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Stopped in for lunch earlier this week** As soon as you walk in, there is an iPad where you can check in with your name and number of people in your party. I put my name down and waited but I noticed that the host was seating people who were walking right in and not going off the list. What’s the point of signing in if people who come in after me get seated first? My coworker and I finally got seated at the bar. She ordered the chicken shoyu ramen and I ordered the spicy miso ramen with an egg. Our food arrived pretty quickly and the first couple bites tasted great. As I started digging around in my food I noticed a black piece of hair stuck to my egg. I flagged our server down and let him know there was a hair in my ramen. At first he didn’t see it, so I pointed to it and he got closer. His response was “okay” which is what kind of annoyed me. I felt as if he was like “what do you want me to do about it?” As we stared at my bowl of ramen for what felt like an awkward 30 seconds, he asks me “do you want me to bring you a new egg?” A NEW EGG?! He should have offered to bring me a new bowl of ramen.. but at this point I had already lost my appetite. He then asked if I would just like to have him take the bowl away to which I replied “yes please” So not only did he not offer me a new bowl of ramen, he came back 10 minutes later and asked if my coworker and I were paying together or separate. I then asked him if I still had to pay for the bowl of ramen that I barely ate that had a hair in it…. he then decided that that was a good time to tell the manager… the second I complained about hair in my food is when he should’ve brought it to his managers attention. The manager came over and talked to me and apologized for what had happened and asked if there was anything he could bring me(a new bowl of ramen or a different item from the menu) but I politely declined so I was on my lunch break and had very little time left. He apologized again and said that he hoped we would return to give them a second chance and that he was taking care of our entire bill. Which I really appreciated. I only expected him to take care of my bowl but he took care of my coworkers bowl as well. My coworker and I work different shifts so we don’t get to have lunch together very often or ever, so the fact that this was our experience kind of made the whole situation worse.

Mitaka Japanese Ramen House – Menu with Prices – 6749 Manatee Ave W, Bradenton

2.5/5 stars….the food is lack luster, the atmosphere could be better, what Mitaka feels like is an IMPRESSION of what a good ramen place might look like…. but falls very short. The food is overpriced for the quality they are serving, everything I ate while here was ….disappointing, the gyoza had very little flavor, the broth was sweet and heavy…not things that come to mind when lm I think of ramen, the noodles were chewy and damn it why does EVERY ramen bowl they serve have egg … even the vegetarian ramen (kind of defeats the purpose there if you add egg) NOT impressed by the experience, atmosphere or the food, staff however was friendly so that is a plus but that is about all I can say positive about the experience. This would be a good place to go if don’t really care about questionable ramen or you just don’t know better For what the food costs I definitely wont be back for $6for 6gyoza and $13.50 for a bowl of spicy ramen that i couldn’t bring myself to finish.

Sarussi Cafeteria and Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 3678 W 12th Ave, Hialeah

I called them to place an order, I asked if they have the fritanga BOWL, they said yes. I was so excited to get it. I got there and they gave me a fritanga WRAP. I asked if they have a bowl and the lady then tells me she doesn’t know what that is and that it’s the only thing fritanga that they have. I said I saw it online that they have a bowl she still didn’t understand, she then told me that I should have looked at the ingredients before I ordered it, I saw the item on their Facebook page and they told me that they had the BOWL available. I then asked for a manager, which she had a hard time understanding then asked me, “well what to you want me to do for you” with an obvious attitude. She finally got me a manager because you could clearly see I was upset, but I wasn’t an irate customer. The manager came and with an attitude asked me, “well what do you want me to do for you” before we even spoke. I told her that online I saw this fritanga BOWL and she told me that they were different owners with the same name, which is understandable but I told her that I asked the person over the phone twice if they have the fritanga BOWL to which the person said yes, her response to me saying that was, “they don’t understand the difference between a bowl or a wrap and don’t know what a bowl is”. What?! I even asked them in Spanish?! How many other ways should I have asked? That’s not even the worst part, as she is getting me my money back a customer asked the manager what had happened, she processed to tell him what was going on. What kind of professionalism is that? I tried to make it to where I wasn’t making a scene, I never wanted my bad experience to taint anyone else’s in the restaurant but she went out of her way to make me the bad guy to another customer, and showed her lack of professionalism. The service was so bad! I’ll never be going back here again. These people just don’t care about you, they just want to take your money and get you out the door.

