Last updated: December 20, 2020
Welcome Ramen Lovers
Japanese Ramen could be my favourite dish. This was not always the case. Or perhaps as Savage Garden put it “I knew I loved you before I met you.”
Japanese Ramen is also becoming a favourite food of Toronto. This was not always the case.
I was first introduced to instant ramen in 1996. This was what I thought ramen was until some friends returned from Japan in the early 2000s. They were saddened to find that there was no proper ramen to be found in Toronto because they had fallen in love with it on their trip. I had been to Japan shortly before them but tragically never discovered this deliciousness while I was there.
But by around 2005 some places had started to appear in Toronto. Kenzo Ramen and Ajisen Ramen were amongst the first that I remember opening in Toronto. Once I tried ramen at these places, I was hooked. We even took a friend who was from Fukuoka in the south of Japan and to Ajisen at the time and she said it was pretty authentic. I wonder what she would say about the places in Toronto now. Because it’s 2020 as I write this and ramen is so popular in this city it seems there’s a new shop opening up every month, everyone sushi place in town is adding some sort of ramen to their menu, and you can even find it in shopping mall food courts.
But not all of this ramen is created equal. Far from it. Toronto pioneers Kenzo and Ajisen are still around, but don’t even make an honourable mention anymore. As I work my way through new and old ramen joints in the city, I am going to be maintaining my list of favourites here with some notes and tips. These rankings will be influenced by my preferences of course, which tends to be a rich tonkotsu broth and thick noodles. So your mileage may vary, of course. I am only going to post if I have actually eaten at the restaurant, so if a restaurant is missing it might just mean I haven’t been there before. It could also mean it wasn’t an experience worth noting. Recommendations and debate welcome in comments. I have no affiliation with any of these places. Here we go!
Toronto’s BEST 14 RAMEN RestaurantS Reviewed in Detail
14. Touhenboku Ramen | website | directions and hours (downtown)
I’ve been to the location on Yonge near Eglinton a couple of times. Sylvia used to go to the Queen Street location for lunch when she worked near that one. I think this is a place to go to if you are really hankering for some ramen and don’t have time to go farther afield for something better. There are just a lot of better options now, especially if you are downtown.
13. Ikkousha Ramen | website | directions and hours
This place is near Queen and University. It’s a chain from Japan and brings a fair amount of hype along with it. This style of ramen is from the Hakata district of Fukuoka in the south of Japan. I would definitely like to take our friend from Fukuoka here! I had seen them open up but had not been able to get in due to popularity, but Syl and I must have been able to get a seat once and here is the evidence. I can’t quite remember the ramen here well though, actually. Not the greatest sign. The noodles are slightly different and thinner. I think I am not as partial to this Hakata style, ultimately. In terms of broth, I think I was expecting something more like the tonkotsu black from Sansotei or the garlic shoyu from Isshin, however this was more like black throughout the broth rather than in the oil on the top. It had a frothiness to it as well which didn’t provide the most delightful feel in the palate. Due to lack of memorability, I can’t put this place too high. Will give it another chance though as maybe another dish would be better.
12. Hakata Shoryuken Ramen | website | directions and hours (downtown)
This place is not far from my work so I hit it for lunch. I was actually planning to go to Ikkousha Ramen just a few doors away as I had seen it open recently and the reviews looked good online, but there was too much of a lineup and I’m not one much for lines, especially on a tight lunch break. This was the first time I had tried Hakata style ramen and it was a bit different than what I had tried before, which was an interesting change. I actually think that although the online reviews favour Ikkousha, I enjoyed the ramen at this place better. They totally got me with their $1 3-piece Karage lunch special as well. Yum.
11. Tondou Ramen | website | directions and hours
We hit this place relatively soon after it opened up on College in Little Italy. We were out for the Taste of Little Italy festival in the summer so we decided to try out some…ramen! It was okay, but for some reason didn’t make me really want to come back. The noodles were thin (no choice on that) and I don’t remember getting a great chew from them. The bowls do come with a good amount of meat and egg though, and even have the delicious back fat chunks in the broth. As you can see from the picture, this isn’t for those who want a lean bowl. It was a little while ago now, and I recall by the end of the bowl it was feeling a bit like the remainder was becoming a bit mushy. I am not a big fan of bean sprouts on my ramen, and they have that. This is definitely personal preference though as we have good friends who live nearby who love this place. I am willing to give it another shot sometime. It looks like they have expanded their menu and my photo looks more delicious than my memory tells me.
