Ok, no one stood up...
Two ramen places in NYC came highly recommended - Ramen Setagaya and Rai-Rai Ken
Rai rai ken is a hole in a wall restaurant with ONLY 14 seats. The moment you enter this place, you feel immediately transferred to Japan. Ramen setagaya, on the other hand, has two locations in the city.
I went to Setagaya last week and rai rain ken two days ago. Two ramens in a week, it is time to write my review.
The most important ingredient in Ramen is the soup and I think both places are quite solid although Rai rai ken's soup has more intense flavor than Setagaya, which can only mean two things....a) they use better ingredients, b) they added more artificial flavoring. The second most important ingredient is the ramen (direct translation: pulled noodle). I think setagaya noodle has better texture than rai rai ken. However, I would love to one day have freshly made Japanese ramen.
As for the complete eating experience, Rai Rai ken definitely wins, because of the setting. Setagaya is good too but you are looking at St. Marks street's pedestrian (define it however you want).
The holy grail of Japanese ramen in NYC is Ippudo Ramen. I have never been. There is a 30-60 minutes wait at any given time. Ippudo better blow rai rai ken and setagaya FAR FAR AWAY to justify that wait.
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