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| - OVERALL: Kinto Ramen probably offers the best ramen noodles in Toronto, but the quality of the food in itself is not very impressive.
PLACE: This is a restaurant you want to visit with one or two friends, not with a large group. The entire place seats about 30, most of those seats are bar stools facing the kitchen. If you come with a large group you will have to wait a long, long time for one of the two larger tables (one of which is standing-only). The place is designed in a similar way to the Guu restaurants: clean design, natural wood with steel accents against a very dark palette, clever use of pointed light fixtures.
FOOD: The place specializes in Ramen noodles based on pork meat (belly/shoulder), so that's the basis of the menu (it does have one vegetarian main option). The meat was well-prepared, the noodles had just the right amount of firmness. Between the four of us I got to try three different broth versions, including one distinguished by sea salt, one by soy, and one by a spicy broth. My soup had a seasoned egg that was perfectly soft-boiled. My biggest complaint, and a major reason why I am giving it three stars, is that the broths were all heavily OVER-SALTED. I am picky about salt levels, and specifically asked the server to bring me the least salty of the broth options. The broth was still extremely salty -- any more and I wouldn't be able to finish the bowl. I kept silent about this, but my dinner companions made the same remarks about their dishes. When I tried someone else's broth (the one defined by sea salt) it really tasted like sea water, and it would have been inedible to me. Proper salt levels is one of the basic criteria for a great broth, and this brought the place down to "just decent" for me. I should note that all our bowls had the "regular" broth option, so perhaps the "light" option has better salt levels.
Two more personal taste comments on the food:
1. I had an issue with the large pieces of raw scallion in the soup, which gave you a crunchy taste of red onion in the middle of a bite, and did not complement the otherwise smartly designed dish.
2. The "regular" broth comes with a ton of crushed garlic, and another heap of garlic on top. If you don't want a very heavy garlic taste, you might ask for the heap of garlic to come on the side.
SERVICE: Since every opening restaurant has some kinks to work out in terms of service and order turnaround, I won't comment on the excusable service snags that occurred during our meal, and I recommend having some patience in this regard.
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