10. Tokyo Ramen | website | directions and hours
We live on the east end and came across this place in Cabbagetown on Parliament first because it opened sooner on a Sunday than our usual fave, Ryu’s Noodle Bar (keep reading for the ranking). When we went in it was still their grand opening and you could tell they were still just sorting themselves out. But the husband and wife team that ran the place are truly adorable. The wife was carrying their young baby around in a carrier while trying to get our place settings and turn on some anime on their screen to entertain the kids. The husband works the kitchen and we learned he developed his skills learning from a ramen chef back in Japan. I think the best thing about his ramen was his pork. I really found it quite delicious. He stamps his own logo on the ajitsuke tamago (marinated egg). You get a lot of toppings for the price in his ramens, if you like that. I think the biggest drawback to his ramen is that at the time he was not yet making his own noodles. I gave them that feedback, and hopefully the next time we come by they will be doing that.
9. Ramen Raijin | website | directions and hours
We admittedly haven’t been to this place since it moved from the Gerrard and Yonge location, but I remembering at the time that the ramen was solid. We saw in some cross-promotion marketing material that they appear to be part of a sort of “original” group of Japanese-run ramen restaurants in the city, along with Ramen Isshin and Ryu’s Noodle Bar. We haven’t been to the new location on Wellington, and now they are part of the Zakkushi group of restaurants, but I remember enjoying some of the (at the time) more novel broth flavours that they served up. It looks like they have changed up their menu a bit—the Raijen lekei ramen pictured below no longer seems to be available—so I’ll have to try them again and update based on a more recent opinion. For now, I’ll leave them where my memory places them. Rowan clearly liked the broth enough to drink straight from the bowl.
8. Konjiki Ramen | website | directions and hours (uptown)
The Wong’s love of ramen has gotten out amongst our friends and we got invited to try Konjiki at the newly opened shop at Yonge and Sheppard. Konjiki had a lot of hype because of its rating as the #1 ramen in Tokyo and then Japan in 2016 and receiving some recommendation in the Michelin “Bib Gourmand” guide to good value restaurants. So with much anticipation, we went. With our group of 6 we ordered every ramen on the menu. It wasn’t that huge a menu.
KEVIN: A lot of THESE MENUS HAVE MORE ON THEM NOW. WE NEED TO GO BACK.
SYLVIA: YES, DEAR.
Overheard while writing this post…
Expectations can be a dangerous thing though. I thought the ramen was quite good, with very distinctive flavours in the broth like their signature clam shoyu for example. This innovation is probably what established their reputation, but I think the expectations were overbuilt. We tried their tonkotsu of course and it was definitely a bit different from what I had had before. It was very milky in appearance and mouth feel but not as rich tasting as some that I have. It also had surprising ingredients like raw cherry tomatoes. Those were innovative but didn’t necessarily really add a lot of joy to my mouth.
7. Ramen Misoya | website | directions and hours (downtown)
We finally tried Ramen Misoya. They are on Queen west of Bathurst so we aren’t out that way as often. Because of the pandemic dine-in isn’t an option right now so we had to try it as delivery. Still a good test, especially if you reheat it a bit before eating. This place is all about the miso, as you might have guessed by the name. So their menu is more narrow with a few variants on their base miso option such as a curry and a tan tan.
The broths were good though, if a bit salty. Syl thought the tan tan was the best. Their single noodle option was sort of medium thickness, but nice. I think they would’ve been better dine-in though as they were getting a tiny bit on the soft side. The highlight topping was definitely their pork char siu. It was thick, beautifully marbled, and just mouth watering. They have a bit of an unusual topping of roasted potato wedges that come on several of their options (side bar for our thoughts). The curry ramen comes with some fried chicken cutlet which was more tasty and homemade looking than the photo on the menu which looks almost like a frozen chicken nugget. Syl found the bamboo softer than the ones from Ryu, with slight sourness, which she actually liked more.
Karaage was good as well with a nice dip—though of course as with anything fried, would’ve been better straight out of the kitchen. Overall Misoya has a very solid offering, but I can’t push it much higher than this ranking in that I think I would need more of a break between eating their ramens compared to other offerings higher up.
D: Did you try the potato?
R: I did.
D: Yours looks smaller.
R: I already ate some of it, See?
S: I don’t really care for it. Why would you put potato in ramen?
D: Why not?
S: It doesn’t go at all.
K: It goes with fried chicken though, and we ordered Karaage.
S: But it is soggy and gross.
R: At least it’s food.
D: It’s better than nothing.
Potato on ramen is controversial.
