3.5 stars for this ramen spot, overall service was minimal. They brought us menus and our food and drinks as ordered. No other extra interaction except if you needed the bill, a refill or a container to go. That said, they were friendly when asked.
The menu has a few appetizers - think dumplings, takoyaki, tempura, and fried tofu to name a few. For entrees, there were a few ramen choices, rice bowls and salad bowls offered. Definitely beer and sake options. Based on the decor and menu, I couldn't quite figure out if they were trying to be a more premium experience or a straight Izakaya style dining. Seems to be trying on both but not quite delivering that experience.
My family decided to try three appetizers and three different entrees to get a sense of their menu. For starters, we had the vegetable tempura - very generous portion of tempura battered veggies. But it lacked flavor. Even the dipping sauce was very light. Nice presentation but it didn't save the dish. The next was the pork gyoza. Typical - lightly Pan fried. Sauce was better here, definitely dumpling sauce/soy sauce based. And we ordered the Takoyaki - fried squid balls. It was also a generous appetizer portion, great for sharing with a group. Flavor wise, it needed some spice or some seasoning to finish. It was topped with the fish flakes but it didn't lend to the overall flavor.
Entrees: miso ramen - this came with char siu which was a bit smoky in flavor but again, lacked the salt as expected in a typical ramen broth (we were allowed to choose a broth by the way) and we added tofu as an extra topping; next was the spicy tonkatsu ramen - hubby says the ramen was a hint of spicy but for the heat seeking fans, it would not be spicy enough. And he doesn't normally order that so it was definitely on the mild side. Broth was decent but not memorable. And lastly, I ordered the ribeye beef rice bowl, which to my surprise, they did ask how I wanted my beef prepared! Cool. It was the perfect color and sear as I did ask for medium rare but it was definitely more rare than medium. Didn't bother me enough to send it back but it could've used another minute on the cook time. I saw they had a sauce in the rice bowl, slightly sweet but it was so light. I added more soy sauce for that extra salt. And the salad that came on the side of the bowl, dressing was also too light but that was okay. I could've asked for more dressing but opted not to since I didn't have to have it. We did ask for black garlic on the side to add to the miso ramen so I stole some from that and tossed it into my bowl for extra flavor.
Overall room for improvement. A decent spot to hit up at any rate. read more