Tokyo Food Tours With Ramen in Ueno

Ueno Food Tours Side by Side

This table compares the two Ueno food tours on price, food, drinks and group size, with every figure taken from each tour's own listing.

Where Each Tour Starts

The Hidden Taverns and Ramen in Ueno meets in front of Starbucks atré beside the Hirokoji exit of Ueno station. The Ueno Food Tour: Sushi, Ramen and Yakitori meets at Hard Rock Cafe Uyeno-Eki Tokyo on the first floor of the station building. Both are short walks from the Ueno platforms, so the train ride there is the only transport you arrange yourself.

After the Tour: Ramen on Your Own

To eat ramen on your own another evening, Tokyo Ramen Street on the B1 floor of First Avenue Tokyo Station is directly connected to Tokyo Station and open 10:30-23:00, with last orders at 22:30. Barcode and QR payment cannot be used there, so carry cash or a card.

Taverns Where the Guide Orders

The operator, Best Experience Japan, takes the group to several Ueno taverns chosen for local customers, where the staff speak no English. The guide orders the signature dishes, so you never face a Japanese-only menu.

The price includes 5 dishes in total with ramen among them, along with sashimi and grilled fish, plus 5 drinks and a small souvenir porcelain cup that you use on the tour. At the end the guide explains which station to head for, depending on where you are staying.

Who It Suits

It suits first evenings in Tokyo, solo travellers who would rather not walk into a tavern alone and anyone curious about Japanese drinks beyond beer. Free cancellation runs until 24 hours before the start.

Ordering Without a Guide

Ordering alone usually means a ticket machine: in most ramen shops you insert money, press the button for your bowl and sides, and hand the printed ticket to the staff, as JNTO describes.

Food and the Two Drink Packages

The tour visits 4 food stops with sushi, gyoza, grilled yakitori skewers and simmered dishes alongside the ramen. You choose a drinks package when you book. The standard package brings water, green tea, one soft drink and one alcoholic drink, with a non-alcoholic option for guests under 20.

The alcohol package, for ages 20 and over, brings three alcoholic drinks of your choice, such as sake or plum wine, and water. Dessert and any extra drinks are paid in cash.

Rules Worth Knowing Before You Book

The tour is for guests aged 18 and over and is not wheelchair accessible. It includes pork and the listing rules out vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, pork-free and gluten-free guests, though the operator offers to arrange a private tour for those diets on request. Report allergies when you book.

Smoking is allowed inside one of the stops, and popular restaurants can mean a short wait in line.

The Ramen Stop

Tokyo's classic ramen is a dark, pork bone or chicken-based shoyu, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization, and most shops specialise in one or two soups. On a mixed food tour you taste one shop's bowl, so ask the guide which soup it is.

One Bowl Among Many, or Many Bowls

On the Ueno food tours ramen shares the table with sushi, yakitori, sashimi or grilled fish, and the drinks are part of the price. A ramen tasting tour is all noodles: the Ramen Tasting Tour with 6 Mini Bowls serves 6 mini bowls at 3 shops, with a train ticket extra on its Shinjuku route.

The Japan National Tourism Organization notes that ramen shops usually specialise in one or two soups. That is why a ramen tasting tour moves between shops, while a food tour moves between dishes.

If Ramen Is the Main Reason You Came

Pick a tasting tour for the bowls and keep a food tour for another night. Tokyo's own classic style, according to JNTO, is a dark shoyu ramen on a pork bone or chicken base, and the Tokyo ramen tours catalogue shows which tours and classes cover it.

When It Pays Off

A food tour earns its price when you read no Japanese, have few evenings in the city or want company for the night. The tavern tour goes where the staff speak no English and the guide orders the signature dishes, which is hard to repeat on your own.

When to Skip It

Skip both if you eat no pork or no meat, if you are under 18 for the Sunrise Adventure tour, or if you want a quiet seated dinner. Skip them too if ramen is all you came for: a ramen tasting tour serves more bowls in the same time.

Slurping Is Fine

Nervous about table manners? The Japan National Tourism Organization says slurping noodles is not considered rude in Japan and that many people find it makes eating noodles with chopsticks easier. A guide at the table takes the rest of the guesswork away.

Pick by What Matters to You

For proof from other travellers, the Hidden Taverns and Ramen in Ueno has 1,250 reviews at 4.9. For the smallest group and the lowest price, the Ueno Food Tour: Sushi, Ramen and Yakitori caps the group at 5 and costs $85. For variety on the plate, the $85 tour adds sushi and yakitori, and for drinks, the tavern tour pours 5.

Queues Are Part of It

The Sunrise Adventure listing warns of a short wait at popular restaurants. The Japan National Tourism Organization makes the same point about ramen: a line outside a shop is often a mark of quality, and once you finish you should free the seat rather than linger.

Tokyo's Own Ramen

The Japan National Tourism Organization describes Tokyo's classic style as a dark, pork bone or chicken-based shoyu ramen. Sapporo is known for miso ramen and Kyushu for tonkotsu, and Tokyo serves all of them. JNTO also calls ramen inexpensive and convenient, an all-in-one meal that pairs well with gyoza, fried rice and beer.

Where Ramen Shows Up on These Tours

On the Hidden Taverns and Ramen in Ueno ramen is one of the 5 dishes, next to sashimi and grilled fish. On the Ueno Food Tour: Sushi, Ramen and Yakitori it sits between sushi, gyoza and yakitori across 4 stops.