Crane Ramen

Very good food but very pricey. I had a tofu bun appetizer and a small veggie miso soup. My husband and son split a chicken bun and each had a pork ramen dish. We liked the tofu bun over the chicken bun. The soup and ramen were flavorful and satisfying. The presentation was quite nice. The staff was very friendly and helpful. We arrived at 3:30 pm on a Sunday (they close between 4:00-5:00 pm to prepare for dinner), and the service was extraordinarily SLOW even though it didn’t seem very busy — but that seems to be the case at all restaurants between 2:00-4:00 pm. I did not like the taste of the water, which is served in clear open bottles (not quite s carafe). Remind yourself that this is a “craft” ramen place before the check comes!

This was my first time here and I was very pleased. The decor of the restaurant is really nice and I like the open kitchen concept. It was cool to see the chefs working hard to make the food so delicious. We started with the pork buns and I was really happy with them. The meat was tender and I really liked the spicy sauce. Not sure what it was but I liked it. The greens gave a nice little crunch and fresh flavor and the buns had a nice chewy texture with a slight sweetness to them. I loved them. I ordered the shoyu ramen and my boyfriend had the tonkotsu ramen. I got two massive pieces of pork in my bowl and I was not disappointed at all. The meat was so tender and you definitely get your moneys worth with all of what you get in a bowl. We were both very pleased with our choices. There was enough for me to take home and I enjoyed it the next day. Overall would recommend and am interested in coming back to try some other stuff on the menu.

I come back every now and then and it's always the best ramen you can get in Gainesville. I've been to Japan twice and enjoyed the ramen there and I can guarantee, this place is the closest you can get to delicious authentic Japanese ramen. I'm never disappointed when I go here and the cocktails are great too! The bartenders are always so sweet :) I'm often seated at the bar so it's also nice to see everyone busy preparing good food while waiting for my ramen.

I’ve reviewed them before on other websites, but I needed to put one in for my experience tonight. My partner and daughter’s shoyu came out spicy- it’s not, normally- and they offered to remake it. They also discounted it for the mixup. The second bowls come out- also spicy. Now, this is where Crane differs from most anywhere else for me: at no point did any of the staff shrug it off, or have any sort of attitude, or anything like that. They were /super/ understanding, even going so far as to find out what had happened in the back of house (just a general oversight in the kitchen that led to a hefty batch of spicy shoyu), took those meals off of the check, and apologized for the mistake. Honestly, even though half of our party was unable to eat there tonight- just seeing the process that the staff went through to rectify a situation that was probably stressful for all involved, that will make me continue to support them and rave about Crane Ramen to friends from out of town! (Plus, tonight’s special was amazing.)

We went for our first time on a Saturday night and the staff were so nice and accommodating in seating us inside quickly. Our server gave great recommendations on what to try for our firsr time. We started off with the gyoza and pork belly buns, and both were FANTASTIC wow. Then entrees we got the shio ramen and the shoyu ramen which were also delicious. Everything arrived so quickly, hot and great. Multiple staff members checked in with us and made us feel well taken care of. Highly recommend!

I had a bad experience last weekend as they served me completely raw pork dumplings (Gyoza)… I ate them raw … when I realized I threw them up. I asked the cook if he knew the pork was raw and with a poker face he said “yes”, the manager did not apologized for it they didn’t care, just the waitress said “I’m sorry” a few times. The ramen (Tonkotsu) was average nothing impressive. In my opinion not recommended place the have a dinner.

In short, this place is not good. Food is not authentic; it’s not even trying to be good. I ordered this bowl of ramen with extra toppings. This bowl costed me 20 dollars. To begin with, this is Way OVERPRICED in a place like this. The toppings, the fried tofu is not freshly made and tasted disgusting. The pork belly is not good, either. It felt like biting rubber fat. Then the noodle, these are obviously reheated instant ramen noodle in a chemical soup base. The soup base tasted like I poured a bag of monosofium glutamates. I can cook a way better instant noodle soup at home. So bad, and I definitely will not visit this place. Besides, the waiter was like not responding half of the time.