Menya Daruma

The best ramen in Charlotte!

It's not even close.

I love the ordering system. I don't like to wait when I go out to eat. I don't mind tipping for speed and to be left alone lol. When the food is this good, I prefer to devote all of my attention to my tastebuds.

I've had the Kuro and Aka ramen. Both are outstanding. It's all about the broth, and this was the best I've had in the city. Is it an all-time great? No, but that's irrelevant because I live in Charlotte now so I'm so relieved to have found a ramen spot that I could frequent.

Other items I'd recommend are;

Spicy wontons
Gyoza
Buta Bao
Karaage

It's bright and clean inside the restaurant with seating for groups and counter seating for couples and solo diners. Eventually I'll bring my gf here, but that's much further down the road. I'm enjoying my new place at the moment.

It's been a blast...

Go with the following expectations:
Minimal service. If you sit at the "bar" facing the chefs, don't expect super friendly staff. I got the sense they don't want to interact. Come in. Sit down. Pull out your phone, scan the QR code. Pay. Wait for your food. Pour own own water from one of the pitchers. Get your own napkins, chopsticks.
Don't bother them. Eat and leave. They are consistent. No one will say "bye, thanks for coming" either.

Ramen is average. Not bad and not wow either. For the no service, cafeteria style, 10% tip is generous.

My sister insisted that we check out Menya last weekend on a rainy and chilly Friday. We lucked out and it was not even half full when we arrived. We chose seats at the counter, which I loved because it felt like child seating but somehow also comfortable.

I ordered the tofu bao bun ($4.50) and the tosi katsu sando ($9.50) while my sister ordered the shoyu ($15.50). We got front-row seats to watch the food get prepped and it was all ready quickly. I don't usually enjoy ordering from an app, but this app was user-friendly, intuitive, and had both photos AND detailed descriptions so we knew what to order. It was a nice middle ground between full service and self service.

I would love to go back and try some of the karaage and ramen and to check out their hidden speakeasy!

Yum!! I loved Menya. It's a small restaurant with pretty close seating. Definitely a date night spot - not a party of 5+ kinda place. You order on your phone and pay right there, and the server comes and brings you your food. Even though it's a phone ordering type of place, the service was very good.

The ramen broth was delicious, so was the pork! I ordered a little peach drink that I've never seen before (WAY pricey!) and it was so good.

I'd definitely come back and try more!

I was wanting some warm ramen on a cold rainy day and I came across this restaurant on Yelp. I decided to try this place because I have tried a few of the others ones that popped up.

If you are a party of ones they do suggest that you sit at the bar area. Most the most part everything is self explanatory. You might as well say that there is not any table service besides them bringing the food to you. When you sit down you order your food through the website which you have to scan. It's super easy the navigate and you select everything you want through it. It lets you modify and add anything you would need for your meal when ordering on your phone. Once you check out on the phone you end up paying and that's honestly about it. You can eat and enjoy your food in peace without being bothered.

Everything came out hot and quick. The wontons were good but I think that they could have been spicer. Other than that they were really good. I think my favorite part of the meal was the eggs. The eggs were perfect, I'm glad I ordered and extra one. I wasn't a fan of the ground pork but that's just my personal opinion. I liked everything else in the ramen except for that.

Everything was great and if you are looking for a quick lunch or quiet dinner I would suggest this place for sure.

Exceptional quality food and service.. needs a Michelin star seriously.. consistently delicious each item we order off the menu is AMAZING. Hard to pick a favorite but if I had to pick 3 it would be the spicy ramen soup, the pork wontons and the spicy chicken sandwich (forgot their actual names) AMAZING YALL!!! I tell all my out of state clients about this place

Quick review here since I've only been once and ordered one item to go but man, the tan tan ramen, add all the spicy oil, is top notch.
The broth is rich and super flavorful and the noodles are plentiful and toothsome with a perfect soy sauce jammy egg.
Also, I've always been hesitant to order ramen to go but they offer broth in one container and everything else in another (oil separate too) so you can reheat the broth at home and stir it all up and dig in.
That's it got this review!

My go to spot for ramen it's casual and fast! Tried something new for once something spicy ramen it was straight! Definitely getting the tonkotsu again that stuff is flames

I went to Menya last week with a group of friends and overall it was a good experience. The space is small but because the service was so fast that things move quickly. For context, the wait for us was about 15 mins for a table of 4 around 6:30 pm. The reason the service was quick in my opinion is because they have the online ordering system: you scan QR code on the table, order and pay through the site. Super efficient! Now for the food, I got the pickled cucumber and red tonkotsu. Cucumber was delicious and crunchy and the ramen was yummy with thick and flavorful broth. The only reason I give them a 4 is because of the pork belly in the ramen. I really like the charred/smoky pork belly served at Futo Buta so this pork lacks a bit of color and flavor. Check it out though!

One of my favorite ramen spots in CLT!

Food is good and yummy.
Note: the bowl itself is like Japan portion size so not that big. Might be hungry after! Share tea is down the street so I usually make my way there.

Service is fast. It's nice because you can order from the QC code and pay at your table.

It gives ramen spot vibes with the wooden tables and seats.

Nice place to go with friends since it's so close to the city!