Menchanko-Tei

Once upon a time, this place delivered the best tsukemen in the city. All of the villagers who knew would travel to it and enjoy the prized treasure whether it was dead winter or blistering summer. Then, one day, a tyrannical dragon came and ate all of the tsukemen — leaving none for the villagers. They became very sad and stopped coming. No one live happily ever after.
Bring. Back. The. TSUKEMEN! Also, the old spot off of 5^th avenue was in my top 5 ramen spots in the city. Really want to know where that chef went… Those bowls were top notch!

Will not be back anytime soo… Not so Clean place, NO AC. Food OK Service BAD. nothing more to say… Sorry

Such bad experience eating there.
No service, bad attitude, no air conditioning. The waiters only came to my table twice, one for water one for food. AND! 18% tips. You can’t decide how much you wanna pay, they just charged you 18% regardless how you feel about it.
Last time my friends and I had lunch in this place, we were stopped and told we paid less then we should. And it took them ten minutes to figure out the truth is that the waiter took the tip without letting others know.
Yes, we were forced to pay 18% tip for this kind of service and attitude.

used to come here for lunch, decent food, ramen were great in winter days,
came in today with wife and inlaw for quick diner after swimming, food is still pretty good, butwhen we check out, they placed 18% gratuity as part of the bill and then ask for tip on a credit card receipt that’s really dishonesty I hope it’s on the waiter waitress part and not the restaurant practice therefore I have to leave a two star review,
please look at your bill carefully when you eat here!!!

I had the Tonkotsu Ramen. it was okay, just regular okay. Soup was average, noodles were pretty good. Chashu was nothing special.
It wasn’t one of those poser ramens, but nothing really stood out.

This Japanese Ramen spot is pretty solid. I actually want to give it 3.5 stars. The Ramen is pretty light and not too salty or spicy. I would give it more stars if the menu were a bit more customizable like other Ramen restaurants I frequent.
The greatest thing about this place? They’re NOT cheap with slices of pork they give you. They’re actually pretty generous. The noodles weren’t overcooked, Amen! The restaurant is clean. Staff is polite and you can order the Ramen to go. Major plus.
No real complaints other than I wish they had more options for add-​ons. Definitely my go to lunch place when I don’t want to work a little further to my favorite Ramen place– Hide Chan Ramen on 52^nd.

I used to love love love this place, and went to the now closed location on 55^th obsessively. When this Grand Central area location opened a few years ago, I was excited. The space itself is beautiful — modern, if a little dark. The staff is friendly, and as others have noted, these days you are seated pretty quickly and service is fast.
Where I have a problem now is with the quality of the food using my most recent visit as an example. Since they took my former fave Tsukemen off the menu, I ordered a cold ramen dish — I can’t remember the name of it, but it was the first choice on their cold ramen menu, the one without kimchi. The overall balance of items was ok, meat to vegetable. I didn’t love the fact that there was a LOT of cold broth — I think I’m more used to having cold ramen that is ‘dry.’ But what I really did not like was that the pork that was included with the dish was dry and hard, and seemed to look as if it were ‘leftover’ pieces. The texture and the flavor was not good. Disappointing.

Surprisingly enough, I’ve been having a very hard time finding a vegetarian ramen option in this area, so I definitely need to give credit where credit is due. Menchanko offers an impressive soy-​based vegetarian ramen that includes mushrooms and mochi. But that’s where the praise stops.
And in all honesty, if I could give out half stars, I’d give this place a solid 3.5 stars but I’m rounding down to three instead of up to four, and here’s why: while the flavors are all there to fully satisfy your taste buds, it’s super lacking in all other aspects.
The service ranges from paltry to fine, depending on which day you go. The first time I came for lunch, a man at the front completely ignored me after I asked him for a table for two, and sat two separate groups of men who came in after me first. Then he said that there weren’t any tables left so he sat me at the bar, which was very annoying.
I also think the portion size is too small. They make it look bigger by serving it in a big bowl with lots of (admittedly delicious) broth. Both times I went, they literally threw in one piece of mochi and maybe 3 slivers of shitake mushrooms, with scarcely enough noodles to fulfill the appetite of a little child.
Also, the service is a little slow. Both times I went, no one bothered refilling our empty water glasses and our ramens came out at different times, leaving one of us awkwardly sitting in front of our untouched ramens (while the noodles got soggy) waiting for the other’s to be served.
The service can be especially slow if you’re sitting at the top floor because it’s damn near impossible to flag down a waiter if they’re not in the area.
All-​in-​all, I enjoyed the flavors but I thought the portion size was deceivingly small the the service can be a little slow.

