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| - Update - The value for lunch is pretty good. All entree items on lunch menu is under $7. Add $2 to get a milk tea. Lunch time goes to 5pm.
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Smart Cook takes over the space where Pixel 8 used to be. I would describe Smart Cook as an Asian fusion eatery. The restaurant titles itself as ramen & cafe, so there are some ramen, terriyaki rice, and izayaka styled snacks. The fusion part comes in as there are also some Taiwanese styled food, Korean styled rice, bubble tea, etc. The menu are filled with entrées perfect for lunch: ramen, rice bowls and snacks . If customers want to dine in family style, they must work around the menu.
We ordered a rice bowl with grilled eel ($8.25), a rice bowl with Korean beef and kimchi ($8.25) and a chicken ramen ($7.95). The ramen broth was not up to the standard of a ramen speciality eatery/restaurant. It was not rich enough. The ramen was also pretty average. On the other hand, the ramen was way cheaper, had more noodle, meat and garnishment. So this was a quantity and value over quality thing. If you feel like a simple, well portioned, budget ramen, and you don't mind it be lower in quality, this is what you are looking for. My dining companions ate the two rice bowls. I took a bite of the eel and the Korean beef only. I liked the eel more, as it was soft, juicy and tasty. The Korean beef was good, but I found the kimchi flavour quite mild. Both rice bowls were well portioned.
The ambiance is pleasant, young, trendy yet down to earth. There are a few televisions hung on wall. They were showing videos of some menu items when we arrived. The services was friendly, polite, fast and effective. It could be because there were only two tables of customers. Nevertheless, based on the menu, I guess that the owner focuses on the lunch crowd anyway.
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