Ren’s Ramen

I love their vegetarian miso ramen. Its very filling, unlike other ramen houses such as Toki Underground-​where its all salt and clear broth. Their broth is filling, thick, rich, and flavorful without being pork based (which I really like). I absolutely adore the noodles, as it claims to be shipped from Japan. The owner is a very interesting guy lol. He is literally in the back watching the customers from time to time. I feel like hes trying to get a sense of whats going on in the front. I can see him tasting the broth to make sure its just right. I love the seasoned egg consistency-​its not runny and its not chalky-​its just perfection. They have quite a variety of ramen, and sometimes you wont see what they have going that day on the menu, as it documented on colorful paper on the wall. Also, Ren’s is tiny. If its a busy day, you will wait. A long wait. Oh and please, please do not park on any LOT that is not either metered or specific to either Ren’s, the Thai Restaurant next door, or the carry out on the other side. You will be TOWED. I am talking towed in MINUTES. What i mean by that is a guy is literally lurking in the shadows waiting for you to leave your car. As soon as you hit the door you will be turning back to see your car waving goodbye to you.

Good bowl of ramen! Love this spot. The parking is inconvenient during the work week since street parking is hard to find. I always get the spicy miso! So good! Writing this review makes me want a bowl right now!

This place used to be my favorite since college time years ago when it was still located in Bethesda. The food has been meeting my expectation for a noodle shop in Maryland. You cannot compare it to NYC. I followed you to Wheaton from NOVA ever since the move, and it’s very sad that the latest experience became disappointment. The Asian service staff came to our table throwing the dollar bill at my face and demanding bigger tips. Very rude for A Japanese place… I hope this will change before I come back.

This place’s claim to fame was the importation of Sapporo ramen noodles but for some reason the noodles hasn’t been tasting the last couple of times I went there. This has been a favorite place for a while the change in quality and a random service charge makes me think that Ren and I need a break. I changed my rating from 4 star to 3 because they randomly charged my friend and me a $ 5 service fee aka tip during our last visit. When I asked the waitress what why is there a fee, she says they’ve always charged it, whenever the owner feel like it. I’ve been coming here for years and this is the first time I’ve ever been charge that fee. For a cash only place, this place is getting expensive, especially since there are a ton of other great restaurant all around there that’s cheaper that’s cash only.

My husband is really not one to try new things, so I actually had to beg him to come with me and try this place out! I hadn’t read some really good reviews and some really bad ones but I usually like to make my own judgment. I was hoping it was going to be great. Parking can be in issue, as we had to park on the Main Street. There is limited parking in the parking lot upfront. We got a table as soon as we walked in. Our server was very friendly. I ordered Sapporo’s style miso Ramen with corn and egg in it. (They have different sides you can add in the soup)
The soup would have been great but I could not disregard the amount of salt that was used. When eating soup… It is all about the broth. Being that I love Ramen, I usually buy a 12 pack from shoppers. In my younger days, people would pass out after a hard night of drinking and wake up and ask for my soup. I learned to master the making of Ramen with adding my spices and so forth. In this moment, I wish I had just made some of my own soup at home.

Dinner was awesome at Ren’s! I got the special which was a sesame oil flavored ramen (miso tan tan men). It was DELICIOUS. Definitely one of the best bowls of ramen I’ve ever eaten. All of my friends got different bowls and I got to try them all — they were all great and they were all slightly different. My favorites were probably the Tonshio Ramen and the Vegetarian Shio Ramen. We were an 8 person party but it only took us about 20 minutes to get seated. Service was excellent and the restaurant was hopping. I can’t wait to go back and try another bowl of ramen (or just get the delicious one I had again).