Pok’e Noodle – Menu with Prices – 9090 Destiny USA Dr #9748, Syracuse

I wasn’t expecting to have my lunch today in Destiny USA, but the original ramen location I had picked didn’t open until later in the day… and after checking my Yelp app, I noticed the listing for Poke Noodle. I didn’t have the poke itself, since I went for the ramen, so I can’t give an opinion on the poke. The folks ahead of me in line at Poke Noodle ordered a poke bowl and it looked quite delicious. Perhaps an update to this review will be needed later AFTER I’ve tried the poke too. Anyway! The ramen special of the day was tonkotsu, which is a variation of ramen I always love to try when visiting a new spot… but one which I’m also very picky about, especially with regards to the flavor/quality of the broth. As I’ve noted in other reviews for ramen spots, the goal with tonkotsu broth is to have the kind of flavor that only really comes from slow-cooking the pork (bone-in) in broth for a long, Long, LONG time. After all that slow-cooking, you should find little, teeny droplets of collagen/drippings that come from that pork/pork bone broth having been cooking away for hours and hours and hours. For tonkotsu, this is where all the delicious flavor comes from. *drool* The tonkotsu broth here at Poke Noodle did have a couple little droplets of fat in it, and the broth did have some good flavor. I don’t think the pork was cooked in the broth for hours and hours, but there does seem like it was given some time… because while I’ve had better broth, I’ve also had MUCH worse. It’s not the kind of broth or ramen that I’ll specifically crave again, but I won’t turn down a return visit here for ramen if/when in Destiny USA either. Side note: I *DO* appreciate that they included corn AND toasted sesame seeds as toppings for the tonkotsu ramen. I really enjoy the texture they both provided, and my favorite ramen dishes always seem to have corn in them. In terms of overall service and price, I would say that the service is fine… nothing exceptional, but the staff here is certainly nice. Price for the ramen was in the expected range (I usually assume about $10-$12 for a ramen bowl – and the tonkotsu ramen special was $10.99). TL;DR Middle of the road ramen experience – so really, it boils down to convenience. If in Destiny USA again? I won’t pass up trying Poke Noodle again.

Aji Ramen Bar – Menu with Prices – 301 N Shackleford Rd Suite F3, Little Rock

A small ramen spot laid out in a narrow way. They have a handful of tables (maybe about six) to seat four people along the walls and then bar seating basically along the other wall. A bit warm on the inside, but not so much that it was miserable or even that distracting. The menu is pretty small, but they did have an extra paper with some new menu items… though even with some more options I’d still say the menu was pretty small. I went with the chicken ramen. It came in pork broth (which I thought was interesting since it was chicken ramen, but that’s probably pretty common and I just never noticed before). I thought it was good but pretty simple. I would have liked the flavor overall, and specifically the broth, to be more powerful. I did really enjoy that it came with a soft boiled egg instead of having to order it as an “extra” like some other places. I also liked the chili hair since I’ve never tried it before and it looked cool. It added a tiny bit of spice. The noodles were thinner than I’ve had with this kind of ramen, it was more similar to the thickness of packaged ramen. They gave a good amount of chicken and the chunks were pretty big. To me it had a soy sauce flavor, like the chicken was cooked in it or something. I didn’t eat any of the seaweed paper but I liked that it was there still because it added a little more flavor to have it kind of continue to soak in the broth. The staff was very nice too!

