RESTAURANTS

It’s almost comical writing about late night eats in Boston, simply because to most the city is not perceived as a late night kind of town. Despite bars and restaurants closing earlier than in cities like New York, there’s still an appetite for late night eats beyond stumbling over to Chinatown or ordering takeout pizza. One restaurant catering to the city’s late night foodies is Uni, Ken Oringer’s sashimi bar in The Eliot Hotel. Every week on Friday and Saturday night, Uni serves up a late-night ramen menu, complete with hearty bowls of noodles, plus sides like steamed pork buns, roasted shishito peppers, and more.

Although the menu is written up each week on a piece of cardboard (see left) and subject to change , I found out during my two visits that there are a few ground rules you have to abide by if you want to enjoy late-night ramen:

1. If you are visibly drunk or rowdy, you will be turned away. Clio and Uni are upscale establishments, so if you’ve hit the bottle a little too hard, go to Chinatown or order takeout instead. (And, no, this didn’t happen to us, but we saw it happen to another group)
2. Be prepared to wait in line. Late-night ramen has a cult-like following and Uni is very small. This is a better experience for groups of four or less.
3. All people at your table MUST get ramen. I found this a bit bizarre, as there are a number of phenomenal side dishes on the menu (e.g. Steamed pork buns are heavenly). Ramen is $10 per bowl, so why not require a $10 per person minimum order if tables/seats are in high demand?
4. You can’t take your ramen home with you (sadface). I found this out the hard way during my visit. I couldn’t finish my ramen and would have liked the option to bring it home.
5. The ramen is very salty – yummy, but salty. Enjoy a bowl of it late night, but make sure you drink a lot of water if you’re sensitive to salt like I am.

All in all, I really enjoyed trying out the late-night ramen menu at Uni, but not sure how frequently I’ll go back. The ramen was good, but a little too salty for me to enjoy late night. If they change their policy to just require a $10 per person order, I could see myself there more frequently. Those steamed pork buns were a home run for my late-night food cravings.

Unfortunately, it was too dark to snap good photos, but a quick search on Flickr showcases some lovely images of Uni’s late-night ramen. Sadly, they’re not creative commons licensed, but check ’em out here.

Uni is located inside the Elliot Hotel at 370 Comm. Ave. in Boston’s Back Bay.