Possibly the best ramen in Maryland. The soups are very flavorful and the combination of ingredients are like fireworks in your mouth! Get there early on weekends, lines form for this small tasty ramen shop: D

Came here during a non-​peak time so there was no wait. First thing you’ll notice about this location is that parking is terrible. I think there’s five or six spots in the front but two spots have «reserved» signs for specific businesses. There’s metered street parking along the street it’s on so that’s probably a better bet unless you’re blessed by Saint Otto, patron saint of parking.
These noodles came recommended by a CDC (now Exec Chef) who I think knows a little something about ramen and these did not disappoint. They had the right bite and thickness that can make or break a bowl. They import their noodles from Nishiyama Noodles in Sapporo (according to their sign) and age them properly. The problem with my bowl was there was too many bean sprouts which threw off the ratio of noodle to bean sprouts. Don’t get me wrong, I like bean sprouts and it’s a part of Sapporo-​style ramen but the sprouts got in the way of enjoying the simplicity of the noodles. Next time I’ll put the sprouts in a back corner of my bowl rather than mixing it all up.
The soup I ordered was the Kotteri Miso. If you haven’t heard of kotteri it apparently translates literally to thick and rich, which wasn’t quite how it turned out at Ren’s. It wasn’t as thick like Tenkaippen in Honolulu/​Japan but it was rich and fatty, something that is more and more comforting when winter is here. Combine that rich fattiness with their base broth and a touch of miso and you have a real winner. Had some of the Ton-​Shio broth as well and really liked that too. Please don’t be confused or turned off by shio (salt) flavored broth and write it off as plain or basic. I think shio is often the best way to judge a ramen shop’s broth as it isn’t eclipsed by any of the bells and whistles of a shoyu, spicy, or miso broth can. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication and sometimes the shio ramen is the best flavor to get. So that’s a good starting point if you don’t know what you want. I’ll definitely be back to try other flavors and see if I end up back at shio.

Great and authentic, ramen nazi’s…come here if you desire the best and most authentic

Its a cash only place!!! Remember that! Also apparently if you arrive ahead of time before your «group», you can’t be seated anyways, every member of the party must be there. Group wise, it’s a very tight spaced area soo groups of 4 – 5 would be ok. Let’s be real here, the parking is limited. Street parking is available but you pay 75 cents for 1 hr.
Ok with the little bitty irritating things out of the way, here’s the good part: the food. I had the tonshu bowl ($ 11) plus seaweed (.99 cents), and an egg ($ 2). Lovely combo. Salty just as it says and broth beautiful. Totally recommend. Though the best would be miso. It’s also the well recommended. Bön appetite. Unfortunately I can only give a 3 star because I have tasted better and really worth my bowl. I’d very much like to give that .5 as well but you know. It’s a nice place to go to if you want lunch with friends or dinner on a whim. Do stop by and see for yourself.

I’ve been to four ramen spots this month
Toki Underground (#2), Daikaya (1), Chaplin (4)
Rens (3) is a true contender
The broth is great a bit salty, the noodles were perfect
The Sapporo topping (pork, garlic & bean sprouts) could have been caramelized & seasoned a bit more.
But it was good! I really recommend getting an egg it is delicious. I like that they offer cabbage as a topping.

**CASH ONLY**
Very, very glad that I read the Unilocal reviews before I came here, or I would not have been aware of the cash only policy. I came here on a weekday for lunch after reading in the Post about how good the ramen is. Even though I came in right as they opened, the place filled up very quickly. I ordered the Sapporo-​style Shoyu Ramen with egg and a 1.5 serving of ramen noodles. This ramen was pretty much exactly the way I like my ramen. Wavy, chewy ramen noodles with a pork-​based, soy-​sauce flavored broth with a chashu slice. They do skimp on the chashu so I would recommend ordered extra.

I’ve been wanting to come here from like a year ago and I finally did last night.
1. Super duper salty. The worst ramen in DMV area. Everything is very low maintenance here. Cheap interior, tables, dishes, cups, chopsticks, etc. Very low key with the ingredients too. We ordered donkotsu and shoyu ramen and they were very disappointing.
2. This place is CASH ONLY. Our total came out to be $ 27 so we gave $ 100. When we got our change back, it was $ 5 short!
Never coming back.

