Ippudo Central Saint Giles

Arigatou gozaumasu! Honestly, the main waiter is a legend! True genial Japanese gent! This place kills in service! Absolutely amazing! I was kindly and immediately poured a glass of asahi within seconds whilst waiting for a mate! Food was great too! No complaints!

A very small cute restaurant inside central St Giles. We were dining pre-theatre and had hoped to eat and buy a bottle of wine. The selection is miniscule with none I particularly like so asked if I could have a tiny taste of the sauvignon. Waitress went to ask someone said no. So I bought a glass it was fine I would have bought the bottle! Food is reasonably priced. starters were edamane beans and miso aubergine it was deep fried unfortunately but delicious. We came for Ramen but I couldn't decide. We went for a rice dish. Mine was delicious but the rice was compacted in the bowl and only sauce on the top so left most of it. Needless to say I was hungry later. If your a Ramen fan this is definitely your place

Honestly a great ramen place. Loved the spicy veggie! As well as the pulled pork ramen. The Goodge street location is a better place to visit for an intimate 2 people dinner date and this Central Saint Giles location is much preferred for a bigger table! (My picture doesn’t do the taste justice)

Got the spicy veggie tamago ramen and it was so delicious. The bowl was packed with flavours bursting with each bite! Also tried their original sake and it complimented the meal well

Hands down my favourite ramen in London. This location is also more spacious than some of their others in London so it’s more comfortable imo. Would eat here every day if I could. Usually there is a bit of a wait to be seated if you come at peak hours.

Ippudo Central St Giles is like stepping into Japan right in London! The staff are incredibly friendly and attentive, creating a proper warm atmosphere. The original pork firm noodles we tried were absolutely cracking, full of rich flavour. Can’t wait to pop back and try a spicy ramen next time!

The ramen I ordered was delicious: tasty and flavorful, I would have gladly eaten another. The portions were adequate, the staff were friendly, and the place was cute and welcoming: highly recommended! Anna from Italy

Still the best for ramen. Stopped in London for work for 2 days and have been visiting the main ramen houses. The best thing at ippudo is that you can tell them which level of firmness you like for your noodles. The second best thing is that the default is the more authentic "firm" -- think slightly firmer than an Italian al dente. What else have they nailed perfectly? Broth is excellent. I had the classic shiromaru. The amounts and quality of the kikurage and spring onions fit the ramen and broth perfectly. If you order a glass/cup of sake, as a slightly showy but authentic touch, they overpour the sake. Imperfections: Takoyaki was not mouth burning hot as what you might get along the streets of Japan but that's not an actual complaint. Other reviews seem to be complaining about the service. I came at an odd hour and I was alone. So I was served immediately and the food came quickly. Frankly I have never eaten at an ippudo during a regular lunch or dinner hour because it is tough when they are so popular. If you like the styles of ramen served here, I'd say it's still very much worth coming back.

It's been a long while since I've had Ippudo and it still taste great wherever the location is. This location is tucked in a plaza and has plenty of seating for singles (bar top) to good size groups. The atmosphere was nice and the server was fine. Our food came out pretty fast and as noted, tasted delicious as in the past where I've tried it in NYC and Japan. Can't go wrong with Ippudo.

Came here for dinner. There was about a 10min wait around 7pm on a Wednesday night. We ordered a bunch of appetizers. The lotus root and kaarage chicken was so good. Standard dumplings that were on the small side. The broth was good for the ramen. Very flavorful. The cha siew and egg was perfect. I wish the noodles were a little thicker. This was too thin for my liking.

Definitely like that there isn't a line up. Not that it's a bad thing at all. I was so fearful of needing to wait outside for 30+ minutes before getting a table. I would have waited 40 minutes tops, in the damp winter London weather

I love Ippudo - when I saw a location while exploring the city, had to stop in for dinner. Service - 3/5 had to follow up twice for my water and check each time. Wasn't particularly packed that evening either. Food - 5/5 consistently delicious

I had the akamaru modern ramen and it was amazing. So flavorful, with just a bit of a spicy kick. The pork was so tender it practically melted in my mouth and the thin noodles were delish. I literally ate every last drop of that ramen. They also had a matcha mojito which was BOMB. And the waiters were all very kind and helpful! (I went to the Goodge st location but I couldn't find that one on yelp so I'm leaving my review here)

I have eaten in many different Ippudo around the world. This was the worst. The staff was sullen and rude and pretended their English was worse than it was. I don't know exactly what their problem was but not a single one of them looked happy to be there. Which might be forgivable if the food had been acceptable. I ordered my usual Ramen, and so did my wife and it looked like it had been spat on. Disgusting and expensive. Do yourself and your stomach a favor and steer clear of this place. Try Kanada-Ya Ramen across the street instead. The way this place was, I know there are others who have had bad experiences here. Help your fellow diners out and drop a review here. This Ippudo London does not deserve the single star that Yelp forces me to give it.

