Haru Ramen — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

Overall: decent food, discriminating servers

This place had been on my "Want To Go" list for awhile. I just recently got my son into ramen and decided it was time for a visit. We arrived around 7pm. I asked if we could have the horigotatsu table (recessed floor seating) as my son had specifically asked to go somewhere we could sit this way. The server said "no, the tables dirty." I asked if it could be cleaned, we had no problem waiting and she said that was fine. I feel this may have set the tone but I didn't give it much weight. We were seated and given water, menus and chopsticks. Then waited 15+ minutes for the server to return. I noted it was 2 servers and though a smaller space a few people had come in after we were seated. However, we arrived before the other patrons. I ordered 2 ramen (1 adult, 1 kid) a California roll and temptation roll. I'd asked for the rolls to come as appetizers. Everything was delivered together 20+ minutes later. I'd asked that the toppings for the kid ramen be on the side - they were in the bowl minus his egg which we never received. I had to ask for small plates for the sushi and condiment dishes for soy sauce. We never got the dishes but eventually received the plates. I saw the rack of dishes on the main floor but the waitress proceeded to do many other things instead, repeatedly walking past them. I was actually in the process of asking the other server for plates when she returned with them. I couldn't help but notice other tables received the full setup with their sushi. Once we received our food no one came back to our table - no drink refills, status check on the meal or if we needed anything. We were done and waiting patiently for the server to come our way. Again another lengthy wait. We sat on a row of 4 other tables that were finishing up and we'd been done. The server proceeded to speak to each table to ask how their meal was and deliver checks and then quickly bypassed us. I had to flag her down. When she did come over she asked if we wanted dessert- my son said yes. I was well past ready to go at that point but I said sure and asked for a to-go box as well. She proceeded to do numerous other things again- no menu, no box. The restaurant was slowly emptying and we were still waiting. Again feeling forgotten, we slid out of our table and began to put our shoes on and gather our things. As we got up she returned with the box and menu to which I said nevermind we're ready to checkout. She ran to beat us to the front desk. When I met her there I addressed how we seemed to be looked over continually for dinner. I didn't bother addressing the missing setups, lengthy waits and meal prep requests ignored. She apologized but it was the first time in years I'd opted to not tip. I am black and native. My son and I were the only brown people in the restaurant and I couldn't help but feel it was a factor in our poor experience and treatment in the restaurant. The food was good - for Colorado Springs. I'm from Oklahoma and we have better places for ramen(if you're ever there try Tamashii's). However, if the service were welcoming we would have been returning patrons. I don't even want to order to-go as I feel that was the entire persuasion of our experience if not to not return at all. Once we left I checked reviews and saw similar notes of microaggressions and race seeming to be a factor in the quality of service. Hopefully they will see customers as equal regardless of race going forward. Especially as everyone working was darker than I and are ethnic members of the...

I have a unique name and came at the time of pickup. I was told somebody already picked my food up- they said maybe husband? I said no he’s literally with me, he dropped me off to grab the food. They were acting like it’s my problem they gave our order to someone else. Clearly they need a different verification in place- I can only imagine someone saying they have a carry out and the hostess just assumed which order without verifying a name… or having the names in huge font facing the customers to point at and say that’s mine. I pulled up my name and order number for her to verify. Not really impressed with our first time eating from here and haven’t even tried the food yet. I waited at the front for 30 mins for new food to be made. I’m also 8 months pregnant and was not happy for having to unnecessarily wait over 45 mins for food… also my husband had added in the notes he wanted chicken instead of pork and they still gave him pork. Overall not impressed at all. We for certain won’t be ordering carry out from here again as someone behind me had an issue with their carry out order as well- the restaurant charged them, but didn’t receive the order. We may try dining in person that way if the requested substitution wasn’t made, my husband can get the meat replaced rather than go without. I’m not sure why the order took 30 mins when I was waiting in the restaurant. That irked me the most, as the carry out time frame is 15-20 mins. Overall the food was good, but certainly put a sour taste in our mouths after our order was stolen and we were made to wait… we also had tipped 20% when placing the order and definitely didn’t receive...

I'm giving 4 stars because the service was great it seems clean, and I think it's a decent value (good amount of food for what you pay)....but the quality of the food is stopping me from giving that 5th star. I got the tonkatsu black ramen. It wasn't as flavorful as I expected. The menu says it comes with chashu, but it actually comes with pork belly. Chashu is made from pork belly, but it's not the same thing and chashu is better in my opinion. Next the egg was flavorful, but usually it's cooked soft boiled with a jammy textured yolk. The yolk in my egg was nearly hard boiled. My husband and I also ordered 1 sushi roll (the one fish two fish) and some nigiri. My husband ordered albacore and yellow fin, and I ordered octopus and salmon roe. The roll was pretty good, and my husband enjoyed his nigiri. Unfortunately the salmon roe was a huge disappointment. When I order salmon roe I expect brightly colored spherical eggs that pop in my mouth when I bite down on them. What I got was a large blob of shriveled, popped, and dull colored eggs. There were very few of the roe that were not already popped and it was so bad that the liquid from the eggs was draining down through the rice onto the plate making a puddle. The shriveling, discoloration, and popped eggs are usually an indication of improper freezing, freezing and thawing more than once, or improper storage... which is very concerning.

Hopefully they can address the quality concerns, and this place will become one I would like to frequent more...