Le Bao Asian Eatery — Restaurant in Columbia Township

TLDR: Flavorless broths, soggy & thin noodles, good gyoza - hope it was it an off night or else they are able to improve, really want a good ramen place in town.

I hate having to write this review, as my wife and I love Jina Yoo's and had high hopes to FINALLY have a ramen place in Columbia. Unfortunately the ramen was anything but good.

We ordered a chicken, "seafood", and pork. The chicken was by far the best, sporting a good savory flavor with some nice chicken bits. The "seafood" was ok; the two shrimp tempura being the highlight. My wife (who is Japanese) was surprised she got to choose the broth for the "seafood" as traditionally it's a fish based broth, not pork or chicken.

The pork though was the most disappointing. Arguably what is supposed to be the most heavy bodied, succulent and umami-laden stock was flat, dull, and tasted of only salt. The "pork belly" that you usually get was instead shredded pork that also lacked any discernible flavor.

The worst of all though were the noodles. The noodles! I do not know if we had an unlucky night or what, but the noodles were a poor imitation for ramen. They were thin, squishy, and lacked the heartiness of ramen noodles; they were almost like somen noodles.

Fortunately the best part of the meal were the gyoza. They were nicely fried with a great flavor of cabbage, green onion, and pork. The sauce was spot on as well.

I talked briefly with Kyle about some different beer options. I understand the difficulties he described but hope they can keep some more Japanese beers stocked.

The wait staff were friendly and the inside is really stylish (for some reason ramen stops are going towards an almost industrial look).

Haven't tried the other items on the menu. Will probably go back and give some of them a try, but for the time being Columbia is still without a...

We used to love coming here, and we've been trying to come here for weeks, but the most recent time we came, they were closed due to menu changes. We were upset but not deterred. We came back the next week, and what we found was incredibly disappointing. We all ordered the pork ramen. New bowls (smaller serving), which is fine. Whatever. But the toppings are a whole 'nother story. They switched from a beautiful bowl full of toppings and flavor to a subpar bowl of noodles. They've changed the recipe for the pork bowl to include corn and spinach, cheap and extremely bland foods. No more bamboo shoots. They've also cut down the number of egg halves, from 2 to 1. Less meat. The ramen noodles themselves were in several congealed clumps. All in all, I was served a worst bowl of ramen than I had ever received from this establishment, but it still costs $15. (Actually, didn't they used to only cost $12? Sure, inflation. But for this?) I used to look at the ramen, contemplating whether I could finish it. Now, I am still wanting more. (Plus, they had forgotten to add the bean sprouts to our dishes, and mistakes happen, but we had to go up and ask for some. This is honestly the least of my problems, but it goes to show how much care is put into this.) In any case, I'm extremely sorry to say that I will probably never order their ramen again. Which is a shame! Sad to see a...

Not the best food atmosphere or service. I ordered the bbq pork bao, Philliy cheese steak bun and order of crab rangoon. They were moderately busy and my order took about 35 min.

First off the interior is very unfriendly and uncomfortable to sit at. The bathrooms were quite dirty as well. You order at the counter like fast food but they ask you for a tip during checkout. 2/10

The food was mediocre at best. I am used to baos and buns from Chicago so I was not impressed. The bbq bao was dry and had no dipping sauce. It was also very large so hard to eat. Would have rather had 3 smaller ones vs one large one so the taste was better. It was also not very hot by the time I got it. 3/10

The Philly cheese stake bun was pretty good and was the only thing that made it worth eating. 8/10

The crab Rangoon order was 4 for $7 and they are mostly wanton and zero crab. I mean absolutely no crab. I used to make these and they must not use very much crab or anything in there mix and the amount of filling you her was so small it was hardly worth the effort. Most of it was the hard ends. The little you did get was okay but again no crab so not really worth it.

They also have a sign that says don’t clear your table but the tables stayed dirty the whole time I was eating and after I left.

If you have a need for some food it’s okay just...