Tonkotsu East

Hidden Gem in the Heart of Dalston – A Must-Visit for Ramen Lovers Tucked away in the vibrant streets of Dalston, I stumbled upon an absolute hidden gem serving some of the most delicious ramen I've had in London — and without breaking the bank! The broth was rich and full of depth, the noodles perfectly cooked, and the toppings generous and fresh. Every spoonful felt like a comforting hug. The atmosphere was relaxed and welcoming, perfect for a casual meal with friends or a solo foodie adventure. For the quality you get, the prices are incredibly reasonable, especially considering how expensive good ramen can get in the city. If you're a ramen lover or just craving something hearty and authentic, this spot deserves a place high on your list. Highly recommend — I’ll definitely be back!

Everything was more than perfect, all the chicken was bangin cooked and the starters were definitely delicious, maybe some might say amazing. The people working Maya and Ramya were fa-fa-fantastic, friendly and wonderful! Like I’d known them for years! The portions were good sizes and the dessert was an immaculate blend of sweet and savoury. Everyone was super happy with the food and found everything super fun! We loved eating there and will 100% go again. We had a brilliant experience and our ice cream was on the house.

Tonkotsu ran a "make your own noodles" event through London On The Inside (LOTI) and it was so much fun! It was really interesting to learn about the history of Tonkotsu and how they make fresh noodles for all their restaurants every day. We made enough noodles to take some home and the rest was cooked for us to eat in their ramen broth. Great way to spend a lunchtime on a weekend. Lovely people and atmosphere, will be back here to eat in the future. Thank you

Great food that never lets you down. This spot nails it every time — rich, flavourful ramen and perfectly crispy chicken karaage. I’ve brought a few friends here now, and they’ve all walked away seriously impressed.

Went to Tonkatsu tonight and it was incredible. The spicy tofu ramen was so delicious satisfying without being too heavy. And our server Vitalii, was honestly such a highlight! Genuinely warm and attentive, just really great service that made the whole experience even better. Will definitely be back. ❤️

Amazing atmosphere Great value for money. Superb staff..we were served by a young man who was so pleasant and helpful Good vegan options

Visited tonkotsu on a Thursday for lunch, and I was pleasantly surprised how good the Kakugiri was. Vitalii offered quick service, and offered great conversation about ramen and the tonkotsu franchise. I will be back.

Perfect place in a quiet are near Dalston. The food is delicious, I've been having the sweet chill king prawn dish with noodle. Highly recommended! And the cauliflower dish is yummy too. Staff are very friendly and Ramya is very helpful and attentive!

Wow the Miso (Veg.) Ramen is sooooo good. The perfect balance of freshly made noodles, veggies and broth. Everything was super fresh and the broth was delicious. Not overly salty like some other places as well. They serve tap water with cucumber which is a great way to kick start the experience. Ordered the blanched broccoli with Japanese mayo for an app. So good! Added (V) kimchi to my soup as well and a side of mushroom and bamboo shoot goyoza! Highly recommended!

Very good Tonkotsu! Several restaurants across London. Knew the one in Soho, and was not disappointed by this one in Dalston. Definitly recommend it - nice decor also. Full of dates nights on a Friday, and somewhat slower service than in Soho

I previously went to Tonkotsu on Dean Street, Soho when they first opened last year. I didn't have a great or bad experience. So when Tonkotsu East opened a couple of months ago I was keen to try it out again, hoping that things would be better. After all there aren't that many good ramen places in London. I've now been twice, and I'm delighted to say on both occasions I had a very good experience. The food is much improved and the ramen portions are substantially larger. The noodles are more bouncy/elastic and the soup bases cleaner, flavoursome and better. I think they've also refined their cooking techniques and processes. In my previous experience at the Soho branch I felt that the noodles were possibly not rinsed and drained properly giving the soup a not so nice taste (like you could taste the flour). The noodles were also overcooked. But not anymore! Almost perfect bouncy, clean noodles! Hurray! Personal favourite is the 'Tokyo' which is a soy sauce based ramen. It's clean and light, and goes really well with the bouncy noodles. The Tonkotsu was really nice aswell but a little bit heavy for me. I'd also highly recommend the Kaarage Chicken.

