SoHo Soba Noodle Shop, 20 Seats, $20 Zaru: Soba Ulala

Soba Ulala, at 73 Thompson Street, has only 20 seats and takes bookings on Resy exactly 14 days ahead, so a table here is planned rather than stumbled into. It opened on March 31, 2026, in the room where the Hirohisa team ran its restaurant for thirteen years. Dinner starts at 5:30 pm Tuesday through Saturday, and a cold Zaru costs $20 on the evening menu.

The restaurant's site describes Soba Ulala as a new concept created by the Hirohisa team, in the same Thompson Street space where Hirohisa welcomed guests for thirteen years. Chef Hirohisa Hayashi's earlier restaurant was known for precise, seasonal Japanese cooking, and that sensibility carries over: the menu is short, the noodles are the point, and the plates around them are small and seasonal rather than a long list of extras.

New York press coverage of the opening framed it as one of the city's notable new soba spots of 2026. For anyone who ate at Hirohisa, the room will feel familiar. For everyone else, it is a rare chance to eat soba made by a team with a fine-dining background at prices that start well below a tasting menu.

The C and E trains at Spring Street leave you about five minutes from the door, walking east and then north into the quiet low-rise blocks of Thompson Street. The block is residential enough that the small facade is easy to miss. Look for the noren curtain rather than a big sign.

Lunch opens at 12:00 pm Tuesday through Friday, and dinner opens at 5:30 pm Tuesday through Saturday. The site does not list Sunday or Monday service. Resy handles parties of one to five, released 14 days in advance, and groups of six or more have to contact the restaurant directly. With 20 seats, prime dinner slots go fast, so set a reminder for the release day if you have a specific date in mind.

Soba Ulala runs a tight room and says so plainly. There is a 15-minute grace period for late arrivals, table time is limited to two hours, and the no-show fee is $100 per person for dinner and $50 per person for lunch. Parties of five or more get a 20% gratuity added automatically.

One more rule matters for planning: the noodles are not prepared for takeout. Fresh soba loses its texture within minutes, and the kitchen would rather not sell it than send it out in a box. If you cannot sit down, this is not your lunch.

The evening menu lists Zaru at $20 and Kake, the plain hot version in broth, also at $20. Those two are the purest expression of the kitchen and the best way to judge the noodle. Ten Zaru at $38 adds a plate of tempura, and it is the order most first-timers end up wanting once they see one pass by.

For something more composed, Yakumi Yasai at $25 brings seasonal vegetables and aromatics, Tori-Kinoko at $28 pairs chicken with mushrooms in a warming bowl, and Kamo Nanban at $35 is the duck-and-leek classic. Uni at $85 is the luxury outlier. The honest call is to skip the uni on a first visit and spend the difference on a second bowl, cold zaru plus hot tori-kinoko, so you taste the noodle both ways.

Cold or hot is the real decision. Cold zaru keeps the noodle firm and lets the buckwheat aroma come through, so it is the order that shows off a soba kitchen. Hot kake softens the strands within a few minutes, which is why you eat it right away rather than talking over it. In a 20-seat room where the bowl arrives seconds after leaving the pot, either one is at its best the moment it lands, so start eating before you take a photo.

At lunch the soba section is pared back, with plain Soba Noodles listed at $26 on the lunch menu PDF, six dollars more than the plain Zaru on the dinner card. If the goal is simply to taste the noodle for the least money, dinner is the better deal here, which runs against the usual Manhattan rule that lunch is the cheap meal.

Lunch does have one advantage: the room is calmer, and a seat at noon on a Tuesday is far easier to land than Saturday at 7pm.

Twenty seats make for a quiet, close room. Expect neighborhood couples from the West Village and SoHo, longtime Hirohisa diners returning to a familiar room, and Japanese food enthusiasts who track openings closely. Conversation stays low. This is not a place for a loud birthday table.

The restaurant may ask for photo ID when a non-chip credit card is used, a small detail that catches out visitors paying with older foreign cards. Bring a chip card or a second option.

Dominique Ansel Bakery on Spring Street is a few minutes south, still worth a stop for a pastry before or after an early lunch. Walking north up Thompson Street brings you to Washington Square Park in under ten minutes, where the arch, the fountain and the street musicians make for an easy half hour on a mild autumn evening.

If your Resy slot is late, spend the early evening in the park and walk back down Thompson as the shops close. The street quiets noticeably after 7pm.

Soba Ulala is at 73 Thompson Street, New York. Lunch opens at 12:00 pm Tuesday to Friday and dinner opens at 5:30 pm Tuesday to Saturday. Reserve on Resy, 14 days ahead, for parties of one to five. Groups of six or more contact the restaurant. No-show fee: $100 per person at dinner, $50 at lunch. No takeout noodles.

Prices from the current menus: dinner Zaru $20, Kake $20, Yakumi Yasai $25, Tori-Kinoko $28, Kamo Nanban $35, Ten Zaru $38, Uni $85. Lunch Soba Noodles $26. Karpo APP can flag the Resy release date so you book the moment tables open.