Daikaya Reviews

This place has such a unique menu. Disagrees stride me every time with their complexity. Eat slowly. Dishes are small. And they disappear quickly.

The ramen here was good, not great. I felt the broth could have had more flavor but overall it was good. I ate all of it.

Great ramen. No reservation. I always get shoyu with pork belly

Spicy Ramen is amazing here !! It s my go to Ramen place because it s just so good! After you can go upstairs for drinks. A little notice though, the place is small but comfortable. On the weekends it can get really busy and probably wait up to an hour or more!

Nice service and savory Ramen. Sapporo on draft is always great too! Awesome spot for a relatively fast bite

Love the spicy miso! Must have if you love spicy food.

Great broth, hip decor/design, quick service. A little loud, but a great ramen spot.

Ultimate ramen spot in DC and Gallery Place. Watkins only, be ready to wait. But you can also kick it in the neighborhood while you do. Maybe go bowling or play some pool. Great house made noodles, complicated and complex brats, and a nice atmosphere.

Great food (ramen only), good service, great prices (especially for the location). Well return when in the area.

Fun place. Only been for lunch so far but they seem popular.
Great beer and good food. Salads looked great (add steak) and the tacos I had were awesome.
Beer selection was really good. Had the usuals and some rare finds.

It's not bad, but it's not great. I ordered the spicy miso + egg, the most popular fish according to the waitress. The broth was light, with a hint of spice.

Cons: the pork is a very thin slice and it is definitely not the best I've had (pretty standard). You can tell from the picture that the chef decided to give me bean sprouts instead of noodles (all kidding aside there were more sprouts than noodles I felt). Once you want any little extra item (which is sometimes standard for other restaurants), the cost adds up.

My ramen was $20 after adding one topping, tax, and tip.

Fantastic Japanese fusion experience. Reminiscent of some of the more modern izakaya s in japan. Traditionalist may not enjoy this as much, but if you have never eaten at an izakaya and the prospect of experiencing a new type of cuisine feels daunting - start here

Forst time visit, we went to first floor ramen place. Ramen is good, wait time is terrible.

Second time visit, we went to upstairs . The food is very tasty. We liked the Japanese style omelette the best. The poke is also very tasty.

Ramen is best in DC. I used to love this place, now is impossible to get a table, wait times on weekends 2+ hrs!

The gyozas are juicy! I ordered the soy sauce ramen and its amazing. They did not skimped out on toppings or meat at all. The broth was light.

The restaurant is tight and small - probably a size of a suburban living room. On the plus size, service was fast and responsive.

I would not say it's Reman. It's kind of like one type of Chinese noodles called danzai noodle.

Love this place! Gyoza and ramen are on point. I strongly recommend the spicy ramen.

Crazy good! I waited 20 minutes , while waiting I checked the menu thinking that I'm going to the 2nd floor restaurant. When my spot is available...I check the menu only ramen! But boy! The best! Worth it totally the wait!a deserved 5.

It's a shame. I want to give this place three or four stars, because the ramen is pretty decent (I think the fact that they char some of the bean sprouts is a nice touch and adds a decent flavor to the ramen), but the noise level in the downstairs ramen area is simply unacceptable. It's an alarming trend these days that restaurant owners seem to think that blasting deafening music through their restaurant will ensure that you have a good time, and Daikaya turns it way past 11. You can barely have a conversation with the people you are with because you have to yell full blast at each other over the music. Even in the back area for small parties, the music is still so loud that you have to shout to be heard. It actually detracted from the quality of the ramen and as such I believe that as long as you're willing to travel, there are much better bowls to be found elsewhere with a much better atmosphere. The service is competent, though I also can't help but feel bad for them being trapped in this noisebox of a restaurant.

My favorite ramen in DC and the only reason worth coming to Chinatown other than Caps/Wizards/Concerts. Try the Shoyu ramen.

Great ramen, authentic atmosphere. Would definitely do again

This restaurant had very salty broth, caused a stomachache, terrible food. Fake ramen, only Americans make the ramen, not Japanese people. Only good for clueless Americans who don't know what true japanese culture is. This ruined japanese culture and is an absolute failure and disgrace to the ramen making community. Don't know what critics were thinking.

The taste is slightly salty, and it tastes like champon. Taste that you can eat delicious once! But it is expensive. Insane and narrow place.

I like Ichiran ramen in New York, the best in America.

From the hostess to the waiters, the service is fantastic. Atmosphere is great with solid hip hop playlist was on when I was there. The restaurant is set up with a few communal tables and bar seating that has a view of the open air kitchen.

