Kokoro Ramen — Restaurant in Vancouver

This is the saddest meal I have ever had IN MY LIFE. First let's start with the price. So they have a kinda build your own ramen type of menu going on. Which you know, screams cheap, but nothing further from the truth.

Actually every single item you want to add costs $1.50. And you might wonder: what items are those? Scallops? Prawns? Lobster perhaps? Onions. To add chop green onions to your ramen $1.50 😂😂😂 of course you can always not add anything, and sure it will be good enough. Nope. If you don't add anything they will literally give you broth, noodles, and maybe some pork (I will get into the pork situation later)

But you might say: hey, maybe this is a cheap meal you know. Maybe this is one of those cheap places where you go in your lunch break to grab a bite. I love those places too. Places where you get a delicious and relativity decent portioned meal for a relativity decent price, but no. This places screams pretentiousness. They have prices similar to fancy restaurants with a fifth of the quality.

Let me explain. I order a ramen with green onions ($1.50) fried onions ($1.50) and an egg ($2.00.) Cheap ingredients that should be free. I can understand the egg having a price. Not because I think is reasonable, but because other places do the same, and many other places would charge you for that. So for a ramen with onions and an egg the charged me: $30 😂😂😂 that's right $30. I was so hungry I said whatever. This has to be the best ramen ever.

I took forever, and when I finally got the ramen it was a complete disappointment. The fried onions where rather soggy instead of crispy as they should. The noodles where stick together. I mean it literally. The noodles where literally one massive peace of noodles stick together. I will upload some photos so everyone can see for themselves. I literally grabbed all the noodles at once with my fork 😂😂😂. Soup was warm. And the pork. Oh god the pork. I will upload a photo where I have a piece of pork in a spoon. This ramen had approximately 4 more of those pieces 😂😂😂. About less than a ounce. For $30 bucks. $30 😂😂😂. Green onions where fine. They are just $1.50 chop green onions, so is good to know that onions are well chop I guess 😂😂😂.

I feel rip off. I feel so rip off I had to write this long review 😂😂😂. I never wrote a review like this one. I couldn't take it any longer 😂😂😂. The quality and the size of the portions are definitely not $30. They are dilusional if they think otherwise, and this places can't compete with other known ramen places in Vancouver if this is the quality of the food. I uploaded 4 photos to back up my claims. See for yourself how...

I've not felt compelled to leave a review under five stars to a restaurant ever before, especially knowing how challenging it is for restaurants to survive in this city. But my experience here left me feeling a bit puzzled. I had high hopes for this ramen spot, given how often I pass by while commuting.

The visit started good, I was warmly greeted, and the server’s hospitality was excellent, which kept me from walking out after I took a first look at the menu and had a moment of hesitation (2 vegetarian options priced same as chicken alternatives) I chose to stay, partly because of the warm reception and partly out of not wanting to awkwardly leave after being seated and given the glass of water 😬

The ramen itself was alright, but I left feeling like the meal could have been much better for the price. I did sign up for ramen with egg knowing it was $2, but specifically requested the free chili option when asked about making it spicy. The server brought me one of the tiny bowls of chili oil, which I assumed was the free option as discussed. However, when the bill arrived, I found I'd been charged for the chili as well, bringing my total to $27 (after tax and tip) for a bowl of ramen that felt overpriced for what I received, just an egg and tofu as protein.

When I brought this up with the server at the end of my meal, I only received a “sorry, only our chilli powder is free” with no attempt to clarify or correct the miscommunication. I know that servers are underpaid and shouldn’t have to bear the brunt of customer complaints, which is why I didn’t want to fight over my bill but I felt this miscommunication could have been handled better, with transparency.

It’s not the $2 charge that makes me unlikely to return, but rather the feeling of being misled over such a minor detail. Maybe it’s this restaurant’s strategy to attract one time customers, but it undermines trust and leaves a bad impression, especially for anyone hoping to become a repeat guest.

Kudos to the initial server though, she really tried to make my experience warm and was pretty attentive, it was just the over all lack of transparency which couldn’t make the experience...

Errrr… hookkkayy!! What am I missing here?! I’ve passed by Kokoro Ramen many times and from the shop front, thought this must be a great place for ramen. So with memories of cold shinshsaibashi Osaka nights over steamy ramen carts or post-Ktv nights at shinjuku alley ways, I was hankering for a great meal! Still at partial covid restrictions, the very polite waitress asked us to wait for a table to come open; ok, gave me a chance to look through the menu, but only saw a very limited menu - which is par for the the course for ramen places. But what’s with the other reviews with all sorts of items that’s not available now??

Ok never mind - ordered #1 and 2 and after waiting quite a while (for the small number of patrons - there’s only 4 tables open!!), our bowls came and right away, I was totally disappointed; the saddest looking small amount of ramen was served in a big bowl with pieces of meat, some veggies, seaweed slab and the WHOLE egg thrown in and that’s my no.1!! How is one supposed to eat a whole egg in a ramen?! Nope, not cut in half and presented nicely, just peeled and dumped somewhere in the bowl!! Had to stab it with my chopstick and bit into it …. And of course it was fully boiled instead of the 3 minutes egg it’s supposed to be! A total travesty for ANY restaurants, never mind a Japanese one, to commit this hanging-crime! Then comes the main attraction- the ramen! Ok, cooked ok per se BUT…. The broth … tasted like the last time I gulped some sea water when I was swimming. It was THAT salty and that tasteless! Incredible! Asked the waitress for some hot water and I poured the whole tumbler into my ramen and only then could I eat it. Incredible!! The decor and cleanliness is ok and the waitresses were very nice …. But slow as I guess they’re new staff - as per the “position vacant” poster in the washroom. To me, this is another faux-pas as it openly admits that they’re understaffed! 3 stars still for the pleasant staff and since everybody is trying to survive business wise - not nice to be so critical...