Maruten Ramen — Restaurant in Albert-Eden

Heard about this ramen place for a while but never had a chance to try it until now. I have to say a lot of pictures of this place are quite confusing, some showing a food court looking setting while others showing a restaurant which I was pleasantly surprised that it is the latter. The place is quite chic with simple decor like tiny sake drums and wooden sake tumbler holders around the bar table make it unmistakably Japanese. Ordered the Tonkotsu Chashu ramen and it arrived in less than five minutes - that was very impressive. The presentation was okay, the big bowl of noodles had at least 4 large pieces of chashu, and the usual toppings you would find in Tonkotsu ramen - pink pickle ginger, spring onions, bamboo shoots, nori, spinach and toasted sesame seeds. I was hoping to see ajitama (flavoured soft boiled egg) but it was my bad that I didn’t read the menu fully, tonkotsu chashu ramen doesn’t come with it. First off the soup, it was creamy quite flavourful but a bit too salty. The waitress did say they could adjust it, which essentially means watering it down. Secondly, the noodles were al dente perfect for my liking. Some people might find them too hard, but it was perfect in my opinion. Third, the chashu was okay. Would taste better if these weren’t as thinly sliced. I’d be happy to have less slices but thicker slices. Fourth, other toppings were okay too. It would be nicer if there were more pickle ginger and spring onions. And if the nori wasn’t fully submerged and became soggy. Their menu is a bit more expensive compared to other ramen places in Auckland. A bowl of Tonkotsu chashu ramen was $17. Will be back to try other...

Surprised! Mercury Lane is a run down little shopping area and they’ve done nothing to make it look better. It is not where you think you can find some awesome food – but you can. I used to hang out there a bit and the Thai food is always my favourite. Just how it should taste like.

I walked around and have decided to try something new – Maruten Ramen. I was debating whether to eat something I love and know is quite authentic, or should I eat ramen, which you can get in many places. Finding good ramen place in Auckland isn’t easy so I wasn’t sure what to expect. So I ordered their speciality – the Red Dragon. It has Tonkotsu (pork bones) base, chilli (and you get to choose the spicy-ness!) pork, bamboo shoot, bok-choy, bean sprouts.

What a surprise! The soup is thick and creamy, easy and lovely to drink. I’ve opted for something a little less spicy partly because I wasn’t feeling well, but this was a great way to taste how awesome the soup base was. The noodles were amazing – super chewy – what you would get only if it was fresh and handmade. The ingredients were fresh and a real surprise to get a little bit of fruits at the end of the meal as desserts!

If Maruten has their own shop I would definitely go. I would definitely come back here again when I crave...

I’m rarely compelled to write a review, but last night’s service at Maruten was the absolute worst I’ve seen at any restaurant.

My husband and I ordered 2 bowls of miso ramen within 10 minutes of arriving. The restaurant was packed so we asked how long we should expect to wait for the food. We were surprised to hear it would take 10 minutes. An hour later we (2 starving pescatarians) were given a bowl of meat filled ramen! When we asked the server about it, she was very apologetic and said that the servers should’ve asked us which option we wanted. We were so fed up at this point that we left the restaurant with no food.

I also want to mention that I had a direct view to the kitchen and check out counter while we waited and could see many unhappy customers waiting for table service and takeaways. The servers seemed very disorganised—I could see them frantically deciphering their handwritten orders and profusely apologising to customers.

With all that said, it’s obvious to me that this place is a disgrace in terms of service. Maruten, I suggest you 1) educate your waitstaff on how to run a restaurant and 2) update your menu so that it’s very clear as to what the options are.

We will not...