Tokyo Mentsudan

I loooove udon and I’m SO glad I found this place when I was in Japan. None of the workers really speak English, but it’s not necessary here. I love that most places in Japan have an English menu — thank God!
You basically walk in, point to what you want, and the worker hands you a bowl with noodles and meat only.
Then, you walk over to all the yummy tempura and choose what you want to add. At the end, you can add other toppings such as tempura toppings (just the tempura not any veggies), green onions, etc. You pay and THEN, you pour your own soup into your bowl. They offer both cold and hot broths.
What I loved most about this place was the price. It’s really hard to find a place that offers good food for a decent price in Japan. I spent ~$ 9 bucks here and it was totally worth it :)

Wirklich ausgezeichnete Udon mit verschiedenen Toppings im selfservice Prinzip.
Beim betreten des Lokals, befindet sich links die Nudelstation. Nehmt euch das englische Menü, das es dort Gott sei dank gibt, denn mit Fragen kommt ihr hier nicht weit. Blau gemarkerte Gerichte bedeutet kalt, rote gemarkerte, na wer kann es sich denken?! Richtig, warm!
Setzt euch auf die Bank und wartet bis eure Schüssel fertig ist. Nehmt das Tablett und wenn ihr wollt, geht es weiter mit Tempura. Ich empfehle das Tempura-​Ei und den Tempura-​Bacon. Ja im Ernst, es gibt Speck im Tempuramantel! Dann noch Getränke nach Wahl, Wasser gibt es natürlich umsonst und dann zahlen.
Jetzt braucht ihr euch nur noch einen schönen Platz auszusuchen.
Der Laden ist echt Klasse, es lief die ganze Zeit 80’s Musik, die Einrichtung ist richtig gemütlich. Normalerweise sind Udon-​Läden ziemlich ungemütliche Orte, die nur aus Theke und Neonlicht bestehen. Der hier läd dazu ein, noch ein/​zwei Bier oder Sake zu sich zu nehmen und Wifi gibt’s auch noch umsonst !
Warum nur 4 Stars? Im Vergleich zu anderen Udon Läden ist er doch etwas teurer aber das ist vielleicht den handgemachten Nudeln geschuldet oder der blitzsauberen Toilette, ach was solls, 5 Sterne !! Top Lokal :-)

¥600 Combo is really good for tourist with a long day of walking. The noodle is good, and the curry rice was fine. The noodle goes with an raw egg and just a bit of soup is good.

Great little noodle place. As the other reviews state, there is a comprehensible English menu. You choose your noodles from the crazy guy at the first counter, then add sides and seasoning/​toppings at the register. The noodles were delicious and served pronto. What else could you ask for!

We ordered #9, 10 and 11 on the menu. The beef udon, dipping udon with sesame seasoning curry udon. All delicious. How can not beat freshly made udon! The fried stuff that was pre-​made was just okay. There is a 24 HR place at the corner. This place is in the middle of the small street and opens at 8 am.

I though the food was just ok, nothing really to write home about. I went with the curry udon and the flavor was really just ok. My mother got some beef udon and hated hers but didn’t tell me until after so I didn’t try it so see what the issue was. The noodles were good but you can get great noodles a lot of places. The tempura bar was neat but the pieces I got were stale and heavily soaked in oil. I don’t think I would go back.

3.5 stars for the food
4 stars for the price
SO cheap, so ridiculously cheap! And price depends on how many items you add to your udon! I think just the udon and broth itself was about 380 yen!!! Amazing.
How it works: You pick a «base» bowl of udon — regular udon, curry udon, whatever you want that they have. Then you get to pick from almost all the tempura and sides you can imagine! It’s great. It’s also terrible for people like me who eat with their eyes… But who cares! If you pick a regular udon, you add the broth at the end using the soup dispenser they have.
Udon: Good! The noodles and soup were great; noodles were fresh and soup was tasty.
Tempura & other sides: Unfortunately, a lot of the tempura was stale when my friend and I went):
Definitely stop by for some cheap, good udon! Just hope that the tempura will be fresh~

