Samurai Ramen & Sushi — Restaurant in Calgary

Potentially Worst Ramen in Calgary

went to Samurai Ramen because it was late afternoon and all the favorited places were closed except the ones downtown where you have to pay for parking. also, right next door to one of our favourite Vietnamese restaurants, so we thought it might potentially be a great restaurant as it has to compete with Pho Xuan as well as Forbidden City across the street. unfortunately, our assumptions were just that.

firstly, decor and atmosphere is ok. seems clean and fairly new at first sight, but as we waited and looked around i noticed a few things that disturbed me. i'll get more into that later.

menu is fairly simple, which i like, as it usually means that a chef can spend his time concentrating on perfecting and managing a focused menu. my wife and i ordered the Tonkatsu Ramen and my son ordered the Samurai Ramen (Soya Sauce based broth with peanuts).

it was a pleasant surprise, as we waited for our meals, when the waiter brought us 3 pieces of complimentary Motoyaki (Scallop & Shrimp mushroom cap). it was cooked well and a nice appetizer. this set us up to anticipate some quality Ramen

however, as we gazed around, we noticed mismatched tables and chairs. to me, this is a sign of potential cheapening out on things that might matter more too. now i started to worry.

we didn't wait too long for our Ramen and when it arrived the first thing that caught our attention was the perfectly done Tomago egg. good sign. and then it all went downhill. i always taste the broth first. Tonkatsu is my absolute favourite Ramen broth, and this one was thin and disappointing. tasted close to Tonkatsu, but something was off. then i dig into the noodles and yuck! completely mushy, overdone noodles! the Chashu was grey in colour and completely dried out. not even close to traditional Chashu. best described as a poor attempt at Chinese Chashu, but lacking in flavour and juiciness that you normal find with good Chinese Chashu. they would have done better to go across the street and buy some quality Chinese Chashu from T&T. they topped the soul with boring plain bean sprouts. i don't mind fresh bean sprouts, but would have been better if they were seasoned. plain bean sprouts did nothing to add to a boring, lifeless Ramen. very disappointed in this Ramen.

the Samurai Ramen was almost exactly the same. the only difference was that the broth had added spices (see photos).

overall, the worst Ramen we've ever had. will not come back. especially for the price. they've priced it on par with the famously touted Shikimenya Restaurant and well above Muku and Samurai Ramen doesn't come close.

2 only because of the attempt to make us welcome with free appetizer that was actually fairly...

Last Saturday, my boyfriend took me out to see the cars. Around the lunchtime, we found a Japanese Restaurant for lunch. The name of the restaurant called Samurai Ramen and Sushi. It’s located at 36 St NE #140, Calgary, which is right across the street from T& T Inc. It was very easier for people to find and park their car.

Environment

We arrived the Samurai Ramen and Sushi t 12 pm. It was a small Japanese Restaurant. There are many people in the restaurant. Luckily, we found a table fast. Inside the restaurant decorates in the Japanese Style. There were couple Japanese Style Pictures on the Wall. Inside the restaurant was nice and clean.

Service

After we sat down, the server brought tea to the table. Our server was a Japanese Lady. She was very nice and friendly. She offered us useful suggestions to order the food.

Food & Prices

Based on the server’s suggestion, we have ordered TAKOYAKI (5PCS), SUSHI PIZZA, TONKOTSU RAMEN, SAMURAI SPECIAL ROLL, MOTOYAKI (2PC). The food came out the kitchen one by one. They were all well cooked and tasty. First dish was two pieces MOTOYAKI (2PC). It made by Mushroom, scallop, shrimp, and seaweed baked with Japanese mayonnaise. It costs us $6.00, which is a little bit pricey. Next, TAKOYAKI balls, Deep fried battered balls containing octopus, topped with fish flakes and mayo. One order comes with five pieces. It’s $7.00. SUSHI PIZZA was $10.00 Fresh, raw salmon, avocado, masago, and mayo on a tempura rice patty. TONKOTSU RAMEN was $13.50 a rich, salt-based pork stock topped with roasted pork, seaweed, bean sprouts, egg, and green onions. SAMURAI SPECIAL ROLL was Prawn tempura, salmon tempura, and avocado inside, topped with seared tuna. $14.50. In total, we spent $51.00.

We had a great experience eating Samurai Ramen and Sushi. It was our first time having such great sushi in Calgary. Even though it was a little bit expensive and pricey, the taste of the food was totally worth the price. We love it. Highly recommend people to some samurai Ramen and...

This is a great little stop for decent sushi and ramen. The service was really nice, I really liked the soft relaxing tone of the server. Nigiri was pretty good but not amazing because the slices seemed pretty thin and not perfect texture, perhaps they were a bit too warm as well (I tried tuna, scallops, hamachi). I tried the samurai ramen and it was really good! Excellent noodles and broth, good variety of toppings. The only thing I didn't love about the ramen was the pork; it wasn't very tender/fatty or flavourful. I'd like to come back for their seafood or other ramen dishes Update May 2019: I tried the seafood ramen but didn't enjoy it. It's very spicy and the broth didn't have anything special about it (no complexity and little seafood flavor) the seafood pieces were ok but I didn't like them. I think if love traditional ramen with pork, then you may not enjoy seafood ramen.

Update 2024: as I've had more and more ramen across the city, this spot starts to look like poor value. I've had better broth, toppings, and noodles elsewhere for the same price . Samurai would be great if it was better value, but for $16-$17 per bowl I can't recommend anymore. I still love the staff, they're very kind and make me...