Leo’s Lodge – Menu with Prices – 2525 E Jolly Rd, Lansing

The group of people I went to training with decided to come here as a group. We came in during a busy lunch rush, but got seated immediately. Unfortunately, we all ordered items that take a but longer. I ordered a burger. We realized we did not have enough time. When the waitress came, we asked if she was able to bring boxes and the check, in case we needed to rush out to drive back. The waitress was super kind and accommodating to our needs. She brought boxes and the checks. She came back quickly as well the collect the bills to that we could tip and get our card back. She apologized for the time it took, but it was not her fault. It was our fault for thinking we had time to sit and dine. I really loved the atmosphere in this restaurant. It was quite nice inside, and the waitress was kind throughout. Sadly, I was in a rush and could not take any pictures. I am hoping to visit this place again some day and add pictures.

Nikugen Steak & Ramen – Menu with Prices – 4710 Preston Rd #300, Frisco

Ordered 2 types of buns. Chicken buns 2/5 Fried chicken chunks in a bun, $5 for 2 pieces. Average but the sauce they put on it, was too spicy. My kid couldn’t eat it. Honestly , you put Chick fil a chicken on Chinese buns, it tastes better than this!!! Hey I’ll try that later. Chasu / pork bun 4/5 Slightly better since for whatever reasons, they didn’t put that much sauce (same spicy sauce as on the chicken buns) on it. At least my kid could eat this. The meat was sliced ok, not too thin. Meat wasn’t chewy but didn’t melt in our mouth, either. Just acceptable. Black garlic ramen 4/5 I liked the soup. Their ramen was so thin and straight like angel hair pasta. The soup was very subtle (read : I’m used to stronger both). It depends on your taste. Hubby who likes stronger tasting ramen soup didn’t like it as much. It came with only 2 pieces of pork. Like someone already mentioned, why wouldn’t the restaurant peel the egg for us? Instead we must labor and peel it ourself . Nikugen ramen 3/5 Same angel hair pasta with subtle soup. Nothing memorable. Portion was not that big. Black garlic ramen was $11, Nikugen ramen $10 but black garlic was in a big bowl while Nikugen yeahhh just in standard size bowl. The hibachi stuff yeah, they are $15 and up, even kids meal is $11-12. So a little pricey . Nice decor

Otsuka Ramen & Bar – Menu with Prices – 10949 Magnolia Ave, Riverside

Great Ramen Joint in Riverside! So despite many warning reviews that I read both here and on Google, I decided to try the ramen here myself. I’m an avid ramen eater so I figured I’d have a good feel for the ramen. So first thing’s first, the actual restaurant location is pretty cool. It has a very modern, cool feel to it. Once you go inside, you’ll see the “ramen” lanterns and their bowls on display. I was seated right away and handed a menu. It seemed like most of their offerings were tonkotsu based, so now I just needed to pick which one I wanted. I opted for the Ultimate white tonkotsu and also ordered some “vegetable gyoza”. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of vegetable substitutes, but these were pretty good! Once I recieved my ramen, I decided to ask the waitress about the smell that some reviewers had noticed. She said that it had to do with the type of bamboo they were ordering. If you’re unfamiliar with bamboo, it does have a strong scent to it, depending on how it’s braised. She said that after reading some of the reviews, they decided to change the type they were ordering and that fixed the smell. It did seem to work because I was expecting to smell it when I stepped in the door, and I didn’t. Anyway, onto the ramen! I always taste the soup first and despite what I had read it was really good! There were little oil bubbles and fatty fragments in the soup, which is always a good sign if you’re looking for flavor. I really enjoyed the noodles! They were chewy and cooked very well. The chashu may have been my favorite part. The flavor was very good and it was a little on the sweet side. The egg was perfectly flavored and cooked. The pieces of narutomaki were bigger than the ones I’m used to buying at the supermarket or getting at other ramen restaurants. Oh! Something I don’t normally see being used as a topping for ramen was tempura. There was a good sized shrimp tempura in my bowl and I went for it right away once I noticed it. I would suggest to eat that as soon as you get your bowl so your tempura doesn’t get soggy. Overall, I had a pretty good experience here at Otsuka ramen. I took a peek to see how they were making the chashu and it was pretty cool to see them torch it! Next time I come, I’m going to go for the black garlic tonkotsu, since I’m a big fan of that flavor!

