Tensuke Express

I took my little sister there who loves Japanese food. We both loved it! Fresh, delicious and all at a great price! I’d recommend it to anyone.

About to expand, let’s see how much better it can get.^-^

If you love ramen, this is the spot, they have it all and in all varieties. Whether your looking for a thick and creamy ketsu ramen, to shio they have it and in many styles as well. There gyudon is traditional and oh so yummy as well. Pork curry is amazing especially the curry! Also as far as I know this is the only place to find takuyaki (octopus stuff hush puppies basically) and even though they are frozen they use a very good Japanese brand, very yummy. Just be careful during lunch hours, this is a little joint (they are expanding and hopefully opening the new area by end of summer) and seating is extremely limited and the line can be a bit long, but don’t let that scare you away, staff are friendly, food is a true taste of Japan, and we’ll worth the wait and fight for a table. You will live this place!

I only took a star off because it can be hard to find a seat. This Japanese gem is amazing– addicted to their kimchi! Cannot say enough good things about this place and the market it is in.

I have never tried one of the ramen places in New York or Chicago even though I’ve been wanting to for years. I’ve only heard about the deconstructed dishes where you pour the broth and mix the components of the amazing meal. Tensuke in Columbus is hole in the wall that you get into by walking through the grocery store. There’s enough seating for about twenty and they give you a buzzer after you order at the front so that you can collect your food. The establishment is not fit for group dining but for one or two who are up for an adventurous and casual meal its just fine. I tried the pork broth with chicken katsu. The portions are pretty generous regarding amount of ramen but my friend got the shrimp ramen and there was just one small shrimp stick which left him craving more shrimp the rest of the day. I think this is a good place if you are in the area but I am excited about trying some of the newer ramen locations in Columbus and ultimately the customized broth teapot serving establishments in the bigger cities.

Tensuke Express is good food.
Eaten here about ten times.
With the recent boom of Ramen injecting itself into mainstream consciousness of the American palette, I think the ramen offered here is a bit bland and underwhelming. There are a number of competitors in the Columbus market that serve more flavorful and contemporary ingredients.
Tensuke express is a very solid choice for Japanese cuisine, however I think it gets too much credit from the «Hype Machine».
I recommend eating here.

I’m sorry, this place is awful. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by life in NYC, but I don’t think so. This is in no way authentic ramen in any way, shape, or form.
The noodles are literally from ramen noodle packages, no fresh ramen! Literally a ten cent packet of Top Ramen.
They only offered one chicken option, dark meat and it is fried. It’s so gross.
I would never, ever go back to this place. I took no more than three bites and just couldn’t do it.

Fantastic experience here — high quality food at great prices. Reminded me of Japan.
My sister and I shared a plain tonkatsu ramen, spicy salmon crunch roll, toro roll, and sake (salmon) and hamachi from the market. Pro tip: ask them to slice the fresh fish for you — no charge and likely a better value.
I was very impressed by the quality of the fish — soft and flavorful. The ramen was delicious as well — the broth was rich and noodles cooked perfectly and a very generous portion.
Left very happy — if I lived in Columbus, would definitely be a regular.

I enjoyed the rice bowls more than the soba and udon bowls. Shrimp tempura and pork cutlet mini rice bowl were really good. Gyoza were small and tasty. Udon and Soba was okay. Noodles were cooked really well but broth was only ok.

Always great to come back to a business and see the same workers you seen years ago. It’s like a family here!
I ended up getting the Udon Bowl with Shrimp and an Argo Tea. Food was piping hot and tasty as always. Keep it up Tensuke!

I come here almost every week for their sushi and hot dishes.
The people are really nice and they are pretty fast at preparing the food. You can recreate a lot of the dishes at home by buying the ingredients from their market (conveniently located right beside the restaurant). I’ve noticed that there are A LOT more customers now, so you have to go early if you want to eat inside.
Sometimes, they broadcast cute Japanese t. v shows with animals.

My first experience with Ramen, and it was pretty darn good. The place is located in the Tensuke Market. The place was surprisingly busy for the day and time. I ordered the Kim Chi ramen with Miso, overall the flavor was pretty a-​ok. I’d go again.

