Ajisen Ramen (South Windsor) — Restaurant in Ontario

Went in with my daughter to get a quick ramen dinner around 9:15 pm this Saturday night (5/20/2023). The restaurant is not too big, and it was about 30-40% occupied. We sat at the table and the waitress showed up pretty quickly with the water. The menus were already on the table. We ordered right away, and then waited, and waited, and waited... A couple came in about 5 minutes later and sat to our left. Their waitress took the order and in another 5 minutes their food was on the table, while we waited, and waited, and waited... Another 30 minutes passed, and another group of 4 people came in and sat to our right. Their waitress took their order, while we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited... Finally, about 1 hour after walking in, we saw someone with bowls of food heading towards us. But what a disappointment, it was not meant to be!!! The food was not for us, it was for the table of 4 sitting at our right, who came in 30 minutes after us. At that point, due to the maximum disrespect, we got up and left. Don't even know if our waitress noticed or cared that we left. After she gave us the water and took the orders, she never returned. Made me wonder if we were invisible? Or if the waitress was dim? Or if we offended her with anything and she decided to ignore us on purpose? Don't know... can only guess... and my guess is that she simply did not care. All I can say, there was a very nice smell of food in the restaurant, and it was an exercise in patience to sit there for a whole hour inhaling aromas of what was supposed to be delicious food, while drinking our water and while people were being served left and right... Right now, (as I am eating home made Maruchan Ramen Noodle Soup - Lime Chili Shrimp Flavor) I am reflecting on what Jesus might have meant when He said: "The first will be last and the last will be first". There wasn't an option to say we spent $0 (zero dollars) on this experience, but that's what we spent for that water and the delicious smells, so the price was very affordable. Recommend this place with all my heart, just hope you don't get our waitress. Such is life at Ajisen...

The spicy beef ramen looked good. It was really salty for my tastes and had no heat. I was given the spice powder to add more heat to it. I didn't notice it contained black sesame seeds, until after I added the spice to my ramen. I don't like adding sesame seeds to my ramen unless it's fried ramen with no soup and other items that I don't mind having seeds in it. I think as a customer, we should be told that there's seeds in any of the menu items or seasonings, but maybe I'm asking for too much. The beef in the ramen was good. The egg wasn't runny and it wasn't really soft. The noodles was stringy and edible. The broth was salty and as expected for ramen. It had bean sprouts and onions in it as toppings. I felt like I was at a fast food restaurant, because I didn't wait long for the ramen and the servers were really busy. I felt like they were on a race trying to get everyone's meals and rid of the dirty stuff too. It was very busy for two servers running the whole restaurant, except for the kitchen staff who were behind the scenes, so I can't tell if they are in a rush too. I should have known that I was given warm water instead of cold. I should have told them to put ice in it if there was any. They serve jugs of water with cups. I didn't see a drink menu. Maybe I missed it. Overall, I think if you like it salty, not spicy and black sesame seeds in your spicy beef ramen, then this is for you. Plus they have other menu items that may be more delightful. You can also customize your ramen order and etc. I only knew this from the menu and they also have different options for...

Honestly did not meet the hype. A buddy went a week ago and said there was a 40 minute wait just to get in.

Below are the reasons why:

A) Service - Need improvement here. My wife ordered Tom Yum Steak. The steak should complement the broth and ramen. Unfortunately, her steak came out 7-8 minutes after the ramen. Now my wife eats slower than me so she still had some ramen and broth left, but if it was me, my ramen would have been done by the time the steak came out. We also ordered a starter, the chicken Karaage. This actually came out long after our meal came out. I get that things are busy and someone in the review said understaffed. I can see why they would conclude that because the staff seemed stressed and too busy to address some of these issues.

B) Quality - Noodle was okay. Broth was okay. One of the five Karaage was a piece of fat that was just deep fried. The other Karaage was however crispy so I give them props for that. Nothing that yelled, wow this place is so good.

C) Price - this is difficult to isolate from my experience as usually, you pay for what tou get, unless you pass that threshold of reasonability and things are just ridiculous (like a 800 steak). But I would say my reviews above is kind of reflective of the fact that my total bill was not commensurate in my opinion to the service and quality received compared to other restaurants in the area.

Overall, I understand they just opened. I am sure things are hectic. But my visit did not end with, “oh we should come back again.” Rather it ended it, “next time let’s just go to...