Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya — Restaurant in Bellevue

good service, disappointing tendon -

I haven't been here for a while, but I had their ten don (tempura rice bowl) last time and was really loving it (I know it's a ramen place but I just can't help it!!!). I happened to be here around lunch time, and sir hubby wanna eat ramen so we ate here. It was quite empty around 11:30, only about 4 or 5 groups of guests including us. They have a new drink menu but I rarely allow drink calories to get on my body (unless it's bubble tea ).

Hubby ordered a garlic tonkotsu ramen, less sodium with firm noodles. I got the tendon that I've been craving for. We also ordered the agedashi tofu as usual. Since the business is slow, we got our food within 5 minutes. His ramen is good, but I'm not a big fan of the broth (I thought it's too garlicky). The tofu is pretty standard, but not as crispy as usual. My tendon looks amazing, but the veggies were much thinner than before, which makes them way too salty. The only vegetable that's slightly thicker, the squash, was just right. However, the pumpkin, eggplant, and the yam were all super saucy... I think the change was due to inflation, so they have to decrease the cost of food from places you can't see (hence thinner veggie slices for the tempura). It's a shame since I used to love the tendon here, but not anymore starting from today.

On the side note, the service was great during lunch time.

Update 02/18/25

good yuzu shio but not the assorted tempura -

We've finally come back here after maybe two months after they failed to make the ten don right. I didn't get the ten don this time as I've lost faith, but we did order the assorted tempura appetizer for $13.5. Hubby got the garlic tonkatsu ramen (low sodium with firm noodles) for $17 and I got the yuzu shio (low sodium) for $16.5.

The ramen came quickly even though the restaurant was packed. The yuzu shio came with fresh and crunchy veggies which I enjoy (though it's not quite authentic since the veggie is more Chinese). There was a piece of charsiu, tons of scallions, a Japanese soft boiled egg, and dried bamboo shoots. I enjoyed it and actually managed to finish the whole bowl (including the soup). I tried hubby's garlic soup, but I wasn't a fan as the soup was quite strong and oily for me.

The assorted tempura came after, and there were 2 pieces of shrimp, zucchini, pumpkin, eggplant and yam. While it was fine, the breading was thick, uneven, and some of them fell off in the dipping sauce. It was also greasy near the end, which wasn't a pleasant feeling. It's shocking that they haven't figured out how to do this right after so long, so I'd recommend avoiding anything related to tempura in this place. If you want an appetizer, the karaage is a...

This seems to be one of the trendy ramen shops that tries to imitate restaurants from Japan. For this restaurant in particular it's pretty easy, since they have franchises in Japan itself (although I believe those franchises are named Kukai, as this place used to be named).

It mostly succeeds; the atmosphere is very much one of a ramen bar, complete with bar seating in front of the kitchen and an open floor plan. With regards to the actual food, it's also quite good, although service is a bit on the long side, especially so on weekends and some nights when the line goes out the door. Wait times are longer accordingly, so try and find when the restaurant is least busy.

When I went, I ordered takoyaki and chicken karage. The ramen pictured below was ordered by a family member, so can't really comment on its quality. Takoyaki was alright for something from the United States, although compared to what I tried in Japan it's still lacking a bit in green onion and actual octopus - this is, as most American takoyaki orders are, optimized for maximum potato starch content.

Chicken karage was tasty and offered a pretty good value (for just under $10, I had enough rice and chicken to take home for lunch the next day). The salad is pretty good, although the dressing is a bit thick and too salty, and betrays the American influence on this restaurant - it tastes a bit like Thousand Island with a little more tangy taste and some sesame seeds, rather than something I can imagine a Japanese chef coming up with. The chicken was pretty good, although the breading can be at times extreme - you lose a little chicken flavor, replaced by thick, hard breading.

All in all, a pretty good restaurant and a place I would eat at again, as long as I'm not in the queue for half an hour because I came on a busy night. At least the bathrooms have mouthwash dispensers - admittedly not that useful, but at least the novelty...

I came in around 8:30 yesterday Saturday night on June 22nd with my boyfriend, got seated with our menus and was attended to by an older gentleman under 10 minutes. When he brought us our food:

My boyfriend asked where the extra noodles were and the gentleman said "I only have 2 hands" as he went back to get the additional noodles to give to him.

I had ordered additional toppings including a seasoned egg that I asked to be made more fully cooked which the waiter put down on the order. The egg was missing from my bowl, and I raised my hand to get the man's attention. He walks by, sees me and says "What do you need" as he continues walking straight past my table. I mentioned the missing egg. He asks for an egg and comes back with it, and of course it's not how I had requested it. I eat it anyway because I wasn't about to ask the waiter for anything.

We were almost finished with our meal, the waiter didn't ask if we were done, and dropped off the machine he used to take the order onto our table and told my boyfriend to run his credit card himself on that machine and walks away. My boyfriend doesn't know how to use it. Because of the bad service, my boyfriend was going to leave a low tip if he could figure out how to use that machine. We sit there for awhile and the waitress who was attending to the family next to us saw the machine on the table said that shouldn't have been left there and continued with processing the payment.

There wasn't an option to put in a custom amount so my boyfriend selected 18% and quietly told the waitress we were not happy with the service from the gentleman and would not be returning. She apologized and apologized once more as we were leaving.

To the older gentleman who took our order: I don't think this is the right profession for you if this is how you treat...