RAMEN-SAN Deluxe — Restaurant in Chicago

Ramen-San. Man I really looked forward to this experience based on reviews and friends reviews but it did not live up to my expectations. The good: Gina. A fantastic, hard working, knowledgeable, friendly and just all round amazing person. She took fantastic care of us, was friendly and just was amazing. If you do visit, see if you can be under her wings. You won't regret it. If the review was just about Gina, this would be a 10 star review. I'm going to go so far to say she was the saving grace for us. Why the 3 stars though?

Let's start with the best food: The crispy tofu mantou bun (although in no way is this Japanese) was really good. The tonkatsu ramen was really good but not perfect. The biggest (and frankly almost unforgivable) issue with the ramen is the chashu. Traditional chashu is NEVER this thick which may explain the chewiness. A well made chashu is literally like chocolate that practically melts in your mouth. The broth was really good as was the egg which was perfect. They also had wakame (seaweed) in there. Not all ramen places here add this. Great to have it here. The spicy szechuan wings (which also is NOT Japanese by any means) was not bad. It had a fantastic crisp but overall was slightly overcooked. BTW, the other wings they have are not Japanese either. (Why do such places call themselves Japanese when half of what they serve is not)

We ordered a couple different things. The high ball (which was honestly a joke. It was so watered down). The tuna and avocado tartar (which by the way is NOT a Japanese dish) was sub par. Then we also ordered a few rolls which were ok; nothing 'fantastic' about them.

You see, when you go out to eat with friends at an establishment like this, while you are not expecting a full on 'Waldorf' experience or service, you still are expecting to have fun. We had reservations for 8:45. Now if your kitchen closes at 9, why on earth would you accept reservations for 8:45? I mean really. They were so short staffed it was sad. We ordered a beer and a high ball. Took 10 min for it to come. Again, not Gina's fault on this; keep in mind she was the ONLY one taking orders, checking in on customers.

When the drinks did come, my friend wanted to order a sake bomb so she did; thing is 15 minutes later our food started coming out but the sake bomb never did so she decided to just cancel it.

Other than Gina, everyone that came to deliver the food to us just had a very different attitude. Don't get me wrong; none of them were rude at all but I think they were genuinely overworked, tired and just did not have that touch of wanting to anything other than come and deliver the food and go.

My guess is, the owners/management figured it's a Monday night and probably won't get crowded so let's not schedule staff. Not cool guys. Raising prices on menu items, adding the 3% service fee (FYI, you can get that removed but a lot of places are adding these 'rob fee' as I call it), taking the name of a nationality that prides itself in what they serve but yourself serving half the stuff that doesn't come from that country and what you do serve is really sub par and add to that cutting corners by understaffing. Horrible way of doing business.

For me, this is a once and done place. Won't be coming back to any of their locations. If you do go, do make sure you ask for Gina.

On a side note: If anyone knows of a place that really serves authentic Japanese food. None of this fusion BS or adding other East Asian dishes onto their menu claiming it to be Japanese, would appreciate if you can DM me and...

Extremely (deluxe) disappointed. First and last visit to this place. It was half empty and I decided to go with my little daughter. First, upon arrival, the hostess was not in her place, so I waited several minutes and then she came to us, with a single question: Only you? I told her, well I come with my daughter on a stroller (a baby). "We are two" Next thing, hostess take something very quickly and run faster ( a dad, with a baby on her stroller) going outside and put a sheet (menu) on the table, and that's it! She quickly goes back inside, like running, lowering her face to avoid saying anything to us, not even a "Very welcome" or "Please wait for your waiter" and she doesn't say nothing at all like "your waiter will be with you soon" nothing, not even showing a smile. Well, I waited patiently because I was enjoying the time with my daughter but I waited another few minutes and nobody came yet, I turned to the tables next to me, the people in front of me (were eating) but the people behind me, still were waiting for food ,(and they looked desperate) at this point, I was wondering, how long will they greet me? And, how long will wait for my food ? So, nothing happened, but more minutes have passed and no one has come to show up at my table. Nobody has come to serve me water either... More minutes have passed, I saw a waiter who came to the table in front of me (the people who were eating) and brought them more food. I also observed that the table behind me received his food already..I'm still waiting, more minutes have passed (in which, two people from the staff were on one side) but no one from the staff has come to my table.. Few minutes more, I decided, take a my daughter in my arms (she is a baby of almost 2 years old) take the stroller with me to go inside to the lobby, to look for the hostess (again, she was not there) and I realized that the couple who had arrived - before me - they had already been served, suddenly, a waitress speak to me - loudly -saying, "I am your waitress"... (And with that attitude, like go back to your table ) ... Honestly I decided to leave the place !! Now, what about all the staff? This industry is called "Hospitality" (Which means detailed attention to the client, receive them like at home, show a genuine interest in...

I did a delivery order from here. I ordered two mantou buns: a fried chicken and a pork belly. The fried chicken mantou bun was delicious. The chicken was very well made! The only critic would be adding some sort of sauce so it’s not as dry. The fried pork belly mantou bun did have a sauce. The bun was soft and pillowy. The fried pork skin was super crispy. The pork was well prepared so it just melted in my mouth. I could’ve used just a bit more crisp for both meats on my buns. The bun and meat combo can be a lot of softness without a crispy element, and my cucumbers weren’t as crispy as I was expecting so the only crisp I got on the pork bun was the few moments biting into the pork skin. Same for the fried chicken bun, but the crisp is something not everyone needs a lot of. So i guess it’s better to do it this way and next time I can just ask for crispier. I also got the sumo bowl and added fried garlic and buttered corn. I like more corn so I added some. The fried garlic on top was such a good addition. The flavor was magnificent added with that broth and chashu!! I did NOT care for the xo wontons. When I bit into it, the taste was like old, spoiled seafood, and that’s the taste I got. It tasted like nasty shrimp. I didn’t care for it. I took that one bite, and threw the rest out. This was my first time eating a ramen bowl but I’ve always wanted to try them. This place did not disappoint. I would definitely eat from here again. Overall, with a few adjustments to my order, I would do an order from here again. It was delicious. I’m satisfied.

Edit: Response to owner. No, I got no additional sauces. The food was still tasty though. Thank you for taking the time out...