つけ麺大王蒲田東口２号店

(Dined 10÷13÷14 M @ 12:00pm): Cheap, local and simple good food walking distance from the Sotetsu Fresa Inn Hotel and surrounding train stations!
Having travelled over 24 hours and not able to check into the hotel, my friend and I roamed the neighborhood streets in the rain and came across つけ麺大王蒲田東口２号店 less than a block away. This marked our first official meal in Tokyo, and if this was any indication of things to come, we were going to enjoy our culinary romp all throughout Japan and Southeast Asia!:
17-​oz. Suntory Malt Draft Beer Bottle (approx. ¥500 JPY/​$ 5.00 USD) and Yakisoba (approx. ¥400 JPY/​$ 4.00 USD) — Sampling the local brew was a must in my travels, and I couldn’t help but think this one tasted too much like a lite American beer — bleh. Maybe it had something to do with the label that looked like an older Miller Genuine Draft label. Although I drank it, I wouldn’t order it again. The yakisoba was a mound of beautiful noodles mixed with pieces of pork, various vegetables, scrabbled egg, pickled ginger, a sprinkling of seaweed powder and a soothingly warm broth. All freshly prepared and hot when it arrived, the portion was piled so high it seemed like forever before I found the bottom of the plate. But I hungrily dove in and devoured it all!
Fried Squid (approx. ¥350 JPY/​$ 3.50 USD) — Brought out steaming hot, these crunchy oily golden pieces of squid (even a shrimp snuck in!) were still very moist on the inside but were kind of bland, so I added some hot chili pepper sauce and vinegar to each bite and all was good! Heck, I even ate the shredded lettuce just for the greens!
Service — Greeted by a kind older woman, the language barrier was about to be tested. Luckily, hand gestures and the universal language of food guided us through. We sat at a rickety table bar that ran along a wall. Thanks to the menu which had pictures (no English descriptions), we pointed from one item to the next. There was only one other customer who already had his food. Our drinks came out immediately. Less than five minutes later our main entrée. And since we were still hungry after our meal, we order one more dish which arrived another five minutes later. The same woman brought our food and cleared away the empty plates and bottles. The check was presented after the last dish, we paid, and off we went in hopes of checking into our hotel by now. Easy peasy.
Parking (n/​a) — Located at a corner on some back alley street, I guess you were able to park on the «sidewalk» if you had a bike, moped, or motorcycle. Otherwise, we walked a block or so from the hotel, so not an issue for us.
Atmosphere, décor, ambience — A simple small corner eatery filled with a couple short communal wooden tables, a couple standalone wooden tables, and a table bar with stools (where we ate) filled the tiny dank room which had an exposured kitchen that filled the place with the aroma of whatever was cooking. This was a total hole-​in-​the-​wall kind of place and I loved it! Beer posters hung on the gritty walls. No natural lighting except at the glass door, so it was dim electric lighting and any flames you saw that arose from the kitchen. There were a couple TVs as we followed Typhoon Vongfong, but no background music.
Attire — Totally casual, so I would normally be in a t-​shirt, boardshorts, and flip-​flops.
Overall, つけ麺大王蒲田東口２号店 was a wonderful first meal in Tokyo on this vacation and certainly what the doctor ordered after traveling for over 24 hours and respectable airplane food. No one spoke English, which was fine — and honestly, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. The prices were cheap, the service was quick, and it was a shame we didn’t make time to try other items on the surprisingly varied menu. I found very good value based on the prices, service, and experience noted above (total paid experience was around $ 13.00 USD before tip). Cash only, which meant they didn’t accept credit cards especially mine of choice… AMEX! 4.0 STARS