I got the spicy miso ramen with was delicious. The broth was the star of the show as it should be with any ramen dish. Not too oily, definitely seasoned to perfection, and decently spicy! The noodles were amazing, I think they are made there or purchased somewhere in China Town because they are definitely fresh. The only slightly negative thing I can think of was the meat was fairly mediocre.

Would definitely recommend and go back.

Protip: get a can of cold sake. Something about hot and spicy ramen and cold sake just feels so right.

These folks might love ramen more than I do. I'd never even heard of Sapporo style broth. But you might be spoiled for other inferior ramen if you eat here.

Loved this little ramen joint! I went in the middle of the afternoon (around 2) so didn't have to wait that long, but I know the wait times can be a little ridiculous. I got the spicy ramen, soooo yummy. Been dreaming of going back ever since.

Their ramen were very good, but the broth was salty, after we finish we had to drink a bunch of water. This place is very crowded and lively, attentive service.

The menu is tight and the quality of the food is fairly high. Flavors seemed correct to us and the plates weren't too large, still providing reasonable value. Also, their ginger drink is just terrific! Service was OK - nothing out of the ordinary but efficient and unobtrusive - which we like.

Waited for an hour and forty five minutes...but was worth the wait. Amazing Ramen made right before your eyes!!!

The six course restaurant week tasting menu here was great - our service was lovely and the food was very filling by the end. It was a great deal for the price, but the favors veered a bit to either extreme for my taste the rice bowl toward the end had too much soy sauce going on, in my opinion. The miso salmon, on the other hand, was just a bit bland. I did really enjoy the green tea cheesecake at the end of my meal - a dense cake, yet very light flavors to end the night.

I loved everything about this place, we went on a busy day so it took a bit of time to be seated but it was well worth the wait. I can't wait to drive back up to DC to eat here again.

Best food in D.C. trust the waiter, they will bring out the best food. Grilled avocado is amazing!

First things first, the fact that this spot is one of the few metro accessible spots in DC is why I go here so much. I think these guys can hold their own, I've eaten here a few times and the quality never disappoints, but in my opinion Sakuramen is miles ahead with their ramen. You can get a good deal here but you'll have to wait a while for it, especially on weekends. These guys push very fair prices so that makes them extremely popular with DC'ers. One weekend I had to wait a full hour for my ramen, take that into consideration if you wanna eat here.

Both the traditional miso and the vegan soup are to DIE for!

Who calls this ramen? This is blasphemy. Never had this level of ramen. I experienced real ramens in Paris and Vancouver. But this is simply outrageous. Horrible, horrible noodles with some weird concoction.

Fast service for 2:30 on a Wednesday. Really fresh ramen noodle, flavorful broth and just the right topping. Reasonably priced and highly recommended.

Long wait since it is a very small place and very popular. The ramen is really good

Oh man...solid ramen. If you're a ramen lover, you should check this place out. They do a solid job of creating really, really yummy ramen. Their stock is solid, the noodles tender and al dente, and the perfect combination of raw veggies. The meat is cooked and matched well to the taste profile and as always, yummy seaweed. The only reason I rank it 4 stars is that its a small place and the wait was incredibly long (it was during lunch, which I understand) Nonetheless I would return here at a less busy time because the food is truly good!

They brought 3 of 4 dishes out and then we waited 10 minutes for the last one. I have never walked out of a restaurant but thought about it.

Amazing and inventive. Get the infrared grilled scallop!

Daikaya (ramen shop) is located on the 1st floor, while Izakaya (no ramen) is on the 2nd floor. We went to Daikaya on a Friday night and had to wait about 20 mins. I had Sake and Vegetable Ramen with Veggie Spice Bomb, and it was the best vegetarian ramen I had yet! It was rich with flavors and I loved the braised mushroom in that ramen. While there is an option to add extra veggies, I felt that ramen could have more veggies to begin with since it is a vegetable ramen. My husband loved his Shio ramen as well!

It's better then alot of the San Francisco ramen shops, my date and I really enjoyed it.

My favorite ramen I have ever had and would easily go here again! I need to try all the different broths.

Fantastic spot for ramen. Veggie is the best, obviously.

The ramen is very good. My second favorite in the city. The bowls are filled out with veggies, the spice is right and the egg is un-real. Downstairs, no frills just good gourmet ramen bowls is where its at. A great Chinatown spot to hit when the weathers getting cold.

If you have a smile, you should pour 1.5 cups of water.
ps. 45 minutes weight

Love it. Great great food, great decor. All the things.