I was excited to try out this Ippudo as I really like their instant ramen packets and their stores in the States. However, I was a bit disappointed with this location. Got seated pretty quickly for a weekday lunch. - Shiromaru Classic with Tamago - Crazy how the tamago adds £2 to the meal but honestly its pretty worth it because the egg is made to perfection. The ramen itself was okay, the chasu wasn't super memorable and the tonkatsu broth wasn't as strong as I would have hoped. Adding the extra chili oil did help (ask them separately), but wish it was like for the whole meal. - Kara-Age - Probably the biggest disappointment of the meal. The breading was extremely thick and wet and wasn't very cripsy. The chicken was very okay, not necessarily very memorable. Also each piece was quite small. Overall, very okay meal at Ippudo London. A little bit disappointed as I would expect the quality to be the same worldwide, but it is what it is.

4 out of 5 Stars. The broth will be different in every shop. Definitely will not be like the ones in Japan. Enjoyed anyway.

We wanted to have Ramen for dinner, a quick Yelp search and we found Ippudo, and boy was it good. We had the spicy vegetarian ramen and the regular vegetarian ramen both were amazing, spice level was on point. Service was fast and attentive , ambiance was very chill, will be back again before we head home

This Ippudo is sandwiched between two other ramen places and I only came here because the other two had lines at 7:30pm! I tried the tori shoyu tamago ramen because it's unique the London or the restaurant, so I couldn't get it in SF or NYC. The broth was alright but not as good as I'd expect from Ippudo. I liked the egg but felt the overall dish lacked umami or something. Service was not very good, didn't ask what consistency I wanted for my noodles. Would not come back.

This Ippudo lives up to the hype. Beautiful decors, good service, excellent dishes! Striking decor. Comfortable noise level. Note the doors toward the street are all sealed. The real entrance is on the plaza side. Tonkatsu ramen is most excellent especially the soup. Next time I would skip the edamame (it's good but nothing special).

As usual ippudo is just basic ramen you know. I have never liked ippudo anywhere in the world. I have tried in many countries but you know its just okay all the time nothing special. Nothing beats ichiran in my opinion. Not recommended pretty much the same all over the world. Rubbish service with basic food. I thought its gonna be better? But nah lol.

Came here for lunch and got seated quickly - the space is huge, it's two floors! Now, the lunch set was great in that you can add 1.50 for a plate of gyoza or karaage chicken, but the menu prices of this Ippudo were considerably more expensive than the one in NYC. We ordered the inferno chicken don, and three bowls of tonkotsu ramen, all with the lunch set. The yaki gyoza was good, the gyoza skin was thin and crispy. The inferno chicken was pretty spicy, but also a good layer of crisp on the chicken. The ramen took a very long time to come - more than 20 minutes, and we would have preferred quicker service as all of our other food were getting colder while we waited. Overall, a good lunch, but pricey for the portions.

Great ramen in London. This place is a chain but that doesn't matter...what matters is the ramen and this place delivers. Lots of ramen options including Tonkotsu and Spicy Miso. Small but great service. Prices are a little high, but that's classy ramen and London for you. Add on some karagi for just a little bit more. Overall would recommend to get your ramen fix!

I was so excited to know that there's an Ippudo in UK, London! I have been to the one in NYC. I didn't mind travelling more than 1hr just for a good bowl of ramen therefore, my expectation got rocket high since my experience in NYC was really good! The mood/ambiance in this location is quite nice, I mean I got a view to the competitor lol(Kanada-Ya) was clearly visibly in the window and I can see they have ppl waiting in the cold for their bowl of ramen too, which makes me wonder if that place is as good as well!(ended up browsing pict too!) the place looks pretty n the light isn't crazily lit, enough spacing as well to fit many people in their restaurant, love that fact that I don't need to book appointment. If I don't bother converting money and just think of as the local here, I would say the price is fair. Selection of food is not as big as in NYC, but ofc they gotta cater to the people who lives here and make their own twist. I'm sad that I didn't have the choice of choosing thick or thin noodles, as I love the thick noodles more than the thin one, therefore I took out 1 star from it. Husband and I ordered the akamaru modern with medium hardness on the noodles. We both like it but not as much as NYC as this one is greasier. We additionally also ordered chicken karaage, sad it didn't comes with mayo as part of the sauce.... but still good. Over all it wasn't bad and quite good. Service is a bit slow and I got my jacket knocked down about 3x. Everything was fine. Do I recommend the place? Sure why not? But seems like the competitor is bustling as well. And yeah, second star is gone due to knocking down my jacket 3x n slow service and bit of the oily broth but no big deal, food wise still good, but can be better.

