Reviews Kintaro Ramen

Visited this place after playing tourist for the day and walked around seawall. Ordered their spicy ramen bowl and broth was tasty, exactly what I needed. Good portion and surprisingly I couldn’t finish the entire bowl.

It was interesting watching the ramen bowl being put together. Place was busy during lunch hour and conveniently located near the bike rentals, Stanley Park and English Bay. Worth a visit and will try other bowls on the menu

When you first enter Kintaro Ramen, you’ll be hit with the smell, feel and noise of it all. The restaurant is relatively small but we didn’t have to wait too long for a seat at the bar. Bar seating at a ramen restaurant isn’t as comfortable but you have the best view in the house. You get to watch how all the magic is created...

One of the original ramen joints in Vancouver. Kintaro has been around for a while and has always been associated to being the answer to decent ramen in town.

The ramen is pretty decent. Big portions. However, their broth has been inconsistent - one day it was just perfect (flavorful and rich but not too salty or oily), the other day would be super salty. The noodles have great texture and we love the meat.

Service is pretty quick - it does sometimes feel like you are being rushed to finish and leave, but we can appreciate this since the establishment has limited seating.

There is usually a line out the front - the turnover is quick, you usually do not have to wait too long.

Had dinner here with a friend as I was curious to try another ramen spot. Not a whole lot to say honestly. Hole-in-the-wall joint that serves nice, big bowls of good quality ramen & a few side dishes. I liked how you could get different densities of broth + lean/fatty meat. Nothing outstanding, very much middle-of-the-road is the final call here (which isn't a bad thing). Service was prompt, polite & very friendly. Lastly, I got to give a 👍 for their spicy broth which had some surprisingly good kick!

3.75/5 for Kintaro Ramen.

P.S. They do have a rewards program.

3.5 stars maximum. I have been in vancouver for a long time and tried out different ramen restaurants, but this was my first time to visit Kintaro. Friends always told me that it was cheaper to eat ramen here, but the restaurant was not as nice as other ramen places. As a result, I didn't have high expectations before I came here. I just hoped that the ramen or food was good.

When I stepped into Kintaro, steam and heat was everywhere inside. The open kitchen without a wall or glass to separate the dining area makes the atmosphere uncomfortable. Customers could literally see four big pots of boiling soup or liquid with lots of steam right at the entrance of the restaurant. The dining tables and chairs should be clean but they were soaked in steam and heat for a long time, so they looked old and sticky. But I was sure they were clean, because I saw the servers wiped them before seating the customers.

I ordered a shoyu ramen with rich soup base and lean chashu and my sister ordered a miso ramen with medium soup base and lean chashu as well. The bowl was big that meant the portion was big. When we put in our chopsticks into the bowl and looked for the ramen, half of the bowl was actually full of spring spouts. That's why the bowl of ramen looked so big. The lean chashu was good. No fat at all. The soup base was quite fatty that we could see something floating on the surface of the soup base.

The customer service was okay. One of the older servers seated us at the beginning, took the orders and cleaned the tables for us. She had no smile on her face. She might be stressful serving many customers, but I couldn't feel she was friendly at all unfortunately.

I was supposed to get a stamp card with two stamps, because we ordered two bowls of ramen, but after I paid for the bill, the server did not give me the card even though I told her I didn't have one. I did not bother to come back to this ramen restaurant due to an unimpressive eating experience here, so I did not bother asking for the stamp card.

A friend and I were wandering the Vancouver streets looking for a place to eat before walking nearby, and we stumbled upon Kitaro Ramen.  We looked up the reviews and wow!  One of the older and more iconic ramen houses in Vancouver?  A must try.  There was line for lunch going out the door, however the turnover was high and we were quickly seated.  Orders were placed while waiting in the line to be seated, and shortly after being seated we got our orders.

This place isn't exactly the cleanest nor the most spacious.  I found myself squished against two people at the bar, and had a bit of room to move but not much.  I got the shio ramen, while my friend got the cheese ramen.  The shio ramen overall was good.  Nothing too spectacular, but solid.  Portion sizes were also large.  For the price, it was very affordable.  My friend who got the cheese ramen noted there was a lot of leftover cheese - he enjoyed the dish regardless though.

Stumbling on Kintaro Ramen, we were satisfied after eating at a price that didn't break the bank.  I wouldn't mind coming back here for a quick ramen fix, but it's a no frills location that tends to fill up quickly and have high turnover during the lunch hour.  All in all, recommended.

Kintaro is one of the most iconic ramen houses in Vancouver serving ramen lovers since 1999.  Line-ups are common as loyal customers return for comforting bowls of ramen.  Over the past year, I have eaten at Kintaro many times.  I love going there for a piping hot bowl of ramen on a rainy or cold day.  Here is an overall review of my experiences at Kintaro in the last year.

