Conversations about ramen can quickly turn from a casual “Where should we eat for dinner?” to an intense argument about the best bowls in the city. The next time you find yourself deadlocked in a debate about bone broth and noodle texture, use this guide. From impossible-to-get-into basement shops to relaxed places where you can slurp a midnight bowl while sitting on the floor, this is our guide to the best ramen spots in Chicago.
THE SPOTS
Akahoshi Ramen evolved from a hard-to-get-into pop-up into a full-fledged, hard-to-get-into restaurant. Reservations are booked five weeks out, and a line forms outside 30 minutes before they open. But once you’ve finagled your way into a seat and had your first taste of their ramen, it’s clear why. Each of their four bowls is distinct, with only a handful of toppings, giving every ingredient room to showcase its flavor. But the must-order is their namesake dish, the Akahoshi Miso. Without even factoring in tasty wok-fried bean sprouts, pork chashu, and springy housemade noodles, we’d happily wait in line just for the rich garlicky broth.
photo credit: Kim Kovacik
Monster Ramen is making some of the best bowls of ramen in the city—and they’re also some of the most unique. This sleek Logan Square spot specializes in gyukotsu, an uncommon broth made from beef bones. It has a delicious richness without feeling too heavy, and pairs perfectly with their thin, springy housemade noodles. Our go-to order is “The Monster”, which gets added depth and creaminess from some garlic miso tare. Like a Met Gala outfit, it’s all about maximalism—loaded with sweet and savory beef jam, slices of wagyu, mushrooms, seasoned egg, and seaweed. It’s a robust, umami-packed bowl, but it’s all balanced perfectly with freshness from some corn and raw red onion.
photo credit: Kim Kovacik
It takes Logan Square’s Ramen Wasabi 45 hours to make their tonkotsu broth, a feat that seems particularly impressive considering we can’t even make it through a one-minute-long Instagram reel. But their velvety bowl of tonkotsu ramen is one of the city’s best, especially when accompanied by thick noodles, fatty pork belly, and an oozing soft-boiled egg. Paired with the softly lit, packed dining room, finishing a bowl here gives the same feeling as letting the couch swallow you on a lazy Sunday afternoon. They also have a mushroom-based vegan option, so everyone is free to slurp some noodles to a playlist full of Thundercat and Tom Misch.
photo credit: Kim Kovacik
Menya Goku in North Center is Wasabi's sister restaurant where the main draw is their tantanmen. Their take on this ramen (whose origins are rooted in the Sichuan province of China) is a nutty and savory pork broth spiced with tingly peppercorns. It’s also loaded with thin noodles, bok choy, tender menma, and nikumiso ground pork that's full of umami. Their brightly lit dining room is small and narrow, with mainly counter seats and small booths. It’s ideal for a solo meal on an April evening—because Chicago "spring" is basically just an extension of winter.
Like a speakeasy, this tiny and dark West Loop shop is hidden in the basement of Green Street Smoked Meats. But instead of 1920’s jazz and bootleg gin, you’ll find a relentless hip-hop soundtrack and one of the city’s most unique (and spicy) bowls of ramen. Their signature High Five Ramen is packed with thick noodles, a juicy soft-boiled egg, buttery chashu pork, and an incredibly spicy tonkotsu broth. Start with the already fiery half-spice level, then gradually work your way up. Not only will this set your mouth on fire, but it’ll also give your tongue a euphoria-inducing tingling like you just licked a 9-volt battery. High Five’s extreme popularity might mean that you’ll have to endure a two-hour wait to get in. But it’s absolutely worth it, and you can just head back upstairs and grab a drink at Green Street’s bar while you patiently hang out in waitlist purgatory.
photo credit: John Ringor
You won't find loaded bowls with 45 toppings at this Noble Square spot—Rudy’s Ramen keeps things simple. And the menu is short, with only seven ramen options. Rudy’s sticks to the basics and it’s that's what makes each bowl great. Their rich-but-not-too-fatty pork broth (or a mushroom broth for vegetarians) is balanced, topped with just a handful of ingredients. The open dining room has a similar simplicity—a few plant wall decals and basket lamps. But the staff and the eponymous Rudy keep the place from feeling boring, often stopping by to chat. Plus, since it doesn't usually get too crowded, it's great for an impromptu dinner.
