Ramen IPPUDO Chatswood — Restaurant in Sydney

Unfortunately I need to adjust my once glowing review. Something has happened here and the nice welcome in Japanese has gone and so has the quality Ramen. Maybe a clue was when we were there at lunchtime the restaurant was near empty, see attached photo. We had to pay cash up front before eating & then find out the receipt printer was broken. Our order was mixed up and our Ramen was washed out & served only warm. My Daughter was really disappointed because we knew this use to be a fantastic place to eat. Maybe another indicator that things were not going well was the way the staff were acting. It was like they didn’t quite know what to do. No water served when we sat and a very awkward time explaining our simple order that was incorrectly taken. I noticed other new reviews are highlighting problems brewing here and sure we saw the exact same things. Put it this way the experience at Ippudo Chatswood is nothing like the excellent Westfield City store.

Anyway below is my original review back in much grander times.

An absolutely fantastic Japanese food experience. The Chatswood restaurant is a little bit hidden away being situated in a Asian food court directly above Chatswood railway station. The Ramen is some of the best you will taste. The menu has a great selection, and nothing here disappoints. There are seasonal changes to the menu, but I noticed the classic meals are always available. This Ippudo does get very busy and sometimes there is a wait to be seated. I noticed a take away bar at the front of this Ippudo so there is a way to get a meal if the restaurant is crowded. I have eaten here many times, my children love the Ramen and fried chicken styled starters. The meals are constantly excellent and the service is speedy and efficient. One of my absolute favourite places to eat if I’m...

Staff needs training to respect customers' dietary requests. My wife ordered a ramen but asked for a fully cooked egg because she's pregnent and she was served a half-cooked egg and was told it was how it came with. A staff kept shaking her head when she heard our request to get a fully cooked egg instead that was what we ordered. I tried to explain to the staff that my wife cannot eat half-cooked eggs because she's pregnent and was responded impatiently. When paying for our table, the same staff told me she remember our table by "fully-cooked egg" and told me she never had a fully-cooked egg before.

The chef was nice enough to make up the mistake by cooking another egg (edded being about 80% cooked but he tried....) and gave us free gyoza for our trouble.

Suggestion: if you do not want to customise order for your customer it is fine to reject when you are taking your order. Do not agree to the order then serve different food.

when your customer tried to explain to you why they have their special requests, show some respect, that is your best chance to learn and provide better service...

I requested 'low salt' option for my broth - it was one of the tick boxes for special requests. When it came, the broth was extra salty. When I asked the waitress if my order was 'less salty' she said 'of course it is' I said 'ok, then please give me a cup of hot water to dilute the salt'. Even after half a cup of water, it was still too salty. I called another waitress and explained the problem. She said 'there is no way we can make less salty as the broth is just made in a big pot'. 'So why is there an option for less salt?' No response. She took it back to the kitchen. 3 chefs and 2 waitresses turned to glare at me. Not a good experience. Also the ordering experience with Mr Yum is not easy when you have big orders and cannot check what you order before you pay. Lucky the refund system is quick, but it still takes 2 weeks for money to go back to your...