Itsy Bitsy – Ramen and Whiskey

I’ve been here a couple of times, some times alone, other times with friends. Each time I was greeted nicely. Service was OK. The most recent time I came here I went my entire meal without being asked if I needed anything else (not that I did mind you, but checking in on guests is always nice). Hit and miss for me. Place is decent if you’re craving slightly overpriced ramen and happen to be downtown. On the plus side, I did like the takoyaki.

So me and my daughter are ramen addicts and we have some good joints here in Vegas. I have been wanting to try this place for a while. The special thing about the ramen for me was the egg. They cure the egg in soy sauce which gave it an awesome flavor. Also we had the chicken bites small plate which was pretty good. My wife had the chicken teriyaki bowl because she isn’t big on Ramen. Service was ok early but looked like they brought on another server for the night rush. I will have to say every interaction with our server was great.

Yuumm this place was awesome! I had shishito peppers app. And veggie gyoza app. Both were amazing. The ramen was really good too. You get to choose your ingredients and pay per ingredient.
I chopped one star because the music was super loud in there and the service was a bit slow.

Although my love for ramen still stays with Monta Chaya… this place was pretty good. The décor is a little… different. .but the place feels very intimate. Servers were friendly… but service was a little slow. The veggie gyozas were so good and the beef skewers just melted in your mouth. I would come back here just for those!
The ramen was good… but I didn’t like the fact that you had to pay extra to get a SMALL amount of chili oil. We like out ramen spicy and I wasn’t about to pay even more to get another small ration of the oil… that being said… it is good but definitely over priced to make sure it’s going to be something you like!

Terrible experience… Downtown Project just took this over and it’s clear the staff is overworked and underpaid (not their fault).
Sat around 930pm. Busy but not packed. Seated but had to flag a waiter after 10 mins. Drinks came out 15 mins too after we had to flag again. Our 5 ramen bowls never came out after 40 mins we had enough. They even screwed up our bill twice as we rang out.
Food is great… if you ever get it, but can’t see them staying open this much longer with an unhappy staff that equates to unhappy service. Used to be great when Tim managed it… but he’s at Park now… so go there!

Loved this place. Great Ramen and Whiskey deal to boot! My husband and I shared a ramen bowl and some skewers. I could have easily just had the ramen, it was amazing and finally convinced my husband that ramen can be enjoyable. I would return to Vegas just to eat here.

Beautiful modern décor, but we don’t just come here for the interior, the food was a little more of a disappointment.
The service was great, waitress was very knowledgeable about the selection of whiskey and a great deal for a bowl of ramen and a order of whiskey for $ 20. The noodles were a little clumpy, stuck together and the broth was a little lacking in flavor. but the meat was good They did mentioned that they were recently opened so perhaps they are still in the testing phase, since there is definitely room for improvement.

I had high hopes for this spot. however I was disappointed. A friend and I stumbled across Itsy Bitsy on a Saturday night around 10pm. We were hungry and wanted to find something on Fremont to eat outside of pizza (I love pizza rock!) tacos (great spot in container park… forgot the name), and pub food.
The host and ambiance were great. The restaurant has a moderately hipster feel. The food was ok. we ordered veggie pot stickers as an appetizer and veggie ramen. Both items came out very quickly, but lacked flavor. I’m a phở fan, so I was anticipating some flavoring in the broth but it was a little bland for my taste.
I hate writing bad reviews or focusing on a negative, but our waitress gets two thumbs down. She took our drink order as soon as we sat down, along with the appetizer order. The appetizer came out in 5min then the Ramen bowls came out 10minutes later. still drink-​less. The restaurant was 50% empty so it was no reason why it should have taken over 20 minutes to receive drinks. The manager came to our table and I asked about the drinks. He got the attention of our waitress, who was socializing with a coworker, and she promptly brought our drinks.
I will probably come back because I feel this place is a great addition to Fremont. hopefully I can write about a better experience.

The atmosphere is contemporary/​trendy, a small lil place at the base of the Ogden. A bar at front eatery at the back. The drinks are average to say the least. The food? Honestly, I was expecting a lot more. I ordered the build your own ramen. Thick noodle, tonkotsu broth and added the fish cake to the mix. It was ok. The only positive was the good looking server, he wasn’t too bad on the eyes.
Will I be back? Only if the crew I’m with decides to go there.

