The new TAKUMI München — Restaurant in Munich

Well... frustrating and disappointing are two words that I can perfectly describe my expectations today. Two friends of mine arrived earlier to get a table, which they didn't so they had to sit at the counter (no big deal). They made explicitly clear that another friend was arriving in 10 min (me), and one of the waiters told them they couldn't simply wait. So they decided to order some food (also for me) When I arrived (12 min later) I just got in and sat close to them. The same waiter then came and simply told me I should wait outside. I told him they have arrived earlier and made clear we were 3. According to him the laws of the restaurant (?) don't allow that, and that also people, who were waiting, would complain. I asked him if someone had complained and he said no. So I told him to go outside and ask if someone waiting in the line was alone and wanted to get the seat. Well...he did want to do that so I decided to go outside like he asked (not in the mood for stress over something stupid) I left the restaurant and 2 mins later he came asking if someone was alone, since there were only couples, he told me I could join my friends. If my friends were they for more than 15-20 min blocking a seat, I would totally understand...but 10 min? Come on!

So for the food: the entrees arrived after all this chaos (despise being ordered even before my arrival) The guioza were really good, but the takoyaki were flavourless. After waiting almost 1h our lamen arrived. I ordered the special one and oh boy... absolutely nothing special. The flavour is above average, but my my meat was MIA It is a bit pricey, but since we are in Munich, it's reasonable.

Shortly: poor service and a bit above average lamen. Don't understand the hype and...

I was hoping that I could enjoy this dinner before I came. Unfortunately I have to give this place a 1 star because of a few problems. 1. There is no AC in this restaurant, so you feel like you are in Africa the entire time. You eat while you sweat; really not a good experience. 2. After I sat down and ordered my dinner, I was commanded to move to a different table by the restaurant waiter because a group of six is coming, so they need my table for them. This makes me feel like I’m unimportant compared to the group of six...3. It took exactly 23 minutes for my noodle to come to my table. I really expect a much shorter time for ramen; normally 15 minutes max for 2 bowls of ramen in other ramen restaurants. I guess the heat and humid in this restaurant really made the 23 minutes of waiting time more suffering than it should be. The soup base of the ramen is fine, just like most ramen shops. The noodle itself is also fine, softness/hardness right at the point. The pork is too lean and dry, and the coddled eggs are poorly made. I have been to over 60 different ramen stores in the world and I have 1 bowl of ramen every week. I have visited 12 different ramen stores in japan. Unfortunately I cannot give this restaurant more than 1 star because of the poor experience I have had tonight. While I was waiting in the queue, I had a chance to go to a different noodle restaurant nearby, but my wife and I decided to stay and give it try. Then, my dinner today became a terrible experience. I wish I had never came to this restaurant today; I will...

Although the weather today wasn't ideal (heavy rain), we were happy to visit Takumi once again, until...

We arrived at Takumi at 11:30 am, 15 mins before its opening. As our shoes and coats were wet and the rain kept on pouring outside, we asked the waiter, who came to us, to let us wait in the waiting area for a while. The waiter didn't agree, he said "sorry, sorry, please wait outside". --"But the rain outside is really heavy, please just let us wait inside, next to the door." The waiter saw the heavy rain but insisted that we wait outside till they open the restaurant, without giving a reason. Then another waitress came, she repeated the same thing as the waiter said "sorry, you have to wait outside. We should have locked the door..." In the end, we had to walk back into the rain 10 mins before its opening.

While, people say that many Japanese are very polite and they follow the rules, I agree and think it shows their good manners. But I am not sure that I understand it, when people JUST follow the rules without considering the situation and others' feeling. Such a "cold politeness" may not be something that I advocate.

We've been numerous times to Takumi in the last 5 years and enjoyed always the delicious food there. That might be also why we were so surprised today with such a treatment. Honestly speaking, it was really not a pleasant experience.

To me, courtesy can be trained and nurtured. But I hope a bit kindness can be added above, which is from...