Naniwa-Ya Izakaya — Restaurant in Paris

This featured in Vogue’s top 10 Japanese restaurants in Paris, and apparently is frequented but mostly Japanese people, so decided to give it a try. Well, off we go and could not spot a single Japanese (or even Asian) person in the restaurant… but Vogue surely wouldn’t lie so decided to go in. We ordered takoyaki and gyozas as starter, pork udon ramen and katsudon as main. No more than 3mins in, the ramen arrived and, how can I put it, it was pot noodles in a pork (rather than chicken, as very clearly stated on the menu) oxo cube stock - plus came with yaki soba rather than udon noodles. This was topped by the tiniest sliver of pork belly ever, which was, clearly, badly cooked in advance (as in a few days in advance). 10mins in, the takoyaki arrive… smothered in ginger to cover the fact they they were most clearly frozen, followed by the gyozas which were charred to dead and also, very plainly, frozen. Still no sign on the second main, which arrived another 10mins after the “starters”. At which point I took the initiative to point out to the waitress that the ramen was (a) not udon as asked and (b) not exactly edible anyway (the egg was BLUE), so I could not possibly touch more of it. Apparently, according the the waitress, ramen does not come with udon - which she bafflingly failed to mention when I ordered it - and did not bother to even apologise or try change my order. At last, the katsudon arrived… a leather shoe sole on a bed of crunchy rice! I’m sure a Japanese granny dies every time they try make that rice pass for authentic Japanese. Oh well, let’s ask for the bill, shall we?! Apparently you’ve got to pay inside. Turns out the entire kitchen staff is (or appears to be) South American… I guess it explains the state of what we were served. We not so subtly made allusion that our experience was abysmal, and somehow believed the waiters would have relayed the fact that my bowl of ramen can back untouched (not to count that I told one of them the bloody thing was revolting). No excuse, no gesture, nothing. Paid in full, and to their “see you soon” just replied “see you never”. This must be the worst culinary and customer service experience ever… even for Paris! Avoid at all costs! I am amazed at Vogue to even suggest this sorry excuse of place as remotely half decent. How much did the owner bribe the Vogue journalist?! Has the journalist no taste buds?! Has he/she ever had Japanese (or any remotely decent) food before?! Most of my comments on Google are incredibly positive, but here I really felt the need to warn any...

——— SERVICE ———

Service was good although different than usual, and we believe this is mainly due to the cultural gap with the Japanese.

——— FOOD ———

Both the Donburi and the Noodles were delicious. We were thrilled and transported by the Japanese flavours. A delicate in-between between the textures. The Niku soup was thirst-quenching and beefy and its noodles were soft and nicely cooked. The Ramen was typical and delicious, and soft in taste with slices of pork.

——— RANDOM ADVICES ———

You can choose the type of Noodles you wanna eat in your soup: UDON: thick and made of wheat flour. SOBA: thin and made of buckwheat flour.

The Noodles soup are very consistent and we suggest you take one per person. The Niku is made for you if you like beef!

——— OVERALL ———

The balance between the ingredient was so smooth and it was a memorable Japanese tasting experience. We rely on this restaurant for a typical culinary experience, from a food and ambiance...

Je ne pourrais pas rentrer dans les détails de savoir si c'était bon ou pas, il fut un temps ou c'était probablement la meilleure cantine de la rue, mais...les temps semblent malheureusement changer, et bien que les queues interminables étaient vraiment une condition quasi obligatoire pour pouvoir savourer les petits plats, c'était géré avec beaucoup d'efficacité, et beaucoup de respect pour les clients, aujourd'hui, ils ne semblent même plus savoir quelles sont leurs tables, faire 6 aller retour pour changer les tables (j'ai eu le temps de compter) après le passage des clients, aucune coordination ni communication entre le personnel, et vous obtenez un stress intense pour juste avoir un donburi ou quelques "tapas". C'est vraiment dommage de devoir poster un avis négatif car je ne le fais jamais, et je pourrais bien évidemment excuser ce genre de désagrément si au moins derrière, lorsque vous allez pouvoir enfin prendre votre table, un groupe ne vous passait pas devant parce qu'ils étaient là "avant",mais quand avant 10min avant? Ils n'étaient pas là. Alors ok on va pas chipoter pour ça car on ne peut pas le savoir, mais ce n'a jamais été le fonctionnement de ce genre de lieu non plus, on ne va pas chercher quelque chose et revenir 10min plus tard passer devant mais sans informer de rien non plus, il est aussi important de signaler qu'l n'ya pas non plus système de réservation. La moindre des choses lorsqu'on vous demande de patienter est simplement d'informer dès le début de ceux qui sont devant vous afin d'avoir au moins cette liberté d'accepter ou non le deal, et d'aller ailleurs où pas. Pire alors que des places sont libres lorsque vous pouvez accéder à votre table, et qu'il n'y a plus de queue, de placer les clients dans un lieu moins confortable (alors qu 'il y a du choix , de l'espace et que vous vous êtes plus ou moins fait gruger sur l'ordre d'arrivée..). Encore une fois on est pas pressé c'est juste une question de respect envers les clients et surtout...de COMMUNICATION. On pourrait juste dire par exemple "3 personnes sont devant vous, mais elle sont allées ... quelque part, cela vous convient il?". J'espère que le restaurant prendra ce genre de critique en considération, et surtout fera quelque chose pour changer la donne, je ne suis pas contre ce restaurant mais nous ne sommes pas non plus, qu'un simple...