JINYA Ramen Bar - Amazing Brentwood — Restaurant in Burnaby

I've been to this Jinya quite a few times, but tonight's visit is certainly my last. Firstly, tho the atmosphere is very pleasant, going fot the "modern rustic" look, the music is way, way too loud. And took dark to an extent, which is a shame as the restaurant does look nice. Secondly food. Tonight I ordered "Jinya Tonkotsu Black" which I've had a few times before, and it's simply OK. Way over priced. For 19.80 (pre tax and tip) the broth was very dull in flavor, and frankly all I could taste was the oil. And not in the way ramen is supposed to to be oily, tasted like pork great poured ontop of the broth. The toppings, were also very lacking. The egg was over cooked, not at all jammy as advertised but istain grainy and slimy and felt apart when I tried to pick it up. The mushrooms were fine, nothing stand out. The pork "chashu" was incredibly disappointing. Incredibly thin, way too fatty, and the flavor resembling lard. And the noodles were a joke. It tatasted like a instant bowl ramen and dropped some cheap toppings on it. I have had some other dishes One of the dishes that I have very positive things to say about is their "Tokyo curry rice." Curry being my favorite food I had high hopes, and it almost delivered. Curry was savory, seasoned well, the meat was well proportioned and the price was on point. 14.00 and a very worth whild 14.00, my only complaint as it was very visually lacking in comparison to other menu items they have, as well as it being alot smaller than other items. The other dish I enjoy was my partners "Spicy Chicken Ramen Red." The broth was flavorful, spicy and overall very pleasant. The only downside was the chicken was clearly pulled out of the freezer and reheated. A few visits it was severed cold and when asking our server they mentioned it was intentional. Strange but not a total deal breaker. But like the Tonkotsu Black, very over priced. 20.80. The last dish I'll mention is the one to STEAR CLEAR from as far as possible. That being; The "Pork chashu rice bowl." The meal itself was well priced, the meat was very fatty but pork belly chashu should be. The other toppings were pleasant, except the what I assume are shitake mushrooms. These tasted like vomit. Which is fitting as that's what this meal lead to. TWICE. The first time I assume an honest fluke, I've been in busy kitchens and sometimes accidents happen. But it happened twice in the matter of a week, same dish, nothing requested differently. I attempted to contact their customer service from their website and I received no reply. I wasn't expecting a voucher or comped meal, but at least a "were sorry and will attempt to rectify for future customers" but no, just radio silence. Which leads me into the customer service in the restaurant. The staff on walking in were very pleasant, was greated with a smile and was served rather quickly. Where the issues lie is with mistakes. On out second visit I ordered a whiskey soda, and after the drink came, after one sip a server bumped my table spilling the what I remember 8-10 dollar drink all over the table. And all she said was "Oops sorry" then left. Did not replace the drink, nor cop it from the bill. Then tonight, my parnter simply asked for "no bean sprouts" due to an allergy, and low and behold there were bean sprouts. When the server checked in on us we mentioned asking for no bean sprouts and there being sprouts he apologized but said he didn't hear us ever though he repeated it back to us. Again no comp on the bill. Overall, the food while at times pleasant is over priced, and has the chances of being gross or chasing food poisoning. The staff while kind, do not care if mistakes happen and seem to care only about getting the...

My first ever review.

I live near here so was very excited to see that a JINYA was opening. I've been to the one on Robson - the old one. Went on the Monday evening following the soft opening.

vibe: Not the traditional ramen shop you'd see in Japan. Nor should it be I guess! They're trying to do their own thing - I believe they tried to make it more posh? Music is kind of loud, but it's ok. I saw people are still able to carry a conversation.

wait time: Had to leave my number with them as there was a big line ahead of me as I arrived. 25-30 min. No big deal, as there are lots of shops around to kill time.

getting to my seat: I see and feel the genuine effort to give customers a warm welcome as they enter. Was brought to a seat by the bar which I asked for. It was not cleaned after the last customer. So I stood awkwardly to the side while the host fetched for one person to bus the table and put down place settings.

ordering: When I was ready to order, a few servers looked right at me and then walked past me several times. They seemed very frantic. Maybe they wanted to stick to their sections.

food: I sat at the bar and saw the line cooks work. They look like a great and lively team which is great to see. This was my favorite part of the experience. Ramen was very presentable.

I ordered the Tonkotsu original. I've been to countless ramen spots in Japan (lived there +3y for work), but not so many in Vancouver ironically, so I will impart some bias.

Noodles were pretty good. You could probably ask for more aldente (Katame) - that's what I prefer over (futsu reg / yawarakame soft ), but I just wanted to experience what their standard is. It's pretty good.

Broth was probably 7/10 in terms of richness. Flavor fell flat a bit.

Two slices of pork - they nailed it here. v tender and texture was amazing. Wish I had ordered two more slices.

No ajitama ramen egg :( Something I was accustomed to and a bit let down.

Price: I ordered the Tonkotsu Original. It was about $19.99. After tip it came to about $23-24 for a bowl of ramen. This is where things don't line up in my head from a value perspective.

I would recommend coming here if it's not too busy, or maybe when they get their processes down. Service is currently kind of a gong show. Also, reeally missing Japan because I could have a superior bowl of ramen at random for 700-800 yen in Tokyo - That's like $5-6 bucks (no tip).

$19.99 pre-tip is the world we live in unfortunately. Would I still go? On merit - it's not really a repeat location/month for me. Maybe once every often. I'd also like to try a different...

I have gone to Jinya many times before but each time has come with a new problem.

Tonight proves why I would not be visiting again, nor will I recommend this place to anyone. I ordered a bowl of ramen and asked to have the bean sprouts removed as I have an *allergy to them. The kitchen wasn't notified about this due to the server not properly hearing me over extremely loud music. If the server cannot hear a customer speaking to them 2 feet away, there's a problem, but so is giving someone something that they are allergic to.

PRICE + QUALITY, The price seems a little much for what you get aswell. The broth and noodles taste good but the slices of meat in the bowls (if any) are very thin and you can tell they're frozen meats. I would assume the price would be, maximum, $15 but not over $20.

SERVICE, The server was very kind but even after realizing the dangers of the situation, the food wasn't even discounted by 10%. It was still full priced. Note that I could've been hospitalized, but gladly wasn't, and I hope that no one else experiences this issue.

Going forward, I would recommend turning the music down a little bit, focus a little more on quality of what is being served, and maybe compensate customers who could've been in serious conditions over a fatal mistake. I have worked in the food and customer service industry (hospitality) for over 10 years and this kind of mistake would have never been kicked under the rug in any of the places I've worked (and I've worked in some crappy restaurants.) The seating was also super close together (where I sat) and the customers behind me were bumping my back plenty of times.)

All in all, eat here at your own risk and please make your allergies and concerns very clear to staff if you have any. This was very unfortunate and dissapointing.

*Note, if you have SPECIAL SENSORY NEEDS, I would highly discourage you from dining in. Extreme loud music, some seating is very close (basically back to back with strangers), and they might slip an unsafe food texture into your meal. Eat here...