Daikaya Reviews

Stopped in for a bite and wow, what a satisfying meal. Truly delicious!

One of the best ramen dishes I have ever had. I think I should have tried the Spicy Miso though.

Good ramen. Limited menu (solely devoted to ramen). Busy place. Reasonable price for filling meal. Char-su was just ok (Not melt in your mouth tender). But definitely a place I would eat at again.

Busy place for a reason. The staff are very friendly and quick to serve food. The ramen is fresh and delecious. I like the spicy miso soup so if you're up for it definitely try it.

Best ramen I've had in the usa. Very similar to what I enjoyed in Japan. Price is steep, but worth it for the nostalgia.

Probably one of my top places for ramen when I'm in DC. I really like the smokey broth flavor and the bowls are fairly large. The wait time is ridiculous and a few times I've hung out upstairs at the Izakaya which has it's own menu and great selection as well.

This is actually two restaurants, both of exhibit are excellent. Downstairs is tasty, delicious ramen. Upstairs is a beautifully designed izakaya, with really great small plates.

The veggie ramen was the bomb! Lots of brussel sprouts.

Pretty good stuff. Only pork based ramen bowls but very good nonetheless. I Was slightly disappointed by the lack of a poached egg option but it was still a good experience. Great service, small and busy, but quick and easy. I'd go back if I was in the area and definitely wanted pork ramen otherwise, there are other great options right around the corner.

Decent ramen joint if you are in the area, but not as good as Jinya or other places for broth flavor and chashu.

Loved the ramen and the iced tea 10/10 would eat again

Best ramen in DC IMO. Not many seats so expect a long wait. Once you are seated they are quick and efficient. Always add the nitamago egg and start with the gyoza.

Vegetarian options all but non-existent. Exceedingly loud.

My wife and I love ramen. We had the gy za, should ramen and the spicy miso ramen. Service was good, food was amazing and the price was reasonable. This is some of the best ramen I've had, ever. Highly recommend!

Writing as somebody who lives in Tokyo and is surrounded by good ramen, let me say that you won't be disappointed at Diakaya. In fact, you're going to like it. The raman, with inspiration imported from Japan, innovates with touches of American cooking.

Original soups. Very good and good price. Had a lovely dinner with mly best friend, wife and child.

This place was amazing. The ramen was perfect with the simple but complex flavors to form a most satisfying bite. Actually left some to take home to enjoy the following day, so good. The wait can be a little long so go upstairs to Izakaya and have a drink and some appetizers until your table is ready.

Long wait but better than average ramen! My daughter said " yummy in my tummy", so the kids will like it. Music was playing the whole time. People were enjoying themselves, some guy fell off a stool (oops) but i think it's worth the bill you'll receive as the vultures eye up your spot in the place! Lol

Great noodles, open air kitchen. Always very very busy. Not a place to linger. Eat your noodles and go. Usually a wait.

awesome food and drink. loved the shoyu ramen and the beers upstairs were good quality. staff was friendly and knowledgeable

Shoyu ramen is some good stuff. Waitstaff shortchanged me though, keep an eye on them.

The food is good here! Small and always packed though.

The ramen was very good, but the ac vent blew right on our table so we were quite chilly.

This place absolutely exceeded the highest possible expectations! The food was so fresh and high quality. Enjoying the drinks was very pleasant and the quality of the food was more than worth the wait!

Decor was pretty cool, noise level pretty high, food was pretty good but ridiculously expensive for what it is. It's all Japanese comfort and street food, onigiri, donburi, little skewers, and I do mean little. Everything was tiny.

Poor quality ramen, and everything is overpriced. The meals lacked balance of their ingredients, and nothing about the place reminds me of Japan. Uncomfortable seating.

First floor (Daikaya) & second floor (Izakaya) are two totally separate restaurants. Daikaya features the absolute best ramen in DC, while Izakaya is a cozier and more up-scale setting for Japanese styled tapas.

No 'Ajutama' egg on top of Ramen is a great disappointment. I tried miss and ship but the broth is not so impressive and pork slices are not so good either. Full of bean sprouts.

