3.5 stars overall. There are definitely room for improvement. One thing you need to know: Stone pot rice bowl saved this place's ass.
The concept is just like Deer Garden where you build your own noodle bowl by selecting your soup base, toppings and type of noodles. The menu offers 12 types of soup bases (ranges from $9.99 to $10.99) and 5 types of noodles. Side dishes are additional $2.50 and a large Presotea is also available for $2.50 when you build your own noodles (not applicable to the stone pot rice bowls or udon dishes on the main menu).
The down side in creating your own bowl is that not every soup base pairs well with ramen noodles IMO. E.g. Their Black truffle soup base does NOT pair well with ramen noodles. Black garlic soup and Pork bone soup were a bit better but definitely not as heavy and flavourful as neighbouring ramen spots in the Markham/Richmond Hill area. Nonetheless, it is a good spot if you are craving for noodles and want a lighter soup base.
Pro:
Instead of noodles, I would recommend their stone pot bowls - it comes out piping hot and I love how the stone pot keeps the food hot throughout the meal :) The one with curry beef brisket on rice was my favourite - it was very delicious and flavourful. The beef briskets were soft and tender. I would order this again and try a few more.
The whole grilled squid with eel sauce was very tasty. Be sure to squeeze the lemon juice on top! It enhances the flavours! The squid is quite large, great for sharing at the table!
Con:
I would not recommend the side order of corn salad. The kernel skin is harder to chew on and lacks flavour... perhaps frozen corn? Need to confirm. I would prefer the can of peaches and cream corn from the grocery store. #truth
I would also not recommend the Korean crystal noodles... it gets really soggy after a while.