If you want affordable Japanese noodles, go here. It’s not dirt cheap but most are around $ 7 – 10, which would cost you the same if you go to any fancy fast-​food restaurants. Let’s break it down.
Location. They are inside Tensuke Market and there’s plenty of parking near it.
Dinner Hrs. Make sure you plan on going here earlier than 7pm because they close at 7:30pm. By the time you wait (most likely you will) and order, it may be close to 7:30pm.
Prices. Like I mentioned above, most/​all noodles and entrees are $ 7 – 10. So no problem there.
Seating. It’s pretty limited here so you may have to wait during dinner rush. However, you can put your name and number down on the waitlist and when you’re up next, they give you a call. Also, the turnaround time for each meal is pretty fast so you may not have to wait long. If you’re going alone for lunch or a quick dinner, sit by the aquarium. If you’re with friends, I’d definitely try to get a table; it’s just easier to talk and chat.
Noodles. This is a hit or miss for me but it’s not bad. Some are better than others. If you want an udon, definitely go for anything that has fried food in it, such as tempura udon or chicken udon. I tried the vegetable udon, which I thought there was going to be deep fried veggies in it, but only had scallions and seaweed. The broth was fresh and clean but it was too plain for me. I tried the chicken udon as well and it has more flavor and depth to it.
Overall, a great place to quickly satisfy your Japanese noodle cravings and bring out your inner Japanese while shopping around the market!

I was expecting a lot more quality for the great ratings and the 30 min. Wait for a seat.
After we got a seat we had to make two different lines to get soup and sushi on a different room in the back.
All this waiting, the lines and turns were definitely not worth the wait.
The niku taste was amazing and this is why I am giving 3 stars instead of 2. The beef in it was horrendous. It was fat and ligaments with thin pieces of beef. Dumplings were really tasty and crunchy.
The sushi was not fresh at all.
I may come back for just soup and dumplings to pick up or to go only. But I will probably try another place before coming back.
Good luck!

I’ve eaten at Tensuke Express twice – once to eat in and once for take out. Both times have been excellent.
I’ve had the tempura udon and the combination with udon and spicy tempura shrimp. My husband always gets the ramen. He got it with katsu last time and that was very good too.
I was very impressed at the way they packed our carry out order – the noodles were in a container separate from the broth and the meat was in a container by itself. This meant nothing got soggy!

Best time to come is around 6pm when the pre-​packaged sushi go 25−50% off. Grab a box of that, a can of calpico soda from the fridge by the door, and then head right on over to Tensuke Express. I personally order a mini Spicy Tempura bowl to balance out my meal. If you’re feeling fancy and you manage to finish your meal in time (before 7pm), around the corner in the plaza, go to Belle’s bread and have yourself the Matcha Green Tea soft serve. TO DIE FOR.
Essentially this place is my go to japanese food joint. I love that its simple and quick, and I can shop for some random Japanese goods after I’m done.
OH YEAH often times if they don’t have any sushi left, I’ll just go over the the fresh fish fridge right by the register and pick out a nice slab of sashmi quality salmon or tuna. You can ask the folks behind the counter to slice the fish for you before taking that to the tensuke express side to eat it up!!! BRB I’m gonna do that now.

A coworker who knows sushi clued me in to this place, and said he had eaten here three weeks in a row. I made a point to detour over this way; it’s not in my neck of the woods, and is really not near much of anything, tucked behind that small commercial cluster at Kenny and OId Henderson.
I am so glad I went. You can get sushi and other odds and ends at the attached market, then come eat here. I was able to pay for everything at once at the café, which is handy. I picked up some sushi, then walked over for a noodle bowl. The sushi is cheaper and better than grocery store sushi, and very good though not stellar. Went with the curry ramen, which was amazing. I haven’t partaken much of the latest ramen and soba trend, but I’ve had a few good ones and this topped them. Of course, it has little in common with your college ramen. The noodles were tender and flavorful, the broth (I chose pork flavoring, which went well with the curry) is thick and tasty, the curry/​beef/​egg/​veggie toppings were great, and the whole thing was served piping hot. Between the sushi and the soup I was stuffed, for a fairly low price.
This is my favorite kind of place: no fancy décor, all about the food. It’s not crummy looking, in fact it’s nice, but it’s minimalist and functional. Plenty of tables and a bar-​type seating area, though not like a sushi bar. Order and pick up at the counter, where you can get canned pop. Bus yourself. Sit and savor your meal, along with what appear to be students, older locals, and hipsters.
Cheap, tasty, filling, reasonably healthy, and unpretentious.

