Beloved Ramen Restaurant Permanently Closing After 20 Years
Every good thing comes to an end, with some of the saddest endings stemming from restaurant closures. It's been reported that Minca, a Japanese ramen restaurant in New York City, will be permanently closing. The eatery opened in 2004, marking its 20-year anniversary just last year.
The East Village restaurant, dreamed up by Chef Shigeto Kamada, was open seven days a week, making it a popular late night spot for New Yorkers. The menu consisted of ramen variations, including Vegetable Miso, Miso Ramen, and gluten-free options that customers particularly enjoyed.
"This place absolutely changed the game," one Yelp reviewer said. "The Vegetable Miso Ramen was the best soup-type dish I've ever had." Another customer wrote, "Minca is the epitome of an old-school Japanese ramen place that serves up A1 food at solid prices…you could tell that the food was made with love."
The pending closure has been confirmed by employees, but has not yet been marked closed by Google. One staff member noted that the restaurant owner is ready to retire, although there have been some rumors of a similar-style restaurant opening up in Long Island. Minca does have a sister restaurant named Andante in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which is presently still open for business.
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"Hands down my favorite ramen place," one loyal customer said. "This is an utter disaster." Other consumers described the eatery as a "big and charming chunk of the neighborhood for 20 years," adding that this "bad news" is "devastating."
This announcement has arrived in a sea of other restaurant closures. New York abruptly lost a popular Denny's location, while Hector's Cafe and Diner shut its doors after 80 years of service. A big shock to customers recently resulted from Porter House Bar and Grill's closure in early June, which was one of New York City's major steakhouses.