Strings 2

Let me start off by saying, my fiancé and I know ramen. We have had the pleasure of going to top ramen shops all over the country… it’s sort of our thing. We were excited when we heard that there was a ramen shop near Depaul, which is where we met. Unfortunately, strings 2 does not live up to its name. With lackluster service and watered down choices, you would be better off purchasing a 99 cent ramen cup and scarfing it down in the solitude of your apartment or go to a better ramen shop like furious spoon in wicker park. The music is better and your food won’t be cold.

I was only able to get the Hell Ramen lvl 5 here, so this review is not indicative of the quality of their food, as I was too busy tending to the quality of my health care after attempting this challenge. Seemed like everyone else enjoyed their ramen though. I’ll have to come back here again sometime to actually eat something that I can actually taste, without long-​term tongue injury

Quite good ramen. Tonkatsu broth was really good — nice and creamy, although could’ve had more kick to it with spices. fun atmosphere (ppl were saying it is too loud, blasting music etc — not true!) and great interior aesthetic. show them a social media post with their name in it and you get free edamame.
fun place for a relaxed lunch with friends

They have nice array of Raman dishes and combinations. Intimate setting and descend service. BYOB. My only critique would be the portion sizes, I was they added a bit more noddles and a sample appetizer to eat while you wait.

My guy friends first took me here about few months ago, and we are quite the night owls. We usually get there an hour or two hours before closing time, but the staff welcomes us with open arms.
I really like the ambience of the place. Very calming, even at their busiest times. It’s the perfect atmosphere to just sit back and relax with a bowl of ramen.
The servers are very nice and knowledgeable of their menus. I have not had any negative experience with them ever since i was introduced to them (thank you ^_​^)
Food talk. I always get one of my top favorites: Tonkotsu (dacho and) kuro buta ramen with a side of egg, or the kinoko omuretsu. Im not a big fan of salty foods, so there are times when the stock is too salty for me, but having the rest of the ramen balances the strong flavors I usually am not a fan of. It is best to slurp your ramen away while it is hot, or else you would have a meh cold ramen.
This is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in the city :)

Really not a fan of the ramen here. The noodles are closer to spaghetti than traditional ramen noodles even though they claim to be made on site. My shoyu broth was served lukewarm. Maybe it cooled down because it was like 50° in the restaurant when my wife and I came in for a late lunch on a Saturday afternoon. Considering it was almost $ 18 a bowl, I’d avoid this place. There’s better ramen to be had in Chicago.

This was probably one of the most disappointing experiences I’ve had of any restaurant in recent memory. Based on all the positive reviews on here and a glance at their menu, this place really seems like they are dialed in able to spit out some serious ramen with a lot of variety to boot, the bowl I experienced last night was far from anything I could describe as serious however.
We got there at 9, the tables was sparsely filled and far from capacity. My roommate were seated quickly but it took about 10 minutes for a server to even ask us about ordering, when we did order it was a pretty limited menu because they were out of multiple items on the menu. I came to try the tonkatsu premium, upon ordering our server told me they have the items but out of the broth so I should substitute. Kind of defeats the whole concept, so I ordered a different shoyu bowl.
We both order our 2^nd picks, not really phased at this point, stuff happens so hopefully our picks will be good. We wait another 30 minutes, an amount of time that is waaaaay too long for ramen. Given the amount of people in the restaurant, I don’t know what was going on but a bowl of ramen really shouldn’t that long.
We finally get the bowls and I immediately notice how translucent my broth looks, it basically looks like tea. I take a slurp and it was tepid and flavorless. No exaggeration, there was NOTHING going on in it and it was barely warm. I’m immediately dreading this bowl, I pack it full of seasoning on the table and dig in cause we were going to a movie later. The noodles were under cooked and also flavorless, if you can’t slurp them they are too firm. The pork was very underwhelming, the small piece that was braised had some nice flavor but most of it was very bland. The boiled egg was good, but it’s an egg, pretty hard to mess that up.
I’m not one to EVER waste food, I eat what’s put in front of me. This is the first time in a very long time that I even considered not finishing what was served to me. Everything was under seasoned, barely warm, and just seemed like they were thrown in a bowl of water and served. I’m no stranger to ramen, I have spent and extensive amount of time in Japan and ate ramen nearly everyday I spent there. While I’m use to mediocre renditions in the states, this was above and beyond the most sub-​par ramen I’ve ever experienced in the city. A lot of my frustration would probably be quelled if I didn’t pay $ 20 for such an experience, I’m shocked they are able to charge those prices for what we received. One bowl and a cup of water, $ 20 bucks. Totally ridiculous.
I like to give shops a second chance, I understand inconsistencies occur, but this was such a poor experience I don’t think I’ll ever be returning and/​or recommend to anyone seeking out ramen. Going to stick to my regular digs like Furious Spoon that are quick, consistent, and give you more than your money’s worth every single time.