Cons: not comfortable & not very clean, felt a bit rushed, the soup base could've been hotter
Pros: large portions, nice soup bases (not the best but still good), not too salty
Tried the Miso Ramen, Spicy Garlic Ramen, Cheese Ramen, and Hanpa Yaro BBQ Pork

Too much hype over this place. Their broth is too salty. I wish they would also put a little more broth in their spicy miso ramen cuz the broth my friend and I got barely covered half the noodles.

Came here during a busy lunch hour, took about 10-15 minutes to be seated. Very small and a bit dirty of a ramen joint but it's the food that matters. It only took about 5 minutes from ordering the food to being served so the service was pretty good. I ordered the spicy garlic ramen with medium broth and fatty pork and also added on nori. The eggs were slightly overdone and the ratio of bean sprouts to noodles was abysmal. I asked the waitress about it and she gladly gave me 1/2 a serving a noodles. The broth was excellent, especially with the garlic, it really adds to the flavour; I couldn't resist drinking it all after I was done! Also, It wasn't that spicy at all which was nice. The cha schuu was excellent; it was very nice and marbled but still retaining the flavour of the meat. The noodles had the perfect amount of firmness to it, in my opinion. With everything together, my dish was excellent. I've also tried their other selection of ramen and kintaro has become my new favourite. Although it doesn't look too impressive walking in, the food definitely speaks for itself; highly recommend stopping by here, you won't regret it.

Still had to wait in line at 2:30 PM on a Saturday afternoon. Not the best vegetarian selection because I believe all their soup base has pork broth. I had the cheese ramen without the BBQ pork, was super rich even though I selected the medium soup base. It was alright though I couldn't finish the whole ramen, so I guess I got my moneys worth.

Good prices and large portions compared to other ramen places. Spicy garden or miso ramen are my go to ones. Like almost all ramen places sitting isn't the most comfortable

Great place for ramen noodles, if you can get a spot that is. The restaurant itself is tiny; every time I come it is jam packed and have to wait a minimum of 20 minutes to get inside. So if you're lucky enough to make it in, try the miso soup. Service can be a bit slow at times, and sloppy, which can be a bit bothersome. Other than that, I still love it here, and will continue to come back.

This ramen place lives up to its hype! I liked how there is an option to choose the type of broth and fattiness of pork you want. I tried the miso ramen, with medium broth and no fat pork slices. I found the broth to be a bit too salty, the ramen noodles were on par, the amount of chewiness was cooked just right! I really enjoyed the corn but should have skipped the raw onion (hard on the breath) Next time, I think I would want to opt for the fatty pork and rich broth and try the scoop of garlic with spicy broth. Tip: If you want to get in right away, come here at least ten minutes before they open and bring your own container if you can't finish, because they charge $0.50 each one!

Great ramen, I ordered the miso ramen and it was just perfectly satisfying. Not too salty which I find tends to be the case with a lot of ramen. The service was quick and efficient, they took our order while we were in line and it was ready minutes after we sat down!

Not particularly clean or comfortable (and the quality of their wooden chopsticks was beyond poor), but they serve large portions of yummy tonkotsu soup-based ramen!! I really loved the tonkotsu flavour in the soup :) The lean BBQ pork was a bit dry for my liking though... As for the ramen, we got the Cheese Ramen (which had a mountain of cheese - literally), the Spicy Garlic Ramen (which had a ball of minced garlic & was spicy - the kind that you can feel on your tongue), and the Miso Ramen (which was a simple but good). Note that they charge 50 cents for a take away container

Will come back? Maybe. The miso ramen had a strong miso paste flavour and was somewhat cloudy. The noodles were cooked al dente. Overall pretty descent and authentic

Famous Kintaro! Since 2010, I've been coming here whenever I am in Vancouver. That's saying something. Yea, sometimes the service can jumpy and the atmosphere put you hectic, but. But I think they offer one of better Japanese ramen flavours, and that is the important thing for this girl~ ^^;

Comfort Food. We sat at the bar. Being able to watch the ramen masters making the delicious food is for sure unique. Delicious ramen!

An awesome solution for hangover!. After a crazy night, an awesome solution for hangover is to me (and my bff!) is having a bowl of Japanese ramen! Sometimes an instant ramen will do but I'm living large nowadays! Harhar~ :-p Just like most of most Japanese ramen places, this very famous ramen restaurant is of medium to tiny space. Many of my friends are sort of not fond of its space and atmosphere, but I do don't mind and I actually like the, I think they make this restaurant feel more ... Japanese(?).

