Since my mother is from Japan, I have eaten a lot of ramen in my life. I also admit that I am pretty picky when it comes to good ramen.
My husband and I finally decided to try Monta. We heard from a few friends that this was one of the best noodle houses in town. We stopped in on a Monday at around 12:30 pm. It was crowded, but we were able to get seated right away since a few parties left at the same time. The restaurant is really tiny. I saw the sign on the wall that said the seating capacity was only 26 people. We sat at the bar, which was kind of cool because I got to the see the employees preparing the ramen in their kitchen.
Sadly, I was disappointed. I ordered the Shoyu Ramen. I'm not sure if we just came in on a bad day, but I thought the noodles were too hard and the broth didn't have much flavor at all. Also thought the Chasu was weird. It was easy to eat because it was sliced very thin, but I did not like that slimy ring of fat around it. My husband felt the same way about his Tonkatsu Ramen.
Service was not the best either. The employees were slow with drink refills and they seemed to be more attentive to the larger parties in the restaurant. We waited a long time for our bill after eating.
Sorry, but this place just does not live up to all the hype. I would prefer having ramen across the street at Shuseki.