Ippudo Umeda — Restaurant in Osaka

Arrived about 8.30pm and was a line down the stairs to the door. The line moved quickly and nearer the door you were given a menu and ordering slip to enable quicker service.

The restaurant is small with seating only at the bar.

I had a grape sour and spicy black ramen and SO had a beer and special black ramen. The special ramen had an umami taste and a lot of fat (richness) to the broth. I wasn’t a big fan of it, but I really enjoyed the spicy black ramen. It had some oil in the broth but no fat sitting on the surface. The noodles were thin - you can only have a standard level of firmness with the black ramen. The kaedama noodles were a little firmer, which we preferred. We ordered the flavoured soft boiled egg on top and it was VERY soft. Like a yolk that had been briefly dunked - too slimy for me. I was hoping for the brownish soft boiled egg with firm white and dark yolk. There were 3 different types of egg on the menu and on reflection we should have ordered different ones. Perhaps the salted egg was what we were after? I asked for no chashu, but got it anyway - not too bothered, I just lift it out. I also added green onion and kikugare, both were plentiful.

Service was fast and staff were friendly with some english. The grape sour was nice enough but a bit sweet - tasted like liquified grape gobstoppers.

I prefer the other Ippudo in Namba, but it was...

Had the Soy Sauce based noodles and they were fantastic! The soup was dark but had a flavor that milder than expected but full of different flavors. I wanted to choose the type of noodles that I preferred but with order, I couldn't with the order I made(no big deal). The noodles, the soup, fantastic. Our other order was an large helping of dipping noodles(tsukemen). The texture and size of the noodles were exactly how I like them. The soup once again looked like a very heavy pork based sauce but was a beautiful fish based soup with fresh and crunchy onions. Also had half boiled egg with rice. In the beginning, it was perfect, but the cold noodles quickly made the soup cold and a bit unpleasant. An extra hot stone to reheat the soup would've done the trick but this is not a tsukemen restaurant. I had to ask for hot soup to add to make my left over broth drinkable, but the chef didn't add enough soup and the soup wasn't hot enough. To top things off, right in front of seats 1 and 2 near the entrance of the restaurant, the staff collects all the left over noodles, vegetables, and meat in a strainer. Not only is it extremely unpleasant to look at, the smell is extremely off putting. There is no reason for this restaurant to keep that there...

if you want to experience the rudest service in japan, go here. This is the very first time I have experienced ill-mannered service that ruined my whole family’s night. I had a big family with me. Since the restaurant was small, we were placed in separate tables far away from each other. Since my other family members have a hard time understanding the japanese menu, we requested to be closer together and order together (so that i can translate it). the rude waiter (girl 内山) shouted “No! No! No!” and we were embarrassed. Despite wanting to leave, we were very hungry so we decided to eat here. To resolve the situation, I asked for the manager and they said they had no manager. Isnt that impossible? Who can I go to if I have a concern such as this??? If this is the kind of system ippudo has in all its branches then this branch has ruined ippudo for me.

Additionally, their service and kitchen crew is a mess. They kept shouting at each other and the atmosphere was so stressful!

It is so sad that the Ippudo name has been ruined for me. I dont think i can ever eat their ramen again. Specifically, I will NEVER come back to Ippudo Umeda again. I hope that 内山 doesnt treat other...