DAIKAYA — Restaurant in Washington

2018 EXPERIENCE

IZAKAYA REVIEW: We came here to bide time while waiting for a table at the ramen shop downstairs.

ATMOSPHERE: It's a 2 level restaurant. The upper level houses the izakaya menu, with a mix of bar and table seating for about 60, in a dimly lit, urban and hip Asian-influenced themed space. You can't order ramen here.

MENU: Japanese apps of veggies, meats, fish, rice, and noodles.

FOOD: Grilled Octopus The slices of octopus had the perfect texture of soft yet a bit chewy. I hate it when it's too soft. The savory "robu-chan potatoes" had the consistency of apple sauce and was drizzled on the plate. Though the description doesn't state it, the plate comes topped with bonito shavings. Very tasty, good for two but you definitely need to order more than this!

Grilled Avocado A halved avocado was nicely grilled face down, and came with a ponzu sauce for drizzling and sea salt for sprinkling. Another delish app that we replicate at home.

Seared Enoki Mushrooms A nice sized block of enoki were lightly seared and seasoned like kettle corn in an oral orgasmic sweet & salty butter. Holy yum. Two yums up!

Shishito Peppers These peppers aren't hot by any means, but can be a little bitter. The 3 peppers came on skewers and were stuffed with what tasted like a ground pork mixture. Good but I say skip it.

SERVICE: The male bartenders were friendly and professional. One of them even gave us info on their other location that specializes in chicken - ramen and fried versions.

OVERALL: Very good izakaya menu, tasty food and good service. Too dimly lit to take photos without flash. Read less

RAMEN RESTAURANT REVIEW: Having eaten quite a few styles of ramen, I now stick to my favorites of shoyu and tan tan. I will have tonkotsu, but only if there's an option to add black garlic oil to it. I love miso soup but don't care for it as ramen. I looked over the menu at home and was set on the shoyu with no additional toppings.

ATMOSPHERE: We sat at the counter which gave us a front row seat to the open kitchen. Neatly arranged mounds of fresh noodles were waiting to be cooked, bean sprouts were being boiled, broths were poured into glass bowls, toppings added, and food delivery was lightning-quick with a shout from the chef. A mix of blaring R&B and pop added to the fun factor.

MENU: 5 flavors that are totally customizable with 10 topping options.

FOOD: Shoyu Ramen From the pics, I thought the super dark broth was going to be either really salty or full of depth, but was neither. It ended up being garlicky and flat overall. It's not tasteless by any means, but I was expecting more. The noodles were fresh and cooked to chewy perfection. Toppings included a soft egg that was a bit sweet to my liking, a perfect amount of bean sprouts, green onions, and thinly sliced sautéed onions. The skimpy amount of charsiu (eg. 1/4 of a normal piece) was shaved very thin and had no fat on it. Good version, and garners a 3rd place on my list of best shoyu ramens. My #1 is still at Ezogiku in Honolulu.

Gyoza We were told at ordering time that the gyozas would probably come at the end of the meal, which they did. Why? I'm guessing it's because they probably come from the izakaya restaurant which is right upstairs. Who knows why it takes so long to come out. The 5 pieces were seared to crispy perfection on the bottoms of the thin wrappers. The fillings were generous but like the ramen broth, had a flat flavor. The gyoza dipping sauce helped a bit. I say pass.

SERVICE: Female was very professional, friendly, and checked on us often.

One of the guys that preps the ramen was friendly and answered all of our questions. They do a thorough cleaning of the entire kitchen at the end of the night. Everything got scrubbed, rinsed, and dried.

OVERALL: Good...

Omg we loved this place. This place is amazing!! Let me start by saying that the pin on Google maps is weird, and tries to take you to like the back alley. We aren’t familiar with the area, so it took us a couple minutes to find, but the entrance to the shop is on 6th St right next to Absolute Thai. The ramen is on the first floor, and they have seating inside and outside but it is very small!! Despite that, and looking fairly busy on a Sunday at dinner time, they sat my big family right away when we got there. They have one big family table in the back in its own little nook that is ADORABLE and SO COOL. We loved this little room thing! We were met immediately with smiling faces, and the server and other staff were friendly, helpful, kind and attentive the entire time. The restaurant is also very clean! I also really liked how simple, and yet descriptive the menu is. And of course it’s a plus that they have some fun adult beverages!

Best ramen we’ve ever had, ever. My husband and I got the spicy miso ramen (it’s not fishy, I know that probably sounds dumb, but it’s for anybody else clueless like me who has ever been traumatized by fishy miso soup lol, I learned that there are different types of miso, and the others are not fishy) and it was so absolutely savory and flavorful, with just enough spiciness to be PERFECT. We added the nitamago egg, which was delicious. There are two kinds of eggs on the “extra” part of the menu, and the wonderful server gently double checked which one I wanted when I accidentally picked the wrong one. The servings of toppings are very generous, fresh and tasty.

My kids got the Shio ramen, based on the server’s recommendation when I asked “which one do kids seem to like” haha. He also made sure to allow my kids time to read over the toppings that come with it, so that they could ask to leave off the ones they knew they wouldn’t like. So thoughtful. They also brought my kids forks upon request, although they still enjoyed the chopsticks. The kids LOVED their ramen, and there’s no shortage of food pickiness in my house. I tasted theirs as well, and it was definitely delicious and the perfect choice, with a lighter, more mild and yet very tasty broth.

All around awesome experience. We were on a time constraint, so couldn’t be more appreciative of how fast they got us in and out. The only small thing I thought of while there that I wish they had, were kid sized bowls of ramen. The bowls are huge and I don’t know many kids that could eat that much haha, and we had a bunch of running around and traveling to do so we just didn’t have the hands the take it home with us, though they offered! I’m not complaining though, I’d do it again...

Update: Got invited back out to have a do over and right off the bat it was amazing, greeted right after walking up to the desk and seated quickly. Will the manager introduced himself and took us to the table. Not even a minute later the server Laura came over and introduced herself and gave us a compliment on a moonstone bracelet we were wearing. She came to the table 3 times before the food came out, not over bearing at all because we got a green tea and she was making sure we were well taken care of. Felt the luv way much more than the first time. Will even came back to the table a couple times to check on us. If you want amazing service and grade A++ authentic ramen then go here. After living in Japan for two years this place will definitely take you back. Even felt like we were at a five star restaurant with the level of service this time. Being a big fan of ramen spots this is one spot to go to. If you see a Daikaya in DC on 6th street make sure to go in and see if Laura can be your server. She has great energy and beautiful smile even though it’s behind a mask because of the whole covid thing.

Old review. The host was amazing along with the ramen as well. The server though was not, sat down and waited more than 2 min for a greeting and from being in the service industry that is a no go. He came no name greeting, well ok straight to the order. The ramen came out quick which was a good thing, more than two bites around 7 in total the server came and asked if everything is ok. Didn’t get another check in from the server until the bowl was gone. Maybe it’s because I am of color he didn’t think he would get a good tip so he gave poor service, usually tipping at least $10 even if the meal is $18 he was given $3 for the tip. It felt like he didn’t like his job and didn’t want to be there. He needs to be trained on how to be server. The place is small so it’s no reason for poor service, being able to handle 10 tables myself with better service, his service was definitely a let down. Would have left 5 stars if the...