Banki Ramen

Delicious ramen in Florence! We were craving some comfort food (Asian food) and was happy to see this place conveniently located and with good reviews.

We showed up 10 minutes before they open at 7pm and there was already a crowd of people gathered outside for it to open. A good sign that it must be good if even locals gather to come here!

Because we were one of the first to arrive, we had the option to side in the main dining area, or the side ramen-only dining area. Pro-tip: sit in the main dining area. The food comes out from there, and it's also where you go up to pay. They're more attentive on this side compared to the ramen-only side where they pop in an out of.

They have amazing combo deals that are totally worth it. You get your bowl of ramen, a rice bowl, and gyoza. Rice bowls are good! Their chashu rice bowl with white rice is THE BEST. Even better than chashu white rice bowls in LA. We also tried the fried rice bowl and it was definitely not as food as the chashu bowl. And their gyoza is to die for. It's not folded like traditional gyoza, but it is FRESH AND DELICIOUS. Again, even better than a lot of places in LA!

The ramen is good. Not incredible, but not bad. It really gets the job done when you're craving some ramen. My only wish was that it had more toppings and if you could add more things. I wish I could have had more nori, corn, sesame seeds, etc. It was a rather plain bowl. And I REALLY wish they had soft-boiled eggs instead of the hard-boiled they give you.

Overall, we loved this place so much during our trip to Florence that we even came here the following night.

Are you a tourist? Are you tired of eating Italian food?

If so... you found yourself a pretty good ramen place to go to.

My hubby and I weren't expecting much coming here. All we knew was that we wanted something different from what we've been eating for days on end on our trip.

Their ramen is a MUST! it took awhile to come out but it was surprisingly flavorful! Definitely worth the wait!! The broth was on point and i wanted more!!! we also got the gyoza. It is wrapped differently than in the states but it was not bad. Wasn't my favorite item. I would highly getting the combo deal where you get the ramen, fried rice, and gyoza. The fried rice portion was small but pretty BOMB! This way it'll give you a variety and you can definitely share if there's two of you.

They do get pretty crowded and the staff won't allow you to stand inside waiting. They will kick you outside. I would know because I got kicked out. So you'll see a huge crowd outside waiting for their turn. Service isn't great but the food totally made up for it. Definitely satisfied my taste bud cravings for something non-italian.


tips:
*street parking is available if you're lucky.
*located next to a pharmacy.
*staff speaks italian, limited english, and my guess is perhaps japanese.

Okay. I have to say this is place is great. One of the very few ramen joints in the western worlds to make their own gyoza (not frozen).

Okay, okay, okay- here's what to order for two people: Order TWO gyoza because they are oh-so good (and because they typically have a 30 minute queue), and a MISO ramen and the special spicy miso ramen if you need some spice.

Oh boy, here we go- this is how to eat it: after downing the gyoza because they are oh-so good, pour the left over gyoza dipping sauce into your miso ramen. This adds some zesty flavor. Don't let the staff take that dipping sauce when you finish the gyoza- believe me they will try!

Drinks- that's your choice. I went with the large glass of beer (okay, 3 of them)- it was a nice light beer- Birra Moretti. You crafts beer people can talk all the doo-doo you want, light cheap beer is a perfect compliment to ramen. Oh-so refreshing.

I hope you enjoy this break from Italian food as much as we did!

My fiance and I ate here mid-April while allergies were kicking in. We were about 1/2 through our 13 day trip and needed a break from Italian food and were craving ramen. I wasn't hopeful we would find a place, but when I Googled Ramen in Florence, I was pleasantly surprised to find Banki. We went that night and they were out of pork, completely, so broth and noodles it was. We both got the Ramen Combo B that came up with the best pork fried rice (now we know where the pork went!) and pretty delicious gyoza. I got the Miso Ramen and my Fiance got the Akkanbe Ramen (spicy ramen). I really enjoyed mine with the different broth flavor from the miso and he loved his spicy ramen, so even with no meat, we both still really liked our ramen and it hit the spot. We walked away saying "ya, that definitely hit the spot" and were very satisfied with our meal.

If you're looking for a true simple Japanese meal, this is definitely the place.
The indoor itself is minimally furnished, with menu ideograms hanging on the wall.
On the menu you find ramen, rice and noodles dishes that you can also combine in a combo dish.
The food is fresh and amazingly tasty!
There isn't a proper vegetarian choice, but during summer you can find more.
Tip: it's mandatory to go early (7.30 pm top) since they run out of some of the ingredients real fast.
If you decide to go, don't forget to get appetizers too!

This was one of my favorite restaurants in Florence. I had a hankering for Ramen and needed a mini-break from Italian food as well.

Banki Ramen really hit the spot. I would highly, highly recommend it if you are in Florence.

I'm only giving it three stars cuz I was craving Asian food at the time!

Obviously doesn't compare to good ramen places in the US, but it sorta did its job.

Was the meat good? No. Really hard to chew...

Was the broth good? Also No. Very salty. The flavor had no depth.

Was I still hungry afterwards? Yeah...

Anyways, this ramen place only serves ramen at night. During the day, it serves Italian food. Also, there's a line before it even opens! Guess a lot of people crave ramen when they're sick of Italian food?

When ramen appeared on my Yelp app (restaurants nearby) I knew I had to come by and try this place out. I got the set with Shio broth ramen, cha han (fried rice), and gyoza. Great deal! I loved the fried rice.

The ramen noodles are very fresh (it's Italy!) and the broth is very flavorful. Banki satisfied my ramen cravings. :)

We're from Southern California so we've had our abundant share of Japanese ramen restaurants. We've been eating Italian food for the past several days so wanted to grab some Asian food tonight. We found Banki Ramen on yelp and it was nearby so thought we give it a try.

We got there and I initially ordered a beer. Then a waiter was going over the menu and pointed out all of the items with the extra chashu (slices of pork) weren't longer available. The ramen dishes that had one piece of chashu which cost less were still available. First we thought they were running low since it was later in dinner time. Again we're use to having 3-4 pieces of chashu with our ramen. So we decided to just pay for the beer and find another dinner place. Then we were paying and the asked the owner if she would have more tomorrow if we came back earlier. She said maybe but no guarantee. We walked out and thought that's it's got a business decision to not provide option for the extra pieces of chatshu. Why wouldn't they just charge more. Again we're use to getting more than 1 slice of meat with our ramen.

It shares space with a typical Italian cafe but the food is relatively authentic. Won't say it's hardcore good (we come from New York where ramen is much more common) and it certainly passes the test given this is Florence.

Yes the eggs are not done correctly. It's all based on your expectation. The owner is Japanese.