JINYA Ramen Bar - Union Market

I love this place! I enjoyed my ramen and an added bonus, my 5 year old LOVES the kids meal. It's too many things included for me to name. The drinks are great as well! Pro Tip: Upstairs is a nice vibe.

Excellent location and lots of seating. The food is always excellent - filling, flavorful, and something for everyone (I'm pescatarian). The Spicy Creamy Vegan is a favorite for me, and I usually get an egg on top for extra protein. They also offer a ton of extra toppings to customize your ramen, including impossible meat. We also tried the impossible meat dumplings, which were delicious. All of the sauce is providing on the tables are really tasty, especially the seasoning, one.The cocktail menu looks good, but the nonalcoholic cocktails are a stand out. I really enjoy the cucumber, mint, lime which I had most recently. The service here is always spotty, and I feel like we are consistently forgotten about. One time it took 40 minutes between getting our appetizer and our ramen, and when it finally came out they gave us two of each. I'm not complaining since I had an extra meal to take home. It seems we always have some sort of service challenge when we go to the Union Market location. However, the food is so good. I will keep coming back despite the service. But if they wanted to make it a really great experience, that is what I would improve.

Is this the best ramen in DC? No, that would be Menya Hosaki.Is this the best Jinya in DC? Also no.Is this the closest ramen place to my home? Yes, so I have been three times.The ramen is fine, though inconsistent. Jinya seems to be going through an identity crisis, where it used to focus on ramen and still markets itself as a "ramen bar," but now it also offers sushi and miscellaneous other dishes like croquettes. It's fun to branch out, but I think they have run into a "jack of all trades, master of none" dilemma. If the quality of the ramen is slipping, I don't think Jinya should throw a dozen more things on menu.The most consistent thing about this Jinya location is that service is super slow. 10 minutes to get glasses of water. Over an hour waiting for ramen, which would be long at any restaurant, much less a ramen place. The third time I went was just a few days ago and even when the restaurant was only about 20% full, it took over an hour for our ramen to arrive. Perhaps this is just a personal preference, but our server was also a bit too in our face and over the top explaining her favorite anime, etc., to us when all we really wanted to do was order. We really hope not to have that server again, as it was a bit uncomfortable.The ambiance is nice, given that it's a brand new location. The location is still new, so I am hopeful they can work out the quality and speed issues, along with fine-tuning the customer experience. I will be back again.

The ramen here is absolutely delicious and so flavorful. I tried the vegan harvest and my friend got the spicy umami miso. The portions were perfect and everything was flavorful. I want to come back and try some small plates as well!

The holy grail of ramen has finally made its way to Union Market and I'm so happy about it! Jinya has always been my favorite ramen restaurant so having one 5 minutes from my house is a God-send. I got my regular spicy ramen with a seasoned egg and crunchy onions. I also made it a combo meaning I got 4 pork gyoza on the side as well as a house salad. Zuri, my server, was so sweet and cute! It took a few tries but she got my bubble just right on top of my martini! And she was very knowledgeable about the drink menu. It was pretty quiet on the night I went but I'm sure it's packed on other nights. Now that it's colder out, they'll definitely see me more!

Appetizer: fried chicken. This was tender and crispy. I Liked the sauce with it and that it came with lemon. The batter was good. It was on the crispier and crustier side. The chicken also stood out because it was marinated and tenderized so it had lots of flavor under the crust. The salad and greens were good but onion dressing a little powerful. I got the recommended tonkotsu pork ramen. The noodles were really excellent and tasted great. The pork broth was really tuned to right mouth feel. It was less salty but super thick. The pork itself is good. The cut used had a great flavor that didn't get some of the "dirty" taste you sometimes get with this cut. Egg was good, a little runnier. And the shrooms were good and had good texture. Service was really good. It was by attentive and very fast. Upscale and nice ambiance.

I'm realizing that the service is not consistent here and can be hit or miss. I stopped in recently for lunch with friends. I ended up doing their brunch special ($45 with mimosas). I'm not sure that it's entirely a steal especially with how long it took you to get your drinks but worth it if you're hungry. I was not really a fan of the chicken appetizers .. I wish it came with a different kind of sauce. And it was really cold in the restaurant the other day, almost as if they didn't want to turn the heat up. We had our coats on for a while before finally taking them off 15 minutes into sitting down.

Brought my favorite foodie friend here for her birthday. I love the ambience. We sat at the bar because it was a birthday night and just the two of us. I like that they shout "Arigato" (thank you) as guests are leaving.The drinks at the bar were amazing... So was Shakir, our bartender for the nightI don't care what your dining preferences... You absolutely have to have the eggplant dish. 5/5. We had the vegan Ramen, which was delicious... and the salmon sushi, which was really simply done, but I would've preferred without that creamy sauce on top. *Mind you, this is a chain, so don't expect dense, authentic Ramen. But the flavor was exactly what we wanted in just the right space... and we loved the plethora of vegan options. The highlight of the evening was one of the managers coming up and singing the Stevie Wonder happy birthday song with me to my girl... who is very shy and doesn't like to be signed to at all. I loved it!!

I really appreciated that this place took our last minute reservation during the snow storm this week! Another place understandably canceled and this place came in to save the day. Service was great and I was surprised by the happy hour! Pretty good deals for food and drink. I got a steam bun that I would recommend and salmon tacos. Portions were small but again, happy hour prices and portions. I don't get this to five stars because while my whisky drink was good, the others at my table did not have great cocktails. The lychee martini looks like a jar of pickled onions. Thankfully didn't taste like that but presentation could be better. Next time I'll try the ramen. Definitely come for happy hour but maybe stick to the simple drinks.

Spent the evening of my birthday here. I love a dim lit spot ! Cool smooth vibe . Sexy vibe . Chill . Bartenders were so dope ! Kept us smiling and laughing . They sung the Stevie Wonder - Birthday song for me . Super shy . Now ramen is my soulmate THIS Ramen was soooooogooooood!! The whole vibe of that area is something else as is especially when it comes to food but listennnn go get you some ramen next time you're in dmv . They can't miss .