Men Noodle Bar — Restaurant in London

We had a very bad experience this evening which is really a shame because we are local and would have adopted this place as a trusted local restaurant. We eat out alot and were really looking forward to trying this place and had seen it open in the daytime and been tempted. We placed our takeaway order; two pork ramen and a prawn soba and an additional prawn tempura. This came to £42. The gentleman seemed somewhat rushed but he took the order and the payment and told us it would be ten minutes. He then asked if we could make it 15 minutes which we were really happy to do and we went away and I gave him 20 minutes. I came back after 20 minutes and stood in a queue while the three staff did various things very slowly. Finally it was my turn (and I was aware there were people sitting around me obviously waiting for food) and I asked for my food. They had no idea what it was and I had to direct them to my submitted form with the order on it. They had forgotten to produce it. The gentleman said sorry and something about they had had lots of orders since (which was irrelevant because mine had come in first and should have been ready). Anyway I sat down and waited another 20 minutes and watched the three staff move slowly around assembling ingredients (the stock is premade and so they add the individual pieces of meat, tofu, prawns and noodles). It was chaos. They had obviously lost control of the ordering system and people kept coming in, or coming upstairs where no one was serving, to place their orders. Finally in twice the time I was originally told I was presented with three of the four dishes we ordered and had already paid for. I asked where the starter was and was met with a blank unapologetic face - this was one of the women. I was then told I would have to wait another ten minutes. At this point I got a bit agitated and explained that I had already waited 45 minutes for a 20 minute meal and this would make it nearly an hour and that I didn't want to wait any more. They both stood there clueless. They couldn't do a refund because my husband had paid with his card and I didn't have it with me. So I told them to replace the item with something else to a similar value. I worked in catering front of house for years and at that point I would have thrown in two beers (actual value £2) and would have apologised profusely. They didn't do this. The woman continued to look stoney-faced and the man eventually took out one beer and out it in our bag. I took it all home and mine and my husband's was delicious. My daughter's was a) not what she ordered (unforgivable) and b) just not very nice. So incredibly...

I had the pork ramen and the beef soy udon. The beef udon was deliciously warm and inviting, very sweet soy used, balanced with strong beef flavours. The udon noodles were firm and a good pair with the broth. The pork ramen had good flavours, rich, tasty, perhaps with a dash of bone broth in there. The pork belly was fried and still retained the tasty charred flavour, the poached egg was a strong and welcomed addition to both meals.

I’m not entirely sure what the deals is with the kitchen, but there are these large bottles on the wall labeled with the styles of broth offered on the menu: chicken, beef, soy. Then the chef will build the broth for your ramen/soba with the flavourings dispensed from the bottles. Strange but it works and the broth taste authentically rich and flavoursome.

The atmosphere feels authentic Japanese, they have a sparse layout reminiscent of local ramen restaurants in Tokyo which ditches superfluous decorations for clean, visible and functional. They even incorporate a functional table top service, which is something you don’t often see in London.

The restaurant has a warm inviting feeling to it, and the array of bottled concoctions and implements behind the counter, which doubles as the kitchen, makes one wonder if there is actually more to this ramen restaurant then meets the eye.

The staff were very polite and seemed organised. My only criticism is that the ramen noodles were slightly overdone, and perhaps packet ramen noodles/mi. However, will visit again to get a...

I visited Men noodle Bar today for lunch with my mother. What a disappointment! (First things first we arrived and all of the windows and the doors were open, in the middle March? Bit cold no?) we ordered with a slip of paper you write on and then hand the person at the counter, (a kerfuffle in itself). Waited ages for our food to arrive but a gent came in who was evidently a friend of the restaurant and they bought his food up almost instantly, and we were still waiting ! The mains came out and were passed to us awkwardly on trays over the divide on the bar, practically spilling it ? You couldn’t have walked two meters to set it down as you did for the man behind us? I think above all my biggest annoyance or rather my mothers was the raw chicken she realised she was eating! She told the man behind the counter and he seemed dumbfounded and barely made any comment to the fact. She showed it to him and proved what she was saying and still he said absolutely nothing. His nonchalant manner towards service in general and also a serious complaint was overall incredibly frustrating and (in my opinion) dampens the overall experience in the restaurant.

They gained a lucky 2 stars for great chicken karage and...