Still salty and stilll probably my favorite ramen place around here. They have rich and flavorful broth, noodle with the right amount of bite, tender chashu slices, perfect runny egg and my favorite ramen topping bamboo shoots. I guess ramen is probably more complicated to pull off than it seems. None of the other places get all ingredients right.
Well, I just keep wishing they will tone down the amount of salt.

Pretty good place for ramen. Broth is rich.
Con: stingy on the toppings to the point they want you to spend extra $$ for add on. The kae-​dama took too long (came after 10 mintues when the broth was cold…)

I remembered that whatever I had ordered the first time was too salty for me so I opted for the light miso broth. Try this if you dislike your ramen to be too salty! It was just perfect for a blistery day like the past Saturday was! In fact, after about half-​way, I was sweating and had to fan myself as I urged myself on to finish.
I didn’t think the service was too terrible, but I was already expecting that they would try to usher my BF and I out quickly whenever we finished, so it didn’t irk me.

I’m disappointed that the $ 14 Tsukemen and $ 12.50 Kotteri-​miso are pretty much the same as ordering the $ 10 miso. Take the Tsukemen for example, you are paying for noodles that are ever so slightly different. I used to come here twice a week. And I used to recommend this place but now I am second guessing the service, pricing and lack of variety.

Ren’s Ramen is delicious and RUDE. It’s the best ramen I’ve had in the DMV so far, but like others have said, their service screams GTFO. I kind of like that vibe and I think the ramen stands on its own, but I think the waiting outside thing (particularly in the winter) is a bit too much.
I can’t believe I only took a photo of the dumplings (and not my ramen??)…I guess I was taking the GTFO seriously. My big question, how am I supposed to eat ramen that fast? I’m a slow eater, and I’m an even slower ramen slurper (ew, sorry that was a gross sentence).

This is absolutely not good for groups, and mind you, we were a group of 5! FIVE! Our friends were running 5 minutes late, and the waitress was just rude, and unaccommodating to the point of being ungrateful that they had customers. We were shooed away by the chef (Ren, maybe?), not only by telling us, but physically shooing us and even pushing one of our guests just because we weren’t a complete group. The chef looked like he was going to butcher us, literally. I would not have been surprised if he came at us with a butcher knife. We should have called the police and charged him with assault.
To make it worse, my 5-​year old daughter was not allowed to have water, even though this was what all she wanted and what we asked for multiple times.
My gosh you eat out so you don’t have to worry about a thing, and be served FAIRLY. I’m far from a VIP, but common courtesy, brahhhhh. Come on. And don’t push women??? WTF? This place is far from eating out. You are eating at some hole and did I mention that they got closed down in 2014 for health violations??? Maybe that’s what makes the ramen so good.
With that said, I’ll be making my own ramen and report this joint to the health folks so Ren and friends can be shut down for GOOD.

This is a legit ramen place. For better and worse.
The «better» part is the food. First off, it’s Sapporo-​style ramen, none of that weaksauce Tokyo-​style shenanigans. And they use proper Nishiyama noodles from Sapporo, as God intended. So yes, it’s a bit heavy and salty compared to watered down, crybaby ramen. Toughen up, princess. Get the miso ramen, with the egg and the juicy pork or whatever they call it. And some fried rice, because their fried rice is also a legit, Japanese ramen place type fried rice, aka awesome. Drink some water for cryin out loud.
The «worse» part, for most people, is that this place is run like a real ramen shop. You can look at that as «rude service from a cantankerous old man» or as «an authentic cultural experience.» A ramen shop is not a place where you go to lollygag over the menu, or while away the hours chit-​chatting as your noodles go cold. You go in, order, eat and GTFO. And you wait outside until there’s a seat available. This has clearly annoyed a lot of customers, but that’s what ramen places are in general.
Was going to go with 4 stars since they are a bit pricey, with the extra charges for add-​ons, but decided to go with 5 because:
1. I gave Daikaya 5 stars, and this place has better, more authentic ramen imho, and
2. Wanted to make up for all the low ratings where people were upset that they run the place like a ramen shop, i.e., not very politely or restaurant-​y type service. Ramen shop is ramen shop.

