"1"^^ . . "2018-05-10T00:00:00"^^ . "5/9 2nd Visit Update: I had a crazy ramen craving and couldn't get to Chinatown, so I gave this place another shot to redeem my impression last time. Well- my stars aren't changing... (brrr). I was very hungry and ordered the black garlic ramen based on other reviews here and their \"chicken\" karaage. I quote \"chicken\" because I surmise there MAY have been a scrap or two of flesh somewhere in the small pile of over-fried, greasy, thick, unsalted, tasteless clumps. They were crisp and then as you got to the center oil flavor just kept coming. I even bit experimentally into 1-2 of the larger pieces looking for meat, and only saw thick, oil-soaked batter. Got queasy. Decided to move on to the soup, which incidentally, they served to me a good 5 minutes before the appetizer, with no utensils (someone else, not my waiter, noticed I was sitting there with a bowl of hot ramen and no chopsticks and did bring a pair over with an embarrassed chuckle). First thing- the entire surface of the broth was encased in oil. I've had delicious, deeply flavorsome black garlic ramen at other places in town and it's always garlic oil DROPS floating on the surface, with fried garlic slices. This was a veritable layer of oil on top and the fried garlic and shallots? onions? in the broth were exceedingly bitter. The brother had decent flavor but tasted weak, like it was watered down. As I was sitting at the bar trying to eat, my neighbor to the right, a lady, kept exclaiming to her dining partner that her broth was \"so salty, way too salty, yes, too salty for my taste\" and finally pushed it away. My final disappointment was the noodles. They weren't the same as the ramen noodles served last time, which was the one redeeming quality of the horrible seafood ramen I ordered last visit and a point of positivity that I was looking forward to. They were white, and looked and felt like thinner rice noodles, definitely over boiled with none of the fresh bounce and chew and yellow color that I noticed last time. All in all, to say I regret spending $18 here (yes, I tipped the waiter $2 though he never checked on me once after he took my order) is an understatement and I definitely won't be back. Save your money for gas and drive to Chinatown- Ramen Sora, Monta, or even Sapporo Revolving Sushi which unexpectedly has the best black garlic broth I have tasted recently.\n\n............\n\nThis was literally one of the worst meals I have had in a while. I should've re-evaluated my choice to order the tomato broth seafood ramen when most Ramen places are known for their Tonkatsu, but I wanted to have something a little lighter for lunch. I also ordered their tempura appetizer which was a shrimp/ veggie combo. So... the ramen. It came looking like a jumble of noodles and vague ingredients in a liquid that smelled and looked very startlingly like Campbell's tomatoes soup. Not nicely laid out with ingredients on top, and I could see chunks of raw onion, which was not listed on the ingredients. I poked into it, and a sweet-tomato-seafood smell wafted up. I don't know what I was expecting, but the sweet, super salty, almost ketchupy taste was not it. The ingredients were spare, but I just couldn't get over the broth. To make things worth, I had ordered extra broth like I usually do and I was completely enveloped in this sweet salty tomato soup smell. The tempura didn't fare any better- no light crispy batter here, it was heavily battered, almost like a thick beer batter, and the shrimp were tiny- the vegetables a joke (one of them was a heavily battered single green bean) and to add insult to injury, the tempura sauce was super salty as well. My 2 stars are only for the cleanliness, decent service, and texture of the noodles, which were decently springy and chewy even being the thin style of ramen noodleGiven we don't have ramen options at all in the north, in sheer desperation I may come back to try the regular tonkatsu broth / meat options, but take my word for it- steer clear of the seafood option and the tempura!"^^ . . "0"^^ . "0"^^ . . "2"^^ .