I was so happy to see a restaurant that I recognized! Simply because I am not a fan of British food. I am familiar and am a fan of Ippudo. I've gone to their establishments in the United States and Philippines. I always enjoy their ramen, bao buns and cucumber. Always my go to! They do have options for vegetarians as well. It's a bit pricey for what you get, but it is quality and tasty. It was definitely my comfort food -- perfect for the cold, rainy day. Also good for helping me feel less home sick.

This was my second visit to this location and it was better than the first. It was a busy Friday but we managed to get seats at the bar rather than waiting for a table. Staff service was quick and accomodating. We had seen one of their specials offered and so my companion decided to try it. I went with one of their classics. Each of us was impressed with our selection. My ramen had a thick pork broth with a slightly spicy garlic sesame oil. The broth held its flavour and the egg was cooked just right, medium boiled. Noodles were served as requested, hard. It was an excellent portion size. My partner enjoyed his bowl, having the poached egg served on the side along with hot sauce. His broth was slightly milder and boasted pulled pork. They have a decent drink menu if you fancy sake, cocktails and mocktails. Although it's an international chain it's easy to see why they have been successful.

I've always really liked the Ippudo ramen chain around the world since the noodles are really thin and you can choose how hard it is. I recommend getting "hard" noodles. The cucumber appetizer is nice and refreshing to pair with your ramen. Sometimes the soup gets too salty for me so it's nice to have something lighter to go with it. If it's your first time there, i recommend getting the classic pork broth (it's usually on the first page). It's what they're most known for.

The ramen had a lot of flavour and creaminess to the broth the noodles were delicious and the Takoyaki was sweet and savoury it was delicious come here if you want heartwarming ramen

We have been wanting to check out Ippudo for a while. So happy that it is right next to our hotel! We arrived a little before 6 on a Thursday evening. No wait. The ramen here is good and you can pick the chewiness of the noodles which we have never experienced before. There can be a bit more toppings but overall good. Not the best ramen I've had but it was worth the try!

The thing I liked about this place was their broad menu. It had any kind of ramen you can think of and on top of that you can create the heat and style of noodles you prefer. This is something I've never had the luxury of doing before, so I was quite excited. Not into ramen? That's okay, because they have a lot of other things on their menu you can choose from. A part from the tasty/wide ranges of food choices and their neat interior decorations, I would say I was very disappointed with how our server was treating us. She was extremely rude from the moment we walked in the door to the moment we left. She was just as short as possible and very adamant that we hurry up and order, eat our food and get out.

The soup base is very thick which is good. It has full taste. A bid on the salty side for me.

Excellent food! This is the best Ramen in London. I have been waiting for this restaurant to be back open. They are doing a wonderful job keeping staff and customers safe from Covid. They are wearing masks, the tables are far apart, and they are taking information for contact tracing. I will be back!

I love Ippudo! I went to the one in Manhattan every now and then, and I missed the richness of their broth. Very few ramen shops have super rich broths like Ippudo. I got the spicy ramen, and boy the broth was incredibly thick. But it was super rich and flavorful, just like I wanted. It was a bit spicy, but not enough to make it undrinkable. I thought the meat was okay (I've had better) but they really do a good job with the broth here. Service here is whatever, but I think that's just how most of Europe is. Prices seem on par with what they are in the U.S. The seating is a bit more open here too compared to the one in Manhattan.

While the shape of the restaurant is odd as hell, you can't go wrong with good ol' classic Ippudo. It's the same delicious thin noodles we all know so well, on par with the quality of the Ippudo in the Bay Area, not as good as the one in New York, but an ideal option for those hunting for a ramen fix in a fairly busy area saturated with chains and cafe food. Go "hard" on the noodles, as they'll soften over time. Tonkatsu is a good starting point, then go from there. If you're feeling extra hungry, you can always add more noodles to the soup. Bonus: this area seems to be pretty good about getting folks in and out, so typically no wait! Nioce!