There is something really wonderful about something tasting exactly the way it’s supposed to taste. Ren’s Ramen is a no-​frills ramen shop that reminds me of the places that I would go to after work when I was working in Japan. The decorations are minimal, wait-​staff is small, and options are limited. But, they do what they intend to do. The soup-​stock is generally tonkotsu based, but had great flavor! The soup is on the saltier side, which is pretty common for Ramen, but if that’s a concern for you then this may not be the place for you. The noodles were perfectly cooked to the right texture.
I’ve seen comments on google etc. about how people tried to water down their stock and ran into problems with the owners, but that’s generally considered really rude and I’m not surprised that they got in a row with the owner/​chef. We tried the gyoza here too, and they were also good– nothing fancy, but made me really nostalgic. The service was really attentive — granted we went late on a Saturday and it wasn’t very busy.

If you’re serious about getting your ramen fix, Ren’s is your spot. You don’t come here to chit chat. There isn’t an extensive menu to mull over. They aren’t here to please the crowds on various Japanese fare. But they will serve you the most flavorful tonkotsu broth in the DMV. The ramen has substantial depth that is a labor of love.
This is a tiny place (under 30 seats) and they fill fast! Definitely try to avoid the peak noon lunch hour if you don’t want to be tortured by the smell of the delicious bowls of the other diners as you wait.
Try the amazake! It’s a rice drink that is warm with a hint of ginger! Something to tide you over before your ramen arrives.
Deducted one star because while we were seated within 15 minutes of their lunch opening, they had only one order left of the daily special pork spare ribs. Something suggests that perhaps the new day’s batch was not quite ready.

I love ramen. I love instant ramen, cup of noodles, ramen in NYC, even put ramen-​ing as an activity on my tinder profile. For MD suburbs, this is a gem. A gem that you will probably have to wait for and will definitely need to hit the ATM up for, because this is a cash only, no reservations kinda hole in the wall. The noodles are great, the broth is decent to good, depending on what you get (I tend to get whatever spicy ramen special they have).
I’d give a 3.5 if it was possible. 4 stars at first while you’re slurping down the ramen but downrated to 3 stars when you wake up in the middle of the night incredibly thirsty. Make sure your water carafe and night moisturizer is next to your bed because you are going to wake up dehydrated and a little shriveled. (Maybe tell your date in advance so they’re not scared in the morning… I’ve been here enough times to be prepared.)
If comparing this to ramen in NYC, I’d pass. If comparing this to ramen in DC, depends on close I am to DC and how long is the wait. If you come here on a Friday around 9:30pm in January 2016, there’s no wait!

I used to Love ren ramen, but customer service is SO horrible that I wouldn’t go there again even if the Ramen fell straight from heaven. They have a policy where you have to wait outside; even if there is barely anyone in the store and its 17 degrees outside. They have a small store I understand their business have to be like this the run efficiently but they put profit way way way before customer satisfaction. All they care about is maximizing their profit. They tried to pressure us to sit at the bar when we said TWICE we didn’t want to. Rude waiters. And what kind of place only accept cash? The IRS should really check this place out, anytime I hear cash only I know something fishy is going on.

