Rapidly Growing Boise Restaurant Opens Third Local Location This Week

Spring has (finally) sprung in the Boise area and it seems like the number of new businesses in our area is blossoming as quickly as our beautiful trees! 

Earlier this year, a new tenant took over the vacant Locavore cafe at the corner of S Bown Way and E Riverwalk Dr in Boise’s bustling Bown Crossing. What we didn’t realize at the time, was that the Southeast Boise location was just ONE of the new locations they were opening in 2023.

Get our free mobile app

The restaurant we’re talking about is Nara Ramen & Izakaya. Their first location on State Street in Boise opened in December 2021 with a menu of appetizers, ramen, steam bun sandwiches rice bowls and teas. They quickly became a neighborhood favorite, achieving a 4.3-star rating on Google and a 4-star rating on Yelp.

When they opened their second Boise area location in Bown Crossing, they expanded the menu. While it still includes all those items from the State Street location, they added nigiri, sashimi and sushi rolls to the menu. 

The expanded menu must have been a hit at the Bown Crossing location because it’s nearly identical to the one listed for the new location at 8675 W Franklin Road in Boise. According to the Japanese restaurant’s Facebook page, the new location is holding a soft opening beginning May 8 during lunch from 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and dinner from 4:30 p.m.-9 p.m. If you want to try the sushi, you’ll have to wait. They say that they won’t be serving sushi during the soft opening, but it will be available soon. 

The new location is moving into a spot that used that once housed Rumbi Island Grille. You’ll find them next to the Crumbl Cookies location that opened in 2019.  

The new Nara Ramen location joins a growing list of new businesses that have opened in the Boise area recently!