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| - TLDR: Fantastic Kaarage and nonexistent service.
A friend and I arrived at the restaurant to a queue of two couples, and the servers gave no mind to the line forming at the door. There were two spots at the bar, which my friend and I were happy to take when we learned the others only wanted tables, but we couldn't get any of the servers' attention. After waiting for twenty minutes, we weren't in a rush, three tables freed up and everyone in the line was seated.
I decided to get the ramen combo with a miso chicken broth base and kaarage as my side. I also got a Sapporo to was it all down.
The Kaarage was phenomenal, which is why I gave this restaurant three instead of two stars. It was juicy, crispy, and tangy all at the same time, and the fluffy rice underneath soaked up all the leftover flavour. If you go here, you have to get the kaarage.
My ramen wasn't to my taste, but I can understand how it would be to the taste of others. I should have gone with the Shoyu broth, but I wanted to try the miso and I found the broth to be unbalanced. The in-house noodles were very chewy and felt underdone, but I guess some could say it had a bite to it. The ramen came with corn, mushrooms, tender pork, spring onions, and half an egg which lacked a runny yolk. One compliment I can give the ramen is that it is very filling.
The servers are clearly very nice people but they were unaware of the needs of their customers. I only had my water filled at the beginning of my meal and it was impossible to get a refill as they walked around with their eyes to the ground.
With tax and tip, my meal came out to just under $24. Would I come here again? Only if I had a friend who really only wanted to go to Ichifuku. There are too many places in Montreal to try for this restaurant to warrant a second visit on my own volition.
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