I actually quite liked my ramen (I've tried the Tonkotsu branch in soho, and remembered that the tokyo ramen was better than the tokotsu ramen) looking at the less-than-happy faces of the people that ordered tonkotsu, that must be the same here. The bad bits: - Our waitress didn't see to want to listen to me! I asked for umeshu, and she brought me beer(!?) and I asked for karaage, and she brought us crab. I guess karaage and crab sound a little bit alike. - I e-mailed 2 weeks in advance to ask if it was possible to book (as we had a huge group) but they never bothered to get back to me...I assumed this meant you can't book tables, but actually you can...they just didn't want me. ah well. - The squid was not good in any way. The good: - Despite the lack of booking, they found space for 10 of us(!) and the bloke on the door was really helpful and friendly. - Tim and Grant didn't like the karaage, but I thought it was good (not bland at all!) You could tell is was marinated properly, and it was crunchy and yummy. - I liked the croquettes, but to be honest, it's hard to mess up pumpkin croquettes. I always love them. - The tokyo ramen *was* good. The noodles were perfectly al dente, the egg and chashu were all delicious BUT the broth just lacked a bit of flavour. Once I added the chilli oil, I was happier. I would probably come back if I lived in the area...but it's a bit far to travel for quite expensive noodles.

This place seems to have a lot going for it. Cool crowd. Very busy in the evenings, unfortunately the food at least the night we went was not up to par. Without spending too much time on it, the food was very bland. Everything from the karrage to the pumpkin croquettes were near tasteless to me. Normally chilli is the save here, and embarassingly the "award winning" chilli that is so prominently advertised on the menu was not even close to being a "good chilli". I could have eaten a litre of it and not experienced that thing that chilli is supposed to be good at. Oh yes, be HOT. Also the quantities needed to get any sort of flavour were embarrassing. If there was an award for inefficient chilli, this would get bottom marks in all areas. Taste, quantity to item ratio, heat etc... So the starters poor. It was up to the Ramen to deliver. And deliver it did not. The soup was bland. For around £10 you don't expect to have a bland soup. I've tasted instant noodles that tasted better than this broth, or what was substituted for broth. And those only cost 80p. My only other experience of Ramen in London was Shoryu Ramen, and the broth I've had there was rich, tasty and satisfying both times I visited. Again, chilli could not save this mess. The pork was very good though as was the egg. But again you don't pay over a tenner for half a good hanjuku egg and thin slivers of pork. To be honest it was that bad, I almost wanted to go home and make some myself. Easy to do for the money they charge here. Disappointed to the max

Good ramen to get that ramen kick you've been craving for. Not amazing, but just good enough. What I liked is the home made noodle machine and the taste/consistency of the noodles- it's good. I ordered the Tonkatsu Ramen and thought the broth was a bit too thick and heavy and salty. The portion of the noodles is a bit scarce, so I recommend (especially if you are a guy), to order the extra portion of noodles (£2). The meat potion is fair, so can't complain about that. If you are vegetarian, there is a V option...I've had it before and told myself not to get it again. In general, the portion was small so I was super hungry after I finished, and also the toppings was scant. I'd say it's worth it to you if you're able to order the meat options. The dumplings are super oily and barely any fillings. I feel like it's bought frozen in a large bag from the Asian super market (not homemade). I like the decor inside. It's simple, cozy, and clean.

There is a room at the back of the restaurant with a big window looking into it, and inside the room sits a man making noodles with a noodle machine imported from Japan. That's his whole job. He sits in a fishtank making noodles. This was simultaneously weird, awesome, and a somewhat aggressive way to demonstrate their authenticity! I hope that glass is soundproof and he's blasting heavy metal on the other side or something. Anyway -- the food. We got the Tonkotsu and curry chicken wings. Decent noodles, tasty toppings, and really nice broth. The broth was my favorite part. It's not too salty, you can still taste hints of bone and marrow, and the grease has been skimmed off during the cooking process as it should be. It's light enough that you can slurp it up after you've finished your noodles. I wish they'd put some more bamboo shoots because that was my favorite part -- I actually found the pork belly a little tough and sinewy and somewhat difficult to rip apart with just teeth and chopsticks. The chicken wings were delicious. At £5 for five little wings though, it's not a cheap starter, but it's done really well -- crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside, but with only a slight hint of curry flavor. Japanese curry is supposed to be subtle, but I didn't taste it much at all... but then again, I did sort of smother them in chili paste so that's probably my own fault :-) I'd definitely go back. It's much less crowded than the other comparable ramen shops in Central - on a Saturday afternoon, at what should have been peak lunch hour (12:30 PM) there were only about 10 customers in the entire restaurant.

