KINTON RAMEN

I’m a big fan of Kinton, not only because their selection of ramen is delicious, but also because they’re all made consistently across all of the locations. Kinton Ramen on Church is one of the newer locations, situated in the same area as Kinka Izakaya.
Like the other Kinton locations, their regular ramen choices are present. Pork or chicken broth, with several configurations of fixins available. However, unlike other Kintons, they also had a special available for just this location, which is called the Rich Tonkotsu Shoyu Ramen.
I am a huge, huge fan of rich ramen broths, and it’s hard to find in the city, so I had to try, and my goodness is it good. I think at this point, it’s in my top 3 bowls of ramen available in Toronto.
Overall, Kinton on Church had great food, great service, and I can’t wait to go back and have another bowl of rich tonkotsu shoyu.

Loving all these ramen joints in Toronto! One of my goals is to try all the ramens in this city. Although I had many bowls of ramen in Japan, Korea, and Canada, I still don’t have a clear idea of how to rate them. They are all different. It all comes down to personal preference…
When I saw chicken ramen on the menu, I had to give it a try because I love trying unique dishes (same reason for trying tomato ramen at Sansotei: P).
It was very flavourful! Noodles were cooked on point. I also tried their pork ramen (my bf’s order) which was also flavourful and rich. We sat at the bar where you can see chefs preparing ramen. Quick and friendly service like any other Japanese ramen places!
Overall, it was not the best ramen I had, but certainly solid food. The biggest pro for Kinton Ramen is that they have several locations throughout the city, so no need to line up or travel far to taste their ramen. I don’t know if there is a huge difference between different locations (apparently Sansotei locations do have a huge difference, downtown one being better than the one in uptown). If you don’t want to line up for Sansotei or Santouka, come here!

I’ve gone to 3 different locations for Kinton Ramen. My friends and I were just walking along Church Street. Not going to lie, the only reason why we stopped in was because they had a sign that a pitcher of Sapporo was $ 9.99. Luckily I was able to convince the others to come in and try some ramen.
Their ordering system is fairly simple. You can choose either chicken or pork, choose the broth, noodles and extras such as seasoned egg, garlic, etc. You can have a combo for $ 12.99 so you get the ramen and choose from 3 dishes to have with it. I normally get the should broth but it didn’t come with an egg! I have to have the egg! Yeah I was being cheap and not paying the extra $ 1.50. I do prefer the shoyu broth. So I got the original pork ramen with gyoza. I love the pork belly. It’s delicious! I used to be able to finish the entire bowl but I guess with old age I can no longer stuff myself like a build-​a-​bear. It’s very filling and you can order extra meat if you’re crazy hungry.
If you like getting yelled at upon entering and leaving an establishment (in another language) then this is the place for you! Haha but jokes aside, the staff at all locations have always been very friendly. I need to collect more stamps to get free stuff though!

Excellent dinner choice for a cold day. The restaurant is a little small with many tables packed in. It’s not a big group sort of place since most of the tables are 2 – 4 people. However the wait is not bad. They serve chicken or pork ramen with the option of doubling the meat, thick or thin noodles, and various additives (spicy. Garlic etc) there are also cool Appetizer options. Be warned that the ramen itself is a very filling meal. If you finish your bowl to the last drop they’ll take a photo of you and give you a stamp card. The ramen is excellent though very flavourfull, and the meat is tender. Aps chicken karage and takayaki were excellent but come extremely hot so wait 2 minutes lest you burn your tongue and miss the flavour of your ramen! (Leasson learned the hard way). service is a little sluggish especially if you’re in the corner, you’ll need to get a server’s attention to top up your drinks.

