Tenkaippin — Restaurant in Nara

If you want good ramen, don't come here. I only came because it was late and most places were closed. The broth they're supposedly known for is thick, but not in a good way. It's like drinking turkey gravy and not even as good as turkey gravy.

The karaage was juicy, which is why it gets a 2 star for food, but that was about it. It didn't really taste like anything either. The white rice was well done.

I came about 30 minutes before close on a Monday night (if they close at 10pm, which I'm not sure about). It wasn't busy, so I got seated right away. They weren't rude to me per se, but they kinda didn't care I was there. Which I'm fine with, but I can tell they'd be slightly more rude to other foreigners if it was busy. They seemed to understand some English and spoke some back, but I mostly used Google translate.

I think I paid 1400 yen for the set with ramen, rice, and karaage and I added a Coke. They seem to have a limited drink menu. I asked for a sour but they didn't have any. Looks like it's more about beer, but still limited.

It was a plus that they accept credit card and have an English menu. I suspect the English menu is more limited than the Japanese one; the drinks weren't on the English menu, for example.

There wasn't a ton of seats, but also not too few. Maybe less...

I ordered the number 3 which came with ramen, fried rice and karage.

The soup broth was amazing, probably top 5 of what's I've tasted.

Fried rice was OK. I guess I had high expectations based on other reviews. Though my wife loved it.

The karage was good. Wonder if I would have rated it higher if I wasn't so full from the other food.

Main reason I rated it four stars was service. I felt rushed and it felt they were slightly rude.

I'd put up with the above for the...

On the counter they wrote in Japanese that if woman comes in by herself, she could get a “lady service” of one free topping on ramen（女性のみ 一つ無料トッピングを提供します）. But since I’m a foreigner and the staffs automatically assume that I don’t read Japanese (which I actually do) and no one mention anything from beginning to the end. This is either extremely disrespectful service or discrimination. I understand it’s a chain ramen ya, but the service is barely minimum and so...