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Charlotte-area restaurants were missing from Yelp’s Top 100 Ramen Shops for 2025, but thankfully locals aren’t shy about sharing their favorites.
YUME Ramen & Sushi Bar remains a hot spot and recently earned bragging rights as the best Japanese restaurant in the city, as voted by Charlotte Observer readers.
Known for serving steamy bowls of ramen in “a signature pork broth,” the eatery won Gold for its cuisine and snagged Silver for Best Happy Hour in the newspaper’s 2025 Charlotte’s Best Awards.
The results of this year’s poll were released in October. YUME was also voted as the top spot in the 2024 CharlotteFive Readers’ Choice Best Ramen poll.
Nikko Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar got silver among Japanese eateries in the citywide contest, which ran from July 7-25. Finally, Ru San’s Charlotte earned bronze.
While there wasn’t a specific ramen category, the hot noodle dish is offered at each of the featured restaurants.
For Charlotte’s Best, readers are invited to nominate their favorite businesses across several categories including restaurants, real estate, shopping and more. This year, nominations were collected between June 9-20 and 30 Japanese restaurants made it on the ballot.
Readers can cast one ballot per day in any category, and repeat voting is encouraged as locals “explore and find new businesses,” Neil Potter, chief operations officer for Nerus Strategies told CharlotteFive. The digital marketing firm oversees the annual contest.
In all, Charlotte’s Best collected more than 412,000 reader votes, “a 36% increase year-over-year,” Potter said.
Here’s where to find the best ramen in the city:
Location: 1508 S Mint St Suite A, Charlotte, NC 28203
YUME opened its first location in Matthews in 2016 before moving to South End in August 2018, CharlotteFive previously reported. It has become a go-to spot for noodle lovers and was voted best ramen in the city in the 2024 CharlotteFive Readers’ Choice poll.
It boasts a 3.9-star rating on Yelp, and popular dishes include the Thai coconut curry ramen, seafood ramen and Takoyaki.
“We enjoy the crowd and we enjoy making good food — great food, ramen, sushi — in Charlotte for everybody,” YUME co-owner Tony Yum told CharlotteFive.
“We want to continue to thrive, and we want to continue to get the support and love from all our customers. And we always have the consistency on our food, so we’re just not going to disappoint anybody.”
Location: 325 Arlington Ave #108, Charlotte, NC 28203
Opened in 1999, Nikko serves “innovative sushi and Japanese cuisine” — including bowls of hot ramen, according to the restaurant’s website. Tonkotsu is on the menu, as are spicy miso and shoyu ramen.
Nikko was also awarded bronze for Best Sushi in the 2025 Charlotte’s Best poll.
Location: 2440 Park Rd, Charlotte, NC 28203
Soy ramen soup, sake cocktails and an unlimited sushi lunch buffet: What’s not to love about Ru San’s?
The Japanese eatery has racked up several Charlotte’s Best Awards over the years, including Bronze for Best Sushi in 2024 and Gold for best Japanese food in the city the year prior, results show.
Beyond ramen, fan-favorite dishes include the Kiss of Fire roll, chicken fried rice and yakitori tempura maki roll.
“Ru San’s is cheap and [has a] fun environment,” restaurateurs Michelle and Q Nguyen, who own ShareTea, told CharlotteFive. “Plus, there’s fast service and friendly staff.”
Other popular Charlotte ramen shops
These ramen spots have also earned high praise from soup enthusiasts, according to CharlotteFive.
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Tanasia Kenney
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