The appearance of the restaurant is quite unique and when you get inside it is airy and bright. This is the only ramen restaurant I consistently go to because I love the Ramen and the other dishes. Some tips: On the weekend a table for lunch will take you 15-20 minutes, which isn't a problem as they having seating and a bar while you are waiting. I prefer to go there for lunch, at dinner I could tell the quality of the food drops. There is an upstairs eating area which I don't prefer as it isn't as light and airy as the main eating area, which has double volume ceiling and his just fantastic to eat at, bright, airy and comfortable. There is also another bar area in front of the kitchen which is good for 2-3 people. Some good dishes: Bao buns, I like the tonkotsu chicken ramen as it is lighter and not creamy and thick. Also I get another egg. Also the fried and spicy chicken wings are fantastic. I think this place is more than just a ramen joint. I have only been to this location.

I came here at 4 pm for a quick eat in and leave. They asked me if I would like to eat at the bar facing the waiting area and I said no. The the usher lied to me that there is no seat inside to pressure me into sitting in the front. A few minutes later, I went to the bathroom only to realize that there are three fucking open tables. Two being two seaters. They then told me that it is their policy to seat single eaters only in the two bar areas. Fucking liars. And it makes no sense, because it is only 4 pm. Oh yeah the food is great! I recommend the hojicha pudding.

I will note that I may be used to a more fusion/Americanized version of ramen and Japanese food, but I was incredibly disappointed by the quality of the food as well as the preparation. The chicken karaage was mostly squishy yellow fat, and the pieces so undercooked that the breading was barely crisp on the outside, and it was legitimately raw beneath the surface. I had to literally scrape away blobs of raw batter off the minuscule pieces of chicken, which lacked marinade and seasoning. Inedible in my opinion. The ramen also left much to be desired. What was advertised as having many vegetables, came with 1 baby corn sliced in half and some bamboo shoots and anemic bean sprouts. The broth was thick and tasty, but the noodles were mushy, limp, and lifeless. All in all, a disappointing meal, except for the rose green tea. So they've perfected the art of tea, but the two major staples like ramen and karaage have left me disappointed, especially at the established price points. Would highly recommend going to an indie ramen shop in Soho than this chain restaurant.

Ippudo was recommended to me by a friend and the ramen did not disappoint! My husband and I started with the pork buns which were small but delicious. For our main, of course we decided to take one of the many ramens offered. I don't understand how anyone can come here and not eat the ramen! It was a difficult decision and in the end I decided on the spicy tonkotsu and my husband ordered the London Exclusive. Both were excellent. The service is holding me back from giving a fifth star. We had to wait for our table, so we ordered two drafts at the bar. My drink was almost finished when we were seated so I went ahead and ordered my next drink which never arrived. Once I finished both courses (starter and main) he came over with my drink but by then it was too late! So definitely order a big drink from the start, because it's the only one you'll get during your meal!

Better pork than Kanadaya, but kanadaya has better soup, noodle or egg in my opinion. Ippudo's soup is also rich and flavoursome, but it starts to leave the salty feel in the mouth afterward which is not very pleasant. You can also customise the hardness of your noodle to however you like, and the noodle is thinner than that in kanadaya. However even when I ordered 'hard', I find it too soft to my liking - perhaps I should have went for 'extra hard' due to the thinness of their noodle. Overall still a very pleasant experience at Ippudo, but I personally prefer kanadaya.

A great ramen contender in London. Their selection of ramen is wide enough to satisfy everyone's tastes. The sides are good and drinks menu is good too. You won't be let down! Before I started to explore other ramen places in London, IPPUDO was my favourite for a long time. I have been here numerous times and never ever been let down. But saying that, the ramen isn't the best in London now I have explored. The restaurant interior is modern, the atmosphere is good, and the service is great too. I don't have a bad word about IPPUDO other than there are better tasting ramen out there.

I ordered the special ramen along with yaki gyoza and it was delightful. The broth was rich and flavorful, the noodles were just the right firmness, and the toppings worked well together. My only complaints are that the egg was still cold and mostly runny and that the service wasn't great (they confused our order with the table next to us and we had to ask twice for refills on our water) but these were minor in my opinion.

Ippudo is consistently tasty from Tokyo to London. Their food is good and reasonably authentic for a chain albeit expensive. Ippudo's gyoza were delicious and the spicy tonkotsu hit the spot after walking through brisk fifty degree London weather. I would recommend Ippudo to anyone who isn't feeling particularly adventurous, but wants to have a good bowl of ramen and doesn't mind the cost.

