Recommendations

Delicious, authentic hot and cold Japanese noodle dishes served in a zen-like environment.

Guide: Entrepreneur (Jack)
Location: East Village

Strengths

• Delicious, authentic hot and cold Japanese noodle dishes served in a zen-like environment.
• Love the menus with the pictures - just point to what you want!
• Excellent service.

Shortcomings

• This place gets totally jammed, so go early!
• There are so many options it can be a little overwhelming.

Insider tips

• Try zaru-soba, cold buckwheat noodles with ikura (salmon roe) or other accoutrements, or if you prefer your noodles in hot soup, go with the nabeyaki udon (hot broth with tempura, an egg, and just about anything else they can think of), or Soba with tempura.
• Drink Hakkaisan cold sake - it's my fave, or a super-sized Sapporo beer, and some piping hot green tea.

Anecdotes

• I went last night with my girlfriend, and we had one of those hot/cold dilemmas (you know, like at breakfast when you order eggs and your friend orders pancakes and all of a sudden you can't decide whether to go salty or sweet.) So we did one hot and one cold noodle dish, then shared. We were the only Gaijin in the place (always a good sign) and it was jam-packed. The service was outstanding too. Our waitress was very attentive, taking the time to make sure we were acquainted with the proper way to eat zaru-soba (the process is a bit elaborate), and was very accommodating when we changed our order.

Perfect for

• Anyone looking for a great new restaurant with a calm vibe and fantastic food.