HiroNori Craft Ramen – Menu with Prices – 163 S Lake Ave, Pasadena

The rating is more based on service rather than food. Here we go. We arrived on Sunday around 6pm-ish. We walk in and we were told to put our name down on the iPad and to wait outside. The employee mentioned that we shouldn’t have to wait long because a table had already paid and they should be leaving soon. So the moment we sit outside to wait, we see the table leave. Then we see another party leave. Then another. Oh..2 more parties. It’s been 15 minutes now. Literally 15 minutes and 5 tables have left with more than 2 people and we were still waiting. My bf asked when we would be seated and they said a few more minutes. I just didn’t get it. So we sat down, and our waiter…while he was nice, he has a thick accent and his English was so so. Both my bf and I were looking to order the Tonkotsu ramen combo for $15.05 and when I asked about the rice bowl, the waiter said it was JUST a side of white rice. I was confused..I thought we could choose between the rice bowls they had, and so he said no..just rice. My bf then said he didn’t want the combo and just the ramen. So we ordered that, then the waiter asks which bowl I would like. Wha? You ARE able to choose between the bowls they had, so he confused the hell out of us, and when he reread our order, he only had one tonkotsu combo, but not my bf’s ramen. I told my bf why not get the combo, but since our waiter was confused..he honestly didn’t even want to bother with confusing him more. So I got the combo with the pork bowl. We also ordered a side of their chicken karaage for $5.50 The food came out really fast..the salad was refreshing, the pork was really really delicious and a hefty portion. Chicken was pretty good, but I didn’t like the sauce at all. Good portion, good flavors. The ramen wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. It was missing something. I did love how you can choose between thin or thick noodles (I chose thick) and it was the perfect chewiness. The broth was also thick, but the flavor wasn’t all there. Definitely one of the better ramen places in Pasadena, though!

LongHorn Steakhouse – Menu with Prices – 2310 Lincoln Hwy E, Lancaster

We used call ahead seating, which was great – we were seated within 5mins of arrival at 5:20pm (2 adults, 2 children). Our waitress Mya was very nice, took our drink/appetizer order promptly. When she came back, we were ready with our order. She left and we sat and chatted watching the tables around us. People who had ordered after us were getting their salads… then their meals… and we still didn’t have our salads and no sign of Mya. When she finally walked past our table (wasn’t stopping, but i caught her attention) I asked if our salads would be arriving. She said yes and left. She came back and apologized – she had forgot to put our order in and that the kitchen was going to ‘fast track it’ (we all had steak and mine was to be well done). over an hour later, we still didn’t have our meals. She didn’t offer to bring anything for the kids to snack on… she did offer more bread. We spent 2 hours total at the restaurant… not once did a manager or anyone stop by to check on us. I took our youngest to the bathroom and saw another waitress and asked her if she would have a manager stop at our table. I told her we’ve been here over an hour and that our waitress forgot to put our order in – she responded “Oh, I heard about that”. The kitchen manager came out a few mins later and apologized. She also said she gave us a ‘deep discount’ – which was the employee 25% off. I was expecting WAY more than that – and at that point, the meal should’ve been free. This was one of our worst dining experiences and we will not be going back again. Our Father’s Day dinner was definitely unforgettable. I’m thankful for my husband who grabbed the Kindle Fire on the way out the door…otherwise, our 4yr old would’ve been a mess.