Their menu looks really authentic, but the ramen isn’t like what I had in Japan. However, it is very tasty, and with very innovative ideas (turkey ramen lol …)

Great ramen place ! Highly recommended ! Level 3 spicy is enough;)
Parking might be an issue since it’s a busy shopping area but it is worth a longer walk if you find a spot somewhere farther away.

i really wanted to like this place more than i did.
my turkey ramen was great! you could really tell that the ramen noodles are homemade and while the broth wasn’t overly flavorful, i could definitely appreciate its mildness. quite delicious. based on my bowl alone, i’d give 4 or 5 stars.
however, i was with my mom and she ordered the pork ramen and very clearly asked for it without the pork/​clams (not for dietary reasons, just preference). her bowl came and a minute later the waitress came back and grabbed it because she realized there was clam meat in it — totally fine. she brought back the second bowl and it had a big slice of pork in it. called the waitress back and she said «uh…do you want a new bowl or just want us to take the pork out?» my mom and i are pretty easy-​going but that’s a huge no-​no. regardless of what’s wrong, a waiter should ALWAYS offer to completely remake the dish. service industry 101.
at the end, our server removed the appetizer charge from our bill. a whole $ 3? ok fine. other restos would remove the charge for the dish in question but… oh well.
the atmosphere was nice and it was an easy block or two from north/​clybourn, but i doubt i’ll return to S2.

Had the Tonkotsu «Premium» (with an assortment of meats) was very rich to the point that I was full within a couple bites; the extra oils and frills they added were completely unnecessary and just took away from the flavor of the pork broth. It was also incredibly salty, most likely due to the bean sauce added at the end.
Noodles were also weird — not as spongy and stretchy as your textbook ramen.
Overall, hard to finish (though we definitely went through multiple glasses of water!). It was just noodles, meat, and broth — everything else was extra.

Took my brother to Strings 2 for some hearty ramen.
We arrived right on the dot at 10 AM when they open. The venue is very similar to the Chinatown location — very green and modern, but not much seating. Obviously, not a problem for us as we were the first ones there. I ordered the Kani Tama /​Seafood Ramen and he got the Umai Aji, their Winter special. Our waitress also honored our social media post (listed on their menu) which got us the free soft boiled egg.
Before, I dive into describing the ramen, I want to allocate a special shoutout to this egg. It’s a soy sauce soaked egg that was perfectly timed to boil so that it reaches a heavenly state that’s not too oozy, but just soft enough. It elicited a moment of silence from my brother when he first bit into this dreamy side. So, seriously, people, don’t you dare go without ordering this egg — it’s worth every penny!
Now, the ramen. My seafood ramen had homemade noodles, king crab leg, small shrimp, orgasmic pork belly and other various ingredients, but it all came together so well. My giant bowl was slurped down in minutes! Only quip was that the miso broth was just okay, but nothing to tell yo mamma about.
My brother’s umai aji came in an almost comically smaller bowl. He had immediate order regrets, but then he took a sip of the hearty broth and never looked back. This ramen special contains beef tongue and some swai fish in a spicy broth. Delicious!
Compared to some other ramen places in Chicago (Oiistar, you beautiful thing, you), the broth at Strings doesn’t quite measure up, but their fun, exciting ingredients (and hello, that egg!!) will keep me coming back for more.

Fantastic fantastic fantastic…
My first time was worth it. It was very good and I am looking forward to my next visit

