Kajiken Chicago — Restaurant in Chicago

March 2025 Dined here for the first time. Place was packed on a Sunday night. Menu looked decent. Total spent $75 with tip.

4/5 stars overall on food Ordered shoyu tonkatsu ramen, regular tonkatsu ramen, and one homura don to try the rice bowl. Appetizers gyoza and the age tofu.

The two appetizers were good, just enough portion wise to wet your appetite. Typical dumplings that you can buy in the frozen section but still tasty. The tofu lightly coated and fried sat on top of a slightly sweet soy based sauce.

The two ramen bowls were good size. However, everyone agreed that the broth in the shoyu bowl was tastier, 4 stars. 😋 The other one was bland 😒, according to the person who ordered it, but adding the chili oil helped, 3 stars. Bowls were mostly bamboo shoots, one piece of seaweed, 2 pieces of thinly sliced chashu pork belly plus half soft boiled egg. Approx $15 each.

As for the homura don, which was a ground pork rice bowl, this was the most disappointing, 2 stars, compared to other Japanese restaurants back home in Michigan, as well as the Taiwanese version, which is lots of ground pork drenched over rice with a sauce and pickled vegetables, which were nonexistent in this recipe.

For $8.99, this was basically a bowl of rice, with maybe a tablespoon of ground pork, sauce, green onions, plus half soft boiled egg. Also added a side of kimchi for a dollar. This was not what I expected. I would not order this again. Basically ate a bowl of rice for dinner with kimchi. The pork had no flavor and not even visible in this dish. 😢

5/5 stars on service and atmosphere The waitstaff are all male and in observing all the busy tables plus ours, and a line waiting to be seated, they were on top of it. They filled water glasses, food came out fairly quickly, took care of people walking in...kudos to great service! 👏👏👏

The atmosphere is quite lively. The space comprised of some booth type seating, with a few tables to accommodate 4 to 6 people; and places for 1-2 guests available separated by a wood panel. Comfortable and easy for conversation.

We would go back and try a few other dishes to see how we like it, next time we...

The Atmosphere: Great decor choices and lighting that invites people in. There's plenty of seating. My only gripe is if you sit to the row of booths near the entrance; they're the only ones without cushioning - BUT still mildly comfortable. The song selections are fitting considering it's all Japanese - no American pop or K-pop. The songs were wide as well, not just mainstream Japanese songs/anime.

Kaarage: Tangy, hint of sweetness and a slight ginger flavor. Breading feels and taste akin to Korean fried chicken. Japanese mayo complementing it was a good staple. The Ponzu sauce had a nice hint of citrus, a bit salty though. Gravitated to the former more

The Original Abura Soba: It may look like ramen, but the Abura (oil) Soba is a different way to enjoy noodle dishes. As the name suggests, for the dish, the oil and sauce/flavoring is at the bottom of the noodles. You're supposed to mix the dish around similar how you need to mix Korean bibimbap before eating. The oil has a very mild kick that coats the noodles and sides. The noodles are starchy and provide a good bite each time. The chashu was a fantastic cut that was soft and definitely bit like butter. The menma (bamboo shoot) was COLD, and that's a GOOD thing; it complemented well with the warm noodles and wasn't tough to eat. Of course, the scallions and shredded seaweed were staples

Homura: The dish was definitely WAY more aromatic than the original of course. It does have a medium spicy kick to it. There's a lot more oil and sauce to it. The flavor isn't too strong. It's difficult to pin point the flavor due to the poached egg; but it's overall GOOD and would get it again. It's just a little bit too "creamy" akin to pasta

Overall: The dish's prices definitely are worth it, the amount of noodles is JUST right - given the thickness and starchiness of it. It's a solid business with affordable prices. If you don't want the Abura Soba, spring for any of the Dons at the affordable $8.50.

Banger 5/5 -...

Today I found myself with more time than usual alone so I took myself on a date. It was a close call between this place and Bonchon, but I wanted to try something new. I thought I'd like this food more than I did. The noodle dish was spicier than I expected. There wasn't teally any indication that it would be spicy. I love spicy food but I feel like if I'd known it was spicy I would have ordered something else, purelybecauseIwasn'tin the mood for a numb tongue.

You may have noticed- I don't remember what the name of my order was. Why? Because I was pressured into ordering immediately by the waiter. He was a pale guy with glasses, didn't introduce him self at all. He was REALLY intense and disinterested at the same time. He rushed me to sit, rushed me to order, took the menu as I was still looking at it and when I was done eating took the bowl right out of my hand and immediately brought the check. Hovering around the table like i took his place in line or something. His vibes were ✨️rancid✨️ and honestly made the food taste worse. I tried to see if anyone else was getting this bizarre treatment but everyone else seemed to be handled with care. I'm not sure what about me got under this dudes skin but it was incredibly off-putting and makes me not want to recommend this restaurant.

Overall? Place has cute decorations and layout, most of the staff seem tired (I get that is a weekend!), but that one dude probably needed a break or something because OOF. Would I return? No. Based on vibes alone it felt like if Get Out were filmed in a Japanese themed restaurant. Just go to Bonchon at least they treat...