Three words: fresh homemade udons!
Although none of the workers speak much English, it wasn’t too hard to communicate what we wanted to order. All you really have to know is hot or cold and soup or curry. They have a menu on the counter so you can just point, too.
The chef will ask you what you’d like so he can prep the udon. They make, stretch, and knead the noodles in shop, so it might take a few minutes for your bowl of udon to be ready. Stephanie S. and I decided to go with the regular soup udon since the main thing we wanted to try was the udon itself. After you grab your bowl, you walk down to Tempura Heaven (not sure if that’s what the restaurant called it, but come on, look at the pictures!) to pick what toppings you want to add on. I’m not a huge tempura fan, so I opted out of any of these items. There were three basic ingredients you can add on for free though: tempura crumble, green onion, and ginger.
Bowls are around 550 – 750 yens (~$ 5 – 7). After we paid, we added in our soup from a spout next to the cashier.
«Oh my god» were the first three words that came out of my mouth after the first bite. The noodles were thick, chewy, and ridiculously satisfying.
I get why ramen is everyone’s favorite Japanese noodle soup, but udon just doesn’t get enough credit! This thick wheat flour noodle can be served hot or cold and in different flavors of broth. The broth is usually mild and simple, and the noodles are most commonly topped with scallions and tempura. Simple ingredients combined into a comfort meal! What’s not to love about it?
When people asked me what my favorite things to eat in Japan were, udon always made the list. It really is a bummer there are no udon shops in the bay area, so the closest thing I can get is the frozen type. But now that I’ve had the fresh kind, there’s no way I can go back to the frozen kind! Oh Japan, how you’ve ruined so many things for me…
This was such a cute and homey little restaurant. :) I was so in love with their noodles, I told Steph to buy some packaged udon to take back to California. After a short discussion, we decided we wouldn’t be able to replicate the bowl of udon we ate here, so we decided not to buy any to bring back to the states. So much regret!

Kevin L’s review is pretty spot on! This place is much like Marukame in Honolulu if you’re familar. I found this restaurant off a blog when I was doing my research and wanted to look for an udon spot during our visit to Tokyo. Nice little gem.
The outside of the restaurant is pretty un-​assuming. Handwritten menus, no English speakers, ordinary décor with lanterns. Upon entering, there were two guys there to make your bowl of udon of your choice. There’s an English menu if you desire! Just say ‘English’ as they tuck it away. I went with the beef udon noodle soup bowl and hubby went with bacon-​something with an egg udon noodle soup. Prices are very reasonable at around 550 – 750 yen per bowl.
Walk a few more steps and you reach tempura help-​yourself heaven! Here you can pick up a side dish and load up on all the tempura’d items you want. Prices are listed on each dish. Between the two of us we got corn croquette, bacon, and sweet onion. When you’re ready, load up on your free unlimited green onions and tempura bits to add crunch to your noodles. Next is where you’ll meet another worker where he’ll add up how much you owe.
For some dishes your soup is not already in your bowl. To the right of the cashier there’s a self-​serve soup dispenser! I’m glad the cashier told me otherwise I would not have known.
The good stuff — the udon soup bowls were fresh and delicious. The tempura items were good as well. My sweet onion was a little cold, but it was probably sitting out longer than some of the other items. All the tempura stuff sit under heat lamps still, but I’d recommend getting something in abundant supply because it probably means they just put it out. Recommended.

