YUJI Ramen
“We tried three ramen bowls that night: Ankimo Miso, Tunakotsu, and the Uni Mazemen.”
“We also tried the famed Bacon and Egg Mazemen, which features housemade ramen noodles that are more thickly cut than your typical noodle.”
“On the day I went, they had 3 types of each style of ramen I believe + a tuna sashimi appetizer that they recommend splitting.”
YUJI Ramen
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Whoa. WHOA. Guys. Whoa.
I had Yuji's ramen before, at Smorgasburg when he had a little booth for a short period of time. That was pretty fabulous. This is some next level sh*t.
All due respect to the ramen, but what you really want here is the mazemen, unless there is something special that really catches your eye that day in the ramen section. The wonders this place works with the notion of mazemen will change your opinion that ramen is all about the broth.
First – it's a f*cking tiny place. You will wait, unless you made resys for the omakase. But you will not wait TOO long, especially during the week. We got there at about 7:30, and gave our number (yesss, they not only will text you, but they'll walk down to the Blind Barber a few steps away to pick you up), and had just enough time for one cocktail before the seats were ready (about 25 minutes).
The menu is short, ever-mutable, and SUPER-reasonably priced (especially the sake).
Uni Mazemen – this is like some alchemy with the two best things in the world. Fancy italian restaurants dream of mixing noodles and uni to make such an indelible, creamy, toothsome succulence. I would order 8 bowls of this, and if you came at me with warnings of carb overload and other "health bullsh*t), I'd gnaw your finger off as a palate cleanser.
Bacon and Egg Mazemen – This is some unholy creation of ramen carbonara. Angels weep at its beauty. The bacon is sweet, not too smoky, not too crispy, not too chewy. The smokiness seems to come from the dashi rather than the bacon, and the yolk provides the creaminess. Steal some from your date.
Oh, did I mention this was on a date? Yadda yadda yadda….I didn't skip the uni mazemen…
Okonomi for Brunch Yuji ramen at night.
The place is very intimate even if you share a table with a couple
I had the Tuna Ramen and an Orion beer. The food was really delicate but deep inside i don't believe it worth that much for noodle. The ramen had 2 small pieces of tuna that was perfectly cooked. and it gave a lot of flavors. The service was very professional, quick and polite…making sure that your glass was fill with beer or water.
Yuji Ramen is a good address for the neighborhood.
It's the little restaurant that could, it's basically two different restaurants in one. During the day they sell Japanese breakfast and in the evening they sell ramen, since the place is so tiny, they have to utilize the space to the fullest. The restaurant transforms into a ramen restaurant at 6pm and is a Japanese breakfast/brunch spot by day called Okonomi. My friends and I arrived a little before 6pm and we were the first ones there, shortly after, a decent number of people started to line up. The place is small with only 12 seats, they have 2 four seater tables and 4 seats at the bar, waits can be painful so arrive super early. Also, the menu is somewhat limited and the prices may seem a tad high but there is no tipping.
The food:
Soy Marinated Tuna Sashimi with Yuzu Kosho- There was a ton of flavor and I really liked the texture of the tuna. The yuzu kosho was an interesting flavor to pair with the tuna, it kinda tasted like a yuzu, chili and salt combo. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Ankimo Miso Ramen- Monkfish liver, torched Whelk, yu choy. This is a must order, this was my fav dish of the night. The broth had so much damn flavor and it had a little heat to off set some of the richness. The noodles were perfectly chewy and the whelk added a nice chewy element. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Uni Miso Mazemen- Sea urchin, saikyo miso, shiso, orange. I order anything Uni so I had to try this one. I am kinda 50/50 on this dish, the noodles were too firm for me and kinda lacked flavor, I also thought some kind of sauce would have been a nice addition. For me, the uni itself was good but the flavor of the orange wasn't a flavor profile that worked for me. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Tunakotsu Ramen- Tonkatsu style with tuna, tuna belly chashu, yuzu kosho- The broth was good but not as sexy as the Ankimo Miso broth. It kinda felt very straight forward and simple in terms of flavor, it kinda felt like a kid, the Ankimo Miso kinda felt like the parent. Overall, a good bowl but it could pack in some more punch. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Would say 3.5 for this place. I dont' eat seafood, so I can only give word to the vegan dish that was the miso covered noodle with veggies. The poached egg added didn't really add much flavor to it, however I absolutely adored the miso sauce covering the bouncy noodles. I wish there were more variety of veggies, the carrot was overpowering. Parsnips were a nice refreshing addition to the medley. I could drink up that miso sauce it was sooo good! On the pricey side though! The restaurant is super tiny and we came at the perfect time when it was empty. No wait!
When the sun goes down, Okonomi becomes YUJI Ramen! A favorite breakfast place turns into a favorite ramen shop! It is a small little place that sits only about twelve patrons at a time. The seats fill up within one minute that they are opened, so make sure you get here before of their opening time. Decor is simple and everyone can see the staff crafting our delicious meal behind the bar.
