Umami Ramen

My boss bought lunch for the office. I've never had "real" Ramen (outside of the packaged processed stuff); so I was very much looking forward to trying it. The meal was not bad but it was not great. It didn't satisfy my specific tastes. Don't get me wrong, everyone in the office loves the food. Two of my coworkers eat there 2 to 3 times a week. It just didn't satisfy me. If you've never eaten "real" Ramen, I would HIGHLY recommend Umami Ramen. Everyone has their specific taste in food, you may love it.

I came here specifically because I saw that dipping noodles was on the menu. I haven't seen this anywhere since I was in Japan as part of an exchange program in high school, so I had to come! First off, this place is kind of unassuming, but what I've found is that unassuming places usually have the best food at the best prices. It's in a strip mall/shopping complex, with parking out front and a bunch of different restaurants in the complex. The restaurant is narrow, but really deep. You actually sit at booths that line the kitchen, and you can hear the chefs cooking. I'll admit, I was a bit nervous about the recipe that they were going to use for the dipping noodles. I've never heard of "bonito dashi" and had to look it up. (And yeah, I know that trip to Japan really served my Japanese skills well.) I'll admit I'm not a super big fan of seafood or fish, so I told the server if it was possible to avoid the bonito in my order. The server was beyond polite and accommodating, and after a quick conversation, we decided I'd probably like the broth from the black garlic tonkatsu. She went the extra mile and served the black garlic sauce on the side as a just in case. After a quick taste test, I dumped all that black garlic into my broth! And the noodles were unbelievable - it definitely wasn't the same dish that I had in Japan, where the noodles were served cold and with a tiny dish of dipping sauce. This was a full-sized bowl of noodles with a full-sized bowl of broth. You took noodles from one bowl, dipped them fully in the broth, and ate them. My friend got the Umami bowl. The chicken karaage in it looked delicious! Hands down, I will be coming here again when I'm next in the area!

The food was super good! The menu is kinda small but that’s not always a bad thing. My waitress was friendly and came to my table as soon as I sat down so I could place my drink order. When she returned she took my appetizer order, and when she returned with it took my main order. It was the perfect setup in my opinion. I also heard them playing a Mac Miller song so bonus points.