My favourite here is Shoyu (sometimes Shio, harhar). The Shoyu is "Japanese ramen in Kintaro's special soy sauce soup with pork-bone stock." Of course, as with every Japanese ramen, it comes with bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and green onions. And in this case, BBQ porks! Great great "humble food" indeed. Smooth noodles in a bowl of hot soup with fat meat, a perfect cure for hangover, this girl says! I'd keep coming back. Of course you need to choose the time wisely because when it's not too lined up, you might have to be waiting 30~40 minutes. Still, it's a good sign, yes? ^^

I love kintaro! Their broth is heavenly (really flavourful). I always order their spicy garlic ramen and they never disappoint! The restaurant is always packed and there is always a line up. They do tend to give you the bill before you're done eating but that's just how they do things (so it doesn't mean they are rude). Amazing ramen overall!

Delicious but not so nice staff.. Delicious but not so friendly staff. I was visiting from Calgary and my girlfriend and I went in to grab a spot first but we still had another friend joining us. Ordered our drinks and my other friend was just parking. The waitress that we could barely understand tapped us on the shoulder to tell us that if our friend didnt arrive they would give their spot to someone else if the restaurant became busy. At this point there was only 3 tables and I understand that the restaurant is extremely small but 1 of tables was a family of 5 and was paying their bill already. I thought that was really rude. So I had to call my friend and rush them. Thankfully they were just a block away and that shut the waitress up. I ordered the Shio Ramen and that was simply amazing. The food is spectacular but the restaurant gets really hot and the washroom is shared unisex stall. A good place for a quick lunch/dinner and that's about it.

Very good, the best??. Funny walking in you immediately feel the heat of the giant pots boiling right in front of the bar area, doesn't help that its mid June I guess lol. I had the spicy garlic ramen and it was nothing short of amazing, the pork broth was great, the super fatty melt in your mouth bacon like slab of pork was incredible, noodles were good, the bean sprouts were... lol they're bean sprouts! they were fine. At first i was a bit put off by the heaping ball of minced garlic placed ontop of the pork, but then I started mixing it into the broth and i knew why it was there. The portion was gigantic too! Amazing ramen.

Best "AUTHENTIC" ramen house in the lower mainland. I've traveled to japan and had ramen there. This is the only place that has ramen broth that is closest to the way it is served. Not to mention they make their own noodles unlike those other places that serve it (instant noodles kind). Only down side is limited seating, but it's help them keep the quality over quantity ideals

Nice place for Ramen. Came here to find no lineups so I just went in and tried the Spicy Garlic Ramen and boy was it spicy!

I was sweating bullets for the duration of the meal.

Also had some Gyozas but it was typical so nothing special.

