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The story
Suke-san Udon, hailing from Kitakyushu in Fukuoka, came under the umbrella of Skylark Holdings in 2024 and has since been expanding into Tokyo. However, long-time fans have been vocal with harsh criticism that “the taste declined after the acquisition” — the company says it hasn’t changed how it prepares its dashi broth, though there are reports it has avoided commenting directly on the noodles. On 5ch, opinions were split over whether the taste really changed, or whether it’s simply down to regional differences in seasoning between Kanto and Kyushu, or just people’s assumptions.
Since its founding in 1976 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Suke-san Udon has long been beloved by locals as a “soul food.” In 2024 it reached a major turning point when it was acquired by Skylark Holdings, and has since transformed into a nationwide chain.
The “Suke-san School” Begins
Last February, the chain opened its first Tokyo location in Ryogoku, and now operates five stores in the city. While it’s pushing to spread “Fukuoka udon” in a downtown market where it hasn’t traditionally had a foothold, longtime devotees have been sending in harsh reviews saying things like “the taste has changed” — an unexpected headwind. Since these complaints have only surfaced since the acquisition, some are even suggesting it may have been a bad move.
Source: news.infoseek.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
It's purely a matter of preference.
Because it's so simple, it's actually hard to keep consistent.
There are probably customers with sensitive palates who feel it's a different dish entirely just because the water changed.
Even with soba, the texture changes depending on who's making it.
Since you can get noodles anywhere, having your own distinct character really matters.
I never order udon when eating out, so I've never been to either Suke-san or Marugame.
Tokyo's broth is that dark, soy-sauce-flavored kind,
but Fukuoka's is a clear soup made with kashiwa (chicken) dashi.
It's hugely different between Kanto and Kansai, right?
I'm guessing they probably shifted the flavor to be more Kanto-style.
The dashi is just different.
I'm Team Suke-san myself.
Is Marugame even any good?
So it's basically 'Jona-san Udon' now, huh.
The Skylark group's other brands are struggling hard.
Their yakiniku and steak places especially are in rough shape,
so they'll probably keep aggressively converting them into udon shops.
Near me, two Gusto locations have already switched over to a different format.
It's possible the flavor gets muddled if they don't drain the noodles properly.
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Locals: 'Fukuoka's got soul food too! It's so good, Tokyoites will be blown away.'
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Tokyoites: 'Isn't this kind of bad?'
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Locals: 'Right, it must be that the acquisition changed the taste!'
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Locals: 'The acquisition changed the taste!'
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Suke-san: 'Huh? We haven't changed our suppliers or cooking methods' (official statement)
In a YouTube video I watched yesterday, it said management has only explicitly confirmed the dashi hasn't changed, and that they've avoided saying clearly whether the noodles have changed or not.
So… have the noodles actually stayed the same too?
The food industry has a lot of annoying guys who just want to show off as 'a man who can tell the difference.'
It just tastes like your average chain udon.
What was even the big selling point?
The complaint is that it can't even hit the quality level it used to have as a chain.
And on top of that, the original local stores have apparently been downgraded to match, which makes it even worse.
Marugame's just reliably never a miss.
For me it's Suke-san or Dondon.
Are you from Yamaguchi Prefecture?
Same here lol.
Dondon's good.
Dondon's also great because it comes out so fast.
Nope, Hiroshima here — two locations popped up near me at ridiculous speed, it's funny lol. It's a flavor I really like.
I've actually been to a Suke-san location in Kitakyushu, and thought, 'with this taste and portion size at this price, no wonder it's thriving.'
Places like Ohsho still have staff actually wok-cooking even as a chain.
So it can be done when you commit to it.
The ones who survive that training just have a different level of grit, I guess.
There's a lot of variation — some locations are bad, some are good.
That's exactly why Ohsho's taste varies by location.
Even at the same store, you can tell, like 'ah, today's not a day when the fried-rice-skilled staffer is working…'
If freshly-fried tempura is the selling point, then serving it cold or with lukewarm broth is just not okay lol.
Is this kind of nonsensical writing AI-generated? Guess it still hasn't fixed its weird punctuation.
Japanese people argue endlessly about taste whether it's udon or anything else —
what are you even talking about lol
Tokyoite: 'I tried it, wasn't anything special.'
Fukuoka local: 'T-that's because Suke-san Udon's taste has declined!'
Isn't that basically what's going on here?
Fukuoka local: 'Osaka's udonsuki is the tastiest.'
Everyone else: 'Isn't udon supposed to be YOUR soul food!'
That's more like it.
At the end of the day, I think it tastes good because you're eating it on-site with the whole atmosphere included (´･ω･｀). Ichiran gets trashed by Fukuoka locals, but once after a night out we decided to grab ramen after our hotel baths, went to the main store late at night, and it was weirdly delicious.
Ah, yeah, this.
It's been a so-so udon place from way back anyway.
Marugame's already blanketed the entire Japanese archipelago, so it's kind of wild that Skylark decided to go into udon anyway.
Even without an existing udon brand in the Skylark group, I feel like it's just too late to break into that genre at this point…
Yeah it's kind of dumb, and on top of that Fukuoka udon just isn't that tasty to begin with.
Udon's good when it has that Sanuki-style chewiness (koshi), but if it doesn't have that, it's barely different from the pre-boiled noodles you rinse under a tap.
That's because it's not meant to be enjoyed for its chewiness (koshi) —
your whole concept is just poisoned by this obsession with koshi.
For what it's worth, Fukuoka has more udon shops than ramen shops,
and the history goes back to the Edo period.
In other words, Fukuoka is the real udon prefecture, it just lets other regions have the spotlight because Fukuoka has so many other great foods.
Personally, I prefer udon that's
soft and loose rather than noodles with that springy, chewy koshi.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Suke-san Udon was integrated into Skylark Holdings in 2024, and while its profile shot up once it entered the Tokyo market, criticism that “the taste has declined” grew louder among longtime fans back in Kitakyushu. The company states that its dashi preparation hasn’t changed, though there are reports it has avoided making a clear statement about the noodle-making process — and from the article alone, it’s impossible to tell how much of this is an actual change versus an assumption along the lines of “the management changed, so the taste must have gotten worse.” In the thread, two explanations for the “taste changed” impression ran in parallel: one pointing to a fundamental regional difference in broth seasoning between Kanto and Kyushu (a clear chicken-dashi soup versus a dark soy-sauce-based broth), and another citing precedents like Ringer Hut, where turning a hands-on artisan process into a standardized, chain-wide procedure tends to lower quality.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “‘Bring it back to how it was at opening’ — Suke-san Udon, hit hard by criticism over its post-acquisition ‘taste decline,’ takes the drastic step of closing stores in a bid for a comeback.”
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