JINYA Ramen Bar - SouthPark — Restaurant in Charlotte

Food took over an hour to arrive to the table. Server told us it would be a while because of a new chef AFTER 30 minutes of waiting for food. There were hardly any tables sat during the time we were there. She didn’t come back to the table after we finally got our food. One of the table members had to go to the bar to get her to bring us water and the check. When she came to provide those, she quoted the total which seemed very high, but didn’t offer a receipt. I obliged by paying. On the way to the car, everyone at the table was adding up how much the tab should’ve been. The total came up to far less than we were quoted. We went back and asked for the itemized receipt. The server told us it would be a few minutes because she didn’t know how to do it since she’d already closed out the tab. Funny how she didn’t have time to come check on our table for almost an hour but had the time to come grab her slip to claim her tip. Pretty sure she was hoping we’d say that waiting wasn’t worth the time, but we did wait.

When we got the receipt, we saw that because we didn’t proactively request a specific liquor, she selected a top shelf whiskey for our three old fashioned cocktails. She argued this and said it was our fault because we didn’t specifically which whiskey we wanted. Fine.

But she had also charged 18% gratuity because our table had 5 guests. She didn’t call attention to this when presenting our total because she intentionally avoided bringing a printed copy even though she’d been told we wanted to check out while she was at the bar right by a printer. She’d been banking on the double tip, which she’d initially gotten from us. When I brought this up, she said it’s common practice not to present an itemized total of a dinner order before accepting payment. I told her I’d previously served tables for a decade and a half and that was never the practice. Her response was “Well back in the day, I don’t know what they did……”. I’m not old. I’m 39. That was rude and uncalled for. I wasn’t yelling at her. I wasn’t cursing at her. I wasn’t saying rude or petty things. I just was having a direct conversation with her. Then she said that most people around the South Park area find it offensive to receive an itemized check. As if everyone other than me is too rich to be bothered with such things. Ouch. You can’t judge people by the way they look. I feel like she was trying to gaslight me into being too embarrassed to push back on what she’d done. This is horrible and offensive.

The manager popped in twice while we were having the discussion. She presented a copy of the adjustments she made to our check to reimburse come of the additional charges. She gave us a 20% discount and we got the automatically charged tip refunded, but not what we’d written in the check which was larger. I honestly don’t care about the 20% discount we got on the tab. It was minimal. What I wanted was for the server to be reprimanded for trying to rip us off and then making passive aggressive comments about my age and my income.

I strongly suggest you don’t go here. Unethical business that tries to gaslight you when...

Let's start with the location. It is located near a mall but do not be fooled and park at the mall or you face getting towed. The parking is under the building.

Now the interior was lovely. Very clean and playing 2000 to 2012 music.

The host greeted us warmly and took us immediately to our table. I did notice they put our group of 3 along with 5 other tables rather close, but it seemed only the bartender, a server, and a runner were working with what looked to be a female manager just walking around.

The young lady serving us asked our drink order and left to get it. When she came back, we ordered the 3 pork buns and takoyaki to start and our ramen as well. I and my companions made it very clear that I had an allergy to mushrooms. We even had her check to make sure that was none in our order.

And here is when it went down hill quick.

The pork buns arrive, but only 2. Ok, they apologize, and we wait for the third bun to arrive.

When it arrived, I was able to get in 2 bites before I knew I was in trouble.

(Do you keep the lettuce with the mushrooms? Do you not change gloves when someone tells you they have an allergy? Or you could warn them of the cross contamination that will happen.)

I stopped eating asap. Luckily, I had taken meds before eating.

But you may ask, did you tell the server. How could I she didn't come back to check.

Next came the takoyaki. I have had dozens of different kinds of takoyaki. But this was like they smeared slightly cooked egg at the bottom, then placed the takoyaki on it and put an entire garden of green onions. To say the chives over powered the dish is an under statement.

It is called a garnish, not the whole garden.

Yet again, there is no server.

Then the ramen came. I took a sip of the soup base. (Like drinking dirty garlic water.) And one bite of the "seasoned egg", (I feel they dipped it barely in soysauce and give us eggs that had only cooked for 5 mins to the point not only where the yokes runny (I don't minded that) but the white was runny too. No, thank you.

Did the server ever come back, you may ask.

Yes, in which she popped over quick with another soda and then ran off.

Well, you may ask did I signal her. I tried a few time while she was at the bar but to no avail.

When she finally noticed we weren't eating, I finally asked for the bill and asked her to "take this garbage away."

No, she didn't get a manager. I paid and left.

To the manager who didn't book more servers on a holiday weekend. You are a trash manager.

No, I don't want to be compensated or and I sure don't want to come back to die.

I have been sick all day but needed to warn others so they don't...

I hate to leave a negative review, but it was just really disappointing! My sister traveled two hours to celebrate her Match Day, and we do not get to see each other often at all. From start to finish, it was below subpar. To be honest, the entire experience I felt quite embarrassed over!

[FYI: I will not mention the waitress's name here. She was quite lovely in appearance, but I could not tell if she was tired or what. I do recall her mentioning she had been there since they first opened. That is also why I hesitate to mention her name here; it might not all be her fault.] Perhaps they were understaffed?

When I provided the reservation name to the hostess, she promptly mentioned they were busy and seated us. I asked if she had read the reservation notes, to which she replied no and then proceeded to read them. We were placed in the least favorable spot, in my opinion. I left special notes on the reservation, but unfortunately, it did not improve the experience. First, there was an issue with the wine bottle pricing, as it was only listed by the glass, which was okay. I must have indicated the wine I wanted at least five times, although there were not many options to choose from. It took us about an hour to even get our waters, despite asking for it four times or more. Then, I had to practically beg the waitress to check for an ingredient I cannot eat due to an allergy. Just dealing with her was a real struggle. They brought the wrong appetizer to our table multiple times. Then, the guy who kept bringing it out said, "I'm just confused." I thought, yeah, it seems like everyone's confused here. The correct appetizers were brought out finally, but there was some browning on the spring mix. After a lot of back and forth, the entrees arrived, and both were at room temperature. At that moment, we simply pushed through because there was no use in doing or saying anything else by that time. Later, the waitress went as far as cleaning off the table completely, including the napkins, my wine glass, utensils, and water glasses, all while we still needed to put our food in the containers for to go (I stopped her). Someone even turned off the lights in one section, causing everyone to leave in the section, then turned the lights back on and continued seating people walking in. It was clear that the restaurant needs some staffing adjustments. When I bring others along, it's not just about the food; it's about the whole experience, the service, the ambiance, and more. Unfortunately, it fell short in all...