Can't say enough good things about this place. Ramen broth and noodle are top notch, on par if not better than Ippudo. Make sure to add the flavor bomb. Also a word of advice, the ramen don't come with much toppings compared to most other places in the US, you'll have to order them separately as is commonly done in Japan.

Had to wait in line since the place doesn t take reservations. He food had a lot of customization options and the wait for the food wasn t too long.
It is amongst the best tasting Ramen I ve had in a long time.
Note- this review is for Daikaya which is the Ramen joint and not for Izakaya.

I went to the 2nd floor Izikaya. Felt like I was back in Tokyo. The service was great and fast. Even if the place was crowded, the waiters were cheerful and never let us wait for our food or drink. Love this place. I would love to try the restaurant next time but it s just so popular and you cannot reserve you have to be there and wait in line!

Horrible service! We were rushed through every minute of our meal. Rushed to order, rushed to pay, and told our table was given away before we even got up even though we were only there for 90 minutes with a party of 10 people. I will not be back.

My future wife is not A professional chef but I guarantee her cooking will taste a hundred times better I definitely recommend you guys need to get some assistance so you can Improve on the food

Very causal, communal dining! Excellent, traditional ramen!

Community tables, trendy vibe, deeply flavored broth, perfectly cooked noodles. What's not to like? The wait, but they text you when your table is ready and give you 10 minutes to show up, so who cares about the wait? Go for a walk, then you won't feel guilty when you add a portion of pork belly! Also, get the spicy veggie bomb on the side, and smear a little on the extra pork belly.

I had the veggie ramen - it was good, I'll bet the meat ones are a lot tastier. I'm sure this is the best ramen in DC. based on the people I spoke to. They are happy to make substitutions to the menu and the servers are all so friendly. Go upstairs and have a saki while you wait for a seat.

The ramen here was excellent, and it was super busy! I also got a delicious Japanese pale ale that went great with my meal!

It's a good place to get a ramen. They do not allow reservation so you better arrive early to get a decent waiting time. There is a gallery place to hangout at.

This place was deeelish! Wish I lived vloser I would eat here often!

Delicious food, very attentive wait staff, and a phenomenal atmosphere - especially for dinner or evening drinks... though the brunch menu could be improved, haha

A bit hard to find if your driving and focusing on the road. Was pretty busy when we arrived. They have both table seating and bar style seating near the cooks that are preparing the Ramen.

The overall atmosphere was inviting, but the food could use some work. Not as flavorful as we were anticipating.

I used the izakaya on the second floor.
The atmosphere of the shop is just a izakaya but there is a lot of crowds but it feels calm.
It wasn't on the menu, but he made a chu-hi if I asked.
The meal was not large but the taste was delicious.

The food is great. One start deducted because they force you to sit right next to someone even if there is plenty of room

The fastest and most attentive service I've had at a ramen shop. Went with a group of friends, got a nice little room in the back with ample privacy and excellent atmosphere. The food was top notch, the service as well.

Good food offerings at this downtown Izakaya, but a bit on the pricey side, and this is coming from someone that is used to NYC prices...

Shoyu ramen base here is the best! They also roast their garlic and onions just to give your soup an extra richness. Add-on options are also varied and there's a little something for everyone (the bamboo shoots are super good). Just beware, the miso base has peanuts in it for anyone with a peanut allergy!

Spicy miso ramen: a must! The line is annoying, better to go alone or as a couple.

This restaurant is beautifully simple--they serve ramen and gyoza. If you want something else, go somewhere else. They have 4 or 5 broth choices, and a variety of add-ons to the ramen, like bamboo, extra meat, seaweed, etc. The ramen is very authentic tasting--reminded me very much of my experiences in Japan.

There can be a long line to get in, but people move quickly. The seating is "bar style", with a few booths, so it's not a good place for a quiet romantic dinner. Again, not the point. The point is to eat your ramen.

Amazing Ramen and perfect gyozas!! Loved it, service is great and they help you decide what to try if it is the first time you go. Is a must!

This is one of my favorite places for ramen id D.C. Always great food and there is a little veriety and upstaira you can get a large variety of japanese cuisime as well. Overall it is a great place in the area to go out to eat. The main drawbacks are that it sometines gets busy and it is not a place to hang out, but a place to eat and move on. This is not negative, but due to the nature of the seating and the restraunt. I would always recomend and it is a great place to begin in china town before exploring the local bars.

My husband and I love this ramen, it's hearty and satisfying. We go regularly. A tip to get in, since they fill up quickly: wait out front about ten minutes before they open.