My favorite ramen place in NYC has to be Totto Ramen. They have a few locations but luckily there is one really close to my office located at 366 W 52nd St.

There is normally a long wait, but not as long as Ippudo, that’s for sure. If you time it right, or go when it’s not that cold out, you can get lucky and be seated right away, like I was recently with my girl Alycia.  Either way, it is worth the wait, though, if there is one. I’ve had a mix of lucky days as well as times I’ve gone and waited an hour to get a seat.

I personally am just more comfortable sitting at a table, so that is what I prefer, but sitting at the bar is pretty great too. You can see the huge vats of broth, the noodle boiling stations and the guys preparing everything are right there in front of you. They are super nice and pretty entertaining, too. Love them.

They recently changed their menu, but here is a pic of the most recent ramen selections from a few weeks ago.

Totto Ramen uses my favorite brand of ramen noodles – Sun Noodles, so it’s a given that the noodles are amazing, and they cook them perfectly. Their broths are so rich and delicious, they are what really makes this place so good. They also have some of the best pork buns around – Totto’s pork char siu is on point.

This is an old pic from the first time that I went to Totto with Luis a couple of years ago when they had a special bun on the menu: teriyaki chicken bun.  It was SO good. (It is one of my first instagram pics haha.  I had ramen on this particular visit, too, but I was so excited I just inhaled it and forgot to take picture!)

Alycia tried out a new item to me on the menu: Mega Paitan. This dish is topped with char siu pork, pulled char siu pork and pork belly chunks. She let me try a little bit of each and the pork belly chunks blew my mind. That ish is AMAZING. Now I know.