So far the best ramen Ive had in London. I prefer it to Kanada Ya and Bone daddies because I think its the best of both world. The pork broth is juicy, ramen are thin and perfectly thin plus you can get a poached egg instead of the classic soft boiled egg. Also the chashu pork is a bit thicker which gives an extra touch to the whole combo. But I would come back to any of them any time!!!

In my PRD (pre ramen days), Cocoro was virtually the only place in London which served proper tonkotsu ramen. Then, I headed to New York on holiday and came across Ippudo I still remember that epiphany with my first slurp of the creamy, salty, fatty broth and I was in love. My initial sadness on returning to ramen-less London has been tempered over the last few years by the wave of specialist ramen restaurants opening across the capital over the last 2 years. While London still can't match the breadth of ramen restaurants compared to places like the Bay Area, I think the best of London (Bone Daddies in my opinion) is pretty good these days However, I did get a pang of nostalgic excitement when I heard that Ippudo were opening in London. I hurried down there last Sunday to see if they had brought their A game to London There was a small queue at 7pm but the 30 minute estimated wait time I was give turned out to only be 5 minutes. I like the Japanese greetings shouted by the staff as you enter the restaurant even if it did seriously irk one of London's more popular bloggers I went for the Akamaru Modern, where the basic tonkotsu is augmented by garlic oil and Umami Dama paste. I added a seasoned boiled egg. My ramen arrived commendably quickly in one of their signature small based bowls It was an excellent bowl of ramen. Fantastic stock. Not too much bean sprout filler (I'm looking at you here, Shoryu). Soft pork with nice rim of fat. Chewy noodles. Perfect yolk on the egg. Ippudo slips into second position behind Bone Daddies in my table of favourite ramen places in London The menu is currently smaller than the one in New York but it's a good idea to start small and expand Welcome, Ippudo!

One of the best Ramen I have ever had. I have tried a lot of ramen places and I think this is my favorite. It has flavorful and a bit of a kick. We ordered the ramen with the red spicy paste. They asked you if you want the ramen to be firm or soft. Never been asked that before. We decided to go with firm and it was a good choice. Sucks tho cause my sister and I already had lunch and ice cream before we happened to walked by this place. The service was kind of slow. Though, we had been experiencing very slow service in London in general. That's the only reason I gave it 4 stars. The chicken Karaage was really good also.

Went for the grand opening on 10/10/14. We've been to Ippudo in New York (East Village and Midtown West) and Japan (Kyoto) and I want to start off by saying that the ramen was just as good as what we've had in both other Ippudo branches. Consistency is what we are looking for when it comes to Ippudo and the London branch totally delivered. Out of the popular New York ramen places (Ippudo, Ivan Ramen, Hide-Chan, Totto, Minca, Yuji) Ippudo is still our favorite for ramen though we love Yuji's mamezen. Anyway, I digress. When we found out Ippudo was coming to London we knew we definitely wanted to go. The space is really gorgeous, with floor to ceiling windows on all sides of the two-story restaurant. We didn't get a chance to see the upstairs but they have an open kitchen with bar seating for 7 as well two, four and large group tables on the ground floor. Luckily, Adam was able to be at Ippudo by 6pm and had been told that it would be around a 30 minute wait. It was the grand opening so there were some kinks, though I'm sure with time these will be resolved. As we waited for our table at the bar, we noticed there were two bartenders but the service was incredibly slow. It took over 30 minutes for my cocktail, the Shogalicious (£7), which consisted of aperol, fresh grapefruit, ginger and lemon all topped with prosecco to be made. We actually got seated before I received my drink. Totally a staffing/opening day issue as much of the time was spent finding ingredients/finishing prep work that I'm sure will be fixed but something to mention. However, we found that once we sat down service and wait time for food was much less than at the bar. In terms of the drink, it was quite refreshing and had a great ginger taste. Worth the wait (sort of). If you aren't interested in waiting at the bar, they are able to call/text you when your table is ready so that you can go to one of the places nearby for a drink instead. The bar is quite small and narrow, with seating for less than 10, so it's nice that they have this service for those waiting. By the time we were getting seated, the hostess was letting people know the wait was over an hour. Still better than New York's 2+ hour wait! We were seated at the bar that looked into the kitchen; however, the seats and bar were lower than the open kitchen so you can't see the whole cooking process (if that is something you're interested in). The menu has some items that we hadn't seen on the New York menu and the two that really piqued our interest was the tako wasabi (£3.80) and the homemade pickles (£5.00). The tako wasabi consisted of raw baby octopus with freshly chopped wasabi (two kinds) and was fantastic. The portion is small, so I would recommend that each person order one. The octopus was fresh and went well with the two kinds of wasabi. We quickly gobbled this up. The homemade pickles (konbu-dashi pickled tomatoes, celery, radish, cucumber, pepper and lemon paired with a sweet plum wine jelly) was the only miss of the night. So... odd and just wasn't the kind of pickles we would have thought of when one thinks Japanese. We had assumed that it would be tsukemono, such as takuan (yellow daikon pickle) and kyurizuke (cucumber pickles), but what came to the table resembled more of a crudite platter in terms of the way the vegetables were cut. The konbu-dashi pickling just wasn't to our taste, a bit too sugary and vinegary reminding us more of an Italian pickle than Japanese. Lastly, the whole cherry tomatoes had a very odd texture. Of course, we had to also have the signature Ippudo Pork Hirata Buns (£7). Just like home. They tasted exactly like what we had in New York and brought us back to nights at the East Village Ippudo. The pork belly was tender and flavorful and went well with the slightly spicy mayonnaise while the lettuce lent a bit of crunch. The soft and slightly sweet bun was a perfect vehicle. We could have eaten 5 of these but had to save room for ramen. They currently have 4 types of ramen, with two being vegetarian broths. Our favorite from New York was on the menu, the Akamaru Modern (£11), which we both ended up getting. We hadn't had ramen in such a long time that we decided to go a bit topping crazy and both added a seasoned boiled egg (£1.50), seasoned bamboo shoots/menma (£2.50) and takana leaf mustard (£2). This was heaven. The noodles were cooked so that they still had a bit of bite and the broth was rich and so satisfying. The The seasoned boiled egg still had a slightly runny yolk, which is exactly how we like it. The bamboo shoots were good and added some crunch to the ramen. The takana leaf mustard (which came on the side) added some spiciness to the dish and Adam loved how salty it was though it was a bit too salty for me. Ippudo was exactly as we remembered from New York. What you crave on a cold winter night and where we will be weekly through the cold and wet London winter.

