ATXGuide
The Best Ramen In Austin
photo credit: Nicolai McCrary
Austin might be built on breakfast tacos, brisket, and Lone Stars. But when the sun goes down and the temps drop just a little bit—or there's even the threat of a raindrop—it's ramen that fuels the city. Fortunately, Austin is home to some excellent bowls of ramen. From chicken shoyu to pork tonkotsu, these are the best ramen spots in Austin. And if you're looking for the best noodle soups in Austin, we've got a guide to that, too.
THE SPOTS
Sazan is a ramen shop that should be on the radar of everyone with even a passing interest in noodles, broth, or Japanese whiskey. And if you’re into all three? Well, there are some apartments nearby you might want to consider. The specialty here is paitan ramen—a rich and creamy broth made from boiling bones for a long period of time. But unlike other popular spots in town that specialize in tonkotsu (pork bones), Sazan uses a mix of chicken and pork, resulting in a broth that’s just a little bit lighter, but no less satisfying. And as much as we love their original, the spicy and black garlic versions here are our favorites.
photo credit: Richard Casteel
If you’re in search of a bowl of very classic, Japanese ramen, head to one of the other spots on this guide. But if you’re ready to try some inventive Mexican-Japanese dishes like mole tsukemen and carnitas tonkotsu ramen, head to Ramen del Barrio inside of Hana World Market in North Austin. Sure, the dining area has all the expected sex appeal of a grocery store food court, but the heavy wooden accents and hanging paper lanterns makes sitting at the bar here feel a bit like you’re at a small ramen shop in Tokyo—just as long as you don’t look behind you. The star of the show here is the carnitas tonkotsu bowl—the broth has all the creaminess of an excellent bowl of tonkotsu, plus tender chunks of slow-cooked pork belly and buche. Squeeze a lime over it all and take a sip. It’s almost like drinking a taco.
photo credit: Nicolai McCrary
There aren’t a lot of things that motivate us to make the drive from Central Austin to Cedar Park, which is what puts a meal at Ramen512 and a Spurs game at the H-E-B Center in very unique company. This is ramen at its best—nearly every component is expertly made in-house—with bowls composed beautifully enough to make even the ramen emoji jealous. And grumble as we may about the drive, we’re still out here making it. There are a lot of ramen styles here, so whether you’re doing a tonkotsu tasting tour of Austin or just in the mood for a delicate chicken-and-dashi shoyu bowl, you have a reason to make the trip, too.
photo credit: Nitya Jain
Komé might be best known as a semi-casual spot to get some great sushi, but by day they also offer a pretty extensive menu of excellent ramen. Some options include a phenomenal and well-rounded miso (with an umami mushroom base, chili oil, and chili threads), a vegetarian miso (topped with fried tofu skin), a more subtle tonkotsu that won’t bonk you over the head, and a delicate but meaningful shoyu. The ramen menu is currently only available for dine-in during lunch, which just means you need to be strategic about how you plan your morning and afternoon meetings if you want to escape for a quick noodle adventure.
photo credit: Mackenzie Smith Kelley
There was a time when the Tatsu-Ya name was synonymous with ramen in Austin. Because prior to 2012 when it opened, there really wasn’t anywhere else to get it, unless you were painstakingly making it yourself, or trying to convince yourself that the little plastic package of crunchy noodles in your pantry was “basically the same thing.” All these years later, and there’s still a line snaking around the building, at all of their four locations (North, East, Zilker, and South Austin), for a bowl of their signature pork tonkotsu. Between the long lines, and the soundtrack that could only have been picked by a DJ-turned-ramen chef (true story), getting into Ramen Tatsu-ya feels like you just walked into Austin’s hottest club.
photo credit: Nicolai McCrary
Marufuku is the only Austin-area outpost of the San Francisco-based ramen mini-chain, now with eight locations across three states. The specialty here, like many other ramen spots in town, is tonkotsu broth, but there’s also a creamy chicken paitan and a plant-based option available for those in search of something a bit lighter. And if you get there early (they only make 15 each day), you can even get your chicken paitan ramen with a sweet and sticky grilled chicken leg on the side, served hot on a sizzling platter.
photo credit: Raphael Brion
There are around a dozen different options for ramen at EurAsia, with little to no opportunities for customization, making everything feel very intentional and composed. They also use two types of noodles (straight and curly), which certainly means this place takes their ramen seriously. Our favorite bowls are the “Back 2 Basic” ramen with a delicate and light chicken broth, and the richer black tonkotsu signature ramen with black garlic oil. The spicy chicken ramen with a creamy broth and tender grilled chicken is good, too. There are two locations of EurAsia Ramen, one in Cedar Park, and the other in Allandale on Burnet Road.
photo credit: Nicolai McCrary
Lucky Robot might be best known for their classic nigiri and their inventive menu of Nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian) small plates—both of which they do very well—but scroll through the large menu for long enough, and you’ll see a tiny section of broth-based dishes. That’s where you’ll find the Robot Ramen–a bowl made with a light-ish pork shoyu broth, topped with a perfectly marinated egg, green onions, bean sprouts, and pork belly. If you’re used to the milky-white broth more common around Austin, this will be a welcome change of pace for you.
photo credit: Raphael Brion
Kanji Ramen’s specialty is a pork bone-based tonkotsu broth, with salt and spicy miso variations. Our favorite is their signature ramen—a shoyu ramen that comes with black garlic oil and smoky grilled corn that makes it all come together rather nicely. While we’ve seen some consistency issues when they get a little busy, the ramen at Kanji is rich, flavorful, and balanced, and if we lived nearby, we’d probably eat here pretty regularly.
photo credit: Raphael Brion
Michi Ramen’s claim to fame is that you can totally customize every part of your ramen bowl— essentially it’s a choose your own adventure, except with hot soup. You can pick the type of broth (including shoyu tonkotsu, miso tonkotsu, shio chicken, and a shiitake vegetable) and the broth thickness (light, regular, or stout). You can even pick the protein and toppings. You might think that this degree of customization might lead to a substandard product, but they’ve been at this for years and have somehow figured out how to deliver a consistent and solid bowl of ramen, down to the perfectly cooked ajitama and onsen eggs, even for takeout. There are three locations of Michi: the South Lamar location is only open for takeout and delivery, but the Highland and Spicewood Springs locations are also open for dine-in.
