Mikaku Ramen & Temaki — Restaurant in Aurora

3/7/25- I got to try this place during their soft opening and had been looking forward to them open, but was disappointed. I'm hoping that they will get better for their actual opening. The first thing that went wrong was the capsule machine. The waitress said you got two for $10. It had two different sets of sleeping Pokémon characters and I though $5 a piece was a little high, but I wanted the second collection. I had just gotten the whole bottom set of the machine at a local store for $12. It turns out after I gave them my money that she was wrong and you get 2 coins which the machine needs to give you 1 prize... they did give me my money back, said sorry, but the product was still way over priced. Avoid the machine and get them elsewhere. Then the food. People eat food with their eyes first and when our food arrived it was disappointing to see how low the food was in the bowl for the price. The restaurant should use smaller bowls to trick the minds of customers into thinking they are getting a good amount of food. The big bowls with a lot of empty space mentally will make you feel like you got less. There has been research on this including weight loss tricks on how smaller dishes make you think you are getting more instead of putting the same amount of food on/in a bigger dish. Based off the serving we were presented there was not enough food for the price. Then the broth was also bland. My mother's boba drink was also bland. Also on the drink, part of the fun is having boba drinks in clear containers so you can see the product. The solid cup took away this enjoyment. The only time a boba drink should have a solid cup is when it has a prize on the bottom and it is a tear away cup. The food over all in size and quality is not worth the current listed prices. The service besides the capsule machine issue was good. I went into so much detail here in the hopes that the place will make changes quick before the full opening. I will give them one more try latter on to see if they make improvements. The problem is that in Aurora we have so many options for similar foods, that they have to make themselves competitive when compared to those options in order to get customers and right now they are failing. At present I can not recommend this place over the other...

Friend and I decided to try the place at 4 pm on a Saturday. Both ordered the Shoyu Tonkatsu Ramen.

Food: 2/5. Noodles were undercooked by about a minute. Just enough to be to tough. Chashu was disappointing at best. Tender enough, but the flavor wasn't there. Egg was stone cold in the center. The broth was bland and barely ok. Needed more fat and flavor. Portion seemed small, but that could be due to the bowls. Price was pretty consistent with other places.

Service: 5/5 The server was amazing. Very attentive and polite. This isn't surprising as there were no less than 12 of them working. Way over staffed, but hey, it's your money. The robot was entertaining yet all together pointless as the server still had to follow it to unload the dishes.

Atmosphere: 2/5 Weeb paradise. Too loud anime soundtracks mixed with overly fancy furnishings and table settings. Unecessary printed napkins and chopsticks. The Tupperware to-go bowls and insulated bags came of as pretensios and grandiose. And the wall of alcohol, an entire row of which was Jameson (isn't that irish??) Was just totally out of place. Save your money, ditch the frills and spend it on getting better recipes.

Overall : Not by any means the worst ramen I've had. But the upscale modern look and fancy to-go packaging can't cover the fact that this is a barely mediocre ramen shop. While I'm sure they are still figuring it all out as they are relatively new, utill they do, save your money and go to the shop 10 minutes...

We had the most delightful dining experience at Mikaku Ramen! The atmosphere was cozy, the staff were super friendly, and the food—oh wow—the food was absolutely incredible.

Our biggest surprise of the night? My son was one of the lucky winners of the Winner Bowl! The staff excitedly told us he was the fifth lucky winner of the day and gave us a free ramen coupon for our next visit! He was thrilled—it made the whole meal feel magical.

Every dish we tried was delicious, but the real star for me was the spicy chili oil on the dumplings. It wasn’t overwhelmingly spicy—instead, it was one of those deeply flavorful sauces that makes everything it touches taste amazing. I saved the leftover chili oil and poured it into my soba noodles. The result? It tasted just like the best street-style Chinese cold noodles I’ve ever had in China! No exaggeration—this was a flavor bomb.

We found out from the staff that the chili oil is their house-made secret sauce, and I highly, highly recommend asking for a side of it when you order soba. You will discover a hidden gem—the best cold noodles you’ve ever had, right here at Mikaku.

I almost forgot—the milk tea was amazing too! It’s even better than what many bubble tea shops offer. This place is perfect for an afternoon treat, and I really hope they come out with more flavors!

Can’t wait to come back again—this place is now one of our...