Sometimes I feel like I live in an alternate universe where everything I like everyone hates and vice versa, because after reading the amazing reviews for this place, I really can't at all imagine that I was at the same place. First it's clean, but a bit sparse. Not much to look at. They apparently take reservations, but don't always get back to you, so we didn't actually know that until we arrived, which I guess would be good for future reference if I planned on going back (which I don't). It was my first real Ramen experience (you know, outside of Cup o'Noodles or Top Ramen), and I was really excited to try it. It was suggested to me that as it was my first time having Ramen I should go Tonkatsu. But since we were waiting on others, I had a drink in the meantime. The drink was actually quite nice, so I was hoping for something great when it came to food. We also split some appetizers: Pumpkin croquettes, Fried chicken balls, Prawn katsu, Gyoza and salt and pepper squid. (Be aware those are not the actual names for some of the dishes.) Of these, the pumpkin croquettes were the best with a really nice fluffy inside and a great sauce. The chicken was also nice, but a bit bland and I had to add some chili oil as there was no dipping sauce of any kind. The prawn were really good as well. The Gyoza were kind of average for me (I've had better) and the squid was really oily and a bit fishy tasting. So a couple of hits and a couple of misses for me. Oddly there is a major lack of dipping sauces for the appetizers. Maybe that's normal, but I was hoping for something more. The main came, and unfortunately all I can really say about it is that it was really bland. Like really bland. Like so bland I had to add chili oil. Then more chili oil. Then some soy sauce. Then some chili oil. Then some more chili oil. Then some more soy sauce. Then some more chili oil. (Yeah...) The best part was the egg, but hey that's done in a bite and then it's gone. The pork belly was nice, but the noodles and everything else was just kinda okay. So for my first Ramen experience major disappointment. I really hope that the Ramen really was fairly average, because if it was good Ramen, I don't really understand why it's so popular. Although what makes it really two stars for me was the service. It's just slow and crappy. Order chicken and get crab croquettes. I still don't know how that happened as both of the people were British so there wasn't even a language problem. They didn't even take all our money as one person had to ask them to pay for their part of the bill after they walked away from the table. It's just weird. Plus there's this weird Ramen coming out in pairs thing. It's almost as if they can only cook one egg at a time so it takes five minutes for each pair of Ramen bowls to come out. I just didn't get it. And I definitely won't be back. There wasn't really much here that wowed me enough to want to give them another try. I've been told there are far better Ramen places in London that are easier to get to so I'll be giving them a try.

Noodles are my absolute weakness, so when a friend arranged for a night out at Tonkotsu East, I was on board the ramen train. We shared a round of appies around the table: chicken kara-age, prawn katsu, gyoza, fried squid.. most of the items were good, but the fried squid was fried poorly and forgettable. Half the table ordered the Tonkotsu ramen, where the broth was nice, rich and fatty (just how I like it), though it did lack a bit of flavor. Le sigh, but I thought it could be remedied by their award winning chili oil sauce. Once again, disappointed! I do like chili, and granted I can't handle too much of it - but it seriously lacked salt and heat and I wondered, how on earth it could have won an award for it. Everyone was powering through the chili oil, hoping that the more we added, the more flavour the soup would have. But no, the soup was turning into more of an oily slick than anything. I probably should have stopped after 4 heaping spoonfuls. I normally don't leave my soup behind, but I had to this time. Aside from the soup, the noodles were nice and bouncy, topped off with lots of spring onion (my favorite), and a runny egg and 2 slices of pork belly. I'm a sucker for all things fatty. Grant had a piece of pork left in his bowl, and I was shocked that he left it behind, and hopeful since I thought I was gonna snag it. But nope, he was really just saving the best for last. You leave a piece of pork fat behind, I will hop on it like a fat kid in a candy store. I feel really disgusting about it sometimes. But hey, you only live once! A few others ordered the Tokyo ramen, I didn't try this, but it seemed everyone was happy with their choice. If you live around this area, or have an easy way to get to Haggerston, then great - because I don't think there are too many ramen bars around this area. Otherwise, its a pain in the butt to get here. A trek from Angel took 50 minutes. I came from Chiswick Park (straight on the overground), which took me nearly 1 hour 15 minutes. It was ridiculous. Anyway, I can't fault them on their location, so my rating is based on their food and service. Soup could use some improvement - if its a hassle to get out to Tonkotsu East, then just head to Soho / Central London.