Though Oiistar in Wicker Park has a very delicious standard tonkotsu bowl, some of the best ramen variations at this busy spot are the ones that defenestrate (thanks SAT prep) tradition. Oiistar successfully cross-pollinates ramen with other cuisines—from the Tikkamen which is flavored with masala, to the Pozolemen which is packed with chipotle chiles. When combined with the pleasant chew of their thin, housemade noodles, it’s worth rushing to grab a bar seat after work before this place fills up for dinner.
photo credit: Sandy Noto
All three Chicago locations of Strings Ramen (Chinatown, Lakeview, and Hyde Park) make their own straight, square-cut noodles. They’re a little on the thicker side, and have a very strong, firm bite. But, aside from their noodles, what sets Strings apart from the other places on this list is a large ramen selection. They have tonkotsu, chicken, and turkey based miso, seaweed based shoyu, as well as some vegetarian and vegan options. And if you’re a thrill-seeking spice lover, then you can try their Hell Ramen: a fiery bowl packed with numbing spice, scorpion pepper, and ghost pepper that requires a signed waiver before consumption. If you finish the entire bowl in 20 minutes, you’ll get a $50 gift card and a free t-shirt that doubles as a rag for your sweaty face.
With its long drink list and “Now That’s What I Call Hip-Hop” playlist, River North’s Ramen San feels less like a ramen shop and more like an energetic bar where you don’t have to ask yourself "Why is the floor sticky?” And unlike High Five, where you might feel pressured to finish your bowl quickly to release those suffering in waitlist purgatory, Ramen San has lots of seating, making it a fun place to hang. Their ramen menu is short, but bowls like the kimchi and fried chicken, or the sumo with tonkotsu, dumplings, chashu, spicy crushed egg, and buttered corn, are worth checking out. They also have a great lunch special where $17 magically transforms into a bowl of ramen, a small rice plate, and a side salad.
Like street parking downtown, gyukotsu is elusive. But should the West Loop parking gods ever be in your favor, you can check out Gyuro Ramen—the first place in the city to focus on this beef-based ramen. Compared to Monster Ramen’s, their broth is a bit richer due to the addition of bison bones, and it gets extra saltiness from some soy sauce. Our favorite bowl here is The Gyukotsu Prime, which comes with thin noodles, sweet soft-boiled egg, menma, and medium-rare filet mignon. Gyuro is particularly great in the winter when its combination of hot soup, club music, and light projections of busy Japanese streets helps you forget that you’ll have to dig out your parking spot once you get home.
Most ramen places in Chicago usually only have one vegetarian ramen on the menu. And while it does make ordering easier for vegetarians, if there’s one thing we learned from The Bachelor, it’s that it's nice to have options. Every single bowl at Rakkan Ramen in Uptown has a vegetable-based broth, and toppings like eggs and pork belly can be substituted with tofu and mushrooms. Their broth is light yet savory, and goes perfectly with their thin, chewy noodles. There’s plenty of group seating in the softly lit, narrow dining space, so it’s a good spot to catch up with friends—just make sure to also split some crispy gyoza as an appetizer.
photo credit: Kim Kovacik
This narrow, BYOB Lakeview restaurant is like Build-A-Bear Workshop, but instead of inserting a poorly recorded voice message into a teddy bear's heart, you customize a bowl of ramen. You can choose between tonkotsu or miso broth, the type of protein, noodle texture, and spice. Our favorite order here is tonkotsu, medium saltiness, with pork, garlic, green onion, spicy sauce, and noodles that have a medium chew. Though this might be the lightest tonkotsu broth we’ve tried, it’s still delicious, and the sweet handmade noodles are the perfect vehicle for the flavorful soup.
photo credit: Kim Kovacik
Shinya Ramen House is the only shop in the city that's open until 1:30am. This cozy place in Bridgeport is full of people grabbing food after hitting the bar, and IIT students who came here instead of making a journey to the microwave to heat up some cup noodles. Their standard bowls are good, but Shinya also has specialty options worth trying, like vegan tomato, curry, and—though purists might write a 20-page-long manifesto explaining why this is sacrilegious—miso ramen with udon noodles. Aside from table seating, they have a small area where you can eat on floor cushions. Just be careful, the later it gets the more likely you’ll find yourself taking a post-ramen snooze.
photo credit: Kim Kovacik
The tonkotsu from E Ramen in Bridgeport might be the creamiest we’ve had in Chicago—it’s thick and opaque, and has the silkiness of luxurious hand cream. And like that lotion, a bowl at this small ramen spot is equally soothing. We recommend getting the spicy version which balances the intense creaminess with a combination of heat, sweetness from chashu and menma, along with thick chewy noodles. If rich broth is not your style, they also have great chicken ramen. This is a much lighter soup with thin noodles, green onions, and bok choy for some added crispness.
