Frankly it’s quite unbelievable that in the past 5 years ramen, real, Japanese ramen has arrived in Seattle and every other major West Coast locale (among many other cities in the US). I couldn’t be happier and my good fortune continues with the fact that my small city next to Seattle has turned into the chain ramen restaurant nexus in Seattle (which is the indie ramen scene). These chains are not like Waga-Mama and other noodle shops, rather these are Japanese franchises that I’ve been visiting in Vancouver for over a decade. So without further ado my Bellevue Ramen Shop rankings:
#1 Jinya: Overall the best for my taste (soup rather than noodle guy), though I do appreciate the choice of thick or thin noodles. I ‘was raised’ w/kimchee in my ramen so I love spicy ramen and the version at Jinya does the trick. Tonkotsu (as everywhere is!!) base is the fattiest of the 3 but smooth, deep and velvety, thus my preference of Jinya to the other shops. Love that you can add dishes such as karaage and Tokyo curry rice to your order for a small fee. Bonus is kids meal which my children absolutely love.
#2 Santouka: In downtown Bellevue, parking is generally an issue especially with all the construction going on in the area. Same name/franchise as the shops located w/in the Japanese markets in Costa Mesa and Torrance (Los Angeles) that I’ve been frequenting for over a decade, unfortunately it’s not the same. Broth here (tonkotsu) is thin without much depth (in LA if you let it sit for 10 minutes you get an inch of colagulated fat) and the noodles on my last two visit were overcooked. Finally the price is high with conservative servings. Make no mistake, 5 years ago I would have come here weekly…just today so much has changed so quickly.
#3 Kukai: The first to open and enjoying immense popularity, unfortunately I’ve never been a huge fan. Starting with serious service issues for the initial few months the menu moved away from authentic izakaya to focus on the ramen. The broth is interesting…while I do find the tonkotsu quite good I don’t frequent too often because their specialty is soup made with an infusion of French technique…most notably butter, and while butter ramen is popular in Japan, this tastes a bit too much like chicken noodle for my taste.
Honestly all three shops are worthy of the lines that are prevalent every weekend and you can’t really go wrong. Head out to Bellevue to see/taste the shops that are shaping the immediate future of ramen in the US.
RR
ramenranger 
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