Maru Ramen — Restaurant in City of Ithaca

I am honestly surprised how this ramen spot has such a high rating. The flavors are very subpar. I had visited before last year and ordered the tonkatsu ramen, but was disappointed because the soup did not taste right. I decided to give it another chance due to the lack of ramen spots here.

I came with my boyfriend, who ordered the tonkatsu and I ordered the Hangover soup. These are the only two options with pork broth which I was taken aback by. They had other options but a majority was with chicken broth or vegetable broth. I thought the same about the tonkatsu soup, where it felt diluted and the flavor didnt taste like what a tonkatsu soup should taste like. The hangover soup was better in flavor, but nothing like you would expect in a ramen. This is more of a fusion soup with chinese/korean flavors. This soup is a tonkatsu broth with spices and some tomato flavoring, topped with chashu and tofu. When I got the bowl, it was fully packed with tofu and veggies so it was a little difficult to eat. The tofu, I supposed, is sour due to the tomato flavoring... but the sour taste was reminiscent of tofu that has gone bad. I usually dont waste food, even if i dont enjoy it... but i could NOT stomach that tofu. The noodles were slightly undercooked, the egg was hard-boiled (flavor was good tho), and the chashu was also slightly sour in a bad way.

Ultimately, when u come here... just set very low expectations. If you are trying to satisfy a ramen craving when you know what actual ramen tastes like... this is not it. But if u just want to slurp some noodles regardless of how it tastes... this is the...

Amazing homemade broth and homemade noodles - this is absolutely comfort food. Everything was super flavorful and satisfying. I got my ramen with pork, and the meat was perfect - really moist and flaked apart, seared just a little crispy on the outside. My only complaint is that I wish there had been more vegetables in the ramen, but the dish was so purposefully constructed I'm sure this is a matter of personal preference. They also have chicken and veggie options. Actually, that's pretty much the whole menu, which is nice and simple: choose from pork, chicken or veggie broth ramen, and/or steamed buns (pork or shitake mushroom) and a few appetizers. Restaurants with a short simple menu are often the places that put a lot of work and care into each dish, and that's the case here. The prices were totally fair for such high quality food - it cost similar to what you'd pay for a meal at Saigon Kitchen (Vietnamese; Pho) down the block, and it was a bit less expensive and less formal than eating at Maxie's or The Rook. I went for lunch on the third day after Maru Ramen opened, and they were still working out a few kinks in the logistics for table service, but they made sure that the food was absolutely perfect. And, although they apologized a lot for some of the commotion among employees figuring out the logistics, honestly the service did not seem slow at all; I was in and out in 35 minutes I think. The restaurant was packed, and from what I've been hearing from local foodies I hope this place will continue to be packed. It's really excellent ramen! I would recommend this as a...

3 stars, considering the location and the scarcity of decent ramen anywhere nearby. Ithaca is about as cosmopolitan as it gets for upstate NY, but really good 'authentic' Japanese cuisine is very hard to come by in these parts. Maru ramen is a good attempt, but there are things that fall short.

First - the place isn't Japanese. Asian - yes, but on my visit, neither the waitstaff nor the cooks were Japanese. This is not to say that you need to be of a particular ethnicity to produce a certain type of food, but with maru ramen, it's clear that there is a very heavy Korean influence on the menu (that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does skew the offerings).

The menu includes many Korean items (e.g., several bibimbap dishes) along with some Japanese-ish fare. Example - the 'dumplings' were somewhere between Japanese 'gyoza' and Korean 'mandu,' which are both good, but there are subtle differences. When you think you're ordering one, you don't want the other, and what we got was a deep fried and dry compromise that I wouldn't order again.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the tempura wasn't quite right (flour instead of panko). Still tasty, but not what we were looking for.

The ramen was great, though. I ordered the 'tantan' which was just a stone's throw from what I'd frequently eaten when I'd been living in Japan for several years. My daughter's tonkotsu ramen was also tasty. Service was lightning quick and friendly.

So...overall decent Japanese-ish food, for a bit more than I'd want to pay. Since pickings are slim out here, however, I'm sure...