Situé au centre-ville de Québec, TORA-YA RAMEN prépare des délicieux ramens servis dans un bouillon chaud avec amour et soin. Vous trouverez également une variété de plats et Tsumami (tapas japonais). Nous servons également des boissons sake, bière, vin et sans alcool.
Tora-Ya Ramen est largement reconnu comme un lieu authentique et chaleureux qui transporte ses clients au Japon grâce à son ambiance et ses saveurs traditionnelles. De nombreux visiteurs apprécient la cuisson parfaite des nouilles, la richesse des bouillons et des plats incontournables comme le poulet karaage ou les takoyaki, soulignant que l'établissement offre une expérience culinaire authentique qui se distingue à Québec. Bien que ce lieu prisé soit petit et nécessite souvent un peu d'attente, l'accueil amical et le service professionnel sont régulièrement salués. Malgré quelques avis partagés sur la richesse des bouillons ou la taille des portions, le consensus général souligne la grande qualité des plats et le confort de l'expérience, faisant de ce restaurant une destination privilégiée pour les amateurs de ramen.
This was my first time visiting Quebec, & missing Japanese ramen brought me to this cozy, charming little spot. The restaurant has a really nice atmosphere.
As for the food, the broth is a lighter soy sauce (shoyu) style. If you prefer authentic, heavy Japanese flavors, you might find it needs a bit more salt-personally, I'm a bigger fan of rich tonkotsu broth. However, the texture of the noodles was absolutely spot on & my favorite part of the meal.
They also offer drinks like Asahi beer & umeshu (plum wine). For me, wrapping up the day with a hot bowl of ramen & a cold beer is one of life's greatest pleasures!
Had a really good experience at Tora-Ya restaurant. The broth was flavorful & rich, the noodles were cooked perfectly, & the portions were satisfying. The staff were friendly & service was quick even during busy hours. The atmosphere was cozy & relaxed, making it a nice place to enjoy a warm meal. Definitely a solid spot for ramen & I'd come back to try more dishes.
Let me start with the good things, because, well, there aren't many, but credit where it's due. The staff were very polite & efficient, the place was clean, & the location is fairly convenient if you're coming from Old Québec. So yes, that's pretty much everything nice I can say.
Now, onto the disappointing part, which is, unfortunately, most of the experience.
First, the portion. I'm not sure if the kitchen uses a jeweler's scale to weigh noodles, but my bowl couldn't have had more than 100 grams of ramen. The restaurant is called Tora-Ya,'Tiger's Den', but this portion isn't for a tiger. It's more like something you'd serve to a Neko, which means a kitten in Japanese.
Then, the flavor, or should I say… the salt. Because that's pretty much all there was. No depth, no complexity, no umami flavor, just salt. I kept drinking water to dilute it, & by the end, I felt like a water balloon. Even my burps afterward were tasteless. Honestly, this isn't just far from the ramen I had in Sapporo back in 2017...it's not even close to what you'd get at a Chinese-run Japanese restaurant in Toronto.
Oh, & one more awkward thing: the restrooms. There are two, & the signs were so'artistically' ambiguous that I genuinely couldn't tell which was for men & which was for women. I picked an empty one, only to be politely informed by other customers on my way out that I'd used the women's. Upon closer inspection, yeah, maybe that stick figure had a skirt. Or maybe it was a ghost. Who knows? I understand the store wants to be unique. But just put an'M' & an'F,' or'Homme/Femme,' or even the kanji ?/?.
All in all...my experience was disappointing, overpriced, & oddly confusing. I would not recommend unless you're on a very strict low-carb, low-flavor, high-sodium diet. & yeah enjoy the guessing games at the bathroom door.
Nice little cozy shop. Our family of 7 went there at dinner time. Initially they said may need to split us in 2 tables but in the end gave us one big table. Staff were friendly. I ordered a miso-vege with kale noodles. Fantastic. The vegetables were very fresh. Normally I don't like bamboo shoot in Japanese style, but their bamboo shoot was fresh & the best tasting bamboo shoot I ever ate. My brother who hates vegetables also thought the vegetables tasted really good. I also ordered Umeshu. Best plum wine I drank outside Japan. My family ordered Kara-age (fried chicken). It was juicy & meat was fresh, with not too much starch powder or oil.
Some drawback to improve...
Need a better queuing system for customer. Initially I was a bit confused where to wait & whether need to inform staff that we would like to dine in when a lot of people was crowding around at the door.
Everything was great except the food. The noodles were too hard. The chickens taste like plain boiled chickens. I'd never come back for something that's not so good but pricey. We spent over a 100 for 4 bowls of noodles & 4 pops. It's not worth it.
The staff is friendly, tending to seat you as soon as possible. Word of advice, reserve or be prepared to wait a bit. There's always a queue.
The food is packed with flavor. The miso ramen broth is rich, yet delicate. The noodles are bouncy & hold the broth well. Also took the karage & it's very lightly breaded, which I prefer as you get to bite on the juicy chicken.
Another surprise is they have authentic melon Ramuné!
Saw that they have curry. Will have to try that next time!
Kimchi ramen had the *driest* chicken that I've ever had. Disappointing. I could tell it was cold refigerated chicken that was not heated up before placed in my bowl because some pieces (not submerged in broth) were cold. It was bearable when paired with the freshness of the kimchi, but ramen should not be relying on the toppings to mask the dryness of the protein.
Noodles, bean sprouts, corn, & egg were good. Broth was alright, creamy & full, but lacking a distinct standout flavor.
Crowded when we arrived & waited about half an hour in total for a seat & our food to arrive. But it was a good call & there were some Asian looking folks which validated our choice.
The miso ramen was nicely done like what we had in Japan. Broth was rich but do note that the chashu is different. It was thicker & not torched. The egg was also abit over cooked & not as runny. But overall still a good bowl of ramen!
The star for me was the Yakisoba! Nicely stirred fried noodles which go really well with the vegetables. Again it's slightly salty which I guessed it's the norm for Canadians.
Recommend for anyone yearning for a some Japanese food in Quebec.
