Best 50 Ramen Shops According to Tabelog

The most popular restaurant ranking site in Japan released an official Top 50 Ramen list in 2016. Here they are, with links to the ones I have visited. I have bolded shops that are in my book.

1. 道 - Michi - Tokyo
2. 和 dining 清乃 - Seino - Wakayama
3. 一燈 - Itto - Tokyo
4. 八雲 - Yakumo - Tokyo
5. 饗 くろ喜 - Motenashi Kuroki - Tokyo
6. 和海 - Nagomi - Hyogo
7. こうかいぼう - Kokaibo - Tokyo
8. 鶏喰 - Trick - Kanagawa
9. 中華そば屋 伊藤 - Ito - Tokyo
10. 煮干鰮らーめん 圓 - En - Tokyo
11. 麺処 晴 - Haru - Tokyo
12. 麺屋 丈六 - Joroku - Osaka
13. 金田家 - Kanadaya - Fukuoka
14. 麺尊RAGE - Tokyo
15. ラーメン家 みつ葉 - Mitsuba - Nara
16. 麺屋 NOROMA - Nara
17. 金色不如帰 - Hototogisu - Tokyo
18. 田中商店 - Tanakashoten - Tokyo
19. らぁ麺やまぐち - Yamaguchi - Tokyo
20. しば田 - Shibata - Tokyo
21. 大和 - Yamato - Tochigi
22. イチカワ - Ichikawa - Ibaraki
23. 中華そば よしかわ - Yoshikawa - Saitama
24. ラーメン 巌哲 - Gantetsu - Tokyo
25. 煮干しつけ麺 宮元 - Miyamoto - Tokyo
26. 和心 武庫之荘店 - Nagomi Mukonosu - Hyogo
27. むさし野 - Musashino - Chiba
28. 蘭鋳 - Ranchu - Tokyo
29. 多賀野 - Tagano - Tokyo
30. うえまち - Uemachi - Osaka
31. らぁ麺 すぎ本 - Sugimoto - Tokyo
32. 伊吹 - Ibuki - Tokyo
33. らーめん工房 龍 - Ryu - Fukuoka
34. ようすけ - Yosuke - Tochigi
35. 麺屋 極鶏 - Gokei - Kyoto
36. 麺屋 彩未 - Saimi - Hokkaido
37. らーめん鱗 西中島店 - Uroko Nishinakajima - Osaka
38. 麺や而今 - Jikon - Osaka
39. らーめん 弥七 - Yashichi - Osaka
40. 麺処 きなり - Kinari - Tokyo
41. 無法松 - Muhomatsu - Fukuoka
42. とみ田 - Tomita - Chiba
43. 豚星 - Butaboshi - Kanagawa
44. 彩色ラーメン きんせい夢風 - Kinsemufu - Osaka
45. らぁ麺屋 飯田商店 - Idashoten - Kanagawa
46. 進化 - Shinka - Tokyo
47. 燦燦斗 - Sansanto - Tokyo
48. 南京ラーメン 黒門 - Kuromon - Fukuoka
49. 四つ葉 - Yotsuba - Saitama
50. Japanese Soba Noodles 蔦 - Tsuta - Tokyo

The original list can be found over at the Tabelog site.

I like this list. Personally, it gives me a solid selection of Osaka and Fukuoka shops to check out this year, as well as a few more in Tokyo that I haven't been to. Goals in life are good.

This list isn't a direct representation of Tabelog's user base. Tabelog operates on a 5 star system, and is purely based on user's ratings. Generally, anything with more than 4 stars is considered an amazing restaurant. In my dealings with food of all types, this is normally true. But, if you look at the flat out rankings, some shops that are in the general top 10 for ramen, such as Orenoramen Apare, aren't in this list of 50 at all. I'm not sure who curated this list, but I would love to know their reasons for leaving off the shop that I consider my favorite in Japan. And Tsuta, despite their Michelin star and high numerical score, looks to have been snidely added at the very bottom.

I was also really happy that this list re-ignited memories of some of my old favorites. In the search for ramen, we sometimes neglect some shops after visiting once. Number 28, Ranchu, is a perfect example . . . and it's only a 10-minute bicycle ride from my house.

FYI, I finished this list in November of 2019. The final bowl I had at Kuromon actually sucked, so the whole thing ended on a "meh" point.

Now, I have over 80 shops from this book that I haven't been to. Never-ending!