Yume Wo Katare – Menu with Prices – 1923 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge

Yume is SO SO SO good. Probably one of my top places on my recommendation list if someone were to ask me where to get a bowl of noodles in the Boston area. Both Yume Wo Katare and Yume Ga Arukara are located steps from Porter Square. After heading out of the Porter Square T Station, head to the right past the Dunkin Donuts and you’ll probably spot a line for this place. This place is DEFINITELY POPULAR so get here Early Early Early if you don’t want to wait. The restaurant is small, seating maybe only 18 people or so at a time so large groups is not recommended as you will get split up if you want to get seated fast. However, everything is pretty fast here in the restaurant so once you are greeted inside, paid, and seated, your bowl of ramen will arrive at your table within 5 minutes time. The thing about this place is that if you’re waiting, you’ll be waiting outside in line. Typically if there is a good group of people lined outside, you could be waiting 30+ minutes. And yes, that’s even on a cold day so bring a jacket! The people are very friendly and nice as this is not your typical ramen place because they encourage you to share your dreams after you finish eating. They explain how their restaurant works prior to being escorted inside the restaurant. There is usually only one option with a variety of how much noodles and meat you want. I never order more meat or more noodles as the typical regular serving is usually pretty heavy and makes me leaving full. The bowl of ramen will fill you up and it’s rich with broth, fresh noodles, and the pork which is so so good. The only thing is that this place makes me feel bloated after eating due to how rich everything is. After eating, you will be asked if you want to share your dream with the rest of the restuarant (yeah you have the option to decline if you don’t want to). then they will grade you on how you did in terms of finishing your food, either “good job,” “almost,” or “perfect.” Overall, definitely a good experience and a great place to eat. Highly encourage you to make a trip here if you can and enjoy the Yume experience.

First Watch – 94 Hundred Shea – Now Open! – Menu with Prices – 9325 E Shea Blvd, Scottsdale

Thought I would come in to support the new restaurant, I sat at the bar alone (no one else was at the bar), I ordered a salad without dressing and the server brings out the wrong salad with dressing on the side, then when she brings me the right salad, she brings it with the dressing on the salad, for the kicker.. when she finally bring the right salad with the dressing on the side I asked for a box and started to pack to go and under the first part was the original salad with the dressing on haha right how embarrassing to know their staff would do this, so the linemen used the same salad. When asked for a manager that girl goes over to my server and tells her first then goes to the manager’s area which is so unprofessional then the linemen all are staring at me when the manager does arrive. I said look at your staff right now, he apologized I asked if I could pay for my drink and I wanted to leave he said he would remake my salad, but at this point does anyone trust that the staff would not do anything to your food, you would hope that wouldn’t happened especially in Scottsdale. When I went into my hair salon after I told them what happened and the girls said they have ordered there twice and there food has been wrong every time and when they went to pick up the correct order the staff was rude. I will not be coming back to this location and I will be telling everyone I know and also writing on yelp. I’ve worked in the restaurant industry and what is sad to remake a salad does not come out of the linemen’s paycheck so why couldn’t they just have done it right in the first place. To my server, if you can’t remember one order please use an ordering pad, it was not busy and I was a party of one! When the staff looks at you like it was my fault when it clearly was the incompetent SERVER who was at fault.

Frutta Bowls Menu with Prices 245 Oconee St, Athens

I honestly wasn’t pleased by visit to Frutta Bowl. This is my first time visiting the chain restaurant and it will probably be my last. Like I just said this was my first time going so I was a little confused by the original menu that was set out because I’m use to going to açaí places where I can creat my own bowl. I didn’t see the create your own bowl menu until you are at the register as it is posted on the counter so that only whomever is standing there can see. I am not a fan of bananas and usually you can get an açaí bowl without bananas being put into the base at other açaí places however when I asked if I could do that I was looked at as if this was an odd request. I finished ordering my bowl which was a small açaí base ,their house made granola, apples, pineapples and honey. I got the bowl Togo so when I got to my car I realized there was a hair on my apples. Since I had already left the location and started eating the bowl before I noticed it I removed the rest of the apples and continued to eat the bowl keeping an eye out for other foreign objects. Overall I’m taking off one star since there was a hair and two stars for the difficulty in ordering and not really receiving a bowl that I truly wanted. HOWEVER this location is very trendy, and clean. The inside has very retro vibe and the bathroom was very clean and neatly decorated. I could see myself plugging in my laptop and finishing homework or even meeting friends here, I just wouldn’t do so with their açaí bowl.