The Triangle’s best ramen shop is known for something else. Here’s the secret
Raleigh’s favorite ramen shop has been there all along.
Founded as an upscale sushi bar in downtown Raleigh nearly two decades ago, Sono has seen the trends and tastes of the Triangle catch up with it.
Now fully a downtown institution, Sono keeps simmering, serving the most popular bowl of ramen in the Triangle, according to readers of The News & Observer.
Sono beat out Miso Ramen in the finals, collecting a massive 86% of the vote, and topping 29 other popular shops in the Triangle’s red-hot ramen scene.
“This give us a lot of confidence and assurance,” said Miko Nishio, general manager at Sono.
Nishio said Sono’s most popular bowl is the pork-based tonkatsu, made from a broth that takes five days to make, seasoned with salty tare and konbu dashi, before topped with wood ear mushrooms, bamboo shoots, black garlic oil and thick slices of succulent pork belly.
There are no shortcuts to great ramen — it takes hours and hours of roasted pork bones bubbling away in an enormous stock pot, pulling away every morsel of flavor and building a hearty broth that coats the mouth, heart and soul.
Sono ramen menu
Other bowls include a spicy miso made from the same pork broth, a chicken ramen and a veggie ramen with green kale noodles. The four ramen bowls range from $15 to $18, according to its online menu, and extras include more noodles ($3), broth ($5), egg ($2) and others.
Tonkotsu is the most common style of ramen in southern Japan, where Nishio grew up, and the rich, filling bowl is a popular backbone for a night out.
“In Japan, when we go out to drink, we always finish with ramen,” Nishio said.
Sono’s start
Despite being the favorite, Sono didn’t serve ramen right away.
Founded in 2008 as part of the then-booming Echelon Hospitality group, Sono was the Triangle’s first taste of the immense sushi talents of chef Mike Lee, who has since gone on to create his acclaimed M Restaurants group.
The popular sushi bar helped ride a renaissance of bars and restaurants on Fayetteville Street in the late 2000s as Raleigh helped establish its modern dining scene. In 2012 ramen was added to the menu, making it one of the Triangle’s earliest spots for this iconic Japanese bowl of noodles.
Today, Sono is owned by East Coast restaurant group Clean Plate Restaurants. While Sono is popular as a late night spot, its closeness to the Raleigh convention center sends many out-of-towners its way, the restaurant’s managers said.
On the lunch hour, light and flavorful sushi still seems to be the draw for the office crowd, but now with the start of soup season, Sono expects to serve more piping hot bowls.
“We want people to know Sono more, it’s been here forever but can be overlooked,” said manager Marika Soewandi.
Runner-up: Miso Ramen
Miso Ramen was born out of comfort.
In a rough patch about a decade ago, co-owner Peck Chay found that he always felt better with a bowl of ramen.
“Whenever I went to a ramen place, it always made me feel better,” Chay said. “Kind of like a comfort food.”
In 2020, Chay and his brother Noi teamed up with friend Ke Wang to open the first Miso Ramen Bar in Cary.
About two years later, they expanded to Raleigh buzzy Gateway Plaza shopping center with a new location. Ke Wang is the main operator.
“We have amazing customers and a loyal fan base that kept us going,” Wang said in 2021 about Miso weathering its opening during COVID. “Right when we first opened we got a good number of customers and then did a good amount of takeout.”
Chay said the partners did a deep dive into ramen to perfect their bowls, traveling to food cities like New York and San Francisco to try and glean any ramen secrets.
“We stood in line, we went all over New York, looking for the best ingredients for our ramen,” Chay said.
Today, Tonkotsu is Miso’s most popular bowl, Chay said.
“We’re very grateful for the love,” Chay said. “It reflects the hard work we put into it, we’re humbled and honored by the results we’re getting.”
This story was originally published November 7, 2025 at 4:08 PM with the headline "The Triangle’s best ramen shop is known for something else. Here’s the secret."