Solid whiskey collection and pretty good ramen.
Not the best ramen I’ve had in my life, but the overall meal and experience was solid.
I recommend the Coffey Japanese whiskey if you want to deviate from the normal election.
Come here with coworkers or medium sized groups.

We were looking for something different off the strip — this place was great. The food was unique and the service was excellent! Take a look at the menu — very cool dishes.
The atmosphere was kind of «hip» — not your traditional food stop

Loved the atmosphere. It is very contemporary n trendy. There is a cute little bar and lounge at the entrance of the restaurant. The main dining room is up a few steps and overlooks Ogden Ave. The ramen is good, not great. I ordered the tonkotsu ramen with thick noodles and thought it was about a ⁷⁄₁₀.

I was excited to try a New restaurant in downtown for my birthday and so friends together a dinner here at itsy-​bitsy Ramen.
We all decided to try a bunch of different foods because it was her first time. We did the Ramen noodle bowl with the chicken broth base and added in fish balls and some sliced pork which was delicious. I loved the vegetable guyots the dumplings! Those are my favorite food that we try! I also liked our seaweed salad and hand rolls — they were clean and Yummy.
For drinks they have a full sake, beer, wine and even whiskey menu to try something to your liking which was pretty cool! I stuck with beer and the boys enjoyed some whiskey flights!

I saw this place while I was driving home one day. The place is very cute. I sat next to the bar, which is up front. The windows are huge, so the area was flooded with natural light.
I ordered a drink with a orchid floating on top & I absolutely loved it. The bartender was pretty knowledgeable about the drinks. My favorite thing about the place were the small plates. Reasonably priced in my opinion and pretty tasty. The ramen was disappointing & my boyfriend ending up returning his bowl. They were kind enough to refund him.
All in all, Itsy Bitsy is a good place to hang out downtown. It has less crowds because it’s off Fremont, but parking is still awful. I would definitely suggest you order the small plates and not the ramen. The plants all around are cool too.

Kind of disappointing, to be honest. The place is really cute, and so was the waitress. The drink menu was interesting.
The food though, not as much. The noodles weren’t fresh, and the broth was lacking. It clearly had not been cooked long enough to become flavorful. My boyfriend’s bowl was the same, just plain. I don’t know if I’d bother coming back here again, unless someone else really wanted to come.
Hipster Ramen=Fail Ramen.

I was excited to check this place out. It gave me an excuse to get off the Strip and to be a block off Fremont St. It’s in a classic building in a small, intimate space.
What was immediately disappointing was the lack of hospitality. We waited for a hostess for about 3 – 4 minutes at which point I started to make my way to the dining area. The bartender told me to hang on for a second and they would be with us.
It was probably another 3 – 4 minutes until she greeted us. Even at that point it was a little half ass as she basically strongly insisted as sit in the bar area than wait 5 minutes for a party to leave. I thought that was odd but for her it was the path of least resistance. The bottom line is the bar area doesn’t nearly have the ambiance of the dining room.
After we were seated the waiter was really good. I was happy to see Asahi on draft and impressed with their whiskey list although I didn’t order any. I had the ramen — Tonkatsu with the thick noodles and I added mushrooms. I felt it needed a little kick so I added some Shiracha. I didn’t want to do the typical miso and glad I went with a different base because it was really good.
Outside of the situation with the hostess, this place was cool with good ramen and I would definitely come back.

While waiting for our tour at nearby Neon Museum, we decided to stop in and grab a quick bite down the street at the Ogden.
First impression — very similar to Park on Fremont’s décor with its artwork and wooden fixtures. Clean and crisp. It was pretty empty when we went. A few chairs looked like they were straight-​up made from the material of moscow mule mugs. If this isn’t a sign of another gosh darn hipster restaurant, then I don’t know what is. As downtown Las Vegas continues to gentrify, it’s no surprise that this place attempts to cater to the hip and the happenin’.
The BF got some chicken teriyaki bowl with the option of brown or white rice. Since this is a ramen place, I opted to try some soup ($ 10.50) Choice of thin or thick noodles (I chose thick) and choice of broth – tonkotsu, shoyu, or miso (I had shoyu) and all bowls already include: green onion, bean sprouts, braised pork, and a cured egg. They offer other add’l toppings for $ 1 each, so I added fish cake, but I honestly couldn’t distinguish if it was added to my bowl or not.
I didn’t have any whiskey sad to say, but I did sip on their watermelon lychee lemonade which was my favorite part of my meal. The ramen was just okay. There are several, more authentic places in town that beat them by a mile, but to be fair, I give props to this joint’s ambiance.

