The 12 best ramen restaurants in America

The restaurant that sparked Austin’s ramen craze remains the city’s top noodle-slinger, thanks to its extraordinarily intense broth. Former DJs Tatsu Aikawa and Takuya Matsumoto craft a tonkotsu that requires three days’ worth of cook time, resulting in a luscious pork bone elixir that clings to each angel-hair-thin noodle (like many of the nation’s top ramen joints, the custom strands come from revered producer Sun Noodle). Meltingly tender chashu (thin-sliced pork), snappy woodear mushrooms and a marinated egg finish carefully composed bowls.

Much digital ink has been spilled over Tsujita’s tsukemen: how kurobuta pork bones are simmered for no less than 60 hours to create the dipping broth; how the noodles are thick, toothy, dense; and how ramen is served only at lunch, so that the wait for a seat can fluctuate between tolerable and formidable (unless you’re dining solo, in which case, you’ll be seated at the counter in no more than 15 minutes). Suffice to say, in a rare instance of hype living up to reality, all that ink bleeds true—this is the best tsukemen in the city. This West L.A. spot’s noodle bowl is the one to which you’ll forever compare all others, much to your chagrin. Put your name down. And wait…and wait. It’ll be worth it.

Japan native Kazunori Kobayashi runs a mini ramen empire in the Bay Area, where each spot specializes in a different type of broth. Here, the spotlight shines on spicy stamina in three styles: miso, shoyu and a standout tonkotsu. The sumptuous pork variation is intensely satisfying, amped up with roasted garlic, red pepper threads and Ramen Dojo’s signature chicken gravy—essentially a Japanese meat sauce that’s pure comfort-food gold.

To form the slurp-worthy bowls at his H Street hangout, chef Erik Bruner-Yang sought inspiration from travels across East Asia. While the broths—concocted from a constantly-simmering mother stock—are decidedly Japanese, other components come courtesy of the Nippon nation’s multiple neighbors: China for chewy, toothsome noodles; Bruner-Yang’s native Taiwan for a crispy fried chicken topping; and Korea for one of Toki Underground’s bestsellers, a spicy number infused with the pickled punch of fermented cabbage. Business is so good at Toki Underground that it recently expanded to open a second location in Baltimore.

Despite all the new shops sprouting up in LA, one of the earliest tonkotsu specialists is still the best. Jinya offers a full slate of pork-based ramen, all of which smack you hard with not only pork, but also what someone there might tell you is an “industrial” amount of dashi (Japanese soup base) and dried fish. Purists can order the Tonkotsu Assari to appreciate the remarkable umami of this soup. For the adventurous, there’s the Tonkotsu Spicy, which stays true to its name. While it started out in LA, Jinya now has more than 30 locations across the US.

Ramen Nagi is a booming ramen chain across Asia and in recent years, it's made its way to the US — with spots in southern and northern California — attracting long lines of people with no qualms about waiting to indulge in the restaurant's decadent bowls of noodles. The first US location was in Palo Alto, and today, it remains as popular as ever. Diners can pick the base and toppings that suit their tastes. Options include the Original King (the signature tonkotsu pork broth), Red King (a spicy miso broth) or Black King (infused with blackened garlic and calamari ink.) The restaurant also releases "limited king" dishes with creative spins on the dish.

In recent years, the Motor City has emerged as one of the country’s top food destinations, with chefs reshaping the local dining landscape. At his diner-turned-ramen-ya, bowls range from the traditional—like a creamy tonkotsu made from boiled-down pig’s trotters and heads—to the delightfully inauthentic Southwest #2, brimming with green chilies, corn, coriander-roasted carrots and fish sauce.

Originating in Denver’s hip LoHi neighborhood, this dinner-only spot slings nearly 2,000 bowls a week, a testament to the popularity of Uncle’s umami-laden offerings. Chef Tommy Lee goes old-school with technique—broths get a requisite 16-hour simmer, noodles come from Sun—but the varieties go beyond the usual shio and shoyu. Instead, there’s the Spicy Chicken built on tahini-soy-chili base and an equally rich Veggie Miso finished with a selection of in-season vegetables.

Tonkatsu—broth made from pork bones cooked for 20 hours—and house-made ramen noodles topped with chashu, bamboo shoots, marinated eggs, pork belly strips and other delicacies, are the hallmark of this immensely popular L.A. transplant, set on the second floor of the Japantown Center complex. The menu looks deceptively simple, but the complexity of flavors in the soups is anything but. Try the level 1-2-3 spicy or the Yamadaya. There’s also an extensive sushi menu and bento box meals with karaage chicken and katsu curry.

Founded in 2017 in San Francisco's Japantown, Marufuku quickly gained a loyal following and rose to ramen fame. Today, there are Marufuku locations across California, Texas and New York. The restaurant is best known for its hakata-style tonkotsu ramen, which infuses a milky pork bone broth with thin noodles and cooks for nearly 20 hours. Before you slurp your bowl of noodles, it's worth sampling other dishes on the menu, from the takoyaki to the gyzoa or steamed pork buns. 

Strings sets itself apart from the recent influx of ramen slingers by making its own noodles in the basement on a Japanese machine. They’re firm, with a nice bite. Get them in a variety of ramen bowls, like the tonkotsu, which has a deep, meaty broth filled with garlic, sesame, scallions and thick slabs of pork. Add an egg and it’ll come with a perfectly cooked yolk that spills into the broth.