FAQ

I’m really sorry, we don’t take reservations.

There is a very real and not insignificant cost in running a reservation system. First you have to pay someone to administer it. That takes more time than you might imagine as people chop and change their requests over time. You have to play tetris with the tables as well when groups of different (and changing) sizes make requests for ever changing times. The biggest cost of all is that rather sadly, somewhere between ⅓ and ½ of people don’t show up for their bookings. Or they do but come late. Or with a different number of people than they requested. Then we have people showing up on the night, standing in the queue and being told there is no space when the restaurant is actually half empty because we’re holding tables for people who may or may not show. With a small restaurant of only 32 seats, paying London rents (and I have to pay my staff enough so that they can afford London rents!) and UK taxes, we really need to be full as much of the day as possible or quite simply we lose money.

Sorry for the long explanation but I hope you can see why we run things this way. I’m sorry if you have to queue too long for a table.

Please remember we need your whole group to be here before we can seat you in the restaurant.

• For groups of 2-3: most of our tables are for 2 people but they can fit 3 and very often do.
• For groups of 4-5: We have 1 table that fits 4 or 5. At a cosy squeeze it can, and often has fit 6 people. If you want that table, the only way to nearly guarantee getting it is to arrive before we open at 5.00pm. Then you can be first through the door and have your pick of tables.
• For groups of 6+: 6 is the most we can sit at one table. The table that fits 6 has 2 tables of 2 in very close proximity. If you get those as well, you could have 10 of you very close together if not exactly at the same table.

Failing that the counter sits 9 in a row.

Post corona customer flows are not as predictable as they used to be. During the cold weather, we are pretty busy most of the time. Evenings 6-8.30pm we are likely to have a queue of people waiting to get in.

Thursday – Sunday evenings, the queue often forms before opening time (which is 5.00pm) and sometimes contains more people than fit in the restaurant. If you want to be in the first wave that gets in when we open, best to arrive at least 10-15 minutes before we open.

Lunch times still haven’t returned to pre-corona levels as the local offices are not as busy. Monday lunch time is by far the quietest time of the week and if you are able, that’s the best time to be almost guaranteed no queue. Tuesdays – Fridays are busier but still, it’s rare there is a queue on those lunchtimes.

We have a really small space and have thought very hard about how to use it best.

We ask that your whole group is present before you take your table.

When we first opened, we allowed people in to wait for their friends and very quickly found the restaurant ‘full’ with half-full tables; meanwhile fully ready groups waiting in the queue got miffed.

We believe it’s quicker, fairer and nicer for all if we do it this way. We hope you understand.

There is absolutely no exception to this. Every day, people tell us, “can I have a table for 2/3/4 – my friends will be here in 1 minute”. Our experience is that ‘1 minute’ can in reality be anything up to 45 minutes.

To be fair to everyone, we ask your whole group to be here before entering.

Small, well-behaved dogs are totally fine and welcome. Anything larger or unruly just doesn’t work in such a small space I’m sorry.

I’m really sorry, no. We are a noodle shop, everything we make is with Japanese wheat flour. Some places do sell gluten free noodles but so far, I’ve not tasted any good ones.

If you are not coeliac but gluten-intolerant and small amounts of gluten are ok, we can substitute rice for noodles in some dishes – assuming we have enough rice left.

If you are coeliac, that won’t help I’m afraid as every dish has soy sauce.

It isn’t. Our butchers have told us some items are halal but their suppliers can change so I can’t say for certain the meat is always halal. Also, we use alcohol-containing cooking sake in the broth and the ‘tare’. It cooks off but I’m told its addition is not allowed for halal.

You can always check the opening hours of the day on google:
Monohon Ramen on Google Map

In general our opening hours are:

• Monday–Friday lunch: 12-2.15pm
• Monday–Saturday dinner: 5.00-9.30pm
• Sunday dinner: 5.00-9.00pm
• We are closed on: Saturday/Sunday lunch and bank holidays

and,

• If there is a bank holiday on Friday and Monday (i.e. Easter, Jubilee, Coronation, Royal Wedding etc) we’ll close the whole weekend
• We close for 2 weeks around Christmas / New Year

Apart from that we’re open – unless there is some unforeseen problem like a power cut or staff shortage. We usually announce that on social media.

We don’t deliver and don’t use Deliveroo or any other such service.

We do offer click and collect take away here: https://goodeats.io/MonohonRamen