At Ichiran in Bushwick, dive into rich, solo-optimized bowls of tonkotsu ramen in intimate booths that let you customize every slurp without the need for small talk.
"Ichiran is a Japanese chain with locations in Bushwick, Midtown and Times Square where you can eat your ramen in a “flavor concentration booth.” Think of it as a study carrel in a library, but for solo ramen eating. To order, just fill out a form and press a button. If you’re afraid of loneliness, you can eat in an actual dining room (or just lower the partition between booths). The highly customizable ramen is solid, and the overall experience makes this place worth visiting at least once." - will hartman, willa moore, sonal shah, neha talreja, kenny yang
"This Japanese import landed with a thud in Bushwick in 2016, setting down in a dusty industrial area and immediately generating long lines. The place boasts two dining rooms, one allowing you to eat by yourself in a narrow carrel as if in a university library. The noodles, though, are exceedingly solid. They’re available in varying levels of thickness and doneness, and deposited in a tonkotsu broth a little lighter and silkier than most. There are now three additional locations in Manhattan." - Robert Sietsema
"This isn't the Huge Restaurant Guide. It's a guide about personal space. And very few places evoke the feeling of solitude more than this ramen chain from Japan, which has locations in Bushwick, Times Square, and Chelsea. If you sit in one of their signature counter seats, you have the option to put up barriers on both sides, so you can concentrate on the flavors of your tonkotsu ramen. You can also customize things like the noodle texture, saltiness, spice level, and richness of each bowl here." - kenny yang
"Not every restaurant gives you the option of closing yourself off from the world, but Ichiran does. In addition to a more straightforward dining room, this ramen spot in Bushwick (and Midtown) has some one-person stations where you can eat your food in what is essentially a sit-down voting booth. You also write your order on a slip of paper and pass it to your server through a window in front of you, so you don’t actually have to interact with anyone while you eat." - bryan kim, neha talreja, hannah albertine, molly fitzpatrick
"Ramen is often a solo sport in Japan, with people quickly ducking into a shop during lunch for a fast bowl of soupy hot noodles. Which is why Japanese ramen chain export Ichiran offers customers solo dining booths, for patrons to slurp its famous Fukuoka tonkotsu broth in silence. In fact, Ichiran serves just one type of ramen, and this focus enables the place to concert efforts on perfecting that bowl. However, customers can customize bowls by ordering extra noodles, pork, or adding a dash of black vinegar. After launching in 2016 and attracting lengthy lines, Ichiran opened a second, smaller outlet in Midtown." - Kat Odell
