Kanuti Ramen Bar — Restaurant in Tallinn

Terrible service. Came on a weekday at 1pm. There were only two tables seated and no one in line. We stood in the restaurant, by the menus, for a several minutes. There were three workers and the cook. The cook looked directly at us twice but said nothing. After a couple more minutes, eventually we asked the cook if we seat ourselves and he just said “yes.”

We take our own menus and sit down.

The waiter came over and just stood over our shoulder. Did not smile, did not say anything. Very odd. After a long time, I finally told him we need more time and he wordlessly walked away. Very, very weird.

When we're ready, he comes over. We explain to him that we want 2 vegan ramen bowls and point to the menu to specify each part of the ramen bowl (shoyu, noodles, tofu, etc.). It wasn't complicated. But then guy didn't seem to understand. So we repeated several times, "no egg" my partner's vegan ramen. Waiter: "Yes, regular ramen." Us: "Uh, no. No egg." Waiter: stares blankly. Us: "So you got that? No egg." (Waiter stares). Us: "Hello? No egg?" Waiter raises his voice in irritation: Yes! I understand!

Then I, a man, order a vegan ramen. I see that he writes "Beef." I told him, "I want the vegan ramen." He replies, "But it's vegan." Me: "I know...I want the vegan ramen." He replies, annoyed: "But it's vegan..." again. It was extremely strange.

After a very long wait, one vegan ramen comes out...except with egg. And mine comes out...beef, with animal broth. And we just laugh. The waiter is very confused and he takes the vegan ramen with egg back to the chef (I just accepted fate with the beef ramen.) After discussion with my partner, she is understandably untrusting of what's to come. So I go to speak to the chef, "Hey, actually let's just cancel that." The chef is indignant and says, "But why?" I explain the whole situation that we told the waiter several times, "no egg" until he shouted at us that he understood. The chef apologized and said he was new, and Ukrainian. He promises to make a new ramen that is totally vegan so I relent.

At the end, I have to find the waiter to pay. It's understandably awkward at this point so he had been avoiding us after we got our new meal (he also never apologized). Ironically, the waiter spends several minutes shuffling around when it becomes clear that he is looking for our bill and can no longer find it. Then he goes to talk to a manager/owner who is sitting at the bar who comes to speak to me in English and asks me what I ordered.

Pretty bad service overall and we actually saw two parties of Estonian guys just get up and walk out while we were there. Also, the fact that the Indian place across the way was packed while this place wasn't just shows that something was really wrong with this place. The food was actually pretty good but the service is one of the worst we've ever had in the world, on par with generally bad...

I’ve been to Kanuti before and this was our second time going there. The food is splendid no doubt about that, and it’s difficult to find Japanese food at this quality in Estonia. But my biggest disappointment would be the lack of service. We initially reserved a table and we started to order at around 730pm. The drinks came pretty promptly and we then waited for our food, and waited.. and waited.. till everyone else in the restaurant had left and we still did NOT get our food. Initially we wanted to keep quiet about it. After all, it was a full house and we totally understand when a place is busy the orders are bound to take a little longer. Then I started noticing people who came after us getting their meals and we still did not get them. Finally at around 8.45pm, after waiting for around an hour, we decided to ask the server on the status of our meals. The server then said as it was really busy, it will take around 1-7 minutes more for it to come. So we were fine with that. Only the server soon came back to our table afterwards and asked me if I could change my Donburi to ramen as they ran out of rice. I cannot believe it took the restaurant 1 hour+ to realise that they ran out of rice, and it was obvious that somewhere along the lines, our meals got lost in the abyss and we were totally forgotten. So we sat there at our table waiting for.. well, nothing. The ramen then took around 30 more minutes to cook, and we finally received our meals at around 9.30pm. 9.30PM!!! So we waited for a total of 2 hours, and it would’ve definitely been more if we did not approach the server to ask about our meals. Albeit they did provide us with some sake to express their apologies, but overall I was really disappointed that no one realised our meals were not actually in the streamline, and it was probably a little responsibility on our end to not nudge the server about it. We did not have time to take pictures and look at our meals in awe as the long wait starved us all and we finished the ramen in record speed, so all I got are pictures of the empty restaurant (which was fully packed and in full service when we arrived). All in all, the food was great and savory, but was it worth it to wait 2 hours for it?...

My partner and I had the pleasure of visiting Kanuti Ramen Bar during our trip to Tallinn, February 2024, unfortunately didn't get to visit them several months earlier in 2023. Anyway, we managed to get to Kanuti this particular lunchtime and we were absolutely blown away with our experience.

The inviting atmosphere, delicious ramen, and the owners' passion for Japanese cuisine truly made the visit unforgettable.

During our meal, I had the opportunity to chat with both owners, Zak and Taras. Hand made egg free noodles are made daily, PERFECT, and the work & knowledge that goes into making all 3 of the broths is absolutely testament to their passion.

Their enthusiasm for providing the freshest ingredients was evident as Zak proudly showed me their innovative experimental micro herb garden, where the use of coffee husks and tea, as well as other natural products are used as part of their soil feed.

I mentioned at paying that a review will be made, and as a special touch, Zak and Taras asked us to share a complimentary message in our native Welsh language. Seems they have been to Wales, and earlier out of nowhere, to our surprise, dropped a few words in Welsh without prompt, purely because they picked up our accents :-) Taras joked I write the review in Welsh, and they could probably carry the counterproductive language, BUT, I thought it deserves the international language and just a simple Welsh nod...

So, we'd like to say "Diolch yn fawr am y bwyd blasus iawn a'r croeso cynnes Zac a Taras, pob lwc hefo popeth yna, ac hefyd beth sy'n mynd ymlaen yn ôl adref, gogoniant i Wcráin!"

Kanuti Ramen Bar is certainly the spot for anyone who enjoys authentic ramen, great pairing wines, and a welcoming environment.

Highly recommend this fantastic ramen spot and look forward to returning on our next trip to Tallinn!

Thanks again Zac & Taras, and please pass on our thanks to our great waitress...we never did get...