JINYA Ramen Bar

Reviews 3

AL

Alice Wang

Ever since I heard that JINYA would be opening in Mosaic, I did my research and asked friends on the West Coast for their opinions on this 16-year-old ramen chain. All signs pointed to a two-thumbs-up experience. I had the fortunate opportunity to experience JINYA before the grand opening on Tuesday. The interior is what you would expect from a modern ramen bar - industrial, darker colors, simple, and clean. We sat at the bar, and I can see that this is going to be a very popular bar once it is fully functional. They carry a wide variety of top-shelf spirits, craft beer (even local ones like Port City and DC Brau), and wine. And if you love unique cocktails, JINYAs already got a few signature ones like Sailor Moon (sake + cardamom syrup + caramel moonshine), Geishas Tale (citrus vodka + elderflower + herbal tea syrup), and Nimbus (Mezcal + egg white (my favorite!) + tamarind + house made sour). JINYA also makes their own house sodas, and we tried the orange cardamom (orange juice + house made sour + cardamom syrup) and the wasabi watermelon (watermelon juice + house made sour + ginger habanero syrup). Both were really tasty and if you want something other thats non-alcoholic but on the soda realm, Id recommend trying on their housemade sodas. For appetizers, they have JINYA buns, brussels sprouts tempura, caramelized cauliflower, pig ear chicharron, and spicy creamy shrimp tempura. We tried the JINYA bun, which is similar to the Momofuku bun. It has braised pork, lettuce, and cucumber wrapped in a bun. JINYA offers rice bowls and curry (small is $5.50 while regular is $9.50). Options range from pork chashu, chicken chashu, or Tokyo curry. We tried the Tokyo curry bowl and its really good. Love the ground chicken curry and rice mixed together. The best part is that you can do a range of combos with ramen. You can do ramen + Tokyo curry and rice and salad, ramen + pork chashu bowl and salad, ramen + chicken chashu bowl and salad, ramen + crispy chicken and salad, or ramen + four pieces of gyoza and salad for only an additional $4.20-$5.20 depending on what you order. Now onto the pièce de résistance, the ramen. You know how usually if you go to a ramen joint in the area, youll only have a couple of choices to choose from? Well, that is not the case at JINYA. There are at least 12 different kinds of ramen bowls you can choose, and with the ability to add over 20 toppings and select spice levels, you can really customize your ramen. Their signature bowls are spicy chicken ramen ($11.50), Cha Cha Cha ($13.50), and Sprouting Up ($12.50). Cha Cha Cha is for garlic lovers, and its definitely on the heartier side. Sprouting Up is a pork broth base with pork chashu, brussels sprouts, egg, kikurage, green onion, and chili oil. Both Cha Cha Cha and Sprouting Up are served with thick noodles. The spicy chicken ramen, on the other hand, is served with thin noodles. I opted for the spicy chicken ramen, and it was really good. Chicken was tender, noodles were cooked perfectly, the broth was like a flavor bomb, and it was mmm good to the last slurp. The JINYA tonkotsu black is very similar to Ramen Yas shio black. Those beads of garlic oil give me life. Again, everything in the bowl was cooked to perfection. Toppings range from fresh garlic (and you can ask for minced too!) to onsen tamago, tofu, chicken and pork soboro, bok choy, and more. There are plenty of options to satisfy JINYAs distinctive hashtag, #WhatsYourSlurpGame. Finally for dessert, they have both green tea and chocolate mochi ice cream and their own panna cotta. Service is fantastic. Our server/bartender was really friendly and helpful in explaining everything on the menu. Everyone here is super, super congenial and accommodating. I can tell from their A+ food and service that JINYA Ramen will be one very popping restaurant in Mosaic. Both JINYAs and my motto: No ramen, no life. Thanks to JINYA, that wont be an issue.

TH

themaanderson

For "as low as $450,000," you can start and own a Jinya franchise. Thats what my first two meals at the Merrifield Jinya reminded me of: this is not a chef-directed gourmet ramen restaurant with a lot on the line to satisfy customers and stay successful and relevant. Both times, the ramen was barely hot when it arrived at the table. The egg and pork were cold, leading me to assume that all of the ingredients were kept cold and added to the hot broth, which is an extremely lazy approach. It doesnt take much to heat these to keep the broth from chilling. The first time I visited, for a 2:00 pm lunch, I asked the host stand if I could sit at the bar. They pointed me back and I went to the bar. Five minutes later, with no menu and no water in front of me, one of the hosts walked to where I was sitting and said, "we assume when you say bar that you dont mean the ramen bar," and he pointed to the drinks-only bar (I was sitting at the kitchen bar next to it), saying a few more confused things about how he expected a customer to conform to his assumptions and customs without explaining any of them. When I asked if I could stay where I was sitting and if I could have a menu, he paused for literally 5-7 seconds before giving a dejected "ok" and walking away. I ordered a "Hitachino Nest White Ale" while pointing at the beer list, which is their most expensive beer by far at $15 for a bottle, and a few minutes later the server returned to ask/confirm which drink I had ordered. The second time I visited, we sat outside, which is directly under the large video screen at the Mosaic District central open space. The noise from that screen, mostly advertising, was too much to have a casual conversation at the table. Other customers seated around us were overheard complaining about it as well. I have had everything from chain ramen (Aji no Tokeidai in Sapporo and Tokyo) to back-street open kitchen ramen (around Aoyama, Tokyo) to New Yorks wait-in-line-for-three-hours hipster ramen. Im not complaining about gluten (really, people, ramen noodles are made with wheat), or broth weight, or seasoning balance, because, frankly, Jinya has more basic problems to solve. I wont be going back for a few months, to see if time solves their ills.

HY

Hyong S. Kim

Staffs are friendly. Food wasnt that bad when considering the price and the fact that you are eating ramen in America..Flavour was honestly a bit stronger than I thought. Personally, Chashu was disgustingly not delicious, should not have ordered for extra. No fire flavour at all, was just sweet and oily. I suppose I also ordered some fried brussles sprouts and dumplings. Do you guys even make those dumplings? No offense but I feel sorry for people who order those dumplings and think that is what it is..literally I can make better taste dumplings with frozen packaged gyuza..anyway, brussles were okay..Would have been nicer if there was various types of fried vegetables. Finally, would be really nice if yall serve pickled cabbages as a side because eating ramen only is too greasyyy. Noodle was better than the most "ramen" resturants have in America. It was nice that I could get extra raw garlics and gliced them myself. My wife liked the Chashubuns..Ramen is known for high level of sodium, easily over triple times as daily recommended percentages. For your own sake, I suggest not to drink the soup all the way to the bottom although I know most americans enjoy salty food....but even japanese dont drink the soup except Udon!!!!just syaing