Cal L.
Yelp
In the hundreds of times that I have dined out, I can't think of an instance where I tipped $0. I tipped $0 here.
The food was pretty good. I thought that the ramen meats were delicious and I think the noodles were house made. Very chewy. The shoyu broth could have been slightly saltier. I ordered two sides of the egg, but only received one.
I thought the shrimp eggrolls were maybe 50% too salty. But when I paired it with the ramen, it was tasty. The salad was also solid, although the Katsu chicken add-on (which was delicious) was a little bit pricey for how little chicken I received.
That's where the positives end: the host seated me, and nobody came up to take my order for 10 minutes. I finally waved down the server, Lexi: no apology, no introduction, nothing. I placed my order and was told that the kitchen closed at 10 PM and that I needed to get any other orders in before then. Lexi told me to waive her down if I wanted something before 10 PM.
I never saw her again before the kitchen closed (the food was delivered by other staff members), so I literally needed to leave my seat and go hunt her down if I wanted additional food!
She finally came by at 10:05 to check on how I was doing. I asked if I could order an extra egg, and she told me that it was 10:05 and the kitchen was closed. Anything you can do? No, she said. They close up quite quickly. No apology, no attempt to see if she could get me another egg, nothing. The eggs are premade and require no prep, so this was disappointing.
A very "sorry not sorry" response and we exchanged eye contact for a second too long: "I can't believe this," I thought; "tough luck, too bad," her glance said.
I guess I'm disappointed because the food was pretty good, and the decor was unique. Sad to see how negligent and lackluster service can completely ruin an otherwise fine dining experience. It's clear that the owner and chefs put a lot of heart into the restaurant and the ambiance/design and the food, so a bit surprising to see the major inconsistency from a service perspective.