Today, I walked into my favorite ramen shop and walked out of the worst restaurant ever! To start, I am a frequent traveler to Japan and someone who’s lived there for four years. Through a 11 year period, I feel I really understand the culture, the pride that goes into creating a perfect bowl of ramen and customer service to be expected. I have always respected the owner of this shop for putting out such a great bowl of ramen. I honestly always wanted to meet him and tell him that, but he’s always so busy cooking. I can honestly say that whether I’m in the States or in Japan, my standard of ramen is very high. Although Ren’s had proudly upheld a high standard with Ramen (I will maintain that they have one of the best bowls of ramen I’ve had in North America), their customer service has slipped far from the standard from which the owner’s have come from (in Japan) and is even substandard to American service in many ways. As much as My wife and I have been frequented this restaurant now for about 5 – 6 years. We have supported these guys with our repeat patronage and references because of the food, but started to notice some bad things about the owner’s wife (who acts as a waitress) and her customer service about 3 years ago.
In the past, we’ve been refused seating because I was across the street getting cash (yes, they are cash only), or I was parking the car. She seems to have a strict policy on all members being present before seating the table even if 3 of the 4 members are there and your are to be seated on a 4 top. I have seen the owner yell at her wait staff and it looked like a girl who had worked there for a long time wanted to quit on the night that I witnessed it. Needless to say, the owner’s wife has no common sense. As much as this annoyed us in the past, we kept coming.
Today, for the first time in 6 years of patronage, my wife who is also Japanese, decided to return a bowl of ramen that she’d only had a bite of because she noticed a hair in it. When my wife brought the bowl of ramen to the owner’s wife, the hair disappeared into the broth. The owner’s wife started acting like she didn’t believe my wife and at that point proceeded to dump the bowl of ramen out and look for it. She didn’t find it. She then took the bowl of ramen back to our table and said to my wife in Japanese, we didn’t find the hair, and held the bowl of ramen out to my wife as if she were trying to push my wife into taking it back. My wife was very annoyed at that point and stood firm with the woman and let her know she wanted a replacement bowl. When the owner’s wife came out with a new bowl, she didn’t apologize, she reiterated that she never found the hair and that the kitchen staff took very careful measures to ensure this didn’t happen. Essentially, she was taking another shot at arguing her point. My wife was absolutely hot at this point. She told me that she didn’t want to return ever again.
When we paid the bill, my wife stepped out in anger. After paying my bill, I asked if I could speak to the owner’s wife. I told her «My family has been coming to her restaurant for about 6 years now, (since the other location) and that her food is top notch. However, because of what happened today, I would not be able to return because my wife was so put off by the service. Her reply was this, «I know you’ve been coming here for a long time, but whether you’ve been coming here for 1 year, or 6 years, we didn’t see any hair in that ramen». At that point I got angry and told her «So you think that after 6 years of coming here, we’ve going to try to cheat you out of a few bites of ramen? Is that what you think of us?» and then I repeated that we would not return. Her only reply to that was O.K. (as uf all those years of patronage meant nothing. Her husband who stood behind the service window, finally said his first words to me after all this time. «Never come back again!».
It then became very clear what little regard this business really has for their customer. DO NOT SUPPORT THIS BUSINESS! If you are Japanese, or are familiar with their service, this business will have you infuriated! No common sense or business sense!

TL;DR All around the best ramen you can get in the DMV area. Cash only!
This tiny little shop off University in Wheaton is a place we venture for ramen whenever we can. The place is tiny, with around 26 seats for butts, so be expected to wait, although turnaround is fairly quick.
There are only about four choices of ramen types: miso, salt, soy, and veggie, all Sapporo style meaning it’ll come with bean sprouts, so tell them to hold off on those if you don’t like them. Take a look at the walls for additional ones, including tantan (spicy).
They all usually come with a piece of pork and some veggies, but I usually add the amazing egg, which is nice and gooey in the middle. You cannot go with any of the meats they have on their menu.
The ramen comes out quick and the noodles are al dente and the broth is very flavorful. We really enjoy this place, but being where we are, we don’t get to make trips up here. However, whenever we do make the trip, we do not leave disappointed.