6. Kinton Ramen | website | directions and hours
I can’t seem to find photos of Kinton probably because this has been more of a lunch spot for me historically which means I am with someone or getting in and out quickly. They have a lot of locations, and I’ve gone many more times to the one at Queen and Spadina. While I don’t think they do anything really fancy here or portend to be extra authentic, this place holds a place for me because I could get a good consistent bowl the way I want it. They have this 3 step process for picking your ramen: 1) flavour, 2) noodle type, 3) additional toppings. All of these are done great, if not exceptional. The broth can be richer or lighter, noodle thick or thin, and pick from different toppings including a leaner or more fatty cut of pork—which they give a good sear with a torch. You can watch them make the ramen in the open kitchen which passes the time while you wait for your bowl.
5. Hokkaido Ramen Santouka | website | directions and hours (downtown)
This place on Dundas near Church street has been around for a while and was one of the first places I went to as Toronto started to up its ramen game. At the time I didn’t really know the kind of ramen I liked though so I don’t think I ordered something that was really to my taste and I recall being a bit underwhelmed for the quality I was expecting. However this is the favourite place for a number of people I know and years later I returned and had a much better experience. The broth is really excellent and you can ask them to adjust the amount of salt if you want—ramen tends to be very salty. Overall I think the quality is great, as evidenced by this worst-ever food photo of my empty bowl from 2017. However I felt it was somewhat on the pricier side for what you got in terms of size and toppings, I felt, so not as great bang for your buck if that’s important to you.
4. Kyouka Ramen | website | directions and hours
In a clear demonstration of the fact that I am not purely devoted to the altar of tonkotsu broth, I must acknowledge that this little place on Queen out on the east end of the Beach stretch is in fact, quite delish. Friends who live in the Beach insist it is the best in town. I respectfully disagree, however admit that I was wrong to pre-judge that they thought this because it was the only game in their end of the town. Kyouka proudly does their own thing and ultimately do it very well. Their clearer broths do not lack in flavour even if they don’t back the heavier umami of those richer broths I love. They have some vegetarian ramens. I also think that their sides and rice are great. I know this list is about ramen, but I have to give them a nod for this. The karaage chicken wings are bangin’ and the slow-cooked beef tendon is melt-in-your-mouth fantastic. One of my major disappointments with them is that you cannot order kaedama (extra noodles). We Wong’s love the noodles so much we always have one or even two kaedama. If you are in the area, you have limited choices, but you are lucky that you likely will not be disappointed here.
3. Sansotei | website | directions and hours (downtown)
Sansotei is just wonderful. There are a number of locations now, but if you’ve driven east along Dundas past University in the dead of Toronto’s winter, this is the place that has people lined up shivering outside in the cold waiting to get in. And I get it. I was quite excited when we moved our office around the corner and since then, on more than a few occasions if I can afford a 30 minute window for lunch at 11:30am, I might slip out ahead of the lines to slurp down one of their sensational bowls.
Tonkotsu black 
Tomato with scallop
The black tonkotsu is awesome. The truffle oil on top of the rich pork broth is a umami explosion in your mouth that keeps you coming back. The thick noodles have a great chew and are always done right. The eggs are just right consistency. The only problem is that the bowl is so small and delicious that it is gone too quickly. But it is priced fairly for what you get for sure. They also have some unique flavours like the tomato-based broth that comes with a whole scallop (a nice improvement from the shrimp they used to have for me). You might be apprehensive to try it out because its so unusual but I strongly encourage you to do it. Its one-of-a-kind and keeps the familiarity of delicious warming ramen, but breaks you out of the routine with a bit of tang of the tomato. I always find tomato goes well with salty food and this is no exception.
2. Ramen Isshin | website | directions and hours (college)
In another example of my ramen awakening journey, I first went to Ramen Isshin on College with a co-worker because our office was south a couple blocks on Bathurst. It was a hot new ramen joint the foodie said, so I was eager to try it out. I think I ordered one of their spicier broths on recommendation and it probably was a bit too much for me as I’m a bit of a lightweight on the spice. However when our favourite ramen place, Ryu’s Noodle Bar on Baldwin Street had to close due to a fire in the building, we were at a loss for our post-work and picking the kids up from school ramen fix. Kinton’s more bar and stool like model was not great for kids, so we started going to Isshin. Then I got won over for sure.
Their menu is fantastic and one of the most diverse in this list. Highlights include the White Sesame Shio Ramen—you get to grind your own sesame seeds with a miniature mortar and pestle, roasted garlic shoyu—the dark garlic oil gives a wonderful zip to the rich broth. Spice lovers go for the spicy red miso. Their stone bowl shoyu kotteri tsukemen is generous and truly bubbling stone bowl of broth is an incredible densely packed powerhouse of flavour. It is most definitely not just a small portion of a regular broth. This is extra concentrated stuff. You can taste it well when you dip in your noodles and ingredients. A win for us is the kaedama variety as well. You can get more think noodles, thick noodles, tsukemen noodles, egg-free kale noodles, or even vegan rice noodles. With a set of vegetarian ramen options and these noodles, no-one needs to feel left out of the ramen action here. Isshin has opened up more locations and now you can get some of their goodness from their stall tucked into the gourmet food court Assembly Chef’s Hall on Adelaide.
