Tomukun Noodle Bar — Restaurant in Ann Arbor

We were not that impressed with Tomukun--food, service, or ambiance.

We've tried to come to Tomukun before, but after standing in the entrance for a while and not being noticed and seated, we've left. The same thing was about to happen last night when a server noticed us and invited us to sit.

The menu is small and appealing--lots of noodle dishes, some spicy, and lots of great-sounding elements ("hearty vegetables," e.g.). We ordered a couple of the smaller appetizers (octopus fritters and chicken spring rolls), then I ordered the green curry udon, and my fiance ordered the curry udon. We each got one of the craft beers.

The octopus fritters were very fishy--a plus to some, I'm sure, but a huge minus for us. We ate them not because we enjoyed them, but just to be rid of them! That's really terrible when I think about it. We just didn't want to see/smell them. The chicken spring rolls had this beautiful clear wrap, but then didn't taste like much of anything. The chicken, which I made a point to taste on its own, had been steamed without any seasoning whatsoever. So just a bit bland.

The udon was nice. My green curry had a kick to it, and I enjoyed the sponginess and thickness of the noodles. The tilapia it came with was also very fishy, and just had zero flavor to it. The vegetables (red pepper and zucchini) were fine. So in all I really enjoyed the first few bites, but at some point I stopped noticing the experience or flavor and it felt more bland.

The beers were... eh. I got the ginger, but couldn't really taste ginger. My fiance got the espresso, and all I could taste was espresso.

The ambiance was a bit loud--the sounds from bigger groups really carried.

The service was pretty eek. Our waitress repeatedly finished her part of the job before we'd finished ours. So, for example, as we ordered food, she took the menus from us mid-sentence. I then had to ask for the menu back to find the beer I wanted. Later on she came and took a plate before I was finished with it. Then she left the check in the middle of the meal (without asking if we wanted anything else). We looked over at some point and she's just sat down to her own dinner--perhaps she'd been eager to attend to that instead of her customers?

At the end of it all, our meal ran into the $50 range. Over $25pp seems like a lot for some noodles, a drink, and a small appetizer.

Glad I tried it, but won't...

My first time at the noodle bar was yesterday. What first set the ball rolling was my friend asking a waitress for a fork for me, and apparently she had an attitude about it. I have nerve damage in my hands which makes fumbling with chopsticks a nightmare for me (but I’ll shoulder some blame here for letting my friend bring me to a ramen place and not being able to use chopsticks).. but then I was given the wrong food, which wasn’t really a big deal, but I can’t eat meat and it was a meat dish. Thankfully my friend is a meat eater so he tested it for me and confirmed my suspicions. What was a big deal to me was one of the waiters came by before I started my “dinner” and asked if we had ordered another dish, and my friend and I both said no not knowing what he was talking about since we both had food in front of us. That “extra” item was what I had actually ordered, so once I finished my appetizer and was about to eat my dinner, that’s when I realized my order was wrong (as I mentioned above). So my friend flagged a waiter down and mentioned the mistake, so they took the incorrect food and brought me my correct food. I was surprised that the switch had only taken 2 minutes to do until I saw my food. It was so poorly thrown together, it was cold, and the tofu was terribly made; which makes me wonder if it was hastily made in the first place, but then left in the back somewhere for the duration of the time that this mix up occurred. I would have asked for my food to be remade, which is honestly something I’ve never done, but the restaurant just kept getting busier which meant we saw less and less of our waiter. The mushrooms were really good though so I just picked those out. My friend even mentioned that he didn’t like what he ordered but that the dumplings sort of made up for it! Seems like a nice restaurant, but it’s not the place for me. The quality of my dinner didn’t...

It’s an interesting place, and similarly its interesting on how people rate/review a place, and why would they like this place or dislike this place. When you go to a restaurant, the most important thing you expect is good food, and this place misses “Good Food”. We had a wait for 40 mins. It’s understandable and wouldn’t complain on the wait as it is a college town, and it was Saturday night. The waiting area/tables near the door are not planned right. The tables near the door are an afterthought. Anyways, we get to our table, and bunch of people are walking around us elbowing us and our table. I don’t blame them, because there is no waiting area. We order the appetizer and it was decent, and wouldn’t complain much about that. It had a good basic taste, and i was ready for the entree. The entree came in a huge bowl, which was maybe good for like 3 people. One of my biggest pet peeve is when i go to a restaurant, i go there to eat, and not for carry out. I have a decent appetite, and would love to have food on my plate that i can finish, and not take a carry out for next 2-3 days. But i understand why people like the carry out, because that’s considered as a second meal. However that’s not an idea of a restaurant. You don’t go to a restaurant expecting a carry out. Food wise, the appetizers were decent, and the entree was bad. It was missing flavor, too much quantity, and was something that was just done quick to get us out of the restaurant because of the wait. I like fast service, but not at an expense of taste. I understand this is a college joint, and not a fine dine place, but it could have been better. Again to summarize, good appetizers not so good (bad) entree. I don’t like to write a bad review, but I’ve seen that this place always has a 30+ min waiting time, and i had to get this out....