Omg. The tantanmen ramen was SO good. I will go as far to say that it was the best ramen I ever had. It's a small and cozy space with communal seating. The waitress was nice and helped me pick between the shoyu and the tan tan. The wait wasn't bad on a rainy Saturday around 4pm. Me and a friend sat at the bar after about waiting 15 mins. But I got a little concerned when I walked out and saw the C rating. But honestly... I'll be back

Came by for a cute solo dinner. There's plenty of bar seating so if you swing by on your own you'll get seated relatively quickly (came at Friday around 8pm) and there's plenty of space. In my search for NYC's best ramen, this is definitely worth hitting up. What I liked was that the noodles were wavy, which is my prefered texture. The chashu certainly did crumble, and was solid. The broth was rich and bold, and overall was pretty happy with this bowl of ramen. Was it the best ramen in NYC? Maybe not but it was very far from being the worst. It's a great, even excellent bowl of ramen in the competitive ramen landscape of the city. Would I come back? Absolutely. Other people were also getting the kara-age and I unfortunately couldn't fit that in me but it looked amazing, and it was huge! Will get next time I return. Good job Menkoi Sato - keep it up!

Overall rating: 4.0 Umm my friend recommended this place and I wanted to go for a while. I was very hopeful when there were a few people waiting outside before it opened. But the ramen just didn't hit for me. It was lackluster. I had the shoyu ramen & for $20 I was expecting it to be absolutely amazing. Maybe I had too high expectations. Given the many options, this just wasn't for me.

Menkai Sato is a hole-in-the-wall, easy-going ramen spot at the heart of West Village that specializes in ramen. We came here to initially have some ramen, as soon as we were seated our eyes caught the fried chicken and their special fried rice as appetizers. When the 2 dishes came out, it was humongous, and started stuffing ourselves with food that ordering ramen looks unnecessary. The fried chicken and fried rice are delicious with friendly staff and efficient customer service. They gave us a reason to come back and try their ramen sometime soon. Update: We did come back and tried their Shoyu signature ramen with chicken broth, ground pork, and cha-siu pork. It was delicious and silky a perfect meal on a chilly day.

Amazing ramen joint in NYC. Extensive menu of diverse options including vegetarian and vegan. Limited curry options as well! Friendly staff, food is served fast, and prices are reasonable. My curry ramen was amazing. Many other dishes that I want to come back for. Fun vibe with tables plus individual seats. I will be back, and recommend you check this place out as well!

cute restaurant!! our server was very nice and attentive and the food was soooo good. I got the spicy misu and it was delicious

I came in here with a friend for early dinner. There was no wait and had enough seats around. Instead of the classic ramen, I ended up trying the aruba soba, which was quite delicious. The noodles were not soggy and had great texture; however, it was slightly salty for my taste. I do plan on coming back here for actual ramen though. The vibe was cozy. There were the bar seatings, a few small tables, and some picnic tables for larger parties. The restroom in the back was slightly inconvenient because right behind the door, I think there was the machine for putting in the order (maybe it was something else), but the servers were standing there a lot so it was hard to go in and out.

Maybe one of the only top ramen places in the city where you don't have to wait forever to get in. Came with three people during peak dinner time and was happy to get a table immediately. I will say that the service though was quite slow as we waited almost 30 minutes after we put in our order to get served. I ordered the Spicy Shoyu and it was honestly pretty spicy. I think the star of the dish has to be the pork and for that alone, I will give this ramen place a 5 star. The pork was melt-in-your-mouth consistency and it honestly reminded me so much of what you would get at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Unfortunately, they give you only one piece. The soup base was pretty good as it was incredibly rich. I wish they didn't use packet noodles but made it in-house as well as having an egg in the dish. It was still a delicious bowl and contender for one of the top ramen places in the city. Overall, very happy with my ramen. Definitely come just for the chasu!

+.5 for service I had really high hopes for this place. Like really, really, really high hopes. My friends who live in NYC have increasingly raved about here in the past year, and I finally had a chance to dine here in a visit back in August. It wasn't too busy when we arrived, around 12:30 on a Sunday. Service throughout was consistently excellent, and I found it amusing that the restaurant has bibs for those who may be ordering spicy broths and don't want to get their clothing dirty. I had the shoyu ramen, which is their signature bowl. It was good! Reasonable portions, some pork fat, scallions, and thick, twisty ramen. What I highly recommend though is their chicken karaage/fried chicken. Their pieces are huge, juicy, and are an excellent appetizer for your ramen bowl. I've been to a lot of ramen places in my visits to NYC. This one's probably in the top 3 for me.