I have a confession to make. The first time I had ramen, was one month ago. I know! Have I been living under a rock?! It was only after watching David Chang on Mind of a Chef, did I become determined to try out ramen and see what all the fuss was about.
With interest now high, I hit another obstacle — where do I go? There are so many options! So off I went to Unilocal,BlogTo and other popular food websites to see which they considered to be the best ramen restaurant. So after some internal back and forth, I decided to go with Kinton Ramen. And conveniently, a Kinton Ramen had such opened down the street from me on Church Street (it is a chain).
6 friends and I decided to pay them a visit on a Saturday for lunch, and we arrived just as they opened — so seating was not an issue. As I usually do, I had already reviewed the menu, and knew what I wanted to order. As each friend arrived, we ordered tea — it was a really cold day, and the only warm drink on their menu were a variety of teas. Though not much of a tea drinker, I was still impressed with the teas they offered (can’t find the list of teas online — but trust me, they were unique, tasty and good value at $ 2).
When the conversation turned to what each person was gonna order, people’s interest’s ranged from chicken and pork for their meat, to spicy garlic, miso and original broth. I was definitely not interested in the chicken option because the white onion was a turn off. Interestingly, or may stupidly, I decided to get the spicy garlic broth instead of the original, which goes against everything I stand for when it comes to trying a new restaurant or a new cuisine. And that is, «order the original, what they are known for, or keep it simple.» But the spicy garlic sounded so good, so I went with it — bad idea. I really did not care for the flavour and could not understand why people enjoyed ramen so much. I found that the garlic flavour was not clear, but muted, and it was not spicy enough. I am not saying it was inedible — but it was a dish that took me all day to finish (ate some at the restaurant and took the rest home). The noodles themselves were delicious, and the chicken karaage that I got on the side was decent (Kinka Izakaya, next door, sells my favorite). The friends I was with enjoyed their dishes, but weren’t blown away. Since I had been the only person who had never had ramen before, I was the only person that could not use an example of a better ramen restaurant in the city. But apparently there are many great ones. With that in mind, I must try ramen again somewhere else, and get the original next time.

*4.5 stars
Kinton Ramen is a popular chain of ramen restaurants with five locations in Ontario. They recently opened their fifth location adjacent to Kinka Izakaya on Church St. What I enjoy most about Kinton Ramen is the consistency of their food products, and portion-​wise. The fifth location of Kinton Ramen features their signature block designs with high table-​top and wooden tables. However, in contrast to some of the other locations, this location has large windows that allow natural light in.
Step 1 (broth) — select from pork ramen or chicken ramen
Step 2 (flavour) — choose from original, shoyu, miso, spicy garlic, or extra pork
Step 3 (noodle) — choose from thick or thin
Step 4 (meat) — choose from pork or chicken (additional meat is +$ 2.50)
Step 5 (additional toppings) — choose from a variety of toppings such as sweet corn, nori, seaweed, scallions, Swiss cheese, and more.
I opted for their Original Pork Ramen ($ 10.99) — sea salt, bean sprouts, scallions, nori, seasoned egg with corn (+$ 1) and seaweed (+$ 1). This is my usual ramen order whenever I eat at Kinton Ramen, as I do like lighter broths. The broth is also rich in collagen, and one can order it light, regular, or rich. Aside from the broth, I believe that the pork belly is also an important component of a bowl of ramen. The pork belly here are slightly blowtorch to give it a nice charred finish, which I quickly ate. The bowl also comes with a seasoned egg, which is a nice addition to a hot bowl of ramen.
Kinton Ramen also has a nice selection of hot tapas available like edamame, original karaage, takoyaki, and more. I always get the age gyoza ($ 3.90) — deep fried pork dumplings with original sweet chili sauce, so this time was no different. Each order comes with four pieces of aromatic and lightly deep-​fried gyoza. Kinton Ramen is actually one of my favorite places for gyoza, and it goes well with the accompanied sweet chili sauce.
Kinton Ramen 5 is a good place to dine, especially if you’re looking for a quick dinner. It can get pretty busy during the dinner rush, but I do find the turnover to be rather quick. Kinton Ramen 5 is open Monday to Sunday from 11:30 am — 10:30 pm.

I was so excited to try this place and managed to convince my husband to try it although he isn’t huge on ramen or any soupy-​foods. We were very underwhelmed. I am a huge ramen fanatic so I thought we would be in for a real treat but I was wrong. The fried chicken we ordered as an app was so drenched in oil, it was inedible. We left pieces on the plate. This has never happened before! The ramen itself was okay, at best. Not good, not bad. Just bland. We ordered with extra corn and they definitely hooked it up but the base itself was very watery and oily with no actual flavour. Chicken was flavourless. Noodles were nothing memorable. I don’t think I will come back since there are so many awesome ramen options in the city. Also, the atmosphere is loud as the waiters are constantly shouting.

Just a few bites from our full review —
«Sipping on Calpico (light in colour, flavour and sweetness), we felt submerged in Japanese culture. Also, their homemade lemonade was thirst drenching, with lemon fibre floating, it was a simple yet impressive drink.»
«The egg addition to both dishes was our best decision that day — it was done medium and upon biting, some of it coloured the soup. As per the waitresses’ suggestion, we had a side of cheese. It was graded, Swiss cheese with a slightly bitter undertone which made the dish a bit more wholesome, as the chicken breast was quite lean. The slice of meat was, none-​the-​less, tender and light.»