No idea what happened here, but the broth was super watery and plain. The noodles were too hard and the meats were bland. It's hard to make great ramen, but it's also hard to make terrible ramen -- it looks like Ippudo London has managed to do just that. Interestingly enough, I've gone to the Paris branch of Ippudo and it was much, much better, so I'm not sure what's going on here in London...

Nom nom nom! We arrived just before 7pm and had to wait about 30minutes (but at least we could wait with a drink by the bar, rather than out in the cold.) The Akamaru ramen was really gorgeous. The noodles were perfect, the broth had a deep, porky, garlicky (and delicious) flavour. The portions were good for me, but I know my Japanese colleagues will say it's a bit small...at least you can order kaedama if you need extra noodles. The eggs weren't the best in London, but they were good. The pork hirata buns were really, really tasty too. The only thing I didn't love was all the shouting. I think it is awesome that they have taught all the staff two phrases in Japanese, "irrashaimase", and "arigatou gozaimasu"...but some folks really managed to massacre those few words. As we were leaving there were sooo many cheers of "aRIgatoh - go-ZI-masu" it got a little bit jarring (and was a bit overkill - surely they don't ALL need to say it!?) They have a few staff that were able to speak Japanese well...maybe it'd be better if they allowed them to be the only greeters!?

Ramen is great here and always comes with a soft boiled egg which is great. Bit annoying. When you have to pay extra for an egg *cough cough* bone daddies * cough cough * Saying that...Ippudo isn't inexpensive. A ramen and pork bun (singular) will set you back ~£18. Nice place for a casual dinner or a date. Turned up a little late, they didn't let my friend sit down till I arrived?? Meh Ramen: 8 spicy boiled eggs / 11 Pork Hirata Buns: 17 sesame seeds/ 21 Atmosphere 6 DJ Khaleds / 10. ....but then at 8pm the restaurant started playing some dope tracks. Another one after another one. Atmosphere bumped up to 8/10. Overall a good experience, tasty food. Would recommend if you're looking for a ramen joint and don't mind paying the extra buck. Would I go here again? Yes. Would I order a f*ck load more pork buns. Yes. Yes I would.

I'm still on a quest to find good ramen in London. I'm starting to feel it doesn't exist here. Gyoza - pass. will not order again, but portions were decent. Small hot sake - standard 250ml (I had half b/c I'm a lite weight these days) Hakata Classic - good, but I've had better. Slap on the Ippudo name and charge £££ All in all, the meal cost me US$55. I left full, but US$55 for ramen/gyoza dinner for one person is a bit much (expense account or not). The food was OK, but wasn't spectacular. Easy to find location and the queue wasn't so bad. I sat at the communal table which didn't bother me because I actually had elbow space this time.