1. Ryu’s Noodle Bar | website | directions and hours (broadview)
Which brings us to our reigning favourite, Ryu’s Noodle Bar. We fell in love with this place at its location on Baldwin Street near the art gallery. Not only do we feel that its the best ramen in the city, it was also unpretentious, wasn’t dark with blaring music (Izakaya ramen style) and the only place you could eat ramen in the sun out front on their little patio. When a block away people would be lining up to get into Sansotei, we could walk into Chef Ryuichiro Takahashi’s place at any time (in the early days) and get a seat for the four of us with rarely a wait.
Sadly, there was a fire in the building which forced Ryu to shut down this location. We were crestfallen but took our business to Isshin not far away (see above). Then a miracle occurred and Ryu decided to re-open, not near work, but this time near home at Broadview and Danforth. We were back in business.
So now the Wong’s eat here…often. Even as Ryu’s popularity began to skyrocket after getting media coverage for being the only Canadian ramen shop to be invited to open a stall in the famous Yokohama Ramen Museum, our religious attendance and Yelp check in’s allowed me to hold the crown here (pre-Covid at least), and it got to the point where some friends or family would make a random trip out to Ryu and wonder if they would see us there—and they would. While we lost the patio that we loved, the four of us can now sit at the garage door window at the front and look out at the streetcar turnaround of Broadview station. Declan loves the TTC so watching streetcars while eating a bowl of ramen is truly heaven for him.
So why else do we like Ryu so much?
Obviously the food is solid. They have the best thick noodles in the city, in my opinion, with a unique whole grain addition which doesn’t negatively affect flavour at all, but definitely shows the chef is making his own noodles and maybe throwing in a tiny bit more health in there too. The noodles are curly, thick, with a delightful chew. Chef Ryu’s rich shio broth is truly a class of its own. Multi-dimensional with chicken pork and even the tiniest hint of acidity from some lemon, it is the broth that earned him the seat in the museum. We get one of these every time we come. While second to the shio in my opinion, his rich shoyu is still better than most other tonkotsu or tonkotsu-style (because I don’t think his is technically a traditional tonkotsu) broths in the city, I believe. We get this for the kids usually and then steal some of it. The tsukemen is wonderful. The spicy miso is great. The tan tan is good if you are in the mood for that, but I find that this one gets a little homogenous and is so thick to almost become sludgy by the end of the meal, so I don’t get it that often. Their pork chasu is wonderful with marbled flavour, but not excessively fatty, and if you love it you can get it loaded on with their “pork blaster”. The menu is extensive including nice don (rice) sides, but they also make it easy to keep coming back with seasonal specials like a Taiwan Mazesoba or Angus Beef with Uni (sea urchin) which was out of this world. They also have lots of customization options. They have a variety of seasoning oils and toppings that you can add to mix up the usual base flavours (they used to even include one with your bowl). They let you for example pick thick or thin noodles for any broth, which not every place does. But Ryu takes this even further with a very unique offering that really puts them over the top for us as nobody else does this but it is perfect for us.
Ryu is the only ramen restaurant we know that offers a complete “make your own ramen” model. Kinton is the closest that I know of, but you have to pick a meat at least in the base, and they don’t have anywhere near as many optional toppings. At Ryu’s you pick a soup base and noodle type that gives you a low starting price, then you can add whatever toppings you want à la carte. What this means for us is that we can get one of the top notch rich shio or rich shoyu broths (which we prefer over the vegetable broths for flavour) and our favourite toppings which usually include one of their tofu offerings, shiitake mushrooms, their home made bamboo shoots (fantastic), and a few kinds of seaweed (they have multiple). We find this healthier, provides more variety, and is plenty tasty while lowering our meat intake.
We have been there before they open a few times and have seen Chef Ryu in the traditional gathering with his team of staff preparing for the day’s service to come—and the service is always pleasant and lovely. Lastly as a cherry on top, Ryu has a loyalty card that they stamp when you have a ramen. It gets you free toppings after 5 and a free ramen (of any value) after 15. So with top quality taste, location, and value, Ryu has kept its formula and therefore its place at the top of our list for more than half a decade now. I feel I can really rave about them now that the word is out and it’s not our little secret anymore that I have to selfishly guard. Hope to see you there sometime!
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