So far this is the best ramen I’ve had in Toronto. The broth was very tasty and not overly salty like all the other ramen noodle places I’ve tried.
The menu was simple which helped a lot. I find at other places all the dishes look the same to me. Here you choose your broth, meat, and noodles. Simple. Fresh. Tasty.

The menu is pretty simple. you pick either pork or chicken ramen broth. then u pick the type of soup base (original-​sea salt, miso, spicy, shoyu), then thick or think noodle, then meat. You can request to add more topping like corn, green onion, etc for additional charge.
Overall, the ramen is pretty good. I would say it is an authentic Japanese ramen place. The soup base (original) is really flavorful. I would say it is on the oily side. the pork meat is tender. However, I could not finish the entire ramen, because half through eating this ramen, the oil grease and the flavor were too much.

Kinton Ramen — a Toronto go-​to place for ramen!
This was my first time getting ramen to go and for lunch.
We waited a bit to pick up our order (maybe 20 mins), they were very busy in store and had quite a few food couriers standing by.
I chose to get their vegetarian bowl special, it was about $ 10. It came with crispy tofu, corn, sprouts, onions and mushrooms in clear broth. I like choosing this broth as it tastes less salty.
I knew there were only 2 tofu nuggets, so I added chicken for an extra $ 2.5.
The food was kept hot. I actually mixed everything in a separate glass bowl at the office. As expected from Kinton, you will feel full and satisfied! The portions are decent, I even saved approximately half of it to take home for dinner.
My takeaway lunch experience overall was delish ^_^

Making my way through the Kinka family of restaurants, I was invited to Kinton Ramen 5. Never having ramen at a restaurant, I thought it was just soup. Well… I was quote wrong.
First off… This location is BUSY! Go early!
Like the Kinka Izikaya locations, you are greeted by all of the staff when you arrive and when you leave. Noise level is loud, but you get used to it. Made me want to yell something too! We grabbed seats at the bar and got some delicious Sapporo. I ordered Gyoza to start and the Original Pork Ramen with thick noodles and the seasoned egg. My friend got the Hot Karaage and Spicy Garlic Pork Ramen with thick noodles and the seasoned egg.
Are you noticing a trend on the seasoned egg? GET IT. It’s surprisingly delicious, you won’t regret it. I eat a lot of eggs at home and I would trade all of them for seasoned eggs from Kinton Ramen.
Our bowls arrived, piled high with pork and veggies. It smelled amazing. There were so many toppings, it took me awhile to find the ramen! These are large bowls; even with an empty tummy, it was a challenge. The pork belly was fantastic; so tender and full of flavour. It was sliced very thin, making it easy to eat without splashing broth all over you.
The Hot Karaage was hot! My friend was sniffling and loved every bite. The sauce was good and hot on the fried chicken. The gyoza was crisp and drizzled with sweet chili sauce. I offered my friend one and I was secretly happy she didn’t take me up on it. I heart gyoza.
We found out that if you finish the bowl, you get a photo with the super awesome enthusiastic staff. I WANTED IT SO BAD! Someone had their photo taken while we were there and we got super jealous.
Service was alright, but the place was packed! Not a seat in the house. There are lots of servers, so don’t wait for the original one you talked to if you need something, they all help each other! A great vibe at this place. I’ve already planned my next visit!

My ramen was bursting with flavour! I ordered the spicy garlic pork ramen and added a seasoned egg and seasoned veggies. The broth was rich and spicy, and there was a huge pile of fresh garlic on top. The pork was tender and flavourful. And that egg! It was not a boring old boiled egg. The portion is huge so come hungry. For the amount of food you get, the price is point is very good. I also had the spicy karaage chicken which was really tasty.
The staff is friendly and everyone yells whenever someone enters or leaves, so it is quite noisy. It’s also small so try to come at an off time to avoid waiting for a seat. On a Wednesday at 6:30 there was a line at the door!
I’ve had ramen at a few different places and this has been my favourite by far! I’ll be back for sure.

Since I’ve been to Kinton Ramen so many times before, I wanted to try out a bowl that I hadn’t tried before. I ordered their Spicy Garlic flavour! Both Christina and I inquired the server about the level of spice in this bowl and we were told that the spice was mild. I also chose thin noodles, pork ramen broth, and pork belly as the meat. I don’t think I’ve tried their thick noodles yet still because I’m afraid that thick noodles means that the ramen is too starchy and not as delicious as thin noodles — I always tend to prefer thin noodles anyway. Perhaps for my future next visit, I’ll finally try their thick noodles!