Definitely worth a stop if you’re craving for some udon noodles– which I have been and I didn’t want to grab it at any ramen shop because why udon when you can ramen? It’s about a block or two away from the Shinjuku train station in an alleyway because what great place isn’t in an alley here in Japan?
There’s a giant rainbow sign above their sign, so you can’t miss it. Plus, the Unilocal map and gps coordinates are pretty accurate for this one! You head inside and there’s an English menu I guess that’s worth mentioning, but honestly, I need pictures (WHICH THEY HAVE). You take your pick of what type of udon and the size. The small is pretty small if you’re just looking for a snack, but I suggest the large because these noodles are slurp-​licious! I got the garlic, bacon, and raw egg udon.
You tell the guy at the front or in my case, pointed to the picture and get magic hands gets working on the noodles and creates your bowl. If you get curry or something else that requires large quantities of toppings, he gives you a chip to hand to the cashier down the line. You pass a small fridge for additional toppings of charge. Continuing on is a buffet line of tempura anything you can think of. This is also extra, but I mean you have to see it to believe it! And finally, you reach the station of free toppings which include green onions. Woot woot. You pay, AND then don’t forget, right next to the cashier is the soup station where you add your own water to this wonderful concoction.
Right next to that is the water station and in the little mini fridges are hot towels to wipe your hands it. The spoons were on a counter right behind the tempura buffet line (in case you’re wondering).
I down my bowl in an instant, it was absolutely delicious and everything was under 1000 yen. It’s a fairly large space for eating compared to a lot of other places. It’s worth a stop by if you’re in the area.

1) Order your noodles with the man in front who makes the fresh udon in front of your face
2) once your noods are ready, pick up your bowl and take it over to the tempura station where you can pick and choose which tickles your fancy
(tip: the tempura is not hot and/​or even warm in some cases)
3) continue down the lane and get your toppings (seaweed, green onions etc)
4) pay the man in the window
5) get your soup from the cooler like faucets
6) Find a table and enjoy!
Overall really cool to see the noodle making process. I think I’ve had just as good udon back home which is weird but it’s still an awesome experience and very yummy.

Udon is not bad but the tempora is the star. Lightly battered and super tasty. $ 6.50 USD for a bowl of udon with 3 pieces of tempura.
Tip — The staffs do not speak English and no English menu.

Ever heard of Marukame Udon? Yeah, that one in Waikiki Beach that everyone raves about (myself included)? This isn’t Marukame Udon, but it’s the same concept. Homemade udon, different broths and sauces, and of course, the sides and toppings.
In case you have absolutely no idea what I just wrote about, let me explain the concept. When you enter the restaurant, the first thing you’ll do is order with the chef who’s preparing the noodles. Yeah, they stretch, knead, and create the noodles in the shop. You’ll choose a sauce, meat, broth or some combination to add to the udon as well as choose the size. Don’t worry, you don’t need to know how to say or read Japanese to order here. There’s an english menu and simple say the number to the chef. Wait for about a minute, and place the udon + whatever option you chose onto your tray and head over to the sides and toppings area.
Everything in this section is ala carte. I *LOVE* tempura, so naturally, I choose a lot of the deep fried items and ended up being stuffed afterwards because I choose too many items. 2 – 3 (or one plate’s worth) is about right for an average human being. Unfortunately, they’re sitting underneath a heat lamp so they’re not super tasty. Go with the egg or perhaps even some sort of veggie.
Head to the cashier and fill up a bowl with the tempura crumbs. You don’t want them to become soggy and sprinkling them over the udon while you eat is the best way to keep them crispy. Then, take a seat and enjoy!
We came to Mentsudan a couple times because we stayed in Shinjuku (yeah, it was that good). Each time, I went with the curry on top of the udon and I enjoyed the udon (with crispy tempura bits) a lot. The price is quite reasonable being in Tokyo and quite fast.
(-1 star because the ala carte section isn’t as tasty as I wished)

You won’t see any locals eating here. And the Asians you see eating here are all Chinese tourists. I had the beef broth udon with the shrimp tempura and it was a bit soggy. Then a minute later all the soup got soaked up before i sat down. Go somewhere else. I would not recommend.