Ren’s Ramen has a lot of good things going for it.
For one thing, the broth is very very good, perhaps not quite Toki Underground quality, but close, particularly the Bakudan (I’m probably murdering the spelling). It’s not on the menu, but as far as I can tell, it’s a special they have nearly every day. It’s a spicy miso type pork broth with just enough fat and I highly recommend it — it’s delicious, with salt, spicy, and umami flavors. Oh and it has a pretty creamy golden color. Definitely get it with the marinated egg with the runny yolk. The white part is perfectly cooked/​solid but the yolk is runny and thick. The «base» noodle bowl has just the noodles and some small bits of meat, so you definitely have to pay for extra meat and the other toppings like the egg and nori. I’ve recently gotten the pork belly chashu, which is a little bland tasting, lean, and definitely not tender. It’s pork belly so I’m a little perplexed; it’s okay though as the broth itself is pretty flavorful and makes up for it. I’ve noticed people have been complaining that their broth is salty, but I like it and I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s supposed to taste. If you don’t like your food salty or flavorful, don’t eat at Ren’s.
So why do I only rate Ren’s Ramen two stars? Because «meh. I’ve experienced better» is spot on in this case.
The primary issue is the quality of the ramen noodle itself. It is pretty BAD — It’s been awhile since I’ve had the cheap ramen from college, but I can’t discern the difference. It looks and tastes like the ramen noodles you get in Cup Noodles ramen. It has the same color, diameter, and undercooked texture. I like pasta al dente but I think ramen noodles should be chewier. Not soggy, but chewy. Also, I think Ren’s ramen has a lot of gluten or preservatives, as I’ve been suffering tummy issues these last 3 days. The first few hours after I ate here, the pain was so bad I could barely move. I was able to get rid of the acute pain with some gas-​x. Sorry for the TMI — but maybe I’ll spare others with some gluten issues. (I have some mild gluten issues, but it’s not with every wheat product I have and it’s dependent on quantity. The week before I ate this ramen, I was with my Italian family for Christmas, and everything was fine.)
Ren’s is also expensive. Once you pay for the «toppings» like the Nori and the meat, you’re basically paying $ 16 – 18 for a bowl. (FYI, a small amount of corn is $ 2 extra, nori 50 cents, fatty pork $ 4, and egg with runny yolk $ 2.50). It’s not an awful price for a bowl of ramen, but it’s the same price as you would pay at Toki Underground or Daikaya in DC where the commercial rent is 3−4x the price and you get a much better atmosphere and far better noodles. This place is in a Wheaton strip mall for crissake, and their idea of ambience is a small room lit with fluorescent lighting and paper signs of specials taped on the walls. Service is poor — no one will check on you and wate refills are hard to come by.
The entrance is not a double door and the room is small, so if you want to eat there when the weather is cold, prepare to get a blast of chilly air every 3 minutes no matter where you sit. It’s one of those places where the food is decent but the experience is not so great as to not make it worth it. Like Seinfeld’s soup nazi.
P. S. They only seat complete parties. They make you wait outside if your party is incomplete or if they’re full. I know this is not ideal and a frequent complaint here (saw the story of the woman with the baby and I frankly don’t have much sympathy). It is obvious that there isn’t any room in the restaurant itself. I.e. if people wait inside, then you’d be standing between tables and waiters won’t be able to pass you and go the tables and deliver food. You can wait in your car, and they’ll call you.
P.P.S The parking lot is small. Good luck finding parking.

Ika taki mas! I got the bean base and added egg, corn, and seaweed sheets. It was pretty good, the egg was my favorite. They don’t have sauces to add in case you expect that. Large portions; decent price for the amount of food. Cash only.
I was a bit disappointed with my service. They didn’t bring water and left me the check and never came back to collect the money or ask if I wanted a to-​go cup when I only ate half the dish.

Room for improvement on flavor and quality of service. FYI: parking is restricted to spaces in front of the building consisting of Ren’s and the 2 other restaurants to right and left of it. This is particularly not obvious if it’s your first time.
Ramen. Both egg and broth is too salty. We tried 2 different broths and they both were too salty. Pork belly is significantly less gourmet than others ramen places in the area. You don’t get to customize your spice level, not flavorful, and presentation is lackluster. Also, our soda can had dirt on the lid and we asked for a cup of ice and they literally brought a cup with 2 ice cubes. The only redeeming element were the noodles.
Service is rude. Our server was uninviting, curt, & uninformed. He was rude the minute we walked in and there’s no excuse because it wasn’t even busy.
I’m not sure if I would even suggest giving this place a try when there’s so much other good food around.

Actually, This is my favorite Ramen restaurant. I have been here many times and I got a good service for a waitress, but not for a waiter who seems like a Japanese guy always in the kitchen. He came here when the restaurant is busy, and kick consumers out for waiting outside. I had no a problem to wait outside If he knows how to talk to consumers like human communication.
Give 5 stars for Ramen, and minus 4 star for the guy who has a rude service.

