Japanese Ramen King

Food is good. Service is very attentive, this may or may not be a positive for some. The seats are all bar stools and the space is quite tight so if you are with small children this may not be ideal. Overall, I’d recommend this restaurant.

Great chirashi don and curry dishes, ramen was decent, small place which would make a cozy venue with friends or a date night :)

Came to this place after working out with friends. This restaurant is very small. There are three desks. We were a group of 5. We almost fill the whole place.
We didn’t do sharing as they mainly serve noodle soup and curry rice. The food came at a reasonable speed. However, the portion is small. Most of my friends ordered a second dish. The price is not cheap it is around 15 dollar for a noodle soup.
The server is very friendly. She is so passionate that It is kind of overwhelming. She kept recommending different dishes, and asking for feedback. She kept asking us how do you hear about us, how do you like the food, etc. It is a bit annoying while you are trying to enjoy the food.
In conclusion, this place is too pricey for such portion of food. The service is too good.

This place has become one of my regular go to for sushi and ramen. Like always my rating will be according to service, atmosphere and food.
Service: ⁵⁄₅ — the server was super nice and accomadating. I loved how all the staff were knowledgeable. All the staff always had a smile on their face and accomadated to all our needs.
Atmosphere ⁴⁄₅ — i love all the decoratings and how the place looks. The ambience is relaxing, but one thing I am not a big fan of are the chairs. I am super short so it is hard for me to get on stool chairs n my legs get tired from dangling all the time, but staff was accomadating and turned over the basket for me to step on, which was super nice and helpful.
Food ⁵⁄₅ — i love love love their deluxe sushi platter. The quality of fish was super fresh. Also the Uni in my opinion is mouth watering. It does cost $ 10 for two piece of sushi, but boy is it worth it. I sometime just go in for one order of Uni sushi if I am craving it. The ramen in my opinion is alright, but their was one that was delicious. They torched the pork belly and even the soup had the torch flavour. Drools! Oh yea their fried chicken leg bone in taste so amazing!
Since I’ve been here so many times I just pooled all the pictures together and stuff.
All in all I give JRK 4.5 stars. I have been there at least 5 times and the deluxe sushi and uni is what i go back for. LOVE!!! keep up the great food and service!

Overpriced. Super small portion. Weird TV shows. Annoying waiters.
Keep forcing us to come back. Make better food and give bigger portions people will come without you asking.

Where do I start? The waitress is really friendly. TOO friendly… I’m pretty sure we are best friends after thus experience. When we tried to order, she kept trying to upsell us the foie gras even when we said no several times. She also kept bugging us to get the uni, and we ended up getting it because it was getting a little annoying.
The food is below than average, and their miso soup is just horrible. It was served in a mug and it tasted like water…
I asked them to remake it, and it still came back like water. When I told the waitress it still tastes like water, she told me it was suppose to taste that way. I’d like to think had enough miso soup in my life to know what non-​watery miso soup tastes like.
The sushi roll was pretty good but the nigiris rice is a little hard.
If you aren’t picky about your sushi, you should be OK with this place but DO NOT order the miso soup.
EDIT: EVEN AS WE LEFT SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE FOIS GRAS LOOOOOLLLLL

found this little place and wanted to try it out for lunch.
server was really friendly and very informative.
chef has over 20 years of exp.
the lunch specials change on the daily depending on the ingredients that they have available as the chef picks ingredients at the market himself.
usually they will not be items that you can find on the menu but can be a combination of some sometimes.
another thing the server mentioned was that they are very flexible with altering the entrees to your preference, provided that they have the ingredients to do so.
anyways, i was originally going to order a ramen but then when i skimmed through the menu and saw omurice, i decided that i had to try it because i LOVE omurice. i also ordered the japanese poutine just because i was curious.
the omurice is a chicken fried rice wrapped in an omelet. very simple. and on top there is ketchup. i tihnk the omurice was $ 10 – 11. based on that, i can’t say i got my monies worth. the portion was smaller than what im used to and it was also $ 3 – 4 more expensive as well. as a lover of omurice though, here are ways that this dish could b better. have the rice be curry chicken fried rice. and along with ketchup have mayo on top. actually when i think about the portions, these were japanese sized portions. when i went to japan a number of years back, i remember i had to eat 2 japanese meals for every meal to fill my fat american gut.
anyways the japanese poutine. this was ok, but again, japanese sized servings. there were fries of course, and i believe also cubed potatoes as well. there may have needed a bit more cheese but mayb not, since instead of gravy, i think it was a curry that was poured over the spuds.
anyways, im inclined to give japanese ramen king another try as i feel like they can do better and the service was really good.