Restaurant atmosphere was very loud and alive. Waited 15 mins in a line in this tiny door way entrance leading to this tiny space.
Took longer than average for our ramen to come, got spicy garlic pork ramen with thick noodles and shoyu ramen with thick noodles.
The spicy garlic ramen wasn’t the best flavored soup, I wasn’t impressed and didn’t really enjoy the soup so ‘garlicy’. The pork in my soup was cold, the noodles were slightly undercooked and the broth wasn’t tasty.
The shoyu ramen broth was much better but a tad over salted, pork was also cold, tough, chewy.
I wouldn’t reccomend.

What an awesome place to eat at!!! The workers here were super friendly and they even took a picture of my boyfriend and I and posted it on their Instagram. They were very informative and made my experience there very enjoyable. The broth was rich and creamy and the flavours were perfect.
They have different specials on different days. I’ll be sure to come back on a Monday so we can try out the karaage chicken one !

This is my second time going to Kinton at this venue and it was mediocre. There are so many options in the vicinity that it makes for stiff competition and there is at least one other ramen joint I would choose over this Kinton.
We came in for lunch on a weekday and we didn’t need to wait. The décor and atmosphere is good as it gives a slightly new/​contemporary interior. The wall is typical of all Kinton ramen places with their cool looking wood walls. Service was good.
I ordered the Miso pork belly ramen with the chicken and mayo side dish combo which came to $ 12.90 before tax. There was NO LUNCH MENU which was a huge disappointment because typically lunches are cheaper in order to draw more consumers. This is why I needed to reduce their rating since I expect some kind of special for lunches.
The broth I chose was thick miso however it was not as thick as it should have been. I expected a rich creamy broth but it seemed average. The pork belly was thin and could’ve been juicer. The noodles were good and elastic. Quantity was sufficient.
The side dish of chicken and mayo on rice was sub-​par as it was small and flavorless save for the little bit of mayo. Nothing special and I would highly suggest to AVOID IT because of its price.
Overall, the price is not worth this ramen joint. You’re paying $ 15 – 20 after tax for a bowl of ramen and at the end of the day, it is too much for noodles and meat of this quality. Look around because Church/​Gerrard is home to many other better ramen joints.

I love Kinton ramen so I was excited when I heard about its new location, which is very close to Ryerson. The servers and chefs were all really polite, but I wouldn’t say that this place had the best service. They messed up my order, so I had to wait around 20 minutes for my food, but I didn’t mind since they so nice and apologetic about it. Usually when I’m at a Kinton restaurant, whoever finishes their entire bowl of ramen will be granted «bowler» status, and the workers will take a photo of you and your bowl and give you a stamp card to accumulate points — everyone who eats here knows that this is what Kinton is known for. However, when my friend finished all of his ramen, the employees here did not do anything about it or even acknowledge it at all. I was excited for him to get his photo taken because it was his first time, but nothing happened. I wish they would have made a bigger deal about it like the workers do at other Kinton locations.
Aside from that, the food was good and the people are very friendly.

Just like all they’re other locations … fantastic! Love the broth!
Simple, delightful, flavourful, fresh, hot and affordable.
If you haven’t been here before, you simply choose your way down the steps (photo of menu attached). Choose your broth, flavour, soup, noodle, meat and additional toppings.
Clean and new restaurant, friendly service.
Sitting at the high top you get to see them put your dish together. They torch the pork belly too.
They have special menu combos or special ones for different days and for two dollars you get a side dish for example.
If you are hungry, for an additional $ 2 you can add extra noodles.
If you want more meat, it is an additional $ 2.50.
If you love garlic as much as me, I suggest you add grated garlic in the additional topic section for $ 1. a melon ball size of delicious garlic. Just beware of garlicky breath after. Dont worry though, they offer free mouth wash in the bathroom.
They have Sapporo on tap ranging from a mini size (8oz smaller than a regular glass of coke, image uploaded)., a pint (16oz), big mug (32oz) and a pitcher (60oz). They also have sake, beer bottles and beer cocktails.
If you can’t get into this location they have a few other locations, check their website!

This is a small but upscale looking from the outside looking ramen place.
The warm loud welcome when you step in sets the tone for the visit with a warm friendly service.
The ramen choices are quite simple with either a pork or chicken based ramen stock. from there you can add your taste options and other add-​on options.
I had the garlic pork and my wife had the spicy kimchi chicken ramen.
The food was delicious and we finished everything down to the last drop which is a prerequisite to get a ‘stamp’ in the frequent eater card. You get a stamp for every meal and once you accumulate enough, you get some freebies!
Overall an excellent experience and we will be back!