How Tanaka has fallen! This my last visit.
Over the years, I came to appreciate them elevating the taste of some of their ramen bowls. This is not the same place, however, that I used to bring family, friends and church members to and watch as they were surprised at how good ramen can be.
Over the years my visits went from frequent, to few and far between due to the service and (lack of) cleanliness.
When I dropped by weeks ago to see the restaurant was closed because the hours have been reduced, I thought this may be the death nell of a once good ramen place.
This was kind of a blessing in disguise becaue I went around the corner to Aji sushi and found a new place which has great ramen, great service, and decent prices, so thank you for being closed at that time Tanaka!
Today I went to Tanaka and must have gotten lucky to visit within the limited time frame that they are open. I pull up and there is a sign that says "cash only". So I go to the ATM and get cash and come back for an experience that I can only label as sad.
First thing I noticed is the fact that the soles of my shoes stuck to the floor as you walk on it. This is anywhere in the restaurant that you walk. You could hear me and others walk as our shoes unstick as you lift your foot when walking. The floor is dark, but when I came back from the restroom, I saw the glare of the sun on the floor and you could see all the footprints embedded in the grime. (This is actually something I forgot had happened last time I was here months ago, which prompts me to wonder if they ever mop the floor.
The bench seating has straws, straw wrappers and other trash in between the planks that make the bench seats. This was another thing I remembered from the last time I was here, but this time with more trash in between the planks.
The service has always been the struggle here, but this it was bad. When I entered there was two parties in the place,out of my peripheral I saw a guy standing near a table but didn't realize he was a server because he was dressed like he was at a picnic in casual shorts and T-shirt, not to mention, neither of the two servers said "Hi" or anything as I walked by them to take a seat. As expected, I was rarely checked on and, of course, I ran out of water and had to wait forever for a refill. Mind you, at this point there was only me and another table there.
The servers were busy, however. One was busy dancing to the music to impress the other and the other was busy on his phone, or just standing around with the other guy.
When I got my food, my main course came out before my appetizer, which arrived several minutes after the ramen.
I asked for my ramen spicy as I always do and all the other times, it looks like the mix chili oil or some other neutral tasting spice in it. This time they just "plopped" a gob of sone thick chili paste that had a pronounced sweet yet pungent flavor, it wasn't even mixed into the broth (although with that odd flavor, I'm glad it wasn't mixed in). I had to remove it, along with many of the noodles, since this paste stuck to the noodles. The broth was not flavorful like it used to be, and a lot of the ramen noodles were clumpy and hard, so I had to discard them. I hadn't ever even considered hard clumpy noodles because, in the past, the noodles were always cooked perfectly.
As I was eating I noticed the wall that was immediately to my left, had splatters of stuck on, dried food all over, which is pretty gross. I was afraid to scrutinize the place anymore because I'm sure that I could find many more filthy, uncleaned areas, within a five foot radius without even trying. I couldn't help but think that the servers that were doing essentially nothing (they sure as heck were not being attentive to me or the other table that was there) could have been CLEANING this FOOD ESTABLISHMENT. What a concept!
This is the last time I will be giving this place my money in return for bad service, a filthy establishment food that is not great. Plus I have to wonder: if the staff doesn't care about having a clean, safe dining room, what must the kitchen and back of house look like? read more