I definitely would not call Japanese Ramen King the «King» of ramen. More like a squire… or maybe a Duke/​Duchess. I have been to this location 4 or 5 times now. It’s good enough to fill my craving when I can’t make the trek downtown. The ramen broth is kind of monotone in flavour. The hakata ramen has very decent pork flavour. In general, everything in the bowl tastes the same, apart from the pickled bamboo and egg. Actually, the egg is one thing I wished tasted more like the broth.
Sushi
Okay a bit of a disclaimer here. I have a blue fish intolerance which means I can’t eat fish such as salmon without getting very sick. I still eat sushi (usually shellfish) and usually don’t have a problem, but at JRK I *always* get sick when I have their sushi. One time my BF also got sick and we were both in and out of the bathroom all night. Clearly, there are some cross contamination issues!
Seasonal drinks
Ah the redeeming factor… JRK has some really great seasonal drinks made from real fruit. Mango smoothies are so thick that your straw stands straight up. I am doubtful they water it down with anything by the pure and blissful taste of it. Limeade has a lot of lime for the lime lovers. And watermelon smoothies are 100% watermelon without anything else. Really really good. ⁵⁄₅ here
Honestly, I think JRK has the potential to be a really good restaurant. They have a beautiful interior. Wait staff are very friendly and always smiling almost to a fault. I just wish I wouldn’t get sick from their sushi. There is something wrong with their food handling or supply chain here.

Fresh and a variety of good sushi.
Small little Japanese place with friendly and knowledgable staff. The seats weren’t the most comfortable of choices and the coat hanger is by the door, no place to put a bag. Went for the ramen but decided to get a sushi platter to try. The ramen was decent but nothing special and the grilled salmon rice was good. The best part was the sushi platter. Was going to try the assorted sushi but got the deluxe sushi instead because the waitress highly recommended it. Was not disappointed at all, presentation was amazing and it tasted great.
Overall, will definitely be back for more sushi platters.

Japanese Ramen King is not that good.
The Good
— Customer Service They treat their customers well and try to talk to you about the food, they’re also very active on social media (facebook, insta) so you can see what they’re up to.
— Lunch: Cheap lunch specials on the week days. Their curry-​katsu don is pretty good.
The Bad
— When we went for dinner, they didn’t turn on their air conditioning. It was sweltering hot!
— My friend ordered tempura udon and got half an order of udon with 2 pieces of tempura, and they didn’t even give him tempura sauce. $ 10.99
— They don’t really seem to know what they’re doing with some of their good product. For example, they use cheap wasabi and don’t have the appropriate sauce pairing with monk fish liver (either a ponzu-​based sauce, or you can also lightly salt it.) They also put mayo in my tamago which got on the fish I ordered in my chirashi. If you want a place that serves fresh whole fish, go to Fin Izakaya — they treat their product better.
— Compared to ramen places downtown, their ramens all seem to fall flat. To be fair, I’ve only come a few times and sampled some of the ramen (including tonkotsu), but each one I’ve tried has been painfully average at best. For a place called «Japanese Ramen King», I find it strange that their sushi/​sashimi stands out a little more. Go to Raijin, Isshin, Santouka, or Sansotei (new Markham location coming soon) instead.
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— Wait times: Every time I’ve come here I’ve waited exceptionally long for my food. (20+ min). It’s never been packed any of the times I’ve gone either.
Overall
This place is just barely passable. If you’re in the area, you won’t find any better places, especially not for ramen. There are significantly better places though. I don’t think the price is worth it.

Cold Ramen with Angus Tataki was a new treat especially on a hot Toronto day. Accompanied by the Matcha Smoothie with sweet red beans. What a find. Will be back next time I’m in town.