Good authentic ramen in the district! Gets crowded on evenings and during lunch but it s usually quick service. There isn t a lot of room for seating , mostly communal tables

Incredible food. We got lucky and didnt have to wait. Ordered the spicy miso and it was heaven.

Lucked into a table for four. Amazing ramen, fun (but loud) atmosphere.

It has a long wait but it's worth it. The food is delicious.

Very similar in taste to what i experienced when I lived in Okinawa. Gyoza was amazing! The upstairs bar area was not much of an Izakaya as it was just a bar, but they won me over by having Orion! Literally made me feel like I was back in Japan for a few hours. Ganbatte!

The best Ramen in DC. This place is always busy. So you won't get most interaction with the servers because they are busy making your delicious Ramen. Go for a japenese beer, can't go wrong.

Fast-paced but comfortable. My wife and I shared a bowl of ramen with extra meat and we were able to get full for under $20. The spicy miso broth is so flavorful and they don't skimp on the toppings.

Food was really good, though I tried some of the vegetable ramen and it was kind of bland. Service is good and food comes fast. Expect to wait for a seat.

This review is only for the ramen shop and will definitely give the izakaya a try in the future. The downstairs is a small ramen shop with communal seating mostly although there are 2 larger tables in the front. Probably Sears about 24 at a time so they ask that you stay for only 45 minutes per party. The ramen comes in about 5 variations and both of the variations that were tried were delicious with great broth and noodles (all the way from Japan!). We didn't try the gyozas, gyoza, and looked good. Also very nice house made iced tea. A must try!

Small but amazing atmosphere. Be ready for a wait for ramen. Go in, put your name down, with all the local places to get a drink, it's not a problem. Great food and more than I could finish in one sitting. Amazing service as well. Highly recommend for anyone who likes ramen.

Yum - just Yum!!! Great service and happy to work with some food allergies.

Best ramen, for that matter, best soup, I've ever had. Period.

First tried their ramen at a Ramen competition in Nashville 3 years ago. Loved it! I keep doing back for their delicate noodles and delicious broth whenever I get a hankering. They are the measuring stick I use to compare other ramen shops.

Spicy Miso was exactly what it needed to be. I messed up and got pork belly special as an add-on. The pork belly was cold and not seared like you would expect pork belly to be; it didn't seem cooked at all, and was the same texture as a pork tenderloin and equally as devoid of flavor. Would definitely go back and I recommend the place, but stay away from the pork belly.

We tried three different types of ramen and dumplings. Taste ok but not impressive and won t go back again. Chashu doesn t taste good and the food is not authentic. It doesn t worth to wait 30 mins!!! Very surprised and disappointed of this high rating!! Staffs are friendly!

Very rude hostess. Disappointing since we've had a great experience in the past.

One of the best veggie ramens I've had! If you like spicy food, don't forget to order their spice bomb on the side! Well worth it. Also please go in advance to get your table. It's a small place and so wait times can be longer. but no matter the wait time, it's worth it!

Both floors... Just great food, drinks, and ambiance.

From the outside the simplicity of the building is direct and inviting with the glass front. You re greeted by a lucky cat rug and your journey begins. I love the adventure it takes you through from the low hanging light bulbs to the upbeat music and open kitchen setup. Its a small place so it makes your experience personal and there are 5 ramen options with things to add. I chose the classic Shoyu and doubled up on extra veggies and pork then added butter. They don t add to much spice to the surrounding items and really let the broth be the star of the show. I was really enjoying the self serve aspect of a water pitcher in front of me along with the chopsticks in a can. The broth was well until the end where it began to get cold and at the end was a bottom of the pot type of burnt with bitter chips. I enjoy drinking the broth but it was unsettling. Recommendation: Dessert options

Great atmosphere. Wonderful food. I love the service and decorations too.

Was pretty crowded but I was able to get a seat in about 20 minutes. I had the spicy miso with the soft boiled egg and extra chasu. The broth was well spiced and the noodles were the perfect texture. Would recommend to anyone craving ramen in the DC area.

Started with drinks at Izakaya upstairs while waiting for our seats at Daikaya. Drinks were awesome and ramen was delicious. Will return for small plates at Izakaya.

