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| - 2.5 stars. Cut the wait, add a coat rack, and you will get another half star, Momofuku. You can even keep the prices.
Got here at 6 PM on a Saturday night. It's Saturday ... and maybe a lot of kids are fuelling up for Nuit Blanche ... the poor girl huddling at the front in her hoodie told me 30-40 minutes for three. No problem. She did not mention that once we are texted, we have 10 minutes to get there, but thanks to Yelp (sparkle wink!), we were fine. We waited in the hotel lounge, where we rebuffed drinks.
Ended up waiting closer to 60. I admit that if I weren't already primed for such a wait, I'd be pissed. When I went to check on our reservation at the 50-minute mark, the group of three ahead of me was told the legendary TWO HOURS. Why?
So we were seated at seven. In the only major service blip of the evening, within 5-10 minutes of being seated, we were approached three times by three different servers on whether we were ready to order. They were super busy and I'd rather such a place err on overattentiveness instead of accidentally ignoring us, but it got a little silly with the third server. It's not a long menu at all, but since we wanted to split and share, we needed a little time to chat and co-ordinate.
Specials of the night included hangar steak and pork belly congee. Ok ... Toronto ... unless you're sick or dying, don't order congee at any time except breakfast. Rice porridge for dinner is sad.
We ordered pork and chicken buns. Delish and more fatty than Ippudo's, but I really like fat, so maybe your mileage will vary. Our little dishes for eating were warmed. They also gave us a knife for cutting the buns without asking, which was a nice touch. Do I disagree that you can get similar bao at Banh Mi Boys for less? Nope. But you're here, aren't you? Might as well.
Two of us got white wine served in a tumbler ... weird. I appreciate stemware may be too flimsy and breakable, but I just don't like white served in anything that I clutch in my warm paw.
Ramen -- I am not an expert, so I can't comment on "authenticity." I found it tasty, though a little unusual. Poached egg instead of boiled with the soft centre. I love, love poached eggs in most cases, but when I have ramen, I want the heavenly half-boiled egg. I don't think the bowl was served very hot. It comes with kimchi (?) -- something pickled. This apparently pisses some people off, but I like pickled veggies in general, so I was happy. There didn't seem to be a lot of soup, which was ... weird. Big portion -- lots to eat.
Also: Why no Japanese ladle? Dinky Chinese spoon is no good for big bowls. Luckily, it fell in after I had already finished.
My friend had the chilled ramen, which she reported enjoying. Spicy.
The table next to us ordered chicken wings. They looked good, but far, far from $12 good. My dad makes FANTASTIC Hong Kong-style wings; I told him he should charge $12 and he snorted.
Atmosphere? Very loud. We got seated at a communal table, and the stools were sturdy and not awkward. We were also lucky to be seated in a corner next to a window (and column), so we had light and a view, and less traffic. But the lack of a place to put your coat is something for $5/bowl places, not $16.
Everything came quickly, though not too fast. The chilled ramen came a little later (maybe five minutes or less) than the two ramen bowls.
Aside from the one aforementioned blip, all the service was quick and nice. Everything was cleared away efficiently, but I didn't feel rushed. Our bill, pre-tip, was $91. Two bun orders, two ramen, one cold ramen, two white wines. Not SO insane, but ... a little bit.
Conclusion: Don't wait two hours. For anything.
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