Stumbled across this place when we were hunting for dinner. In a relatively quiet plaza — although there are a million little restaurants in it.
I would say this is kind of like a modern boutique ramen place. 5 tables total and some seating at the bar. So definitely not a place for big groups.
We had the fresh juices of the day — limeade and watermelon juice (those were two separate drinks). Absolutely delicious and refreshing. Starting with a cold tofu appetizer which was a nice change and salmon sashimi — beautiful and firm.
Mains were ramen — the soft pork and the garlic pork bone. I may have a new favourite type of ramen! Service was friendly, definitely got the vibe that they are eager for new business. Having been on a ramen hunt across downtown Toronto, I would definitely recommend this place if you’re in the area and looking for some decent ramen.

Japanese ramen king! So this place is located so close to me it’s a blessing! I don’t have to go downtown to eat ramen since we found this place!
This place is a small hidden ramen izakaya in the new plaza by midland and finch. There is lots and I mean lots of parking everywhere! The place is small and it holds like 25 – 30 people roughly. The staff are super friendly and very proficient in English!
They have specials everyday and they will tell you them as it literally changes each week. I ordered deep fried chicken ramen and yum it was delicious. It wasn’t a over the top crazy bowl of ramen, but a simple bowl! It was a good bowl of ramen. They are made fresh so it might take some waiting for your bowl. We also ordered California rolls and those were very nice. Definitely will try more sushi there!
We also tried the lemon lime juice and mango drink and those were amazing!
This place has a TV and blesss for Netflix on it!
Definitely will come back to here!

Randomly stumbled upon this place on a Tuesday for lunch with the BF. My first thought was that this place was so small. There were only about 6 tables and some seats at the bar. But we were here after 1:30 pm, so the place wasn’t full, and it didn’t feel cramped.
BF was immediately interested in trying the Jigoku (Hell) Ramen Level 3 ($ 10.95). I didn’t know what I wanted since the menu was at good 10 pgs long. (And the more choices you give me the more indecisive i get.) The waitress (she might have been the manager as well) came over twice and when I still couldn’t decide, she asked if I needed any recommendations. Even better! Now I didn’t have to decide. She recommended to me the daily lunch special, which was a fish ramen in ginger broth ($ 7.99). Ok!
My fish ramen had so much ingredients in it. The bowl didn’t look too massive, but I was stuffed by the end. It had 3 kinds of fish, tofu cubes, bean sprouts, green onion, cucumber, and sesame seeds. The broth was very light and the ginger flavour was subtle. I didn’t feel thirsty after finishing my ramen, even though I drank a lot of the broth. Which was a good thing. The BF was a big fan of the ginger broth.
The hell ramen level 3 had cha siu, half an egg, black fungus, bamboo shoots, green onion, and sesame seeds. I tried a bit of the broth, and the spiciness really hits you afterwards. So you can taste the broth and get the kick afterwards. The waitress came by to check to see if the level 3 spiciness was too spicy for the BF. When the BF said it was ok for him, she informed him there was actually a secret level 4 spiciness that she only recommends to people who can handle level 3. For $ 1 more you can get a super spicy paste that the chief makes himself to add to the level 3 broth. The BF said he might try it next time.
Service was good. The waitress came by a few times to check on us. She was very nice and chatty, to the point the BF wasn’t used to it. She was also really good at promoting the place. She asked us if this was our first time here, and we said yes. She told us there was a $ 6.99-$ 7.99 special for lunch everyday that is not advertised. You have to ask them about it. She also told us the chef had over 20 years of experience, there was a lot of things he knew how to make. So if there was anything we wanted to eat that wasn’t on the menu, they might be able to make it for us as well.
I think the price was good for the portions you get. Especially the daily lunch special. So I think I will definitely be back again to try different things.

