Now, I been trying to hit Futo Buta for a while now. First time I came in the afternoon they had a major rush. The place was so small and crowded that there weren't any seats. There was a wait already so we decided to leave. There is patio seating, but i doubt anyone wants to eat there if it's raining or freezing cold.
Then recently we finally gotten a chance to come in the afternoon and it was crazy busy.. they seated us quickly because there was only a few seats available. We ordered dumplings and they were by far the best dumplings I ever tried! They put jalapeno on the side for us and you can put in your sauce or with your dumpling.. it was delicious!
My friend and I had Tonkotsu ramen bowl. It does feel you up because of the big portion, but flavor wise I think the pork broth wasn't strong enough. The 2/3 peices of pork belly threw me off. Tonkatsu usually has a big chunk of marinated porks. The noodles was alright as well. I thought putting in spicy spices would help but it made it more salty and just more oily. So I wasn't impressed with the ramen.
This is just my preference but the art on the bathrooms are of anime characters.. the colors are really vibrant. The style of the painting has exciting brush strokes, so I don't believe they fit the image of how down to earth Futo Buta is. When I walked into the bathroom I was thinking to myself "What is going on?" Pink and purple octopus with anime character who is drawn quite disfigurly and the minimalistic decor of the restaurant just doesn't clash together so well. Now, this is my preference and I know that other people don't have to agree. I'm just one of the few people who enjoy the art is restaurants. I support restaurants who gives artists a chance to showcase their work.
Service wise, our waitress was nice and very patient. She checked on us even when we saw that she was busy. The only thing was that when we got our checks we waiting for her for quite some time to collect it. So we actually had to go up towards the bar and someone had to notify for her that we were waiting to go.
My conclusion: that I wouldn't mind trying other various things off their menu next time. Defiantly will be getting their dumpings! I'm hoping that ramen was just an off day for them, but when it comes to seating.. it has very very limited space. It was crowded and when I had to get out and put on my jacket and purse on I think I was almost hitting the nice stranger next to me. Maybe I'll wait until the spring/summer time and patio is open to try again. Who knows?
Thank you for feeding me!