For a trendy downtown spot, the food was a bit better than expected… which isn’t really saying much, to be honest. It’s a passable spot to kill a ramen craving but you’re better off driving out to Chinatown for the good stuff. That said, the modern-​industrial style and kooky art have a distinct charm and the service is attentive.
TONKOTSU RAMEN: Opted for the thick noodle, which was decently chewy, and added nori. I was a bit taken aback to receive a giant handful of bean sprouts in my bowl… this isn’t pad thai, so I’m not sure why it was included. It seems this was used in place of bamboo shoots? Soy-​marinated egg was cooked perfectly, though I prefer a full egg instead of a half. Broth itself was rich but lacked depth. Would like to see more varieties added to the menu (black garlic anyone?) that they can perhaps execute better.
HANDROLLS: Available at about $ 5/​pop, spicy or non, these can be removed from the menu. Fish is fresh but the rolls themselves are basic, nothing special, and a little overpriced. Stick to classic apps like gyoza or edamame.
Service from bartender Jacqueline was friendly and quick, overall the staff seems to run a tight ship and everyone was in a really positive mood. I didn’t partake of the whiskeys offered but they seem to have a decent drink menu. HH includes an $ 8 ramen and beer special, might return to try that out.

Hearing about all the new ramen restaurants in Vegas, I thought that the ramen scene was becoming a bit of a bubble. However, my mind may have been changed today.
I consider myself a ramen lover, having gone to most if not all of the previously existing places in town as well as many outside of Vegas. Some of my even more well-​traveled ramen aficionado friends invited me to come along so that we could all try Itsy Bitsy for the first time. I was wary of going because of the lack of positivity in prior reviews, but I’ll give most places one try at least. Surprisingly, they delivered.
There’s plenty of whiskys, other libations, and appetizers on the menu, but I kept my meal simple. I ordered my ramen ($ 10.25) with thick noodles and miso broth. The ramen comes standard with green onion, chashu, bean sprouts, and half of a soy cured egg. I declined to add extras.
The broth, although almost overwhelmingly salty, was quite flavorful. I’m not dinging them for it because it comes with the territory and because I had almost unpleasant saltiness before in my favorite miso ramen. The noodles were al dente, as you would expect at any ramen restaurant. The chashu pork was tasty and actually had a more porky flavor than a lot of the other places in town. Bean sprouts helped to fight the saltiness, and the julienne green onions provided a needed contrast in both flavor and texture. Overall, this is clearly the second best regularly available miso ramen I’ve had in Vegas.
I did taste some of a friend’s tonkotsu broth both before and after I’d delved into my own bowl, and it was less salty but also less strong in flavor. I’m not sure I would try that next time, and I’ll probably skip the shoyu since that tends to be less flavorful overall. But the miso is something that I’ll remember, and given how highly I hold in esteem my favorite miso ramen place, four stars is an appropriate rating for Itsy Bitsy.
A few other notes: they keep it fairly dimly lit except for «bar» seating, and they’re going for a hip vibe that I wasn’t unopposed to since the music didn’t quite stifle conversation. There is a nude female torso painted on one of the walls, so anyone who might bring kids should be aware. The bathroom is unusual in that it has two sinks in the hall and two lockable rooms each with a unisex toilet.
Come for the miso ramen, stay for the alcohol? Really though, I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way if I weren’t already downtown, but it’s a capable option for a hot bowl of soup in this neighborhood.

This used to be Wild. The old artwork are still here. I know it’s called Itsy Bitsy Ramen and Whiskey but I failed at trying their ramen or whiskey.
Beef Robata Skewers:
Tender beef but was salty. ²⁄₅
Hand Rolls:
You can have 3, 4 or 5 hand rolls; tuna, salmon or yellowtail; wrapped in nori or soy paper. I tried tuna and salmon, nori and soy for my rolls. The fish was fresh but the fish: rice ratio was not too impressive. Our server was supposed to ask the chef if brown rice can be substituted for white rice but she forgot. I ate the rolls anyway. ³⁄₅
Chashu Rice Bowl:
Lots of veggies and pork was tasty. Oh, and underneath all the pork and veggies is rice. 3.5÷5
There’s not very many Japanese restaurants in DTLV. Actually, I can think of only one aside from this place. It’s a nice addition to DTLV but you might want to drive a few miles to get better sushi, skewers and bowls for the same price.