restaurant in Palatine Township

Lots of hype regarding the ramen here, as their aroma traveled far and wide! Being ramen lovers, we definitely had to try it out. We were warned that it could get busy, and by lunch time, there was indeed a queue! Thankfully, they have a seated queue indoors and the line moved fast.

After ordering, the ramens came out faster than you could cook an instant noodle! Excellent service and speed to feed hungry people!

I heard that the pork based broth is the chef's passion and specialty so I ordered pork based ramens exclusively and did not choose the alternative chicken based ramens.

I ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen and the Chanpon Ramen. Let me start with their pork broth. It was deep in flavor, rich and creamy, and exploding with intense pork and garlic flavors. It was so so good! This Tonkotsu Ramen took me back to Japan, where the pork broth was cooked with a special made high pressured cooker to bring out the maximum taste from the pork bones and meats. I don't know how they achieved that taste without that pressure cooker here but I love the broth!

The Chanpon is a pork based broth as well but it is a seafood ramen, so the Chanpon's broth has an additional layer of taste to it. The Chanpon toppings consists of a generous amount of delicious pork, shrimps and squids. In comparison to the Tonkotsu, the Chanpon tastes a little lighter, sharper and sweeter; probably the flavors from the seafood. If you ask me to pick a favorite out of these two, I really can't! Both are really good and "same same but different." I think when I feel like a full and heavy flavored ramen, I would go for the Tonkotsu. If I am feeling like a rich broth with a crisp and sweeter flavor, I would go for the Chanpon.

Their pork katsudon is really amazing as well. The katsudon is generous in size, the pork katsu is crispy and the topping of the egg which is a little gooey, not over or under, is exactly how it is supposed to be. They have nailed a perfect katsudon!

I am seriously impressed by Ramen Shinchan, absolutely love their Tonkotsu and Chanpon Ramen, as well as their katsudon. We will definitely be a regular...

DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME! GO TO THE RAMEN HOUSE IN VERNON HILLS!

I came here because it was closer to where I was at at the time and I wanted ramen. I had been to the one in Vernon Hills and it was such a great experience. I thought the food would be the same since they’re the same restaurant. I was wrong.. so wrong..

I ordered the fried octopus and it was not good.. first they brought it and continued walking away.. I waited for my side of Japanese Mayo and it never came so after ten minutes When our ramen came out I asked for it and the server says “they didn’t bring it?” Obviously not if I’m asking for it.. so now my octopus is Cold.. it was also over fried.. I just cleave you on it and didn’t eat it.. I ordered the Tonkotsu ramen like I had before at the ramen house in Vernon Hills and it was not the same! The broth was way to concentrate.. it was overwhelming and then the noodles.. they were not the same… I had these straight flour noodles in my ramen which isn’t what I got at the Ramen House in Vernon Hills. They weren’t bouncy and curly and made with egg like before. I gave up on the ramen too. I asked the server why I got different noodles and she said that’s the noodles that come with the Tonkotsu ramen and that if I wanted the bouncy ones that I would have to ask for them next time. Rather than question why they do it different than the Ramen House in Vernon Hills I just gave up. The whole experience was disappointing and I won’t be back here. Truly...

Full disclosure: I've lived in Japan for nearly a decade and eaten ramen all over the country. Although I do have a preference for a certain style of ramen, I can appreciate the many variations that differentiate the styles of ramen that are served in different places in Japan (Hokkaido and Fukuoka, for example). To put it into perspective, this restaurant serves very low quality ramen characteristic of a $5 'going-out-of-business' ramen shop in Tokyo in that it is bland and the noodles seem like the dried (not handmade) variety.

In terms of appearance this restaurant is completely authentic, from the design of the Japanese interior to the black logo t-shirts that the staff wears. In terms of ramen, however, it is disappointingly low quality stuff. The soup base of the ramen was bland and the noodles seems like they were the pre-made dried variety (which is the mark of a very low quality ramen restaurant in Japan; very few serve this as most noodles are made fresh). There were no accouterments at the table to accompany the ramen; missing was the characteristic ground white pepper, sesame grinder, hot pepper powder, and/or ginger. The gyoza were nothing special, and seemed similar to pre-made store bought ones in terms of taste. Overall, despite the initial appearance and overwhelmingly positive reviews, this restaurant was disappointing in terms of taste and food quality, and I do not...