KINTON RAMEN HARBOURFRONT — Restaurant in Toronto

Today, my family (4 adults and a 3-year-old) decided to try Kinton, expecting a great dining experience based on the glowing reviews. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.

Here’s what happened:

First, while waiting for our food, a server came over and asked if we could “move our child’s chair to one side” and “stand on the other side” of the table so another family (3 adults and 1 child) could join us. Yes, you read that right—two completely unrelated families with kids crammed around one not-so-big table. With several empty tables available, the request made no sense, especially since the other family quickly sat at one of them, making the whole situation feel unnecessary and awkward.

Later, as I was showing the menu to my toddler, who was quietly flipping through it under my supervision. A staff member walked over and—without a word—took the menu right out of his little hands. As an adult, you’d expect at least a simple “Excuse me” or “Can I have it?” before grabbing something from a child. This isn’t a playground where kids snatch things from each other. Afterward, they did bring over 2 small fans for my child to play with and explained that kids ‘playing’ with menus might damage them, which was a nice gesture, but the whole approach was quite startling. I found it strange and frankly quite rude. AND Thanks, Kinton, for the lesson in menu etiquette. Apparently, your menus are too precious for little hands.

To be fair, the food was good—flavorful ramen and tasty small bites. But good food can’t make up for awkward, unfriendly service.

Given that they provide high chairs, I assumed Kinton was kid-friendly. But if that’s how they treat families and kids, I’m not sure they really want us there.

Bon appétit…...

Feb 14, 2024: Came with team of 4 on a Wednesday for lunch. Got the original pork ramen with thin noodles. This only had 2 thin slices of pork. I am disappointed with this shrinkflation. The meat portions are way too low, and this is significantly less than other ramen places. Idk why this restaurant is so stingy. Why can't you put in 5 - 6 pieces of meat? It's not like the prices you charge are super low where you have to sacrifice on the quality of the meal.

Nov 1, 2023: Came with team of 3 on a Wednesday for lunch, arrived a bit earlier to beat the lunchtime rush. Ryan was our server. I had the spicy garlic pork ramen (chili pepper, pork, grated garlic, scallions). Tasted great, very garlicky spicy flavours and rich ramen broth complemented the ramen nicely. I had it at medium spiciness and this was the peak of the spiciness I could handle. Future, I should order it in mild spiciness.

But the food portions were low. There were only 3 pieces of pork in my ramen. I was still hungry after finishing my meal. Please give more meat in the ramen dishes in the future. With the stinginess of this restaurant, I struggle to recommend this to my colleagues in the future.

The service was slow, also it was unprofessional (Ex: if 3 people are eating, you can not be taking away the dishes of 1 of the guests who is done eating while the other 2 are still eating). This is amateur, and should be corrected in the future.

Future: Try the pork/chicken/beef shoyu ramen, pork/chicken/beef miso ramen,...

This place is AMAZING!! We got 2 ramens, gyoza, a specialy beer, and a specialty drink. It wasn't outrageously priced either. The portions were perfectly sized and incredibly good. The drinks were also phenomenal. Lots of vegetarian options too!! Spicy garlic beef was probably the winner over the burnt shoyu (both were great though).

We would have stayed longer for desert too as their options looked 6 unfortunately the service was just so terrible we couldn't handle it anymore hahaha.

Honestly I don't know who our server even was, we could never get anyone's attention, nobody came round, and we sat there for over 25 minutes after we finished eating before we finally were able to flag someone down for the bill after being totally ignored - then the girl who brought over the machine was staring me down as I was putting in the tip (I always still tip at least 20% even if service sucks but it made me really uncomfortable lol).

Aside from our personal experience though, the staff genuinely welcomed everyone in and said goodbye to everyone, which I thought was sweet - not sure why there was a hitch in between but it's ok.

The restaurant itself is laid out very well and the washrooms were nicely maintained (even had mouthwash in them!)

Overall, we will absolutely be returning here because it was just that damn good. Hope that this visit was just a fluke with the...