I used to go to the one at the World Trade Center. I was expecting that the place had a line, but there was not. We were seated right away. I had my usual — Sarandon, and the side of chahan. Chahan was great — except it was spicy…
Now saraudon… it was VERY different from the one at the Trade Center. The biggest disappointment was the crispy noodle, well the lack of. It was almost like the noodle was under the yasai itame too long. So the crispiness was gone, and it was soft. That is a CRIME!
I may try ramen next time.

After reading a bunch of the reviews, I feel like I’ve been duped — I love this place and their food but I have not experienced any «authentic» ramen/​menchako outside of this restaurant.
Things I have tried:
Chanpon
Menchanko
Miso Menchanko
Chige Miso Menchanko
Tonkatsu Ramen
Shoyu Ramen
Onigiri (Salmon, Bonito)
PROS:
All of the food I have tried is delicious, hearty and worth the money. I have never waited to be seated and it doesn’t take long for the food to hit the table. They have a second location that is open on Sundays.
CONS:
Finding out that I missed this restaurant’s prime! Showing up on a Sunday and being disappointed because online says that they are open but an e-​mail from management said they are now closed on Sundays. Their second location’s ramen is sub-​par. :(

Nothing special. Early dinner Wednesday night, empty place. Looks like they have more tables upstairs which is good if they need it.
Once there, I learned they have Menchanko and Ramen. Looks like menchanko is just all cooked together vs ramen where broth is cooked separate.
I had the spicy shoyu Menchanko. Just very soupy noodles in a watery based broth. Also with pieces of cabbage, chicken thigh, one fish ball and one tofu. Topped with 3 peeled shrimp. Mehh, at least the shrimp was peeled.
Mini bottle of sake was the best part.
Service was not outstanding being that it was just us and one other table, water glasses empty and never refilled.

I’ve eaten at this restaurant for over four years. As management changed (as well as the menu), I realized that it wasn’t for the best.
I came to eat with my partner during a Wednesday night. There was no wait and we were seated quickly. My mother tends to order for take-​out so it has actually been a long time since I came to dine-​in at the restaurant. Unfortunately, I realized that they down-​sided their menu. There used to way more options, but as I flipped through their laminated menu (honestly feels a bit tacky), I honestly missed the old days where there was a greater variety of food to chose from.
Anyway, I decided to get Tonkotsu ramen. I have eaten their Tonkotsu ramen before and honestly, I wasn’t blown away. Since they chose to minimize their menu, I was hoping their ramen improved because of that.
Sadly, that wasn’t the case. It was alright at best. The broth wasn’t that salty, but I wish it was more flavorful. I’ve eaten at many other ramen places so… it was honestly disappointing. I did finish it, but it wasn’t good enough for me to finish the broth in it’s entirety.
My partner order Sara Udon since they like the Chinese version of it. They didn’t like it that much and felt that there were too many flavors that competed against each other rather than working well together. I tried it myself and it wasn’t any special either. All I did was eat the squid they didn’t finish.
We both wanted dessert but saw that they ONLY had green tea dessert. B-​o-​r-​i-​n-​g! I can buy that at a local Japanese market, why should I buy that at a restaurant where it’s obviously overpriced?
This restaurant is good if you are in desperate need of ramen. I guess. If anything, I’d rather walk to Hide-​Chan Ramen on 52^nd.
Overall, a very underwhelming dine-​in dinner experience. I won’t be back unless I’m dragged there against my will.

