Ashland's Doragon Ramen Announces Next Chapter

ASHLAND, MA — Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, one thing became more clear to the public than it had been in years prior: Running a restaurant is expensive.

At Doragon Ramen, the beloved Ashland ramen restaurant, rising costs were a piece of the decision for a recently announced transition, but not the full story.

Alan and Paponake MacIntosh shared that Doragon Ramen will soon become Doragon Eatery, a restaurant that will trade in the ramen for smash burgers, fried chicken sandwiches and other options.

The food will retain its quality, with food made from scratch using the "freshest high-quality ingredients," they said.

It's true, too, that a smaller ramen presence may stay on the menu, as well as another favorite menu item.

"The new menu will have our famous chicken wings and possibly a ramen or two as well," ownership said.

So the question remains, why the change?

Ownership said that, since Doragon opened five years ago, several other restaurants have opened locally serving ramen and "the cost of operating a from scratch ramen restaurant has become unsustainable."

Still, the folks behind the new concept are excited for the change, even if it comes with cost as a primary reason.

The new concept will begin at the beginning of March.