Bone Daddies Victoria — Restaurant in London

Our visit to Bone Daddies left us disappointed as the ramen did not live up to the hype. The restaurant had a good atmosphere and was very trendy with cool Asian-inspired interior and design.

TONKOTSU (THE ORIGINAL) 3/5 Tonkotsu or pork broth ramen was just alright, as the broth was a little on the disappointing side. It lacked much-needed flavor and had a slight stinky pork flavor that you get when you don't double boil and clean the bones in between. The toppings, including the 6.5-minute marinated egg, chashu pork, beansprout, and bamboo shoots were good. I could only rate it 3/5 because of this, as I have had much better broth at other restaurants.

YUZU TONKOTSU 3.5/5 Yuzu flavored tonkotsu ramen was slightly better, as the citrusy flavor paired nicely with the broth and lifted its flavor profile. It had slightly different toppings compared to the original, as the chashu pork was fried instead.

KOREAN FRIED WINGS 4/5 The Korean fried wings were good, with a sweet and spicy sauce that reminded me of yangnyeom sauce. Both the wings and the sauce were tasty and reminiscent of Korean flavors.

CROQUETTES 3/5 The croquettes were crispy on the outside with a gooey pork and corn filling. They were good, but nothing extraordinary.

FRIED CHICKEN 2.5/5 The fried chicken was not that impressive, as it was far from karaage and more like chicken bits dipped in flour before deep frying. The flavor and texture were just okay, but the yuzu mayo that came with it really lifted this dish.

Soda/Drinks We had to try out the Chu Lo sodas as they seemed like a specialty served at Bone Daddies. The lemon sour had a nice sour and sweet lemon flavor, but it had a bitter aftertaste due to the stevia sweetener, which affected the overall enjoyment of the drink.

Despite the trendy atmosphere and unique menu, Bone Daddies fell short of our expectations when it came to the ramen. While some dishes were decent, others were lackluster, and the flavors didn't quite hit the mark. If you're looking for a trendy spot Bone Daddies might be worth a visit, but for authentic and flavorful ramen, there may be better...

So, had some friends visiting and told them I was gonna bring them to have the best ramen they have ever had in their life. We arrived at 7.30 and told to wait for a table (fair enough). We decide to have a drink outside while we waited (could not eat outside as it was gonna rain). I have seen people walking in after us and at some point I had to stand up and go close to a table just cleared to ensure we were seated first and not overlooked (that’s how we felt as a table was seated before us and we just jumped on that same table - should manage this a bit better your end). Then took a while to order - we ordered bao and ramen for 4. No chicken ramen - so we had to change our choices. Fine. No duck bao so had to change to something else. Fine. Since we were seated after 45 minutes - went to the bathroom upstairs and saw 4 empty tables with two staff members seating and on their phones (not on break as I went to the bathroom 1hr later and they were still like that). So why weren’t we seated upstairs and made to wait outside? (7.30 on a Wednesday not closing time). We get our ramen and it was fantastic (as usual). The bao arrived when we finished the ramen even though we specified we wanted them first (not made aware of the wait time whatsoever). We just had them not to waste food nor money as they arrived too late. Ordering a beer took us 10 mins (just to make eye contact) Staff just cares about clearing tables (not that big of a restaurant) even when no one is waiting outside. Beer was room temperature - terrible. Love your ramen but never coming back to this branch. I felt like I was in a fast food. Garlic crusher was still dirty on the table from...

It was the end of the day so maybe everyone was tired/fed-up, but so much went wrong when we just visited.

I don’t like to complain, but it’s worth people/the company knowing so it can be avoided in the future.

We ordered lots of Bao buns which i understand is a hard order, but the food took a long time (one of us even had to cancel his order and leave because it took so long). They did explain this to us after a while but they probably shouldn’t have taken the order if it was such a hassle to them at the end of the day.

When the buns did come, the outer bun was cold (the meat was hot), i’m not sure if it’s normal for this place, but after the wait it was a disappointment- my friend was going to complain about this fact but the server seemed very upset at this point so we just left it.

They got my girlfriend’s order wrong and then seemed annoyed/confused when we tried to explain what was wrong with it. But again i understand it’s the last order of the day and people just want to get home. So again, we were the ones accepting their mistake- as to not stir up the emotions further.

At the start of the meal, i asked for water for the table- and that never came too.

After all that, we expected some discount or something free as a sorry for how badly it went- but nothing, we paid full price and never really got any explanation or apology. It wasn’t the best customer care, but as i keep saying maybe it’s a one off.

I would still give this place a go in the future as reviews are generally good, and when i ate the buns they were generally tasty. I just wish the customer care was better as it was a disappointing...