My little sis is now in Columbus for her PharmD program, and now I have a reason to visit and eat lots in Columbus. This is a cute sushi café with good udon, ramen, and rice bowls! It’s attached to their market which has pre-​packaged sushi that you can buy and eat at the café (make sure you have them put a sticker on it after you buy it). We bought the large tuna and shrimp roll package at the market, and then we went over to the café and waited in line. We came here on a Sunday, and it was packed! I do appreciate that they have staff making sure that it’s first come first serve (and save your spot) while you order your food.
The broths were delicious for the ramen and the udon! I also got the mini beef bowl which was great as well. The tuna and shrimp sushi was good as well, but I wish they would put less rice around the roll. I definitely will be back!

Came here because we wanted to try a new place! I was really excited when I walked in the market and saw all different kinds of Asian products! When you walk in it can be sort of confusing but follow the crowd and you will arrive in the restaurant. You order at the counter and they will give you a beeper so you know when your order is ready.
On to the food. One thing I enjoyed was they had mini bowls so you can try different things! I really liked the shrimp one! My boyfriend enjoyed the kimchi pork. My favorite thing I tried was my sisters udon noodle bowl. Yum. The flavors came together so nicely. Next time I will get the soup.
Tip: In the back of the market you can order sushi and bring it into the restaurant to eat.

After hearing about this place from all of my friends for the last year, I finally made the plunge and stopped in to see if the ramen/​udon/​sushi lived up to the hype.
Verdict? I’d believe it’s the best Japanese food in Columbus, but unfortunately, I still don’t think that says much. Tensuke does get some things incredibly, incredibly right, but there are so many things that they could do much, much better.
To my surprise, their mini udon was actually the perfect dish to me. The broth was lightly flavorful, but not too strong, and the noodles were cooked to a good consistency. Soft and chewy, without being soggy. I typically prefer ramen to udon, but their tonkotsu broth was just way too salty and overwhelming for me. The chashu and noodles are pretty spot-​on, but ramen is 50% about the broth, so if the broth isn’t right, I can’t commend it. Also, their egg was hard-​boiled. I’ve never seen a ramen place serve you hard-​boiled egg — it’s always been soft-​boiled, and I’m almost positive doing anything but that is nothing short of sacrilegious. I’ll have check out their miso broth next time to see if that sits better with me, since that’s usually a bit lighter.
I have mixed feelings about the takoyaki. On one hand, you get 6 really big, really well-​stuffed, really flavorful, really chewy, really hot takoyaki for just $ 4! On the other hand, they completely overdo the sauce (if possible, I would’ve asked for 20% sauce), and they also don’t add Japanese mayo. The latter bit on mayo is just me being nitpicky, but the sauce isn’t supposed to carry the overall taste. That should primarily be from the actual octopus ball, with the sauce being *additive* and not dominant.
Also tried their chirashi, which surprised me in both good and bad ways. On one hand, my salmon and yellowtail pieces were pretty thin (albeit very fresh!), and my tuna piece looked like it’d been slightly hacked and hastily pieced back together (thick slice, though, and also appreciable quality). On the other hand, they give you two pieces each of octopus (very sizeable, too!), squid (these were a bit smaller), crab stick, and tamago. They even have a layer of shredded egg between the rice and fish! For $ 12, it’s a decent chirashi (and *so much better* than what I got next door at Akai Hana), and the fish, I repeat, was really good, but I’d like for my fish slices to be a bit less skimpy.
It’s possible that I just hit a few spots of bad luck with this visit and will have a much better experience next time. We’ll have to see…