I had tonkotsu ramen for the first time at Tonkotsu Soho and the burgeoning relationship this dish and me is becoming something quite beautiful. After all, it's as if it were made for me, what with all the pork and 20-odd hours of cooking. It's been a while since that first experience and lots has changed in the meantime: two excellent tonkotsu-serving places have opened (Bone Daddies and Cocoro) and I discovered that there's a Nissin Demae Ramen tonkotsu flavour. It's pretty damn tasty. I guess I never really warmed to the original Tonkotsu, but decided to give their Eastern branch a go. All in all, it's somewhat similar to the Soho one, albeit more spacious. The standard trendy warehouse-esque decor is up ('oh, we haven't put much effort into this place' - yeah you bloody well have, that piping wasn't there when you bought the premises). Cynicism aside, they hace got the whole trendy thing down to a tee. They also have a visible noodle making machine at the back for extra trendy points. I went for a pretty combination - Kara-age and a tonkotsu. The kara-age is pretty good here - the marinade flavour really comes through. Now, the tonkotsu itself...hmm. I love clogging my arteries with pork fat. Seriously. I get annoyed when I go to a halal Malaysian place because they can't serve the crispy fried pork bits on my char kway teow. However, I had no real desire to finish this one (and believe me, it's very rarely that I don't finish my broth). It's thick. Really thick. And sticky. Thing is, at Bone Daddies it's thick and kind of gross, but I can't bring myself not to finish it because it's so damn tasty. Tonkotsu's tonkotsu just lacks the flavour which I want out of a 20-hour soup. The rest of the goodies are pretty good, but nothing really to rave about. It's not bad, just not really the satisfying experience of other ramen places in London. Overall, Tonkotsu East is much the same as its Soho counterpart - lots of style and whatever, but it doesn't quite stand up. That said, the fact that I can write a review like this shows that we've come a long way since the days of Wagamama being the hot new thing. So spoilt.

I've now been to this restaurant three times and each time I've been very impressed with the service and the quality of food. The staff were friendly and although busy were always able to offer their advice on the menu which I find helpful as I often need some guidance. Each time I've been I haven't had to wait more than 20 minutes for a seat but the bar area is perfect to grab a drink before hand so the wait has never been an issue for me. Each time I've been I've had a half ramen which is perfect as I load up on sides as well so can get some variety. All in all one of the best restaurants on Kingsland road I've been to for a long time.

Having come with a few Yelpers, I thought, well, Ramen with Yelpers. Can't go wrong. How wrong that assumption was. First, this place is well, in an odd spot. Coming from Angel, and as the crow flies, it's not far. But this is London, nothing flies, and nothing's like crows. Down Angel to Old Street, then to Shoreditch High Street to the Haggerston Overground. This place is hard to find. Then down a really scary alley way and under the arches sits a Tonkotsu... Hmm. Anyway, I'm late, because it took me about 51 hours to figure out how to get here. So, I sit and enjoy some appetizers with the folks. As Grant mentions, the prawns were actually good. The rest, well, meh. Had better. The chicken kara age was well, a little "aged". It didn't taste fresh, nor, well fried. I had to put some chilli oil and some soy on it to make it taste better. Not a good start. Oh, and the calimari well... lets just say I was glad a previous appetiser had some tartare sauce on it. Wait. Did someone say pumpkin fritters with a tartare sauce?! BLEARGH. Ramen comes. Ramen bowl on table. First thoughts. Nice temperature in the bowl. Some places (Bone Daddies), the soup comes and it's not even lukewarm. This place. Ok. Soup's hot. Good sign. Noodles, firm and springy. Another good sign. Broth and others. Well. um. yeah. Broth, thick, but as Grant says, bland. Yes. Properly bland. Too much salt, and it's cloying, too much chilli oil... wait. You couldn't put too much chilli oil in here. Apparently the chili oil is award winning. I make chili oil that makes this look like a British supper from the 1980s. Now, I didn't put as much chili as Grant did, but it's much much more than one should have to put into a bowl of soup noodles. Pork belly was tasty, but, overall, too fatty, but the egg was done nicely. Wait, how long of a journey do I have left to get home?! Thankfully I had the power of yelpers to help me at least not get bored part of the way home. Overall, bill was decent, but not worth what we had. £18 for food per pax without drinks, in a larger group. Not quite value, not quite as hipster, not quite easy to find, not quite... well, good. Not trekking back. Disappointing.