More of a 2.5 star review to be honest — my experience at Strings 2 in LP was sorta. uncomfortable. Came in around noon with man friend, the design of the restaurant is swanky and modern looking — dark and kinda moody, but in a good way. We sat down at one of their four top tables (there were maybe five four top tables in the front room all in a row, not sure if they have more seating in the rear of the restaurant), and there was only one other table seated.
Our waiter came by and asked us if we had been to the restaurant before, to which we replied we had not. He kind of explained the menu to us, pointing out the various sections of ramen, soba, and rice dishes, and then asked us if we were in the mood for rice or brothy ramen, or ‘dry ramen’ (which is how he describe the yakisoba). His manner was friendly. but something about it was kind of off-​putting to me. His speaking tone was kind of stilted, as if he was trying to recite a vaguely-​remembered script. I also noticed that as more customers trickled in, his treatment of various customers ranged from very friendly to downright cold. Overall it was really strange to experience.
We asked for a bit more time to peruse the menu, and ended up ordered the spicy wasabi string beans, the Level 2 ‘Hell Ramen’, and the Kani Tama Miso Ramen. Maybe my taste buds were a little off, but everything was SUPER salty to me. Probably the best thing I tasted was the Level 2 Hell Ramen, and that was my boyfriend’s so I only got a few spoonfuls. With all the great ramen joints around Chicago (I’m looking at you Wasabi and Furious Spoon), I probably won’t be back to Strings 2. Maybe I’ll check out their original location in Chinatown to see if that location is any better, but for now I’ll have to give a thumbs down to Strings.

Went here to experience great ramen since we can’t get it in Indiana yet. The host greeted us with the standard Japanese welcome (and butchered it…). The décor was nice, very woodsy and comforting. I got the tonkotsu ramen with ostrich meat added, and my boyfriend got the standard tonkotsu ramen. We also ordered a starter of a cold salmon noodle dish, dressed with a spicy yuzu (?) sauce. The starter was underwhelming, the noodles improperly cooked, salmon tasting a little funny. The sauce was delicious, but the whole dish didn’t come together in a nice way. It was like eating separate components of a potentially great dish, missing the one ingredient that would tie the whole dish together.
The ramen, the whole reason we came, was extremely disappointing. First of all, the noodles were undercooked. Throughout Japan, I’ve had ramen noodles cooked to different extents, but if I can’t even slurp the noodles, it’s too al dente. The broth, which claims a long process of cooking down and extracting the goodness of broth bones, was just lacking in depth. You can really taste the love in a ramen broth, and this came up short. It also tastes like they used peanut oil or some kind of nut oil in the process of making the broth, and the flavor overwhelmed the entire soup. The only redeeming quality in the ramen was the char siu which was melt-​in-​your-​mouth tender. I wish I just ordered plates and plates of this and nothing else. I left full but unsatisfied, the worst kind of full. Overall, I won’t be returning to this restaurant. Chicago is only made for the best restaurants and I have too many promising restaurants to try.

My first night in Chicago my friends suggested we try this ramen place. He says they have pretty good ramen. This place opens pretty late, they close at 2am. And it’s a BYOB resturant so that’s always nice.
For appetizers we got the broccoli with bacon. I can’t remember what the resturant named it. I thought it was alright. I didn’t think it was anything special or great. I wouldn’t order it again though.
For entrée I had the Jigoku ramen, Level 2. This resturant is probably known for their ramen. It was pretty spicy, but I liked it! The ramen is good. The noodles are cooked just right and the broth tasted great! I loved drinking the soup!
My boyfriend ordered a dish from the brunch menu. Some pan fried noodle dish. It had a few slices of pepperoni on top of two sunny side up eggs. The noodles were a little too soggy for a pan fried dish. My bf said he didn’t like it at all. But he did like my ramen noodle soup though!
The service was great! We went to this place around 1 so we were the ones in the resturant. But the waiter was very attentive and came back often to check up on us.
Definitely stick to the Ramen noodle soups!

I am trying to get create a healthier lifestyle, and when I found that a lot of their ingredients were organic I got super excited.
I had the Shio Ramen with the turkey broth and it was out of this world.
It was not a tonkotsu but that’s okay because I did want a soup that is not super thick.
I enjoyed it. It was a great birthday celebration. Go check it out!
Also it is a bit small so I mean when we went there was no wait — but I can picture the wait becoming a bit long.

my partner and I love strings in Chinatown and we didn’t expect anything less from strings 2 but I think they have a lot of kinks to work out. We went in there at 10 PM on a Saturday evening but it was empty … For about 20 minutes. Then drunk young people started filtering in. The waitstaff was super apologetic and attentive to my shellfish allergies.
So I thought the noodle and broth was fine but my partner thought that his miso ramen was sort of tasteless and the portions were too small. Imo:
1. Everything tastes fine except that certain topping items weren’t available, such as the boiled duck egg.
2. I was excited to see that they offered ostrich and also venison and I opted for the ostrich shoyu ramen. The meat tasted fine, like beef, but my partner Felt like something tastes kind of off. Then again, he never had ostrich meat before.
3. Food poisoning? later that evening several hours after I had a few drinks from emporium, I experience stabbing gut pains and had to go to the washroom twice. I shat til I felt the chills and the room was turning when I got up.
I don’t know if it was the drinks I had later that evening or if it was strings… I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt but I perhaps won’t go back in a while… Hopefully your employees are just wash their hands when handling food.