HOMEMADE UDON!
In the front of the restaurant, you see the chef stretching and kneading the udon. Pretty cool seeing it homemade.
You order the base of your udon to be and you’re able to customize the rest.
There’s a tempura buffet of all sorts. They even have BACON TEMPURA. Bacon fried tempura… Japanese people think of everything!!!
The broth was simple but delicious. The udon noodles were the best ever! Soft, but doesn’t fall apart and has a nice chewy bite to it!
Overall, it’s a great place for udon lovers. The downside is that there’s not a lot of options to add onto your udon besides the tempura buffet.

If you need an affordable quick fix, this is the place to go. The shop is very spacious. They have a number associated with each type of udon meal to make it easier for foreigners. You have the option of paying slightly less for less udon (perfect if you tend to eat smaller meals). The tempura a la carte was a bit dissapointing. Looked amazing but the tempura was soggy, as though it was left over from the day before. Took 1 star off because of that. After you are done getting your food, you then pay and grab your own soup for the udon, water and condiments. Will definitely go back since it’s so close to the hotel.

Absolutely loved this place! The ordering process was very easy even though my husband and I don’t speak Japanese and the workers here didn’t speak English. Once you enter the restaurant you’re standing in line in front of the udon master to place your order. We ordered two small curry udon. Because the udon is freshly made, we had to wait a few minutes before picking up our tray with the bowls of udon to make it down the next station. Next we made our way to the tempura station. There are so many fried goodies to choose from! We had to hold ourselves back to not take one of everything but we definitely couldn’t pass up the tempura soft boiled egg. Once we’re at the cashier, we handed over our small yellow chips to indicate we ordered curry udon and the cashier will help you ladle all that curry goodness into your bowl. Find yourselves a nice spot to sit and be ready to enjoy the most chewiest and delicious udon! Oh if only Japan wasn’t so far away…

Solid udon place — but to be fair, I didn’t try a ton of udon places during my week in Tokyo (I wish I did, but didn’t have enough time to eat everything I wanted).
They do the make the noodles fresh on the spot in the front and it’s fun to watch. Maybe this is as touristy as watching them make sourdough bread at the Boudin Factory in Pier 39, but I was a tourist in Tokyo and was soaking it all up.
They have a picture and English menu, so if you are a tourist and don’t speak a lick of Japanese, you’ll be just fine. I ended up getting the curry beef udon soup — they give you the noodles in a bowl and then you pick the tempura /​toppings that you want (note, it’s cold and not super worth it in my opinion), and the cashier will add the broth that you’ve selected. The curry beef was fine, but not as good as the other curry beef udon soup I had at Konpira Chaya (check out my other Unilocal review for this place). I found the broth/​soup to not be as flavorful and it didn’t have quite as much beef. It was still good, don’t get me wrong, but I think I was spoiled by the other curry beef udon soup I had at Konpira Chaya.
I’d love to come back here and try the regular broth and the udon with seafood. This place is cash only, and pretty inexpensive — you can get a bowl of udon for around $ 7 – 8 USD, which is a steal compared to the US, especially when they’re making the noodles right there.
Worth a try, but I would say skip the tempura. Also, if you’re craving the beef curry soup, skip this place and head to Konpira Chaya!

I feel like if your in Shinjuku you should definitely make an effort to try this place out. I dont think there was an english menu, but i believe the staff made an effort to help you order. I was certainly drawn by the line out the door, but it moves quickly. I also enjoyed watching the chef slice the noodles into the giant pot of water.
I live for the curry udon here! It has just the right amount of curry spice to keep you interested. I got the large, but could have certainly done away with the small serving, as an afterthought to ordering my udon dish — i loaded up on the al a carte tempura selection.

