Ajitama Ramen Bistro - Chiado — Restaurant in Lisbon

Honestly, not entirely sure what the fuss is about? In fairness, I didn't try the ramen so maybe that is the highlight but nothing else really stood out as exceptional or worth the hype.

The cocktails sound great on paper and look really nice, but are incredibly weak liquor-wise. So little that you can't taste any booze at all. It tastes like juice. Very sweet juice. I appreciate what they're trying to do and they seem creative enough, but if you can't taste even a hint of the alcohol, why bother including it? A gin drink should bring out the botanicals of the gin, not hide it behind a bunch of sugar and juice. But points for actually trying to make unique cocktails in this city.

I tried all the starters and none were great. Pretty basic flavours, and the gyoza were only lukewarm. The agedashi tofu was just really strange and nothing like any agedashi I've ever tried before, and absolutely smothered with bonito flakes. I will probably say that could be due to the lack of authentic ingredients available in Portugal? Sadly, all the starters seem to suffer from this. Food came quickly though, so that is a plus.

The service was perfunctory. Nothing good, nothing bad. Which is just fine for me. But it was weird how some staff just stand there and stare at people eating.

The atmosphere was really weird. I guess there is a problem with the electricity? The lights kept going on and off/up and down the whole time, and at one point the music just stopped, and never...

Fair. Got miso ramen, the best part of it was hannjukutamago (the egg) - well done. However, the rest could be improved:

1. To my taste, the noodles were slightly overcooked, and I would recommend to shorten the boil time (and perhaps provide an option in the menu to make the noodles hard-average-soft as to allow for customization, just make the average cooking time option a default one)
2. At the bottom of the bowl was some miso paste not well mixed, when I started with the noodles I thought it was lacking miso - it was there.
3. Miso was advertised as rich flavor, but, to make it live to its image, it could have marinated bamboo or funori/ nori in it
4. Please provide longer chopsticks. The single use hashi currently in place are not convenient to eat ramen with. I would encourage to cut waste by providing multi-use

On the good side, Tokaido Shinkansen announcement in the bathroom made my day. Also, staff is very nice. The mostly katakana menu is rather cheerful. Interior design. I mean just the number of emas, almost...

Ramen restaurant, with plenty of sitting, interesting interiors, friendly service, and good location.

The menu isn't too extensive, but there are enough variety of noodles and a few non ramen dishes. Noodles are fresh and flavors are balanced. Besides mains, there are appetizers, desserts (although the most japanese sounding dessert was sold out, the Hokkaido pumpkin pie), and plenty of drink options, with a strong emphasis on cocktails and spirits.

The space is much larger than expected, as the restaurant has three rooms in a row across the lenght of the room. Besides a wall with some strange noise of loud water running (which hopefully is temporary) the space feels cozy and welcoming. The highlight of the decoration is a series of noodle mimicking, plywood profilles, free flowing around the space, creating diversity and interest. The dim light and details here and there complete the scene.

Service is friendly and helpful. We were quickly given the option to be seated away from the noisy wall.

Reservations...