A cold, windy, and snowy evening bought my party which, I call them my food tour shenanigans to Williamsburg. The idea of a piping hot bowl of ramen is the perfect food choice. We started with the daily special sashimi – tuna. Slices of tuna sashimi was served with a bit of yuzukosho – a chili pickled yuzu paste and a side of soy sauce. It was recommended by our waitress that we do not mix both condiments together. Sashimi was super fresh as expected and meats in your mouth.
Ramen Party! We tried three ramen bowls that night: Ankimo Miso, Tunakotsu, and the Uni Mazemen. Ankimo Miso Ramen was the favorite amongst the group. The spicy broth was made from leftover fish bones with pork bones and monkfish liver. It was a very hearty and delicious broth! Texture was just right – not too thick or thin. To top the ramen, there were pieces of snail, seaweed, and a leafy green, yu choy. Tunakotsu was lovely as well. Although, the broth is light, the charred pieces of tuna made it well worth it. Uni Mazemen. Brothless ramen was what YUJI Ramen was first known for when they had their post in Whole Foods. It is generously topped with uni, seaweed, red hot pepper flakes, and shiso leaves.
This may be my favorite ramen spot to date! Good portions of noodles. I left energized with a warm tummy to brave the cold!
Back when it was a "little engine that could" vendor inside of a Whole Foods Market, I was super impressed with their ramen even with such small portions. I gladly paid close to $10 for their small cardboard bowl's worth.
Now, occupying a tiny brick and mortar location, I am not as impressed. The problem is when the quality and quantity do not justify the high markups. At the time, the Monkfish liver ramen everyone raved about was not offered on the menu. We ordered the Shabu Shiyo Ramen($18) and the Tunakotsu Ramen($20) instead. The result: disappointing slurp after slurp.
The salt base on the shiyo ramen was incredibly bland. Because the tilefish was served separately and meant to be dipped, the soup tasted like plain water. By far, this was the worst bowl of ramen I have ever experienced. Moving onto the tunakotsu, which based on its description of being tuna broth with tuna belly slices, sounded promising. However, the broth was heavily imbalanced. Yes, there was a certain char taste present, but combined with the yuzukosho(black pepper) & dandelion greens(bitter), it was an unpleasant mishmosh of combative flavors.
Sharing one of the 4-seater tables in this establishment can be uncomfortable as there is no privacy in conversation; a two person party has to sit across from each other so that each person is sitting next to 'stranger danger.' If solo, your best bet would be to secure a spot at the bar, but those are limited and in high demand.
Overall, the service was pleasant, and the atmosphere was quite relaxing. However, the unreasonable portion sizes(a certain famous chain in the city will have 4X the amount of noodles) and lack of tasty, quality broths left much to be desired.
Nothing outstanding about this spot. The wait was extremely long. I was told the wait would be about an hour and I ended up waiting for over 2 hours in the cold. The waiter compensated for the inaccurate estimate with two glasses of sake which was a nice gesture.
I ordered the shabu shabu shio ramen which was very interesting. Never thought I would be dipping sashimi into my ramen broth to lightly cook the fish. The broth was very mild in flavor and so was the fish as tilefish is a delicate tasting fish. I didn't really like the noodles but I feel like I've been spoiled because of a different ramen place.
Boyfriend got the uni miso ramen which doesn't have any broth as it is mazemen style. Both of us are huge uni lovers but we didn't enjoy it that much. The flavors of the whole dish just didn't mesh well. Quite unfortunate as the wait was so long and we travelled really far for this.
Most delicious ramen I've had in NYC. I'm a big fan of this spot, not only because of the great ambience (it's a casual but authentic-looking and intimate place that seats ~13 people total) but also the unique ramen and regularly changing menu.
They make two styles of ramen – one with the broth, and one without the broth. On the day I went, they had 3 types of each style of ramen I believe + a tuna sashimi appetizer that they recommend splitting. The sashimi was very good and had this type of sauce that my boyfriend loved (a little too spicy for me!). For ramen, I had the squid one with broth. It had actual large pieces of squid in it, which I thought was the best thing ever, and had bacon sesame oil in it (yum). My boyfriend had the bacon and egg ramen without broth, and it was also delicious – thick pieces of bacon with a poached egg over top and a bunch of seaweed. The waitress said that that's one of their most popular ramens. Not sure how long each will be on the menu, as the menu changes, but would highly recommend both. Also, they do not allow tipping. We each paid $32 total, which I felt was reasonable for a delicious dinner in the city.
Despite the lack of seats, they do not take reservations. On a Friday night at 8pm, we were able to get a table for 2 after about a 20-25 minute wait. The place is too small to wait in, so they take your phone number down and call you when your table is ready. There's a Blind Barber bar/coffee shop next door that you can wait in.