I was visiting Japan for the first time and I paid a visit to Tokyo Mentsudan because I’ve seen it on multiple travel guides and blogs.
First, its great that its very easy to find. The sign is in Japanese and I don’t read or speak Japanese, but the udon menu is large and outside, so its pretty clear that you’ve found your way. There is a menu inside in english! At the first station, choose what type of udon you want (like cold without broth, hot with broth, curry.), and you’ll get a bowl of noodles. Next, choose your tempura from the paid toppings station. Lastly, you can choose the free toppings (fried tempura bits, green onion, etc), and get the broth from a large container in the wall to your right.
I have to admit, it is pretty awesome to watch them make the udon, which is springy and delicious, but that’s pretty much the only upside. The tempura toppings were cold and greasy and had clearly been sitting there for a while, and the regular broth was extremely mild. The curry udon was my favorite, as it was the most flavorful. In my one week visit, I had much better udon elsewhere!
Overall, it is okay. If you are staying close by, its worth a visit.

I heard that this place made Udon onsite so I had to pay a visit. Prepackaged udon is already good in my books, chewy and bouncy is the unique texture to describe udon. As soon as you walk into this place, you can see the udon making process as you place your order. You then move on and add various extras (paid) to your meal before paying at the counter. If you get the plain broth udon you add the soup from the spout next to the register. They will add the curry broth/​sauce automatically for you if you order it in that style.
A simple bowl of udon tasted that much better purely alone on the basis of the bouncy fresh udon noodles. The broth and extras were nothing special so my rating is based on the back of the udon noodles themselves.

Their udon is very flavourful! My friend and I visited on a weeknight and it was quite quiet. We don’t speak much japanese but I think we managed to order ok –I think I it was a pork udon. Funny thing… they have soup that comes out of a spout in the wall, but we didn’t realize this and thought Oh, udon in japan must not have soup… ok… It wasn’t till we were halfway through eating and saw someone else get the soup that the moment of Eureka descended upon us!
Oh well, it was still good without the soup! You should definitely try it out!

The bomb dot com. I think this place is better than Marukame in Honolulu although I really enjoyed eating there also.
The location is easy to find as others have stated. The prices are cheap cheap for the quality and quantity of food.
The first time there my husband got the curry udon while I got the udon with beef. The curry udon was so good, we ate there again the next morning then again as the last meal of our trip.
The udon is freshly made. They fill up your bowl with noodles and you can select your tempura toppings then pay. If you get the curry broth, they will fill it up for you. If you get the standard broth, there’s a DIY fill-​up and the station is next to the cashier.
Both broth are good but we preferred the curry udon which contains shreds of tofu and beef. The curry broth is not too think and flavored just right… mmm delicious!

Holy moly, this place is amazing! The ramen was perfect, the service was good and the wait was not so bad. I am ruined on ramen now, and I don’t think I can have it in the states again.

BOTTOM LINE: You can’t go wrong with a 550Y bowl of house-​made udon.
Tokyo Mentsudan was highly recommended in numerous blogs/​travel guides, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Located just off a main street, the space was a lot larger than most Japanese noodle/​ramen places, and could probably seat close to 30 peeps — this is key if your group is large. Their pictured menus are fairly self-​explanatory with a selection of various meats, seafoods and broths, and you can size your order for regular or large. After ordering your udon, you can add various tempura goodies, veggies, and garnishing. I tried their CURRY BEEF UDON, and it was very flavourful, though I wish there was a bit more meat. All in all, your meal should come out less than 1000Y. Not too shabby for this area of town.

Loved this place! Our first night in west Shinjuku, and found this place without getting lost. It’s located in a lively neighborhood so perfect for staying out afterwards!
They have pictures and English on the menu for entrée (mostly udon), followed by some side dishes like tempura and the soft boiled egg that we got. Then added some toppings (ginger, green onion etc) and the broth to udon at the cashier. I found it fun to be part of the process of making my udon.
I was very impressed by the udon. It was chewy at the right level, the beef was great and goes well with the broth. The soft boiled egg made it even better. They also had beers that looked like from a vending machine in the restaurant, we didn’t get to try it this time though.
It was about 550 yen for one meal, great value and would love to come back if I visit again!