Would like to come back to try something not that spicy

Looks, Feels And Tastes The Part. E: I am not even crazy for ramen like some people here and still very much enjoyed my lunch. Kintaro indeed does oodles of noodle right every time.
For lunch I ordered the Shoyu BBQ pork and lest anyone assumes it might be necessary to let drop that the ramen was devoid an actual BBQ taste. My pick this time was the lean pork, but medium broth. Be ready as they will ask for your choices as the order is taken. The broth was tasty and rich without that overwhelming taste of MSG or salt that scratches the throat and beckons more and more water consumption like some chains one could name. The fishiest tasting Nori ever was in the bowl. Its effect won't go undetected. It added to the ramen really well - I can't believe how good it was - and knowing this the chef adds one half of a nori sheet to each ramen. There were seven cutlets of pork in my bowl, which were meaty and chewy. Perhaps the fattier cuts would have been less chewy. There was lots of bamboo, lots of sprout, and lots of green onion all in a big bowel. There was no egg. Should I have ordered it separately? One can also get extra noodles. But why do so when the bowl is so big and the quantity is so much that by the time I got to the end of my broth the ramen was only lukewarm? By the way, it was spicier at the bottom of the bowl. Apparently, my spices had seeped downward.
Their new special on the menu, which I took a picture of, is the Garlic Ramen which someone ordered as it was made in front of me. The ramen truly had a ball of chopped garlic on top. How would anyone survive that? On the other hand, any current (or future) colds would be cured or pre-cured.
Everything was fresh and made with care by a chef who appeared focused and intent on measuring, testing, mixing and sampling. No wonder the ramen at Vancouver's ramen golden boy (Kintaro is also the name of a geisha in Stray Dogs) was positively fragrant. I noticed the chef has not changed. The same dishevelled Japanese chef was there with an assistant (I thought) until I noticed the guy who has been there the three times I have visited in the last three years was taking instructions and his cues from the other chef. Their banter and constant consultation reeked of a fastidious attention to their broth.
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A: Kintaro is a fast-paced no-nonsense ramen shop with little fancy about it. The place has that cheap 'white tiles' look. The star attraction is the pots and pans and the clang and rattle that is the chefs making ramen.
The staff is all adorned in old Kintaro T-shirts. An All-Asian clientele was comprised of younger people (the future of ramen seems bright) until an older couple walked in. Signs on the counter now say "please keep your eyes on your valuables" and repeated in Japanese - kid you not. The paint on the counter is worn out. It could be a sign of Kintaro's heavy client traffic.
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T: I was in my seat at a quarter to noon and received my order at noon. At 11:45 three tables were already taken, while two people were at the counter. More importantly, there was no line-up yet. The ramen was not ready. It would be 15 minutes before it was, to the chefs' liking and being served. By 12:30 there was a line-up. It used to be that the line-up of 10-12 people would have been formed by 12:00 so perhaps the proliferation of original, copycat and competing businesses has taken a bite out of Kintaro. I walked by Santouka later and noticed the queue outside. Perhaps they, and Motomachi Shokudo, have stolen Kintaro's thunder? Ironically, strolling around before and after eating at Kintaro in October of 2010 we had noticed Motomachi and ridiculed their small sign proclaiming the availability of ramen. Now, they are both owned by the same person. They are only three doors down. We believed Motomachi is switching its menu to ramen as a me-too ploy. On the day Motomachi was busy, but there wasn't a line-up. As an aside, still walking up Robson and a little further I noticed something else that was new and different. Gyoza King now serves sushi and Sashimi. It was amusing to see as I recall the sign on the restaurant's door - as we were waiting for our take-out Gyoza in mid-summer of 2009 - proclaiming the absence of sushi and sashimi from the premises. The sign exhorted people to try Japanese cooked food adding that Japanese fare is more than just sushi and sashimi. It was so funny that we even attempted to take a photograph of the piece of paper. Apparently, people have moved towards Gyoza King's position with ramen, gyoza, tonkatsu et al abounding and Gyoza King has met them halfway and introduced sushi!
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S: The service has improved at Kintaro. Again, it might be my imagination, but could it be the competition from Motomachi, Shokudo or Benkei? I was greeted with an irashaimase 'welcome' by two friendly waitresses. It is not something I expected either a ramen shop or at Kintaro. There soon was a third waitress about the place, which is nice for such a small place where half the clients are sitting at the counter. Later she would ask "how is everything" prompting me to think 'where am I' and 'is this an Asian restaurant?' She even had a smile on her face. I even received a water refill. Yes, I am getting mischievous about this, but readers should catch my drift.
I had introduced a friend to Kintaro three years ago for a surprise dinner and had created a fan for Kintaro. The friend turned out to have been a ramen enthusiast - that was my revelation - and wholly approved of Kintaro. Of course, separately and jointly revisits were undertaken. Why do I mention this? Upon returning to slurp again at Kintaro in October of 2010 we were early and Kintaro was not yet open. We had walked over to investigate the closing of Yoshi On Denman - the new owner Taiko On Denman, speculated to my friend who had gone upstairs to enquire, that there is a Yoshi in Alberta!? When we came back we found a line-up outside Kintaro. I was on the receiving end of some blame for making us late and making us stand in line for 20 minutes. Why do I mention that? At a quarter to twelve, when we had originally attempted to enter Kintaro, a rude Japanese guy had jumped up and down shooing us away looking agitated and irate even though there was no closed sign and the door was wide open. In other words, their service has apparently improved since.
In contrast, this visit was less, er, exciting and the, er, amusement was confined to the enduringly good ramen and improved service. Moreover, unlike my second visit there was no customer sitting next to me pouring his entire glass of ice water into his freshly delivered ramen. If the person who did that is reading he should contact me. I have two words for you: Kikuya Ramen.
Back to the service, once the ramen is ready the chef shouts the name of the item and one of the waitresses picks it up, takes a big wooden spoon from a basket on the counter, places it in the bowl and serves the steaming broth. The chef takes the order sheet that the waitresses have left on the counter, dips it in the boiling water in the pot in front of him in order to fasten it to the counter. It looks odd and unsanitary. What is the story behind that? He wants to make the paper sticky and adhesive for the counter, but still.
One (almost) last thing. Whatever happened to the original Richmond location of Kintaro? How could it have failed? Or was Denman the original location?
My bill came to $11.48. It was delivered before I asked for it - a hint? - by the still smiling and friendly waitress.

Cheese ramen!. My favourite ramen shop, the atmosphere is rushed but fun and the broth is always flavourful. I always get the cheese ramen with a bit of kimchi (they are very generous with the cheese so it can be very rich). The only thing is that their portions are so gigantic, I can only ever finish half.

It was a nice and friendly experience. I got the spicy ramen this time, with rich soup and lean meat, but it was not as spicy as my friend and I were expected. We got the side meat for $1.50, which serves as an "appy" to munch on while waiting for the main.

It’s been a while since we last came here, still keeping its good quality with its ramen. They have the best cheese ramen in town! Just need to remind myself next time that fatty pork is better than lean one.