My new fave ramen spot. Located below street level, it looks like nothing from the outside. Inside, the décor is awesome. Lots of wood, benches, and lanterns hanging from the ceiling. It was packed today around lunch time, which shocked me since it’s a holiday. Also, it’s only been open a month. But the Unilocal reviews led our group of 5 here, and it seems that word is spreading about this place.
Server was very cool. Menu was a bit overwhelming at first, but he helped us navigate and gave some good recommendations. We all shared the broccoli Siracha with bacon, and the gyoza. Server threw in the green beans with wasabi on the house. Really loved them! I ordered the level 1 bowl. Just enough spice, LOTS of flavor! Loved everything about it except I’m not a huge fan of pork rinds, so I probably should have told them to x them out. No biggie though. Left with a happy, full belly.

We stumbled in here past 2:30AM on a Saturday night and there were maybe only 2 other groups here. I never considered ramen to be a late night eat, but it’s awesome that this place is open till 4AM, so they’re open even later than some of the more typical greezy drunk food spots.
Ambiance: Instead of going for that dark Japanese hole in the wall feel, it was bright with wooden décor and plants everywhere. There were just a handful of tables in the front and I didn’t see a bar with stools like they have at other ramen places, so I’m not sure how convenient it is to come here solo for a quick bite.
Food: The menu itself was actually really cool looking. It gives some history about ramen from the different parts of Japan and there’s even sections on ramen terminology and step by step guide on how you’re supposed to eat it haha. I really liked how the menu was organized because it clearly lists the different types of ramen (Shoyu, Shio, Miso, Tonkotsu) and what the broth is made of. Then it pretty much lists all the toppings that come on the different types of ramen. This is super helpful for ramen newbies and people who have food restrictions. They also had a super spicy ramen (Jigoku) with 5 different levels of spice, and there’s even an official ramen challenge they have for people who think they can take the heat.
I went with the Tonkotsu ramen with the pork belly.
Toppings
You have the option of getting pork loin or pork belly. I went with the pork belly, and it came with one big slab of gloriously fatty pork belly. It was so tender and amazingly fatty that it just melted in my mouth. I wish they gave more than one piece though. Like High Five, Strings 2 is pretty minimal with their tonkotsu toppings. Outside of the noodles and broth, it basically just came with a sheet of nori and some bamboo shoots, which is actually the way I like it. The one complaint I had was the lack of an egg. What kind of monster decided to not put at the very least half of a soft boiled egg in the ramen??? It’s a must have!
Noodles
The noodles here were probably the most al dente out of all the places I’ve been. I think on the menu it said they only cook them for 45 seconds. I personally liked the texture but I could see people thinking the noodles are a little too firm. I also love how they have the option to add more noodles if you want, although I couldn’t do that since I slurped up all the broth anyway haha.
Broth
Ah, the star of the show for me. Broth is my main criteria when it comes to ramen and Strings 2 passes with flying colors. The broth had that depth and fattiness that I really enjoy. It was very rich, salty, and meaty and I slurped it all up. It’s up there with High Five and Wasabi as some of my favorite broths I’ve tasted. While the bowls look pretty big, it’s actually a little misleading since it narrows significantly closer to the bottom. Gimme some more!
We also got the chicken gyoza. They had a nice crispy sear on the outside, but other than that they were pretty standard. The spicy dipping sauce it came with though was awesome. $ 8 was way too expensive for what you get though.
Service: Our waiter was awesome. He was super helpful in explaining the menu and helped my friends pick the right type of ramen since we had a vegetarian and one person who doesn’t eat pork in our group. The food came out super fast and overall it was a quick bite. Even the manager was cool and was chatting with us about all the awesome ramen places around the city.
Overall I really enjoyed the food here, and since it’s open super late, it’s definitely gonna be added to my late night eats rotation. I’m not sure how long the waits usually are during peak times, but if it’s not so busy like it was when I went, it would be a great alternative to waiting High Five and Wasabi. The menu has a ton of other stuff I still wanna try so I will definitely be back here.