JINYA Ramen Bar - Athens — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

HORRIBLE experience. UNPROFESSIONAL staff.

I have been a fan of Jinya for several years now, so I was incredibly excited when I heard that they were opening a location in Athens. This location was the 4th Jinya I've been to, and it was a HUGE disappointment.

Our food took over an HOUR to get to our table, which I understand is not our server's fault. However, what IS her fault is the way she handled the situation. Normally, when something like this happens, I'd get complimentary starters or desserts OR an explanation OR at least a sincere apology. Instead, all we got was complete avoidance. Our server started avoiding our table to the point where we had to ask other servers for refills or additional drinks because we just couldn't find her anymore. The few times she did come around, she had a visibly upset expression on her face, and she would say "Sorry for the wait" halfheartedly while walking away.

Honestly, I know the situation must have been frustrating to her, but it's frustrating to us too. We had to sit there and watch other tables come in 30 minutes later than us and still get their food earlier than us. By her being openly agitated, she made us feel even worse. Now, we not only had to wait much longer than expected, BUT we also had to deal with poor customer service. If she just took the time to explain that the kitchen was backed up, our food was coming, and that they were genuinely sorry about the situation, we wouldn't have felt quite as bad. Just very poor training for the staff on how to handle difficult situations.

Not to mention, we LITERALLY could see and hear the staff arguing (including our server) about the situation. We could see and hear her ranting to coworkers too (right beside our table).

At this point, we had to add more time to our parking meter because the hour and a half that was there was not going to be sufficient. We even debated just asking to leave altogether.

Eventually, our food came out, but that was also a disappointment. The noodles were under-cooked, and the soup was not warm. We were even missing the seasoned egg, which was listed in the description, and we KNOW from all our previous Jinya experiences that it should be there. So, we asked our server where the eggs were. She replied that they ran out of the ingredient. No one could have told us before? Or at least told us while giving us the meal? After all, it is an ingredient that is part of what we paid for. WE shouldn't be the ones asking. Awful communication. Made me feel like they hoped I wouldn't notice.

All-in-all, it's very clear that the staff and kitchen were ill-prepared and not trained well. I can't emphasize enough that the main issue was communication. Please please please just communicate what's happening to your customers. If something changes or something unexpected happens, just communicate. It will make things a hell of a lot better for everyone involved.

I really do love Jinya, and I want to give this location another try in a few months when hopefully the staff are more experienced. If things get better, I will change my review. My goal is not to tear you guys down but to explain why my experience was not good and what I think could be better. So, I hope this was somewhat constructive, and I hope to see better service...

Horrible service! Do not recommend don't waste your time. I had went with my family and the vibes as soon as we walked in were just off. We had originally been placed on the wait list for about 30 minutes which we didn't mind. So we decided to walk around for a bit. When we noticed 40 minutes have passed and when we returned to see what was going on, it turned out that we had been removed from the list because the hostess had put our number wrong. I had previously corrected her when we were being put on the waiting list. She then repeated the number and it was still wrong and claimed to have texted us twice or three times. I then told her it was the wrong number and showed her my phone to prove we never received anything. When I told her about this she told me we would have to wait another 20 minutes, I only agreed because we had made plans weeks ago about trying Jinya. After 30 minutes I went up to the hostess stand and ask what was going on and why we weren't being seated yet, the new hostess told me that they didn't "realize" we had a baby stroller? Like come on now. Then she proceeded to say she would speak with her manager about "comping" our meal. After another 15 minutes I got tired of waiting and asked to speak with "so said" manager and was told by the "manager" "I'll go look for a table and see where I can squeeze all of you guys" like you guys have had an hour to find a place to seat us or you guys couldn't tell us that y'all had no space for a stroller? Or was it because you guys didn't want to attend us? But the whole time there were more customers being seated without a wait time. And the whole time we were waiting we felt very uncomfortable because we kept getting looks from all the workers. I don't know why. After asking the manager how much she was willing to comp from our meals she wouldn't give me a response. I honestly just wanted to know if it would have at least been worth waiting even longer. Unfortunately I was just disappointed with management and the way the employees were acting towards me and my family. We were very excited as this place had been recommended by many friends and family. It's just disappointing having to wait 2 hours and yet they had no where to seat us after clearly seeing lots of places where we could have sat down. I worked at a restaurant as well so I'm not "unfamiliar" with the whole system. I also read a comment where a Hispanic construction worker went there in break and felt discriminated by the workers there and that’s exactly how we...

Me and my boyfriend come here all the time and never had a complaint or sent anything back. Today we went and i ordered what i usually get: spicy chicken ramen with only meat, noodles and corn. When i get my soup, there's spinach and thats okay, i didnt complain. i just took it off and prepared to eat my ramen. As soon as the server set my food down, i smelt an off putting odor from the chicken that is in the broth. I took it out and gave it to my boyfriend who eats just about anything. He took a bite and said it definitely went bad. Thats okay, i tried to not send the food back and attempted to just finsh the noodles and broth but it had a terrible after taste. I simply could not eat the soup. After letting the chicken sit on a separate plate, I smelled it again and the smell was even worse. The chicken was definitely spoiled bad. I waved my server over and told him the situation and he proceeds to give me a $3 discount when I explained to him that the chicken and soup did not taste right all. After I told him i was not going to pay for my order because they've given me spoiled chicken, he proceeded to say "well you ate half of it" sir???? what??? i tried my best to not send anything back and the $3 off on a $17 dish that i could not enjoy because of bad chicken was just an insult. anyways, i wish they were more professional about the situation and understood where i was coming from. If they had smelt that chicken, they would have understood that it was definitely spoiled. Im sure they will be getting more complaints about this specific dish tonight. On the other hand, my boyfriend really enjoyed his food. Overall this is a nice place, i just wish they were more understanding.

UPDATE: The manager I believe, Mr. Henry, was a great help to resolve this issue we experienced. He replied and answered our concerns via email and was extremely understanding with us. We went again this past weekend and my ramen was as delicious as I remembered. Our server was a very nice and sweet and we appreciate their service towards us. We will be coming here again, and of course recommending this place to all of our...