RamenCo

I indulged in The Original Ramen Burger by Keiko Shimamoto. There are a couple of places where you can find this trendy bite, and I grabbed one from Ramen Co in FiDi (Financial District). A certified Angus beef patty, arugula, scallions, and the secret shoyu sauce are all sandwiched between a house-​made ramen bun.
Does not hold up to the hype behind the burger. I would suggest adding more toppings.

So happy to have found the delicious ramen burger. Chips were great. Pass on the coleslaw. Ramen also very tasty!

I was here on a Saturday and the place is dead obviously since it’s in the financial district.
The food is overly salty and way over priced.
There is also no restrooms for customers…
Luckly I’m not down in the area too often.

Had a salad here with the shredded beef, the beef was so tender and juicy. I would definitely go back and try a few other things on the menu. I have to try the Ramen Burger which seems to be their signature and also some actual Ramen since it is a Ramen shop.

The ramen is mad pretty well here. I’ve gotten different bases and proteins each time and it all tastes pretty good. I will say that the soup bases themselves skew towards the salty end of the spectrum and I felt like I had to wash my mouth out after I drank the whole bowl of broth.
The food was good. I’ll come back. But maybe I’ll buy a drink next time…

Ramen burger is overpriced. Poor service. Watery broth.
Since I’m a smorgasburg fanatic and I live in FiDi, I was super excited to know that their brick and mortar is in my very own backyard when they opened up last year.
While tasty, at $ 9, I think that the ramen burger is way overpriced for something that doesn’t offer french fries (potato chips really don’t add anything to the meal). It’s certainly nothing to get full on, and I’m not about to order two of them at that price. I wish they were about $ 6 instead, or $ 8 – 9 with fries.
As for the ramen, due to the $ 15 price tag, I never really came back until recently, when I saw that they lowered their price to $ 9.95. I was very excited to enjoy the ramen once more, as I remembered how incredibly flavorful their broth and noodles were in 2015.
However, this time, the broth truly tasted watery and lifeless. I did appreciate the quantity of delicious pork belly that they gave me (about 6 slices), but the soup had no depth of flavor like they had when they opened. I was super disappointed, because my memories from last year were A+.
Furthermore, the customer service isn’t great, as half of the staff is talking loudly amongst themselves about their day. Their cashier forgot to give me my receipt and didn’t tell me that my food would be coming to me, letting me stand by the register for an awkward 5 minutes. I walk past this restaurant almost everyday, and I’ve regularly seen them flip the CLOSED sign at 8:35pm to clean up despite clearly being listed as open until 9pm.
In addition, they had signs up for an Instagram giveaway all throughout December and January offering a free meal per week for photos posted with their hashtag, but didn’t even choose any winners after the first week. My friend inquired about this, and they quietly took the signs down without a reply. I felt like it was a deceitful bait and switch.

New explorations come with prices. For me good ramen = thick broth + marinated soft boiled egg + scallions + good noodles. Ramen Co. failed to offer thick broth and there is no egg comes with my spicy chili chicken broth based ramen… It’s not spicy as well. It’s def not fulfilling although they gave me solid amount of protein.
I prefer kuu and open kitchen in this area. Will not come back.

I really appreciate that you can make your own Ramen (base, broth, protein) just in case you may prefer more of some things and less of other things, satisfaction is easily attainable. For example, I am crazy about their Black Garlic base, and they never reject me when I ask for double, so my Tonkatsu broth always has just the right amount of amazing unctuousness — paired with the super succulent pork belly, zingy mushrooms, zesty scallions, crispy onions, fragrant parsley — I’m in heaven!
And their bento bowls (hot soba and shredded beef with mushrooms and daikon, in particular) & ramen burgers (especially the classic ground beef patty, cooked rare) are pretty damn amazing.
Small complaint: the employees are always in a rush to leave, they pack things up more than an hour before closing time, and they will tell you the restaurant is closed even though the door is unlocked and the sign says open and closing time is still 15 to 20 minutes away, and also they really like to speak very loudly at one another while listening to very loud music. Pretty annoying.

Not impressed. Ramen burger hype did not live up to its expectations. The meat was flavorless and the ramen buns were even more flavorless. I don’t know, should I dip this in some broth instead?!
The only thing I found interesting were the potato chips.
Tried the Hakata ramen and the Brooklyn blend ramen. Which were both spiked with salt. Gave my coworker a twirling headache from all the sodium and msg.
Sigh, never again.