I love it when I see improvement in a restaurant, obviously a restaurant who is listening to their customers and are proud of the restaurant they run. This is what I found about Tonkotsu. I still remember my first experience with Tonkotsu in Soho, the broth was overly salty, chicken undercooked and I think things got so bad they had to shut the place down before closing down. That was during the soft opening though. After a few years successful years of opening Tonkotsu in Soho they have finally branched out to East London and finally good ramen beyond the West. The location was well chosen, just under an arch behind Haggerston Station. If I hadn't seen how busy it was inside I would have continue to wonder how successful can a restaurant be hidden away in such a quiet location. We decided to go for a Sunday lunch and it was nice to see the place filled with all sort of groups, from lovers to families to groups of friends. I can also see it catering single diners on the bar setting although essentially facing the wall and the bar was mostly covered. Still it was a lovely decor, exposed brick and pipes on the arch ceiling, with big lanterns hanging down. The lights reflecting off the bricks created a really warm atmosphere too against the rustic wooden tables and chairs. They did feel really short staff that day as we only found one poor guy running around taking orders. For starters we chose some prawn gyozas and chicken kara-age. We did initially wanted to try crab korokke but they were apparently sold out along with the pumpkin korokke. As an unique dish to Tonkotsu East I just had to go for the Tsukemen as my main whilst my boyfriend went for their speciality, a Tonkotsu. The more we stayed in the restaurant the more I fell in love with it. It just had a great atmosphere. Our starters did not take long to arrive. First came the gyozas that came exactly the way they did when I first ordered them in Soho, upside down, stuck together and beautifully crisped. However they made a big mistake in giving us pork gyoza but luckily as we eat all meats this was not a problem for us although I can imagined it to be for someone else. We forgave them the moment we bit into them, the pastry as thin as paper, grilled perfectly where it was crisp at the bottom but soft and springy on the other side. The pork filling was full of flavour too, juicy and sweet. Dipped in their speciality garlicky chilli oil they were divine. The chicken kara-age were also fried to perfection. They were so moreish with its crunchy clustered batter before your teeth just sinks into a delicious quality plump piece of chicken that was succulent and pure tenderness. Mains arrived after a reasonable amount of time seeing how many chefs there were. The place was making us drool the moment we arrived to the smell of the pork and chicken broths taking over the air we breathed. For those who are yet to know, all the noodles at Tonkotsu are hand made and pulled by their in house machines and you can really tell. It was what made my Tsukemen come alive. Fresh noodles and that just bounce against each bite after I dipped it in the hot rich, thickened broth from hours of boiling down chicken and pork bones so it coats each strand of the noodles before entering my mouth. It was the cold noodles into the hot broth that made the temperature just right to slurp away (which is polite in Japan) and what kept the noodles at that springy consistency and texture. And to top it all off were those slices of beautifully mouth melting pork belly and well marinated soft-boiled egg cooked perfectly so the yolk was still runny. The same toppings came with the tonkotsu except the pork belly was even more tender and mouth melting being soaked in the rich pork broth. The broth here had depth, balanced nicely between the sweetness of pork and savoury and it too was a nice thickness. It was so creamy and silky that I couldn't help but finish the broth off for my boyfriend when he was too full to handle any more. Made me look greedy but it was too good to waste. I love Tonkotsu East now. If I lived any nearer I would be here more frequently as everything was just perfect. I do hope they can find a few more waiters to make things run even more smoothly as I can only imagine it to get busier when more people discover the amazing place. Getting pork and prawn mixed up is not fun. Still I really feel this branch exceeds the one in Soho and something tells me they've got better chefs here who really pays attention to detail to gets things right and really right.

