Tosaka Ramen Bar — Restaurant in Northbridge

I love this ramen place, my partner and i have been coming for over a year now as the ramen has always been at such a high standard but I was really dissapointed with our most recent vist yesterday (19.09.23).

We arrived shortly after they opened and walked inside to the sign that said "WAIT HERE TO BE SEATED" as we were the first people who had to wait for a table as their wasn't a line, the male waitstaff briskly walked up to us and abruptly told us to wait outside for a table which was a slight negative interaction as it seemed a like a disproportionate tone, as the sign clearly stated wait here to be seated and the door was propped open. So we did as we asked and politely apologised and waited outside.

We then ordered both food and drinks straight away once the waitress came to take our drinks order. We waited a reasonable amount of time and the waitress made us aware of the 25 minute wait for food which we said that"s all good. I recived my order of hot green tea but my partners beer never came. It wasnt untill 30 minutes later (5 mins later after our ramen was served), that we had to get up and ask the male waitstaff what had happened to the beer we ordered. He didnt apologise he just brought it straight away. We didnt complain and we mostly enjoyed our meal.

It was when the other waitress came over about 10 - 15 minutes after our food was served that she first cleared our bowls and then came back 2 - 3 minutes later asking us to leave "as the line outside is very long" which i wouldnt have had a problem with as i understand they are a small venue with a very high turn over rate; but the fact that they made the mistake of forgetting to serve the drink we ordered at the very beginning of our dinning time/ experience I felt as though they could have been courteous and accomadating for letting my partener finish his beer as it had only been served 10 minutes ago and he had only drunk half of he drink. He quickly finished it and we felt quite unfortable so we were trying to leave as soon as possible (without skulling half a beer) and as i got up to leave i accidently knocked the glass onto the floor and it smashed, i take full responsabilty for breaking the glass as it was my mistake, but in saying that due to the size of the venue all the tables are so close together (there is about a 40cm gap between each table) that coat I was holding clipped the glass and knoced it off the table.

All in all the ramen was an 8.5/10 still delicious creamy ramen not quite at its normal standard of a 10/10; the broth wasnt as creamy and the onion was poorely chopped. It was just a terrible, unfortunate, serious of events that lead to a dissapoiting dinner that left us feeling pushed out the door for a mistake that was the waitstaffs fault. I personally work in the hospotality industry and I think this situation could have been handled far bettter by just taking the beer off the bill and be given an apology for their mistake.

We will be back in hopes the ramen is back up to standard and the waistaff can take ownership ...

It is quite difficult to review food, especially given how diverse of a palette that everyone can have. Ramen especially can be a highly polarising type of cuisine with wildly different preference, so please understand that this ramen is less suited for ones that prefer a lighter ramen broth or something more closely resembling shoyu ramen. That said, if you prefer a thicker broth or just love ramen in general I can wholeheartedly recommend this place for your next bowl of ramen. I have been to multiple ramen places in Perth (though there are a few more to go to), and here are my thoughts when comparing Tosaka to the others. Chain ramen restaurants like Ippudo, Bari-uma or Keisuke provides a taste of ramen that is familiar to those who enjoys ramen frequently, so Tosaka actually provides a more unique flavour and showed mastery of the tori paitan technique that won me over. However, it is still different when compared to tonkotsu ramen, so it shares the same affection that I have with Hakata Gensuke which I adore. I would not hesitate to put both above Nao ramen as I find the broth from Nao less refined and the overall experience more underwhelming than the aforementioned two. Now, it is not to say that the ramen from Tosaka is without flaw. Personally I find that the chicken chashu to be just ok, and the noodle can be slightly underwhelming given the thickness and the flavour of the broth. The grievances are minor though and the broth is definitely the shining star of the show. As for recommended option I would say get the original tori paitan ramen. The attached picture is the one with black garlic oil I've had from previous visit. While good, the black garlic oil adds too much intensity for my liking, but your mileage may vary. The original bowl I've had a few days ago was, in my humble opinion, one of the best I've had. The atmosphere of the shop is quaint, and the staffs are friendly. I've been greeted and talked to by the chef after my meals and it adds to the experience and deepens my appreciation for the ramen. I hope they can navigate themselves through the pandemic. I would not hesitate to choose Tosaka if I am craving ramen, and I believe you would feel...

A returning customer who loved their food, but the experience today was absolutely absurd.

We planned ahead and made sure to arrive at 5:30 pm on the dot so we wouldn’t have to queue. They have a policy where all members must be present before being seated, so make sure everyone arrives on time if you want to skip the line.

We were told the food would take at least 20 minutes to arrive, even though we got there right when the store opened. We ordered chicken gyoza and takoyaki. The chicken gyoza was juicy and tasty.

While waiting for our ramen, we noticed that other customers who arrived later were served before us. After 30 minutes, our ramen finally arrived. Three of us had ordered the same ramen, but one bowl was missing the chicken chashu. We informed the waitress.

She went to the kitchen to speak to the owner. We could see them arguing from a distance — there was a lot of pointing. The waitress came back and said the cook was certain the chicken chashu had been served, perhaps we had eaten it, but he was very sure it was in the bowl. She said she’d be happy to serve more chicken chashu, but we’d have to pay for it. She then pointed to the pork chashu in the bowl and said the brown piece of meat was the chashu (as if I’ve never had chashu before), which we had already clarified wasn’t the missing chicken chashu. We reiterated that the chicken chashu was missing. They basically accused us of eating it and forgetting.

We insisted again that it wasn’t there. Eventually, another waitress returned with the two pieces of chicken chashu that were missing in the first place.

The food is good, but the customer service is terrible. It’s clear the waitresses are terrified of the owner. Advice to the owner: maybe install a camera at each table to prevent incidents like this from happening again. If you’d like to enjoy their food and humiliation, definitely...