A friend of mine, an NYC native, recommended going to this place. Hmmm… Well she currently lives in LA, which is why maybe she was still telling people to go there. TImes have changed perhaps! By no means was this place bad, but I don’t find the quality to match the price. In NYC, I have so many mouth watering options at low costs. So, of course I am going to judge a place if they don’t meet the standards of their competition.
I mean, go here if you’re in a pinch. Getting seated was easy, since the place was essentially dead. You can also go here on a Saturday night with a group of 8 and get seated quick. However, DON’T GO TO THE BATHROOM HERE. The dingy light bulb really turned that toilet into a dungeon murder closet…

had the pork (tonkotsu) ramen (they call it something else, but it’s essentially a pork ramen). I’m not a big fan of the noodles which were not nearly as al dente as I had hoped and very thin. It almost reminded me eating thin wonton noodles and not the ramen experience that I wanted. However, on the plus side, the noodle soup is loaded with thick slices of pork (a touch too lean) and half a boiled egg. so while not the tastiest ramen in my opinion, you get good value. The menchanko noodles (in soy sauce broth) has a thicker ramen noodle and looks to be a bit better than the regular ramen noodles. Also, prices on their website are outdated.

We came for Motsunabe (intestine hotpot– seriously, it sounds crazy but its SO GOOD) but were super sad to find that they had taken it off the menu :(
MANAGEMENT: If you are reading this, please know you made me and my older sisters really sad! Please bring it back… and update your menu on the website, thanks!
BUT ANYWAY
we still stayed and got some food. My older sister and I both got the new Kara-​age Menchanko (she got miso, I got the original soy sauce base one) — noodles comes topped with fried chicken (kara-​age), boiled chicken, veggies, and mochi, all served in a cast iron pot. Hearty and delicious! Eldest got the sara udon– so much to the portion that she couldn’t finish!
The food was good, but still… we wanted that intestine hotpot :(please please bring it back.

Carmen N. wrote a review on 7÷10÷2014 that’s spot on. It’s too bad because the location is good, the space is pleasant, and the prices are reasonable. None of the food sampled was worthy of any kudos — tsukemono (pickles), kimchi tofu, and miso menchanko.
BONUS good value on a pitcher of draft Kirin (16).

Ordered the Tonkatsu Ramen. mehh not the best I’ve had. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to Jin Ramen’s taste too much. The soup didn’t taste good and the noodles were overcooked and hard to eat.
We ordered the seafood salad too, which was okay too. The fish were good but overall there wasn’t very much taste to the salad. Having had Korean version of seafood salad (hwaemoochim with chojang), this salad doesn’t compare. Maybe it’s the chojang that distinguishes Korean seafood salad from this one.

I feel like I ordered the wrong dish and thus can’t give a fair review. When I walked in the restaurant was hot and stuffy. Being one of the few places open in midtown on Saturday afternoon, I settled. After looking at the menu, I was pretty excited about the meal as the restaurant is owned by the same people as Katsuhama!
I placed my order, which I thought was a stew and rice on the side, and waited about 10 minutes for the food to arrive. It turned out the dish was a porridge thing with soup and rice soaked in the soup. It tasted ok-​ish but was definitely not great.

Took Togo. They made the shrimp dumpling first and took forever to finish the Chanpon.
Worse thing was, I found plastic in the noodles. Wtf?
Also, the other night when we had 3 people, tips was automatically added for no reason. I asked if they thought I was a tourist and they said yes. Profiling their customers. Wtf? Didn’t feel like arguing but I told the waiter (who seemed to be chinese) that I spoke better English than he did (without an accent).
Never coming back. Check photos for plastic and auto tip.

Menchanko-​Tei has an excellent location, just a corner away from Grand Central. Unfortunately, this is the best thing Menchanko really has to offer. Their Kurobuta Hakata Ramen was nothing outstanding.
The broth is really the soul of the ramen – fail and I won’t consider coming back with so many other ramen places to discover out in NYC.
Broth was on the light, watery end. Not the rich, milky, flavorful pork bone broth I expect out of my tonkotsu ramens. Their kurobuta meat was decent with a generous layering of fat. Egg was included, though it was fully cooked vs. ideally half cooked. Noodles are straight, about the same width of somen noodles but with an egg-​ier appearance.
Interior is very clean, air conditioned, chic. Alcohol bar available for drinks and for single diners. Service is average, nothing stellar.
Menchanko mehhhhh.