Went with a big group of people I knew from living in Japan, including a Japanese friend. Good: -Veggie ramen! (Despite the Japanese owner hating this because it's not legit. I think this is funny). It's good. The noodles seemed undercooked, the broth a bit underseasoned- but the chilli oil & soy sauce on the table fixed that! -Shiitake gyoza - really good. I was actually impressed (hard to do). -Japanese beer- Kirin on tap and microbrews available! -Best tonkotsu ramen & karaage in London so far (from the meaty ramen eaters) -Ambiance Not so good: -No bookings for big groups after a certain time. Which I get, but in such a small place, it's a bit annoying to wait so long. Luckily, it's right by the bar. Conspiracy? -Walking through Haggerston at night * -Hipsters* -Paying hipster prices for a ramen experience. *I know they can't control this. Just saying. Stick to the main roads from the station. So over all, it was good. I think I'll only go back with out-of-towners though, as a special treat.

Went with a friend and sampled both the tonkotsu ramen and the tokyo shoyu, the noodles and soup in both of which were sub-par. The roasted pork was nice but I had to put a fair amount of hot sauce in my soup to get any flavour in the dish. The not-low prices did not warrant an additional star for value either. However the visit was saved by a nice discussion of Japanese whiskeys with the barman and fairly good service. I would visit this place again, skip the ramen, and just drink whisky. Too bad there wasnt any shochu behind the bar

Places like Tonkotsu East depress me because there are many very decent Japanese ramen places in London that do not do nearly as well, their broths are more flavourful but their decor is not as hip or trendy as Tonkotsu. Does this mean that most of London is some sort of superficial band of sheeps running after fads or perhaps my taste buds aren't attuned with the public? Either scenario, it is a little depressing. I ordered the chicken kara-age and tonkotsu ramen. Let's start with the positives, the chicken kara-age was very moist, tender, and the batter perfectly crunchy. That finishes the positives. The dish as a whole was almost entirely flavourless. They gave us the thinnest slice of lemon to accompany the chicken and sadly i'm left to think it was more for decoration than to be used with the chicken. I added a massive amount chilli oil (the waiter made a thing about the chilli oil) which didn't help at all - the oil was equally bland and a non-entity. Then the ramen came and the stock was so unbelievably weak. There was no hint that any sort of bones were used, the stock was weak and equally meh. And they were so stingy with the bamboo and pork belly (only two tiny slices which were dry and tasteless). Very very disappointing.

Tsukemen. I've done the Soho location, but decided to try the Haggerston shop since they do one of my favorite styles of ramen, tsukemen. The tsukemen here was done nicely. The noodles were thicker and curlier than regular ramen noodles (as they should be), and the soup was porky and thick with collagen. The noodles had great bounce and I liked the thick slices of chashu and perfectly done egg. Ordered a side of chicken karaage which was not so great. I suspect they used grated ginger in the batter, which when fried, became burnt and overly gingery. Not a big fan. I really enjoyed the tsukemen, but the ramen hype needs to die down. I went around 8pm on a Thursday, and it was still about a 45 minute wait for a seat. I was almost tempted to walk 10 minutes to the nearby Vietnamese joints for a gigantic bowl of pho.

There are only 3 options of hot Ramen (one vegetarian). We ordered one of each from the menu. The sea based was terrible, very strong and overwhelming taste that overlays all the other flavours in the dish. Both of the non vegetarian dishes have the same toppings besides the broth. How comes to have such huge difference, in terms of taste? The items basically just don't match! Also, who the hell charge £5,75 for FIVE GYOZAS?? And they weren't even terrific! I bet you can get any pack of frozen gyoza for less than that. Very upset to write this review however, I had high expectations over this Japanese restaurant and what I've written is just the summary.

If I could've tried the food then no doubt this place would have been a higher rating... However... Due to the poor customer service we never got the chance. We arrived excited to finally try a restaurant that had been on our East 'to-do' list for far too long. Understandably for a Friday it was busy, and they couldn't accommodate us. We asked to leave our details for the next available table which they assured us was going to be in the next 30 minutes, to which they took no details but assured us that if we are here in 30 min there would be a table. We went to the neighboring bar and enjoyed a half pint whilst carefully watching the clock to ensure we made it back in time. We came back, with 10 minutes to spare (20minutes after being initially turned away) to only be greeted with the news that the table had been given away and that we would have to wait a further 30 minutes for the next table. We were then offered 'you can sit at the bar to wait'... To which we wondered why this wasn't offered in the first instance. Too little too late. I appreciate it is difficult on a busy Friday night but when your patrons are offering you options such as giving you their details or coming earlier or haven't been offered the opportunity to sit at your bar to wait but have to go elsewhere then you are letting people down.