On a whim we decided to stop by Ren’s Ramen after haven’t been back in two years. Where do I start?
Holy sodium heartburn! I thought I was in good shape but after having a miso ramen from Ren’s, heartburn began for a better of 30 minutes. This hasn’t happened in over 2 – 3 years, and the last time was a (stupid) dare eating wasabi straight up.
After inhaling two bottles of water (and finishing a 3^rd) as I write this review, I realized something. It’s not the best of sign when there were no Asians eating Ren’s. Secondly they do cash only. And lastly, it’s even too salty for my Asian DNA.
PS — I only realized afterwards that they offer a ‘light’ miso ramen as one of the specials. They probably should consider making that the regular default one.

Great Ramen place! CASH ONLY. the cash only was a little bit of a bummer, but no big deal.
Bakudon Miso Ramen was a delicious bowl of noodles. After the first bite, I thought the heat might be too much, but it stayed the perfect level of spiciness. Noodles itself were the perfect balance of chewy and softness. Broth was a little too salty for my liking. The highlight of the bowl was definitely the toppings of fatty pork and egg. The fatty pork just melts in your mouth, and the egg was seasoned well. ⁴⁄₅
Staff was also very friendly and helpful when asked questions about the menu. ⁵⁄₅
The location of this tiny restaurant is a little tough because parking can be a hassle since it shares no more than a dozen spots between three restaurants.

CASH ONLY
So, I don’t know if it was just me and I was having a supremely off day, but I just did not enjoy my time at Ren’s.
I feel like I’ve heard around that Ren’s was one of the better ramen places around, but I was not really into it.
Boyfriend and I got there basically right at opening on a Sat morning (and yet, there were already like 3 other tables in there. Like wow) First of all, the waitress gave us the menu, and like 2 minutes later, came to take our order. I know they don’t exactly have an extensive menu, but I need time to look and pick. Even taking like visual cues, there was no way that I indicated I was ready to order. I was still looking at the menu and discussing with my boyfriend. We asked for more time, and then another 2 minutes later another waiter came to take our order. Let’s just say, as a person who is indecisive, to be badgered to make a fast decision first thing in the morning really annoyed me and I guess set the tone for the rest of the meal.
As for the food, I got the sapporo style shoyu ramen and bf got the sapporo style miso ramen.
Like whoa, the saltiness of the shoyu ramen was insane. The broth reminded me of a somewhat diluted soy sauce marinade that my dad uses to cook chinese marinated eggs and chicken. It was like drinking some soy sauce.
The miso ramen was less salty and a little more «creamy»? That’s not the right word to describe it, but it wasn’t as like clear and water-​based broth like than the shoyu, which was seriously like diluted soy sauce.
In each bowl, they basically gave you the minimum– we got like 1 piece of meat, and boyfriend decided to also get an add-​on of fatty pork belly, which was pretty good. But they don’t give you an egg. Granted, maybe their prices are slightly less, but having to pay another $ 2.50 to add on egg just doesn’t settle ok with me.
Just walking out of the place, my boyfriend was laughing at me just because throughout the meal I had the look of absolute displeasure. Needless to say, I was not satisfied nor pleased with my experience here.
I’m all about giving second chances, because maybe I just didn’t like that one dish. So maybe I’ll be back to try one of their spicy ramens.

