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| - The noodle lover in me is super excited for Oakville to have its own ramen spot. Hooray x3! Overall, Kenzo has some great options for ramen and Japanese dishes. There's still lots of room for improvement in taste, service, and ambience but they are off to a great start and I will definitely be back to try some of their other options!
Taste: 3.5/5
My ultimate go-to ramen is always the Tonkotsu and every ramen shop has their own take on it so I was eager to see Kenzo Oakville's spin on the popular item. Priced at $13 with the option to add extra noodles at an additional cost, Kenzo Oakville's Tonkotsu wins big points - I absolutely loved the creaminess of the broth (much better than Kenzo Mississauga!). Where this dish fell short was in the char-su - it was a little too dry for my liking. I've been spoiled by char-su that practically melt in your mouth so this was a change. Not a lot of people like the creaminess or how filling the Tonkotsu is so another great option is the Tonkotsu Shoyu ramen. We also ordered the chicken, tuna, and salmon Onigiri ($3.50 for one). Unfortunately, they ran out of chicken so we only ended up with the tuna and salmon. This taste of this dish came up a little short for us. The tuna onigiri was paired with far too much black sesame seeds which overpowered the rice and tuna taste. I preferred the salmon onigiri much better. The rice for both onigiri came apart easily and made it pretty messy for us to eat though :( Still hoping to try the chicken onigiri next time! Lastly, we ordered the Aburi Char-su. This dish had an interesting taste, the char-su was super soft, and the dish was presented well. I wish this was the char-su that was in my ramen!
Service: 3/5
On grand opening day, Kenzo Oakville experienced a steady stream of ramen lovers which may have contributed to the slower than normal service. A few blunders: our side dish (appetizer) order was accidentally delivered to another table (and it eventually came after we finished our main dishes), ramen was served without the extra noodles we ordered and only came after we inquired, utensils were missing when dishes were served, and no refill of our waters. Since the onigiri at Kenzo Mississauga was made differently (it's usually torched or pan-fried), we asked the server if they made it differently at every location. She actually mentioned that they should have torched it for us and seemed surprised that it wasn't done (oops!). The saving grace to all of the blunders was that the servers were very polite and pleasant. Definitely lots of room for improvement but I have confidence that things will improve!
Ambience: 3/5
Relatively large space, with ample seating for patrons. There are a total of 13 tables (with a subset of tables on an elevated platform) with more seating at the "ramen bar". Set-up of some of the tables not on the platform are oddly placed though - felt like the servers had to zig-zag their way across the floor which seemed a little inconvenient for them. When we first entered, there was an odd smell - reminded me of a wet mop left out too long but the smell quickly went away after 10-15 mins. Would love to walk in to the aroma of ramen next time! :)
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