I love this place!
I went in with a couple friends just to try out their ramen, turns out to be a pleasant surprise.
First, the reason why I took off a star: it’s not the food, nor the service. It’s the physical limitation of space in the restaurant, and for what I’ve seen, the store owner has already tried to maximize the usage of the space without making it uncomfortably tight. It is, however, predictable that if they receive too many customers the place would be clamped. Not their fault though.
The interior design is very appropriate. Instantly you will see all the small touches that will remind you a family style Japanese joint.
And the service reflects that. The lady that served us lunch was funny, welcoming and engaging. We instantly felt like we walked into my family room. Whatever we asked for, even for free items like glasses of water, they didn’t hesitate.
But then all these are nothing, unless the food holds up the quality.
And they did. With 4 people in the groupno, we ordered 2 appetizers, the Japanese curry poutine and deep fried chicken wings, and 4 bowls of 3 types of ramen. For the love of god I can’t recall the proper Japanese names, but I’m just gonna say we all agree that these are some of the best ramens we’ve had for a while.
We all tasted each others’ soup base, and we loved all of them. A friend of mine had the red miso base: slightly spicy but nothing unbearable, and the flavor was really well balanced. The other 2 ordered the garlic pork bone soup base… OMG they are DELICIOUS.
For me I took on the challenge on the «hell» ramen, but only at level 1 spiciness — yes I’m a wimp. Spicy soup base is very challenging to make, because if it’s out of balance, you will only be able to feel the pain. I’m happy to report that, despite I was sweating my a** off from the spices, I could actually taste the flavors under the spiciness. And that doesn’t happen a lot.
I was really focus on my bowl, so I didn’t have a chance to try others’ meat and eggs. My bowl of ramen, however, was excellent. The poached egg was cooked just right: not too runny, yet not like a piece of rubber.
But the real gem of the meal was actually the appetizers. The curry poutine was new to me: imagine regular poutine, but instead of gravy you get the mild Japanese curry. They go together very well. The chicken wings… Oh man, the chicken wings. I’m not gonna spoil the experience, but it’s something you JUST have to try. I’m just gonna say, it’s not the regular Japanese wings… Hell, even with hundreds of choices at those franchised wings specialty restaurants, I guarantee you won’t find this style.
The waitress was very nice, and offered us deep fried fish skins at no extra charge. They are slightly seasoned and crispy like no tomorrow. With the mayo dipping sauce it’s an unbelievable combo. I’d pay up to 8 bucks for an appetizer like this.
We also wanted to try the grapefruit sake, even just for lunch. Unfortunately they were all sold out.
I’ll definitely come back when I have the chance. If lunch is this good, imagine the dinner!!! Too bad after we stuffed ourselves with their homemade green tea pudding dessert, we don’t really have the room for their sushi and rolls anymore. Definitely something to look forward to for the next visit.
Sorry for the lack of pictures. Didn’t think of writing a Unilocal review until after the satisfying meal. We were too busy at each others company and devouring the food to take pictures anyway…
We ended up paying $ 72 + tips for 4. Unlike what I’ve read afterwards, this is reasonable for Japanese cuisine, and we were STUFFED. Worth a revisit.

I’m not sure how I feel about this place. The food was pretty good, but for the location, the ambiance and the price, I feel like I should have gotten bigger portions.
Had:
Soft pork bone ramen — first, nothing like the picture. Looks like they dumped everything in. Pork bone was tender and quite good. Plus. Ramen was mediocre.
Curry beef don — curry was good. Very little beef. Quite sad, actually.
Tuna tartare — got tricked. They have pictures of food on their menu that don’t correlate to menu items. Their excuse was that these pictures were of «special items» their customers had requested. I wanted the one in the picture. I did not get that one because I did not order the right thing (which wasn’t on the menu). Disappointed.
Ankimo sushi — 2 pieces per order. In the wrong section of the menu. Taste-​wise, pretty interesting. My first time. I’ll probably have it again, but I doubt it’ll be here.
Deep fried fish skin — not on the menu. Chef made this for us. Compliments of the house. They said they were going to give us complimentary dessert because we ordered so much. When we asked about this at the end of the meal, they said the fish skin was the replacement for the complimentary dessert. Complimentary, but what a rip off. Dessert for 5, or 5 small pieces of deep fried fish skin (which some people deign unworthy of consumption). Texture for this was super crispy, but I wasn’t sure whether that was crispy because of the skin, or a fish scale crispy type of texture.
Crab fried rice — good amount of crab. We asked for them to make a bigger plate of it for us (more rice). They said they did. Portion ended up regular sized for every restaurant but here.
Flying fish sashimi — never seen this one on a menu before. Interesting. Not my favorite kind of sashimi, but definitely worth trying. Presentation was nice. Shredded ginger on top was a nice touch as well.
Geoduck sashimi — not cheap. Definitely not cheap. Presented well too. Texture was lovely. Not as sweet fleshed as I would have liked though.
Baked oyster — chopped up oyster with mashed potatoes and other fillings. Not worth $ 9. Oyster flesh was delicious, but one oyster covered in mashed potato? I’m paying $ 8 for the mashed potato and the baking process? No thanks.
Stools for seating. Bad for people with bad backs (poor grandpa). Very little space in this restaurant. One server. If it got super busy, I can see that, coupled with the layout of the restaurant, posing a challenge. Friendly service though.
All in all, a splurge night for us (costed us about $ 30 per person, and I was only about 65% full at the end of the night).

