Nice to know that people are thinking about giving us east side peeps some culinary options!! I was jonesin' for some ramen and was glad to hear that there was a spot that "opened up" on right down the street from me. The gentleman working told me that they wanted to start up a ramen spot on the east side because everything else is so far away in chinatown. I'm good with that!! I opted for the veggie ramen on this outing (miso broth) and it was pretty dang good despite my initial perception about Ray's as I walked into the restaurant. It was because all the workers were speaking in Tagalog (Filipino) and the customer base was largely Filipino as they decided to speak back in the same language!! Kind of tripping me out a little bit with the Japanese decor and set-up and the Filipino conversations dancing around it all; left me to wonder a little bit. However, the ramen hit the spot and was actually pretty good despite the continually confusing cultural stimuli. I also had the karaage as an appetizer and that was pretty grubbin' as well.
Contrary to what people said in earlier reviews, they do accept credit cards now! Big plus and big sigh of relief as I didn't have any cash on me when I walked in. Nice, friendly, and delectably grubbin' food.. will be back soon. I will consider upgrading to a 5-star when they get some beer in to go along with my nihonshoku (Japanese Food)!