While I think the food is still good, I recently witnessed an exchange that made me soberly realize why this place was rated lower than previously expected.
My boyfriend and I decided to come to Ren’s Ramen for lunch on Monday. It was very crowded inside, and there was already a line almost out the door. A table cleared up, and we were second in line. Soon, more people piled in after us.
The servers refused to seat any of us because according to their rule, no seating when the kitchen is «stuck» (aka backed up making food). So, there were 8 – 10 people in line and two tables open, but none of us could sit down. The couple behind us were getting frustrated, especially the guy. About five minutes later, he asked one of the servers why we couldn’t just sit and wait and that way, there would be more room for others to wait. The server repeated the rule again, and so the guy asked to see the manager. Well, the manager stepped out and repeated the rule. By now, the guy was getting really annoyed and kept insisting that patrons be able to sit so there would be more room for others waiting. In the end, the manager snatched away his menu and pointed to the door, essentially barring him from eating. The couple left with raised voices.
While I’m not commending the guy for starting an argument with the staff, I can understand his frustrations. I, too, don’t understand why we couldn’t sit down. How does having your customers sit down affect your kitchen speed and performance? It would be the same if we sat and waited versus if we stood and waited. Not to mention if we sat, we could drink water, tea, or other drinks. This is clearly the manager’s personal sense of self-​importance and egotism.
After the couple left, we waited approximately 5 more minutes until one of the servers came back and motioned for two to sit at one table and for two for sit at another table. There was one woman in front of us, and we tried to tell the server that she had been waiting the longest and should be served first. The server didn’t even respond, just turned around and left. She didn’t even come back until 5 – 10 minutes later when they had cleared a huge table and divided it into two more tables. Only then did she motion for the woman to sit down.
The whole experience left me bewildered. I’ve never seen such atrocious attitude from the staff before. It was really disconcerting. My rose-​colored lens of Ren’s Ramen has now been shattered. In the past, I’ve defended Ren’s Ramen to friends who question whether it was worth making the long trek to Wheaton, and now I can’t even say that it is. I rather go to Daikaya, closer and better customer service.
Ren’s Ramen: customer service is extremely important. This kind of behavior is completely unprofessional, unethical, and disreputable. You definitely lost a customer in me and in scrolling through the other reviews, I’m not the only one.

I have so many mixed feelings about this place. I always get a little anxious about trying out new Ramen joints. Why? Because restaurant-​made Ramen doesn’t exactly cost less than $ 1 like its aluminum or plastic packaged counter parts sold on grocery store shelves…
I came here with a friend around 1PM on a Thursday and there was NO wait. Awesome, I was liking this place already! I ordered the «Sapporo Style» Shoyu Ramen with corn, nori seaweed, and a seasoned egg while my friend ordered the «Sapparo Style» Tonshio Ramen with butter and a seasoned egg. Our food came out surprisingly quick in under ten minutes.
As soon as I took that first slurp, I felt like I was in ramen heaven. The noodles itself were probably some of the best ramen noodles I’ve ever eaten, and the toppings were delicious and flavorful. Then, I got to the egg. The egg was sitting there on top of my soup, looking at me with a come-​hither stare with it’s perfect half-​runny yolk. I love eggs. I am not going to lie. If it didn’t do bad things to my cholesterol I would eat it every day and with every meal. So I took a bite into this egg and immediately ate some noodles to balance out the flavor. Out of all the flavors that it could be, that egg decided to be super salty! As much as it was perfectly cooked, it was just way too over seasoned.
I continued to eat my ramen and something else happened that has never happened to me during a ramen experience. With each slurp and bite, the broth seemed to be getting saltier and saltier. By the end of it, it was just getting too salty for me to finish it all.
My friend tried some of my broth and commented that mine was better/​more flavorful, and I agreed after trying his as well.
Ren’s is an alright place to get your ramen fix if you aren’t up for venturing into the city or enduring a long wait. My ramen cost about $ 13.25 with the toppings, which is about average for a bowl of ramen in this area. To sum it up, I would say that Ren’s would not be my first choice, but it would also not be my last.

They have a nice selection of ramen and it is a decent option if you’re in the need of a fix. They could improve on the experience if the toppings were warm/​hot. The meats, eggs, and so on seem to be cooked separately and left in the fridge until someone orders them. I get that they do this to save time but could you at least put in some effort to maintain the illusion that the meats and eggs were cooked fresh?
Also the dumplings felt suspiciously instant. Nothing special. Save some appetite and money for something else.
Side note: Parking is the absolute worst here. It’s not their fault but it’s something to keep in mind if you’re coming here during peak hours. There are more than a few parking meters along the side of the road.
One more thing: CASH ONLY!