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| - I am glad that Madison has finally got aboard the ramen train and it is picking up speed. But I find Ramen Station somewhat meh and you may want to consider staying on board and moving on to the next stop.
For the uninitiated, ramen is Japanese and traditionally a bowl of soup with noodles with various condiments. There are variations on the broth such as miso, soy sauce (shoyu), pork, fish, etc., with miso and shoyu being most common. Condiments can include fishcake, barbecued pork, shrimp, beef, green onions, seaweed, a hard-boiled egg, etc. Though a hearty comfort food, there are many purists and getting it just right can take a lot of hard work and talent. Some will turn up their nose at noodles not quite done right or broth which is too salty or not salty enough, etc. Me, if it tastes good, I eat it. Not too hard to please, as my figure indicates.
Ramen Station is a beautiful little restaurant. It is on the small side but is very well lit and has a modern feel. They have tables, as well as a bar where you can watch the chefs prepare food. Cool! Also they have a smaller area for more of a private meal or meeting which looked very nice. The tableware is also very beautiful.
We went there for lunch on a Friday and were surprised that they neither offer a lunch menu nor any particular lunch specials. They have a sandwich board just inside the front door which lists some items. But the waitress indicated they were simply items off the menu and not particularly special that day.
Between us, we ordered the miso tonkotsu ramen, stirfried chicken udon and the miso tonkotsu ramen with udon noodles substituted for ramen noodles. We also had an order of panfried gyoza.
All of the dishes came out looking very tasty and umami filled! The pork in the tonkotsu was soft and delicate but it seemed to have been cooked or boiled so that much of its flavor had leeched out. The same concern was had for the ramen bowls in general. They looked very tasty and delicious. But the flavors were pedestrian and not as tasty as their appearances would suggest. I apologize Ramen Station, but I was underwhelmed.
The chicken in the stir fried udon dish was extremely fatty. I know many like chicken fat especially when it is grilled and there is a little char and crunchiness to it. The chicken was not grilled to get any type of char or crisp on it and was unappetizing. The chicken pieces were small and difficult to separate from the noodles and vegetables so some particular extra chopstick work was needed and most of it remained on my wife's plate.
The serving sizes were okay. But to me, the prices seem steep for the servings, particularly at lunch.
You can also order skewers of side accompaniments such as shrimp and mushrooms. We also ordered a mushroom skewer which was a few button mushrooms slightly marinated in teriyaki sauce and grilled. They were just warmed through with no char on them. Would not order again.
The gyoza was also just okay and unremarkable. Could've been from any other fast food restaurant in town or out of a bag. Not bad. Just not remarkable and surprisingly mediocre given the otherwise lovely upscale surroundings and placesettings.
Service was good though! Very nice people.
I wish them the best of luck and do like a lot of the things they are doing. The decor and plateware are beautiful and there is parking! But prices seem high for mediocre food which some would say is just a stop on the ramen fad railway.
I may give them another go one day. Until then - - and I know it is Chinese cuisine--but I will likely stay on the train and get off at Mini Hot Pot just down the street when I have a hankering for any type of Asian noodle soup.
Two Yelp stars for the food (meaning I would only go there if I could not politely advocate for a different spot). For the decor, four. On average, three stars.
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