2.5
Mediocre and overpriced ramen. The ramen is cooked perfectly but lacks flavor. I visit this ramen shop every 3 months or so. It’s fairly close to my place of work but in recent months, skipped this place for the following reasons:
1) Value vs. Price
The portions are small. During my recent visit a month ago, the cook gave me 2 pieces of pork belly. What a joke. I paid $ 13 for a bowl of ramen. No wonder they keep changing the menu! Maybe if they stick to consistency and accuracy, their operations will be efficient.
2) Brand
When they opened — during first 6 months, they kept changing the menu and price. It’s been over a year already since they opened this shop and management is still changing the menu and trying new ramen flavors/​broth and prices! You know that’s not a good sign.
3) Product
One of the reasons why I go back is because the ramen is star quality — they actually use good ramen (not the cheap ramen you find in a bag down the Asian Food aisle at a super market) and it’s cooked right. Not all ramen shops make good ramen or use quality ramen. So they get 2 stars for that.
I think they can improve on the broth and seasoning. I was happy they offer the chicken broth but when I tasted the broth, didn’t taste like chicken! More like water down flavor chicken and I had to wait 10 – 15 mins for the guy behind the counter to «make the broth.»
4) Customer Service /​Feedback
The staff is super professional and friendly. They are GREAT, it is not their fault if the seasoning is off. They simply make the food as they were instructed.
Honesty, the owners should read the Unilocal reviews and ask the customer to provide their feedback in a suggestion box. They implemented this during their soft opening but clearly the feedback was not well-​received. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing this review.

I haven’t had the namesake ramen, but solid 4 for the bento bowls. The bowls are awesome — choose a base of either rice (white/​brown) or soba (hot/​cold), two veggie sides (corn, mushrooms, bokchoy, carrots, etc), and a protein (chicken, pork, shredded beef, roasted tofu, shrimp). Then choose your sauce — my favorite is the teriyaki, which is classic and incredibly savory here. The miso ginger is decent but has a much milder flavor. Add a relish like daikon or pickled ginger on top if you want, sprinkle on some red pepper, and then you’re good to go. The bento box line is always really short every time I come in, even during peak lunch hours, so you’re in and out in 10 minutes max. I’m a pretty big fan of these bowls because while they’re not transformative, they’re super filling, delicious (especially the carrots! get those carrots!), and the line is so quick.
On the other hand, the ramen burger just really confuses me. The making of it is fascinating and each burger looks so beautiful and gourmet, but it’s also slider-​size and you can’t possibly fill up on such a tiny portion. This is America! Ramen burger, please do your part in keeping our great country the Land of Gluttony. Just kidding. Kind of. Look, I just want anything labeled ‘burger’ to be burger-​sized.
The ramen is also surprisingly chewy — definitely expected it to be crunchier, but it was a bit rubbery in texture instead. Overall it wasn’t bad, but I don’t feel particularly inclined to order it again. Ramen buns are such a novel idea but the bento bowls eclipse them in taste.

Think it’s a hit or a miss. Close friend loves ramen burger. He had a couple previously from here, and thought it was really good. This past weekend it was decent. On the salty side, as well as ramen bun was a little on the cold side.
I didn’t order anything as I was in the mood for a soup but when I asked how to build your own or advice from the employee it wasn’t much help.

I was so excited to find a Ramen shop in the Financial District, however, the Ramen here is average. I ordered the pork belly Ramen bowl. The sliced pork belly and mushrooms were good, but the broth and noodles were mediocre. I was disappointed with the portion size. At $ 13 (tax included), the bowl is not cheap and once I finished, I was still hungry. This was unusual for me, as when I dine at other Ramen shops I can barely finish my bowl.
Bottom line: if you need a quick lunch spot and desperately craving Ramen, this place will satisfy. Service here is friendly and there is a nice seating area. But if you’re looking for amazing Ramen, seek out other options in the city.

I initially came here intending to order the ramen burger (chicken version). But ramen caught my eye. Ramen always catches my eye, to be fair.
Accordingly, I ordered the blackened oil tonkotsu ramen with the pork belly. All in all, my impression was Spartan and definitely below average. The broth was very bland, oily, and lacked the umami flavor I was expecting. I had to pour a good amount of soy sauce and chili oil into mine, and finally, it was ok. The thin noodles were fine. Pork was average. The only other accompaniments were the scallions and wood ear mushrooms.
I may or may not make it back for the famed ramen burger, but based on these Unilocal reviews, it may be better left in my imagination.
The ramen eating tour continues…

This is my first time eating the ramen burger, and I extremely regret coming here. All of the hype that has surfaced through the past year regarding ramen burgers is now a big disappointment. Well, I don’t really regret it. It’s good to try something and get hit with the reality of it, rather than fantasize about it based on other people’s hyped opinions. Like one reviewer said, come here just to say you tried it, and then just forget everything about your experience with Ramen Co.
Is it really that bad? In my opinion, it is. I ate the shredded beef ramen burger in thirty seconds, and it tasted like nothing… It was incredibly small and I could’ve used my money on several small burgers at McDonald’s instead to have the same level of satisfaction. Customer service was very bland as well.
Well, at least the burger looks decent when I took a picture of it. Too bad everybody, their dogs and aliens outside of Earth have already instagrammed it.
I recommend coming here with low expectations.

Came in on a Saturday late afternoon. Place was dead. I decided on the Original Ramen Burger, and I can say I was not impressed.
Service: The woman at the register was not very pleasant, her attitude was very unwelcoming.
Food: The ramen pieces were oily and un-​flavorful. The burger patty was a decent patty. The sauce is extremely overpowering. You can’t taste anything but it and it was a bit salty for my taste.
The décor is simply, nothing spectacular. And I would have given 3 stars but I did not because there were no bathrooms and no access to tap water. I think it was very unsanitary to not have a bathroom or access to tap water to at least be able to wash your hands. I had to purchase a bottle of water to wash my hands.
I will unfortunately not be returning to this establishment.