Having first tried it in Kuala Lumpur, we were truly excited to when Ippudo finally opened its first store in London. We actually visited back in December 2015 so the ramen and food might be slight different. We had two of their hirata buns: their classic pork bun with signature soft braised pork belly and chicken katsu bun. A little slice of iceberg lettuce adds a nice crunch to the dish, otherwise you'd literally feel like you're eating air since the bun is so soft and fluffy! A thin layer of mayo and a special chilli sauce combines everything together. A must try if you go to Ippudo! Next we tucked into the lovely ramen. Each came topped with 2 slices of their famous tender pork belly, spring onions, kikurage mushrooms and a dash of black garlic oil. Don't be put off by the garlic oil though, think of it like when you add a dash of sesame oil to your stir-fry - its an added level of fragrance to the dish! First up is the Akamaru Modern (£11.00) - Ippudo call this their "bolder translation" of their classic pork broth, as its got their secret special blended miso paste (fermented soya beans).If you like miso, then this is definitely one for you. Second, we had the Karaka-Men (£11.00) - Ippudo's original tonkotsu broth with a blob of their spicy miso paste. Definitely not for the faint hearted. The depth of the chilli really hits the back of your throat, yet it's not too overpowering as you can still taste the intensity of the pork broth. A meal wouldn't be finished unless we had dessert too! We opted for the Houji-Cha Pudding (£5.00). This was a smooth milky-like pudding, similar to the pana cotta. The pudding is flavoured with roasted tea and topped with a layer of sweet kuromitsu sauce (black honey). The whipped cream on top is flavoured with honey. Nothing we've ever eaten before, so slightly weird, but oddly satisfying! Personally we think Ippudo ramen reminded us the ramen we've tried in Tokyo and Kyoto...

Set behind Tottenham Court road station Ippudo is a Japanese Ramen and beef restaurant that is great for a quick stopover if you are in the area. First there is no way to book this restaurant. This was OK for us as we were just popping in following a visit to an exhibition. We waited at the bar with its snazzy noodle counter which would look amazing at night. We helped ourselves to some Sparkling Hana-Fuga cocktail Sake. For the price per bottle we got two champagne glasses worth. I suspect that this is the alcopop of Japanese sake with its sweet fruity taste. We both did enjoy it as it went straight to our heads even with a 5% alcohol content. It took around 20 minutes for a table to become free and we were seated in the rather cavernous interior. This place has top to toe windows but it lacks some of the character that you would expect from a Japanese restaurant. However as there were quite a few Japanese people dining here I suppose this is acceptable place to eat. We decided to go for the Ramen. I had the shiromaru classic with an egg which is called something else and cost more. The waiter asked how I wanted the noodles. Soft or hard. Being a bit of a weakling I took the soft option. I also ordered a cha su pork bun. This was very satisfying. The bun was soft and somewhat doughy, the pork was glazed in a sweet syrup and went well with the mayonnaise and lazy salad leaf that had been tucked in. When the Ramen arrived the egg was on top uncut. This was a bit of a surprise.. had the cooks become lazy. It did spoil the picture I took but hey ho it was still quite tasty even though probably pre-cooked. The soup had a strong pork flavour and went well with the chashu, sesame kikurage mushrooms, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots and spring onions. I gobbled it down but I think I have had better a few weeks earlier. To down all the food we ordered some sake. I love the chilled variety which is cloudy and easier to drink than the paint stripper sake which is considered finer. We had no room for dessert. One thing I found lacking here was the lack of display. Servings were carried out on rather bland plates and glasses. Much like the place it lacks real Japanese character. Room for improvement I think.

I have been here twice now... I think it is much better than my previous ippudo experience in the us. I like the fact that there are a few japanese people to overlook the kitchen so although sometimes the ratio of toppings, soups, and noodles are not really perfect, the taste combination is mostly there. The soup is very solid with pork and seafood combination and noodles are cooked and drained off very well. I saw some comments about bone daddies, etc... In my personal opinion, this is not even comparison... This is a solid japanese ramen and many other ramen places in London are japanese style ramen.., come and eat here if you want a solid bowl of ramen. I also had a bowl of rice with was - very descent. Loved the rice - was cooked very well with quality grains. Rice actually tasted better than many other japanese restaurants in London. Quite impressed. Truly a great addition to the London japanese scene. The real test would be how this quality will be maintained without the special supervision that had been shipped in for the opening.

