Ramen Ramen by Tanoshi — Restaurant in South Island

I ate at Ramen Ramen in queenstown this evening, I had the tonkotsu miso ramen and it was very bland. Of all the ramen broths, the last one that should be bland is the tonkotsu. I ate ramen for a year while I lived in Japan and coming from dunedin for a couple of days was really looking forward to finding a decent ramen somewhere.. this was not it. Honestly it was extremely disappointing. Especially for the high price. When asked if my meal was good I told the staff my complaint, that this did not taste like a tonkotsu or miso broth and that it was very disappointing. The staff didn't seem to even care one bit. Hence why I am now writing my first ever negative review for food online. I could not recommend this tonkotsu, an expensive dish with a very small serving of noodles and sprouts, overly complicated menu, tasteless broth (I do not believe that pork bones were involved, or seasoning). Also they don't sell gyoza, should have seen that as a red flag from the outset.

I can only assume those that leave a 5 star review here have never actually experienced a good ramen (excruciatingly difficult to find in nz) and maybe the owner should go to Japan to experience it for themselves because either they don't care, or these 'executive japanese chefs' are having a laugh

I will just put my reply here:

I would suggest ordering a secret tonkotsu miso ramen for yourself and your Japanese chefs from your own business and get back to me. I don't care who you are, that tonkotsu was incredibly disappointing. The broth I had was more clear than milky and was just terrible, not a hint of miso or umami in any way shape or form. Perhaps this was the broth from cooking the chashu, because it was greasy and flavorless. I would expect that after receiving countless poor reviews that say the same thing about your painfully average ramen that you might take steps to remedy this. There are at least 20 reviews saying the exact same things, yet all the owner will do is gaslight the customer to tell them they are wrong. I suspect they write some of these reviews themselves. I'm sorry mate but I will tell anyone considering this place to give it a miss. Waste of money, you're giving ramen a bad name when in reality it is oiishi des. Other reviewers were absolutely correct that even Nissen Kyushu black instant ramen is much much better. I've worked in kitchens for over 15 years, lived in Japan and I'm telling you that it was the worst ramen I might have ever eaten. Also cut the egg, it's lazy leaving it whole and the broth won't warm it completely. Also staff just nodding saying "OK" and doing absolutely nothing about a complaint is just...

Pros: the pork belly was fantastic service was friendly and food came fast

Cons: this is a “choose your own toppings” style ramen place, which is fine, but they consider NOODLES to be a topping, and it costs $3.50, which is not fine — noodles are integral to ramen and to have to pay $3.50 just to include them is not ok

while the pork belly that comes with the “kyushu” style broth (aka the tonkotsu broth) is good, the broth itself is not creamy in the slightest, contrary to what other reviewers have suggested. The broth looked and tasted like it was just seasoned with soy sauce and oil rather than “pork bones cooked at a rolling boil for a full day” as the menu claims. check out the attached picture to see what I mean. oh, and this type of broth is considered a “topping” as well and costs $4.

if you like your ramen spicy as I do, you may also be disappointed by the fact that the only spicy topping that this restaurant offers is “fresh chili” (+$2). this is not a chili paste or chili mix that you would expect from a standard ramen restaurant, but rather, a few Thai chili peppers diced up and served in a small accompanying plate. personally, I feel like this type of spicy topping adds an undesirable, flavorless spice to the ramen + doesn’t mix nicely...

The two stars are for the bowl, broth and the ramen, that being said you can expect them to reach a fairly coherent taste and texture with packaged ichiran ramen(export version) sold in Japanmart (that is certainly overrated), but nothing more than that. And now for the toppings, especially the chashu pork belly (added at extra costs of course), to simply say the meat is dry is an understatement, it is extremely lean and remotely ressembles any characteristics of a ‘belly’ cut, to name it in such way is a total disgrace, and for the texture it’s probably more chewy than an entire can of Extra bubblemint gums combined with reminiscence of beef jerky consistency. Not just overcooked but also over-seasoned: no layers but pure saltiness and very industrious soy sauce flavour, tastes like the meat has been soaked in the marinade since the initial case of SARS-COVID-19 was discovered in NZ. Veges are fresh as you would expect from all restaurants here, but whats the point of the saffron threads? The bamboo shoots is also packaged-food ok standard but the scallion looks sad, also the egg is fine. I cleared my plate because I waste no food,...