We were so excited to go to Kinton Ramen's new location at Park Place, Barrie. We had been to one of their locations in Montreal, and we really enjoyed the food and the vibes there. To our surprise, the interior was decorated in the same way. With light wood finishes, brightly lit area and an open concept kitchen.
The food was good but I do wanna add that the service highly impacted my rating of this location. We ordered Hot Karaage (3/5), Pork Gyoza (3/5), Beef Spicy Garlic Ramen (4/5) and Chicken Spicy Jalapeno Ramen (3/5).
The service was unbearably slow and disorganised. There were only 4 other tables who were there before us so we didn't expect the service to be that slow. Just to give a rough idea: we got our karaage 15 minutes after we ordered (which is understandable, it's a normal wait time for an appetizer). We got our ramen 12 minutes after we got our karaage, and after we finished our ramen, we still haven't gotten our gyoza. We then reminded our server, who definitely forgot about it. At this point, we were frustrated. We finally got 4 pieces of gyoza 47 minutes after we initially ordered it. I think seeing other people, who came in after us, getting served their full meals and appetizers made it even more frustrating to be honest. Also, it wasn't just our table who found the service disappointing and frustrating. We saw two customers pay for their drinks and walked out because they were waiting so long for their ramens while they see other customers get theirs. The table next to us were also annoyed at the fact that people who came in after them got their orders taken while the servers completely ignored them. Honestly, Kinton Ramen at Park Place needs to do better. Until then, I would rather drive an hour to a different ramen place instead of coming back here.
Now for the food review:
Hot Karaage was crispy and juicy. The sauce itself was on the sweeter side which I personally wasn't very keen of. You get 3 pieces for 10.99 so I don't think we'd order this again.
Gyoza was also crispy and juicy. The filling was satisfying. I wasn't a fan of the sauce, again personal preference. It was more on the sweeter side. A simple soy sauce dip would've sufficed.
Beef Spicy Garlic Ramen has a nice kick to it. The garlic really heightened the depth of the broth's flavour.
Chicken Spicy Jalapeño Ramen was mild compared to the spicy garlic. It also had a bit of a zesty flavour to it.
They don't have spice levels to their ramens, and I hope they would consider adding them since we love spicy found, and found their spicy ramen did not hit our craving for spicy food. read more