I’m so glad I FINALLY got to try this famous OMG WTF SO GENIUS RAMEN IN A BUN burger. Only to realize that it is truly over-​hyped and plain mediocre! Unless you love GREASY, unseasoned ramen burgers pressed together into a bun, you’ll be really disappointed. The meat isn’t even THAT good, but is a welcomed flavor change from the grease-​tastic chewy ramen. You could practically create broth if you squeeze out all the oil in the burger. gross!
Tips to enjoy the ramen burger:
+Come with low expectations
+Don’t wait more than 10 minutes and as you do so, laugh at those silly people who waited for over an hour for this @ smorgasburg… it’s not worth it!
But you should try it just to say you tried it. And then definitely throw that experience into a corner, forget about it, and have a REAL burger!

Ramen Co.
NY Manhattan FiDi
8:30pm Thursday 2^nd July 2015
Three Stars
It’s more a fast casual dining place rather than a sit down restaurant. You order and pay at the cashier. I decided on the Brooklyn Blend with Pork Belly ($ 11.94) and extra soft egg (+$ 2) for a total of $ 15.25. It took about 10 minutes to get my food. The people here were working hard but you can tell that they are merely assembling and not cooking. The ramen guy looked swamped. He timed the noodle cooking. He carefully ladled each ingredient. He arranged the food in an appealing way. However, the bowl just wasn’t very good. The broth was not tonkotsu thick. It had high amount of soup oil. There was not very much black garlic taste. The noodles were bit undercooked. The pork belly was cold, salty, but nicely cooked otherwise. The egg was a perfect soft boiled but atrociously cut. The wood ear mushrooms were good. It was simple but could have been so much better.

Right in the Financial District in an area that is lacking a decent ramen joint, this place is somewhat sufficient. It is set up almost like a fast food place where you place your order in the front and wait for your food to be prepared to bring to the self service tables in the restaurant.
I opted for the Brooklyn Blend with the pork belly topping ($ 13). The pork belly was so salty and seemed like it was sitting in pure soy sauce for hours. Very unappetizing. The texture was nice and tender but I couldn’t wrap my mind around how salty it was. It was also topped by raw gritty and crunchy wood ear mushrooms. The texture was off and wasn’t cooked to soften and seemed like it wasn’t cleaned properly. Other than those misses, the broth was nicely done. There are also Japanese dry chili seasoning on the table for you to make your ramen spicy. The noodles are cooked well and are the thin Sun noodles.
I specifically counted 3 patrons asking about using the bathroom but was told they didn’t have one and to find one elsewhere. I’m pretty sure they have more than 20 seats which by NYC law they need to open a bathroom for patrons. Hmmm…
Overall, the ramen noodles and broth are decent. I’d skip on the toppings however.

If my review was after the first time I ate here I would’ve given it a higher review but after coming here a few times, sad to say that I’m giving it 2 stars.
I came here when it first opened to sample the infamous Ramen Burger. The burger took longer than I expected to be prepared but once I took a bite into the savory juicyness, I was in ramen heaven. That was the first time I came to Ramen Burger.
After building up such a great experience, I would talk up the Ramen Burger to others and brought some friends/​colleagues here. It was downhill from there. The burger, although not terrible, did not live up to expectations or the hype the next few times that I went. After the 3^rd time, I have not ventured back but I do hope that Ramen Co steps it up with their Ramen Burger and brings back the great taste that their burgers originally captured.

I always am uncomfortable giving a less-​than-​stellar review for a restaurant based off of just one item, but I have here nonetheless since the Ramen Burger seems to be Keizo Shimamoto’s calling card. The only item on the menu I ate was the original Ramen Burger, but it just wasn’t that great. It’s not that it wasn’t executed properly, I just think I anticipated it would be better than it was; I suppose that’s one of the problems you face when there is so much hype surrounding a novel product.
I found myself down by Wall St. and had been meaning to try the Ramen Burger for sometime, so I took advantage of my opportunity. It took me a little while to find the store as it’s sort of tucked away, but I finally made it inside and was ready for my Ramen adventure. The woman at the counter was very friendly and helped me decide on the original, which for about $ 8 seems pretty reasonably priced. I sat down with my burger, and… wasn’t really wow’ed. Again, it’s not that there was anything wrong with it, I just didn’t feel like the flavors came together as well as I had hoped they would. I was even pleased that it wasn’t as oily as I had initially suspected and not too challenging to eat, and yet I just didn’t find it as delicious as the fanatics find it. The Ramen Burger was enjoyable, but one is probably enough for me.
If you haven’t had it yet, I would say you definitely should still go and try it. It’s a fun experience and it’s definitely not something you do everyday. If you’re like me, though, you’ll leave feeling glad you crossed it off your list but not necessarily craving another. 3.5 stars.