Ambience - Very open dining room with some very colorful painting on the wall. There is a few other decor items that are Japanese but it is mostly pretty simple. If you ever came here when it was Mesa Rosa then you know what it looks like. Same tables, booths, counters and the whole nine yards. Least from what i can remember. But it is definitively a much more welcoming vibe than its predecessor. The old vibe was very dark and gloomy. But overall it is a decent looking store with a nice atmosphere.
Menu - I dont know if this is the whole menu since it is still in its early soft opening stage. But the menu is comprised of 6 or 7 ramen bowls and then a section to add more toppings and then a small side item menu. Each bowl looked fairly diverse and very pleasing. The way the menu works is you first choose your broth setting. Which is light, regular or stout. But i have no idea what the difference is. Maybe the consistency or how thick it is? Idk. then you choose which bowl style, then what Chasu and then add more toppings if you want. I like the idea of being able to add more items to a bowl but some of the extras were kind of expensive. Especially some that you find standard at other Ramen joints. The normal ingredients in each bowl are pretty simple and standard with most the dishes coming with woodear mushrooms and green onions and maybe one or 2 other things. It feels like they are pushing hard for you to buy extras to improve a "simple" bowl. Not that the standard ingredients arent good, but it can definitely be a nickel and dime situation depending on what extra items you get. The menu isnt large but thats ok because then they can focus one a select few items and execute them well. Some of the veggies are pretty cheap thou for only an extra 50 cents.
Service - The service was really good. Definitely a brand new crew with a few select employees who know what they are doing. I sat near the main counter where the manager and other employees congregated at. I could hear one of the employees, who has obviously been with the company for awhile, showing the others how to use the POS, explain the menu and answer a bunch of other questions. The servers were definitely green as can be. I dont think any of them have served ever in their life, but thats not a bad thing. Because they all had that wide eyed unadulterated jaded vibe that veteran servers can have. They were all very friendly and very ambitious. My server was very peppy and go get'em. I could see she was trying to find things to as she filled up my water when it was not even half empty... (or half full? Hmm....) Anyways, the staff was all wonderful and all excited about a new location. So i hope they can keep that vibe
Food - I went with the Michi Bowl which i was told is the most popular. I got it regular broth with pork belly and it came with mayu oil, green onions, woodear and nori. Plus i added corn since there wasnt alot going on and it was only 50 cents. The portion size of the bowl was very standard size bowl. The one good thing i noticed was that the corn i added was actually a very generous portion. So in light of that, then yeah if each portion size of extras are that much then yeah sure ill add more to my bill. Anyways, the broth itself was a very subtle but tasty broth. It wasnt robust or complex but a nice simple tasty broth. It was almost a little to watery thou for my preference. But is was still good. The pork belly was about the size of CD which is a decent size. The pork had a very unique taste that i cant quite explain. At first bite it tasted weird but then turned into a tasty aftertaste. I dont know how to explain really but it was really good and something i havent experienced before. The pork itself was cooked well and wasnt dry or tough anywhere. The noodles thou were very surprising in that there really wasnt that much. Normally places overload the whole bowl to where it is mostly just noodles. Im not sure if i was upset or intrigued. I cant say that there wasnt enough because i was full and satisfied. And i cant say they didnt put enough just because other places overload on noodles. But maybe just the right amount, at least for me anyways. It was definitely a well balanced condiment ratio. But overall my ramen dish was good. It had some good flavor, consistency and portion size.
Overall - I really enjoyed the atmosphere, service and my food. The whole add on extras is still a bit perplexing to me since the bowls are fairly simple ingredient wise. A lot of those extras are standard at other places. But i guess this is how they roll. But the food was good and very filling. If you want a complex bowl then you better be ready to fork over some extra lettuce. It is nice to have a Ramen place right down the road from where i live thou. So if you looking for some good Ramen then stop by. read more