Ramen Rocks My Universe But not here I want to start with saying that I absolutely love Ramen. I could eat it all day, every day, come rain or come shine. Ex lovers have known me to eat it for breakfast, post- coital, in the bath. Never lone in the bath. I could bathe in ramen. So unless it's not crystal clear, I'm a real rampant ramen aficionado. However much I worship at the altar of ramen, I do not enjoy it with a side order of passive aggression and an extra helping of condescension. I arrived on a pretty empty Tuesday night and waited for my friend at the bar for half an hour. Thank god for the bar guy. He was hot, sexy and had the cutest blonde ponytail. He was definitely my kind of crazy. Great company while waiting for my tardy friend. We spoke about whisky, we debated bikes, covered a bit of Marx then ended up discussing the pros and cons of the microcredit loan model in developing countries. Let it be said, I love ramen but I am a slave to D. Could have gone there..... Positives out of the way. One particular member of staff- let's call him the clog wearer- ruined it for me and my friend. After we asked for an admittedly off piste way of dining he tutted at us and through gritted teeth (literally) denied us our wish and stated that it was basically his way or go elsewhere. Food was all brought at the same time and we felt rushed out. I was so devastated that I couldn't eat. Nor could my friend. The clog wearer rolled his eyes when he saw that we hadn't eaten and muttered 'typical'. While me and my friend may be thin and beautiful that doesn't mean that we don't eat. This hurt us further. The clog wearer was clearly very happy to see us leave and muttered something about a window that we need to consider looking at.... I was bewildered by this and by this point really horny so left. The food was average.

Nice, but on the expensive side for what you get and service can be a little slow. Decent broth, quite salty and heavy, but not in an unpleasant way. Noodles have a good texture, and pork belly is nicely cooked. The salt and pepper squid we shared didn't taste as though it had any pepper (I was expecting a bit of heat), didn't come with any sauce/accompaniment, and was on the small side. Overall, it's an ok place to eat if you're local but I wouldn't make a special trip to go there.

Have been to Tonkotsu a few times, I really love ramen and theirs is really tasty. The place is pretty casual and staff are quite friendly. Recommend the mushroom gyoza, tonkotsu ramen and the homemade lemonade.

Considering that they have dedicated a whole space at the back of the restaurant with some fancy looking "noodle making machine " you would expect a moderately authentic bowl of ramen. Not the case I'm afraid. Noodles were really hard and had no bounce or bite to them. Broth wasn't too bad but not good enough to make up for the noodles. I've eaten ramen in Japan. This doesn't even come close.

This is not the best ramen I've had. The best was Ippudo in New York and I have never been to Japan. It is however very good ramen. Plus the interior to this place ALWAYS gets a reaction of 'very cool' from whoever I bring. It is industrial with high ceilings and modern minimal. It makes you feel modern and hip and maybe a bit edgier than you were before you put on your suit and tie in the morning. If you are a creative and hang out in places that I don't even know about, you might find it artificially trendy. Me and my geeky friends though find it very cool. The food is good and filling without being mind blowing. The place does make for a good dinner vibe with friends.

This is VERY good ramen. Not the best I've had - but then nothing would beat ramen in actual Japan! It's a great place though, super stylish (located in a train arch near Haggerston station), nice staff, good atmosphere and a great patio for when the weather's warm. The menu is small - like I like it - with just a few good starters and a few ramen bowls. They make the noodles here (you can even see the machine they had imported from Japan in the back, behind the window), so they're always fresh. Much nicer and airier than their original spot in Soho.

Me and our friends always went to Tonkotsu, because it is in our way home from work. we didn't actually mind the so so service, because their ramen noodles are actually aceptable. The problem came last weekend when we where there for dinner with some friends from out of town. We waited for our meal for more than 15 min. the service was terrible, and on top of that when the bill comes we divided it without the "optional service charge" exactly because it says optional. the waitress responded, after we paid, there's some of it missing. And we said 'no, because its optional service charge' se responded with a bad face, and just turning around and looking at us when we where going out. The cherry on top of this, was that a previous time we didn't notice the service charge, and the waiter didn't asked us, and just charged us. that is why that last time we requested no to be charged that. never going again.