Long long wait..had to wait close to 1hr 15mins to get a place. Come only if you have patience and are okay to wait for a long time for food. Great food, amazing flavors though,worth the wait. Unfortunately, they do not take reservations!if you come here, am sure you will be torn between the Shoyu and spicy Miso. Difficult to choose which is better, but spicy Miso might be a bit too spicy for people who are not used to that and Shoyu has a dense soy sauce taste to it. Whatever you take, don't forget to add the egg, it contributes to the taste.

My friend recommended me this place but the ramen taste was not my favorite.
Those who like miso flavor, please try :)

Waited to eat 2 hours to eat here. It was worth the wait.

Good Raman! Only issue is that it's very crowded and small so it can take a while to get seated.

Absolutely fantastic. Make sure you call to reserve spots because the wait was (justifiably) long.

I might have arrived from the Ramen heaven of Dusseldorfs japanese quarter in germany but there is always the craving for more of noodely goodness. So i decided to have ramen for dinner. And it was so good. Very tasty miso base, the noodles were divine and the bean sprouts oh the bean sprouts, i had worse in japan!
If i had to name something that was not perfect i'd have to say that the extra pork belly was a bit too fatty for my taste. (There might be raman fanatics out there that would certainly disagree with me on that point)

Very delicious but pricey. The amount of extra noodle was very very small. It s really disappointing.

Good food, but service could be a little more attentive.

Went to Izakaya (upstairs) for lunch. Amazing rice bowl, and much quieter and less busy than Daikaya (downstairs).

Get anything and everything they offer. One if the best places I've ever been too.

They have an app that tells you where you are in the queue so that you can roam while you wait. The app was accurate and was a great visual to see how things were moving. But the real highlight of this establishment is the food, which was incredible

Summary: Great food, price, and service.

What I had: Shio Ramen and Spicy Miso Ramen w/ pork belly (~$47 w/ tip).

I really liked this place. Both Shio and Spicy Miso Ramen were authentic and tasty; however, I do not recommend adding the pork belly at extra cost. For those Ramen fans, I would personally consider this place comparable to Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya in Seattle, WA or Yume Wo Katare in Cambridge, MA (tho it does not beat Yume's price). If you are in DC area, you definitely need to visit.

Service: 4/5
Taste: 4/5
Atmosphere: 3.5/5
Price: 4/5

THIS RAMEN IS WORTH THE WAIT!!! Best in DC you will LOOOOOVE

I love this place, just know there is always an Hour or more wait on the weekends or game nights!

Best ramen I've had since visiting Tokyo. The wait can be long, but it's really worth it.

Very bad staff. This is the worst Service EVER. Especially this Hostess, she is a very Pretty lady. ATTITUDE VERY BAD.

The ramen is very flavorful. It is sprinkled with a layer of stir-fried meat to increase the flavor and the portion is full. However, there are few seats in the store and it usually takes more than half an hour to wait. You can ask the staff to put on the waiting list and send a newsletter. Notice

I had been looking for a great place to eat ramen. I happened upon a review about Daikaya and decided to try it. I first went back in October 2014 and have been back 5 times since then. Heading back tomorrow. Once you have a bowl you just feel satisfied.

I give them a 3 as when we called to get seats they did not tell us that it would not be for the Ramen Restaurant we were calling for they placed us in a different restaurant and we did not get to try the Ramen but the guy at the other restaurant did help us get to another Ramen restaurant and they did have really good soup

Delicious Ramen. Seating was limited, not many beverage options.

I was told it's one of the best ramen place in DC. It's a pretty small restaurant, and the line can be very long sometimes. The first time we came, we were told need to wait for about an hour. We left since we were already hungry. We came back for the second time, the wait was around 25 mins. They will send you a link to see where are you in the queue and will call/text you when it's your turn. I think they just need a bigger space.

I'm glad they have vegan broth! The broth is actually really flavorful. My dad thought it's a seafood broth for a while. But by the end the broth feels oily to me. The portion is generous, we enjoyed the added vegetables as well. I wish they have more vegan options.