I wanted to try a new restaurant around my area and I decided on here after reading a few reviews. Jennifer K mentioned that the service was unlike any other Chinese restaurants and I have to agree — the people here were super friendly and helpful!
I had to get the pumpkin salad since I’m an addict to anything pumpkin. The price for this dish was seasonal. The dish itself was a lot larger than it looked on picture. It was a very delicious and I’ve never had anything quite like this. I would highly recommend it and it’s definitely a dish I’ll be going back for again.
Next, I got the garlic pork bone soup ($ 9.95). I can’t say that it’s anything special but the broth was not too salty which I enjoyed. I’ve had better ramen and I had worse so I guess this was average for me.
We also tried a few of their sushi and it was also average. I wouldn’t recommend getting sushi if you were to come here unless if you have a serious craving for some!
The seating arrangements were not very comfortable in my opinion since I’m not a fan of stool seating. However, the food and the service were great so I’ll be visiting this place again.

+.5 for service
History time!
The owners of Japanese Ramen King used to run Yokozuna. No, not the current one on Silver Star, but at Commerce Gate around 10 years ago. When Yokozuna closed, they moved to a similar Japanese restaurant at Woodbine/​Apple Creek, which lasted around 5 years. The owners took a few years off to travel overseas and explore other cuisines, but finally returned to open Japanese Ramen King! Best thing was they still remember me. Shockingly. It’s been at least 8 years since I’ve seen the owner or the head waitress.
After a long intro on what’s available, we ordered a takowasa to start, as well as a Yokohama ramen. The takowasa tasted very good, and for those who aren’t very tolerant of wasabi, it’s not that spicy! The Yokohama ramen was decent for a non-​authentic ramen. Perhaps the only issue I had was the soup base didn’t have enough taste to it, as there wasn’t that garlic addition I was used to in many of the ramen restaurants downtown.
As we were finishing our meals, the owner gave us a small order of okonomiyaki on the house. It tasted very good! It’s not in the menu, but occasionally you would see it in the specials section in the restaurant blackboard. If you follow their Facebook page you’ll see some additional creations they have that don’t necessarily make it to the menu.
I’m super glad to see the owners back in business here! Highly recommended for sure.

Wandering around that Midland plaza for food and decided to have a try. It was a weekday and we were the only table there. The restaurant isn’t too big but it was quiet. Our server was really approachable too and we both were joking around, asking about the food too. Service was great!
Ordered two pieces of uni sushi. It was pretty fresh but not enough to satisfy my uni crave! We also ordered takoyaki balls that came in six. Those were nicely made and delicious.
On top, we had a bowl of soft pork belly ramen and bowl of chirashi. I didn’t find it super delicious or special in the sashimi or noodles. They were decent but nothing awesome. Meat wasn’t super soft but still chewy.
Although I gave it four stars, it would be overall a 3.5 out of 5. I’m a picky critic on food itself.

3.5 Star
The staff here at Japanese Ramen King is super friendly and helpful, not your typical «Chinese» restaurant experience. I would come back again to eat just because of them.
$ 6.99 Lunch Special which changes everyday. It can be rice bowl or ramen or whatever the kitchen might prepare.
I was a little disappointed when I dropped by for lunch today with the special being Squid Rice Bowl. I want RAMEN! Noodle Soup! The waitress said they can change that to a ramen! They are just so accommodating!
I want to have a snack too. She suggested chicken karaage and she can put in as a half order for me, SOLD!
Squid Ramen ($ 6.99) lunch special
I like the noodle of the ramen which cooked perfectly with a chewy bit. The broth was simple and light and served steaming hot! Squid was tender and plentiful.
Chicken Karaage ($ 3.50) was A-​OK. The chicken was not overcooked but if they were cut a little thicker, the pieces would be more juicy and meaty.
Japanese Ramen King does have quite a few varieties of Ramen with different kind of broth, I guess I need to come back to give them a try. And of course Sushi and Sashimi! Maybe with some sake!
BTW, if you want anything or any combination, just ask. They are flexible and more than willing to make you happy.