Having lived in Japan before, I really struggled finding even a decent ramen place that didn't charge an arm and a leg for their namesake dish. Domo does a really good bowl of ramen, but is too pricey, and any other restaurants I've been to have only been "meh" while charging similarly exorbitant prices to Domo.
Tengu gets ramen mostly right, but has a couple drawbacks that keeps it from getting five stars. To start, the green tea was very good. Potent and with the distinct bit of skunkiness I've come to expect from quality Japanese green tea, it's definitely worth getting a cup, but make sure they've got a fresh batch - my first cup or two came out lukewarm.
I got the #1, and the ramen itself was was overall very good. The noodles were of a nice chewy consistency, and were just right. The broth was flavorful, and not too salty (a drawback I've noticed at other ramen joints), but similar to my first cups of green tea, didn't come out as hot as I want it to. While certainly not cold, I prefer my ramen to come out piping hot as was typical in Japan. There was a good amount of spice in the broth, which is atypical of ramen in Japan, but something that I usually achieved with spice powder when I was there, so I can't complain too much about that. The veggies were fresh, and while the pork was cubed as opposed to sliced as I was accustomed to in Japan, it was tender and flavorful.
My nitpicks are with the temperature of the food and tea that came out, and while very good for the US, I still felt something was lacking compared to the ramen I had in Japan. At $10 a bowl, the price is about right, and certainly the best bang for your ramen buck I've found Stateside. I'll definitely be back.
A neat place tucked into a hip part of town. The place is clean, minimalist, and very Zen like. Not your typical Ramen places. I had the #1, delicious soup broth, great noodles, and fillers. Decent portion size a little pricey. The Gyoza was great tasty with dipping sauce. Yaki balls were good also. Fast and friendly services. A great place to bring a date.
I have been here a couple of times and both times the ramen was spot on. I've been searching for good ramen since my favorite spot in aurora closed and now I've found one.. I also got to check out the Izakaya downstairs which is awesome. This place is all about good food and vibe, two things Denver needs. Ignore the ignorant reviews on yelp, you're curry dish was too oily? Have you ever had curry? The building doesn't have 10 flatscreeen TVs and crappy pub food? Boohoo. Sorry Denver, your lack of vibe is getting old.
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