Ippudo is my favourite ramen house in NYC and was so excited to see it opening in London! Walked into Ippudo on day eight of their opening on a Friday night at 8:15 PM to find it was a two hour wait. We put our name in and luckily found a place at the bar to cozy up. They have a great system where they text you when your table is ready so you can go somewhere else to grab a drink if the bar is full. The wait actually turned out to be one hour and we were ready to eat. Food: For appetisers we ordered the amazing pork hirata buns which are just as amazing in London and the hirata chicken wings which were good, but very peppery. We chose the Hakata Shiromaru Classic (added an extra egg) and the Akamaru Modern ramens. Both were deeeelicious! Drinks: We ordered one glass of the Ichinokura Tokubetsu Junmai sake. (We ordered two beers and one glass of wine at the bar on a separate tab while waiting.) Price: 53.44 GBP for two people. Ambiance: The restaurant is pretty big (two floors) and has a ton of energy like the one in NYC does. We sat downstairs at one of the communal tables. Service: The service was very efficient. I mean spot on. But it didn't feel like you were rushed in any way. Everyone was super friendly from the hosts, the server, the food runners, etc. I was very impressed because you don't usually get good friendly service in London. Would I go back? Definitely! It's a taste of home for me. I am so happy that finally both Ippudo and Kanada-ya are here in London to show how ramen is really supposed to be served.

Not the best ramen, but it's solidly good, especially for a casual lunch or quick dinner. I always get hirata pork bun, followed by Akamaru Modern and then green tea. The ramen is very garlicky, but clean tasting and you can always add a boiled egg for more protein. I actually prefer Kanada-ya, across the street, but their queue is very long most days. Ippudo is reliable and consistent, whether you're in Sydney, London, or New York.

Modern interior. With music to fit the bill. Not a whole lot of space. They announce the number of guests in Japanese and everyone is then greeted in Japanese when you walk in which gives it that authentic feel. I've heard it can be busy, but there was no wait at 10 on a Wednesday night. I got the Hirata pork (3 £) In a steamed bun like the kind that goes with Peking Duck. Tasty piece of pork belly with a lightly spicy sauce. Overall pretty good if not a little over sauced. Akamaru modern (11 £) Not too spicy at all. Broth is rich but seems heavier than the consistency would make it seem. On saltier side for me. The noodles are the thin style ramen noodles which are different if you're expecting the regular thicker ramen. They give you a decent amount of noodles, but it was a little on the harder side for me. Poached egg (1.50 £) You have to add your own egg. You can get a boiled egg, but of course I got it poached. It was actually too soft for me. I had it in the spoon and it actually kind of fell apart sitting in the spoon. Their way of asking for more noodles is kind of interesting. You ask for more noodles (1.50 £) when you are almost done. They warn you that you must keep enough broth in the bowl for them to add another serving. Overall I'd say 3.5 is about on. The pricing is a bit higher due to having to add a lot of the extras yourself. The thinner noodles are a taste thing. Very cool interior though.

After finding that several other Japanese places had no table available online, we decided to try Ippudo and just take our chances. We had to wait about 15 min to get a table, but we were able to sit at the bar and have a drink while we waited so no big deal. I tried plum wine for the first time. Sweet! I liked it. To start we split the chicken karaage and the chicken gyoza (not the deep fried or boiled but normal pot sticker style). Both were flavorful. Then I had the basic Tonkatsu Ramen. It was really nice. Great broth, tender pork and perfect chewy noodles. My coworker had the vegetarian ramen, with egg added. He said was really good. He also had the tempura chicken to go on top of the ramen (since all the meat ramen issues are pork based and he is Muslim). He said it was really good. Overall, glad we went. Service was fine. Nothing amazing, but the guy was friendly and we got what we needed when we needed it. I would totally go back again.

I love Ippudo in New York, by far the best ramen I ever had. I am glad that I can finally enjoy the finest ramen I know in Europe. I had a pork bun and the seasonal shoyu ramen. The bun was delicious and really opened my appetite! When the Ramen arrived on my table, I couldn't wait to try them. The broth is simply delicious and is perfectly balanced. The noodles are also really delicious. I haven't find any other places that has noodles even close to Ippudo. However, I have to say that the pork was not as good as in NYC. It wasn't bad at all but I was expecting something more tender and tasty. Overall, this is a great ramen place but the price tag is probably a bit exaggerated. I paid 22£ for one person. I will probably go back but will need to find a cheaper place for my usual ramen craving