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Home > Restaurants > Rai Rai Ken

All Reader Reviews of...

Rai Rai Ken

214 E. 10th St., New York, NY, 10003
nr. Second Ave.
212-477-7030

8.6 "Highly Recommended"
Average Reader Rating
on a Scale of 10		 Write Your Own Review
100% Would you go back?
100% Would you take a date?
20% Would you take kids?
40% Would you go on business?
40% Would you go on a special occasion?
Food: 8.6
Service: 8.6
Décor: 8.0
Value: 9.6
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  • Showing reviews 1 through 5 of 5

Excellent Spot for a Quick Bowl of Soup

tothemaxx from 10028 | Posted on 2/16/08

Overall Rating: 10 (Highly Recommended)
Would you go back? Yes
Would you take a date? Yes
Would you take kids? Yes
Would you go on business? No
Would you go on a special occasion? No
Food: 9
Service: 10
Décor: 10
Value: 10

Having been to Momofuku several times I very much believe that Rai Rai Ken offers a superior bowl of ramen. I prefer their noodles and broth much more to Momofuku albeit the remaining ingredients tend to be a little less exotic (the pork belly at Momofuku isn't too shabby). If you want no nonsense Ramen, this is the spot.

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52 out of 107 people found this review helpful.

Great traditional ramen shop; ignore NYiris' review

yourbull1 from 07302 | Posted on 1/16/08

Overall Rating: 10 (Highly Recommended)
Would you go back? Yes
Would you take a date? Yes
Would you take kids? No
Would you go on business? Yes
Would you go on a special occasion? Yes
Food: 9
Service: 9
Décor: 9
Value: 10

This is a retort to NYiris' review: Criticizing a Japanese ramen stand for having "only 3 soups to choose from" is like criticizing a Falafel stand for not selling hamburgers. Traditional Japanese ramen stands usually have exactly 3 ramens to choose from: shio ramen (salt), shoyu ramen (soy sauce), and miso ramen. Rai Rai Ken serves exactly these types of ramen, along with the usual side dishes found in traditional ramen stands in Japan. Uninformed reviews like this cause people (like me) to give them a "10" rating just to balance out the ridiculous grade that this reviewer gave. Look at reviews for Rai Rai Ken at any other site, and you'll see people reviewing it as one of the top 3 ramen shops in the city (an evaluation I would mostly agree with). I've haven't found any ramen shops in NYC that would rival the ones in Japan, but as far as state-side ramen goes, Rai Rai Ken is great (and it's fantastically cheap!). If I were to give it an actual rating, I'd give it an 8, but I had to bump that to 10 to balance the scales.

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60 out of 120 people found this review helpful.

best noodles ever

quincy | Posted on 5/7/05

Overall Rating: 9 (Highly Recommended)
Would you go back? Yes
Would you take a date? Yes
Would you take kids? No
Would you go on business? Yes
Would you go on a special occasion? Yes
Food: 10
Service: 10
Décor: 8
Value: 9

This is one of my favorite places & they have the best noodles in the city (way better than Momofuko). I love all of their soup noodle dishes. The pork is tender & flavorful. In the summertime, they have special cold noodle dishes that are just as delicious. I could eat here everyday. I love it.

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271 out of 559 people found this review helpful.

Great for Quick, Solo Lunch

s13510 | Posted on 11/10/04

Overall Rating: 7 (Recommended)
Would you go back? Yes
Would you take a date? Yes
Would you take kids? No
Would you go on business? No
Would you go on a special occasion? No
Food: 8
Service: 6
Décor: 6
Value: 10

In Manhattan, it's often difficult to find a nice restaurant for a good sit-down lunch for one person. Rai Rai Ken was recently featured in a NY Times article on Ramen (see http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/10/dining/10RAMEN.html). The place is tiny, with decor nothing to write home about, and the service is adequate. However, Ramen is excellent, though gyoza was overcooked and limp. The value is unbeatable, however, and I'll definitely go back as often as I can for a quick and satisfying lunch.

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251 out of 510 people found this review helpful.

Rah Rah, Ken!

hey_hon | Posted on 4/14/03

Overall Rating: 7 (Recommended)
Would you go back? Yes
Would you take a date? Yes
Would you take kids? No
Would you go on business? No
Would you go on a special occasion? No
Food: 7
Service: 8
Décor: 7
Value: 9

A sliver of a place, it's perfect for ducking in and grabbing a quick bit before a night out. A starter of Kimchi was crispy but could have used more "bite", the Shiso Ramen was actually rather bland but a liberal dousing of soy sauce and hot chili oil gave it a much needed pick-me up. Quick, cheap and cute - it's usually packed but the turnover is high!

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291 out of 563 people found this review helpful.

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