Sakura Ramen — Restaurant in Budapest

Went in this evening with my partner and another couple, had seen some reviews regarding the service prior to the visit. Upon arrival greeted very rudely by a blonde ‘waitress’ if you’d call her that. Very ignorant and not present in any interaction. (If you hate your job, find another). Our friends joined us and she practically threw the menus at them. Order was taken by another man, who, might I add, was wearing AirPods the whole time we were in there. Very dry, seemed like we were such an inconvenience to them. So far all interactions had not made us feel very welcome at all. The atmosphere was terrible, no music. The food was mediocre, i had some very greasy vermicelli beef noodles. With ICEBERG LETTUCE IN. My partner said his, chicken curry fried rice was alright. Our friends had duck noodle soup, the broth itself was incredibly salty and again had iceberg lettuce in. We had ordered some pork steamed and fried buns which never arrived and after our previous interactions, decided to not bother mentioning this. Comes to paying and we are directed to the bar area where we have to go sort it out ourselves. My partner politely asks to not pay the 10% service charge as there was little to no service what so ever. The blonde lady replies saying we have to. After researching, service charges in Hungary are NOT mandatory. I approach the situation as I refuse to pay it and am told the same, I then show online how it isn’t mandatory and the blonde lady goes to get, who I assume was the owner. AGAIN WEARING AN AIRPOD, AS A SERVER IN A RESTAURANT. She asks why we don’t want to pay it and we explain the interactions we had encountered during our visit she tells the lady to take it off but then goes off on how WE were ‘rude’ for not telling her about our service until our departure. (We had no food check backs or anything and the table hadn’t been cleared before we left) I explain why and bring up the AirPod thing and she keeps saying we, the people paying for her service are rude. After making us feel uncomfortable and in the wrong over the situation the service charge was deducted after and we paid and left. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE AT ALL AND THE OTHER REVIEWS ARE CORRECT. Few point of advice - Employ nicer staff, serve better food, treat everyone...

What to say... if you're expecting a truly traditional Ramen you'll be slightly disappointed 😞 I'll explain in a bit.

First of all I ordered a cucumber salad and a Ramen bowl. The salad was a small cold side dish so I expected to get it before or at the same time as my bowl. I got it when I was halfway through my bowl. Also it should had some chili in the marinated. Just enough to give it a little kick, but not over the top. Didn't taste it nor felt a kick. Not even the tiniest kick.

Second the noodles in the bowl didn't taste/feel(texture wise) handmade. I'd almost say it was plain spaghetti noodles.

Third I am used to get half a marinated semi soft boiled egg with it. I gotten a plain hard boiled egg. The funny thing is that they have a few pictures of the bowls on the wall and guess what... they depict the marinated semi soft boiled eggs that I expected to get.

Look... overall the taste was good, but I have traveled quite a bit in Asia and my home country has a big Asian community. Especially in my hometown. Thus I have access to traditional Ramen and love it a lot. At least once a week I have Ramen back home. So yes, I know what I'm talking about. And despite the taste being good it wasn't exactly what I expected at a restaurant named Sakura(the national flower of japan: the cherry blossom), with traditional japanese drawings on the wall and decorations. So bit disappointed and therefor only 3 stars.

Lastly... the inside of he blowdryer for your hands in the bathroom was quite dirty. Accrued calcium residue. Happens when 'hard' water is left overtime. Like the inside of a water kettle. So it hadn't been...

Not recommended! I ordered Bibimbap:

1.The fried egg on top was obviously reheated - anyone who has ever had a decent bibimbap should know what the texture of the eggyolk has to be.

2.There were only two “toppings” on the rice, some beans sprouts and mushrooms.

3.The lower part of the rice was completely burnt.

4.It was simply tasteless.

The peak of the dinner: I was billed 600huf more than what was written on the menu outside the shop(I knew what I wanted to eat so didn’t check the menu inside). After leaving the restaurant I checked the menu again and the price was indeed less than what I paid. I went back and asked for a menu, right before I opened it the guy told me that the prices have changed and they’re not the same on the two menus. He knew RIGHT AWAY why I went back. Meaning that they are completely aware of it, they just don’t care that people are being mislead.

The restaurant was full of customers so I didn’t start complaining, maybe I should have...

This is experience was extremely disappointing.

Oh yea, I didn’t even mention that automatically added 10% service charge (which is getting more and more common in Hungary, but this just made the situation...