Jinya ramen is one of the most popular ramen spots in Vancouver. Jinya ramen has a few locations but we went to the downtown location this time.
As expected, it was a full-house when we arrived at 6pm on a weekend and despite the fact that it was zero Celsius, they forced us to stand OUTSIDE to wait! I was not about to wait outside for half an hour so we headed back into the mall and waited for their text to let us know our table was ready
Jinya ramen service
When we got back, we were greeted by an overly chirpy server who led us to sit at a long busy shared table. It actually made me really uncomfortable to sit like this. I mean there was barely any breathing room from one stool to the next.
On top of that, the servers just kind of pop up from behind you to ask you if you’re ready. So I asked Grayson to ask if they could re-seat us and 15 minutes later, we got to sit at an actual table at the back.
Chicken chashu bowl
For dinner we decided to order a chicken chashu bowl and green leaf salad to start. Grayson had the chicken part of the bowl and he said that it was tender (despite being white meat). We both liked the sauce it hd on top and marinaded soft-boiled eggs are always yum.
Premium tonkotsu white
As for ramen, we decided to share a premium tonkotsu white. We liked the thin noodles since it allowed for you to taste more of the soup. We liked it so much we ordered an extra kaedama of it 🙂 The soup was a little too salty for my liking even though I was eating the noodles without the broth. Grayson thought it was okay though.
So even though we enjoyed the thin ramen noodles and the food was pretty good, I don’t think we will be back because it’s not really our preferred ambiance. However, if you’re with a group of friends for a night out or happy hour, this is a good place to go especially since they have specials from 3-5pm!