Kiwami Ramen Sushi — Restaurant in Brandon

Daughter, 3 year old granddaughter and I visited on Thursday to try their Ramen as we are all 3 HUGE fans of Ramen and have heard good things about this spot. We also love sushi and would like to try their sushi sometime but this visit was all about the Ramen and Saki!

WARNING: They have no children's menu at all and are not nice about trying to accommodate for a child. We asked if we could please just purchase a side of pork broth for her and were told no, I was like you have no children's menu and I can't even purchase her a bowl of broth and was told no, server did suggest white rice for her and I was like no she doesn't want to eat plain white rice and she just smiled, shrugged her shoulders and said sorry. Weirdest thing I have ever seen.

Atmosphere: It's in a nice new very attractive plaza. Daughter and I found the interior very nice, clean and cute.

Service: Sever was minimally friendly and seemed aggravated by any questions we asked and was very unfamiliar with the menu, specials and anything else we asked of her. Please read more about the customer service under my review of their Shoyu Ramen below.

Shoyu Ramen: We ordered this as it was the only Ramen available for lunch special price of $10, menu did not indicate that it was chicken broth. When we tasted it we were shocked as it tasted like a very salty, strong beef broth...unpleasant. I let our server know that we did not like it at all and pointed out the fact that the menu did not indicate it was chicken broth (although it did not taste like any chicken broth we have ever tasted and even my granddaughter wouldn't eat it) and that we did not like it so could we please trade it for Tonkotsu and that even though it was more we were happy to pay the difference. To our surprise we were rudely told no, when I informed the server that we would not eat this she indicated rudely that we still had to pay for it....at this point I was getting aggravated and said fine I'm a Yelp Elite so I hope you enjoy my review and then the servers attitude did a complete 360 and she was so sweet, friendly etc and was happy to exchange the Ramen. Although I'm glad I got to exchange so sad that when they didn't know I was a Yelper they were going to have such horrible customer service.

Tonkotsu Ramen: This is what we traded for, it was amazing! The broth had an amazing Umami flavor that we all just LOVED! The pork was good but we like it a little more seared but it was still smokey and yummy. Will go back for this alone. The best egg I have ever had in Ramen!

Saki flight: Daughter got a ski flight that had Pineapple, Apple and Peach! Apple was the best, would definitely get that! Would not get the Pineapple or Peach, it was ok but the Apple...

We love the location where this restaurant is. Popped up next to several restaurants and an escape room. Perfect location for families to hang out and enjoy good food and service. Been wanting to try this restaurant for a while since I love the Mexican restaurant that’s next-door to it. Walked in and was seated immediately by a hostess. Took a while for our server to notice we were there but they have a young staff and I know how the world is right now so I patiently waited, eventually asking if we could have a server. I asked a group of servers behind the wall chitchatting. Ordered a Japanese beer and a soda and received it pretty quickly. We ordered a fried chicken rice bowl that came with white rice and breaded fried chicken chunks. I also ordered their house Ramen which involved pork slices. The rice bowl with the fried chicken was a bit disappointing. The chicken tasted like it was fried in oil that had been sitting there for quite a while and was uneditable. White rice was pretty good nice and sticky…tasted fresh along with the ingredients they added onto the bowl like lima beans and some sort of relish. The house Ramen had way too much oil in it. The taste of the broth and its oil‘s were overwhelming and really threw off this Ramen dish. The pork slices that were in the bowl were really good and flavorful. The noodles were flavorful as well but unfortunately it took on that greasy, oily taste from the broth. I probably won’t return to this location. I do look for the small details and restaurants that employees care about and upon exiting we were not said “goodbye” or “thanks for coming.” I feel that is one of the most simplest things a hostess or even a manager can do at an establishment. If a place can’t do the simple things it’s tough to want to go back. This place was clean though. Raw...

I've been a customer since the day they opened. I had my very first bowl of ramen at Kiwami back in early 2019. Back then, I played it safe by ordering the miso ramen. I'd never had anything quite like it. It was a very hardy bowl filled with ramen noodles, ground pork, corn kernels, half an egg, kikurage mushrooms, scallions, bamboo shoots, and brown miso. It had a very savory broth with a bold umami taste. It was rich & salty, as it should be. It was very comforting.

Since that time, I've had the Kiwami ramen (tonkotsu broth w/black garlic oil) and their tantanmen ramen which are both very delicious. I'd say even better than the miso ramen. Especially that spicy tantanmen!

Admittedly, I have not been back until recently. This time, I decided to try the spicy miso veggie ramen. I asked for the chili oil on the side so that I could control the spiciness of the dish. The vegetable broth was surprisingly tasty. I think the only thing I would change is the tofu squares. They tasted stale and spongy. I'd prefer to just have unfried tofu. Otherwise, it was a very good visit. I also tried the salmon tartar. I really love the avocado, mango and tobiko combined with the salmon. It's so refreshing on a hot summer day.

They also have some really great appetizers and sushi. The Kamikaze Roll is great if you love eel. It's filled with warm tempura shrimp and avocado, and topped with eel. It's delicious! I'm glad to see that it's still on the menu. I've also had the Lollipop Roll with salmon, which is wrapped in cucumber (no rice). You can choose tuna or salmon for this roll. I like it because it's very light & healthy.

The service and atmosphere is always great. I love their ramen menu because there are just so many different variations. I definitely need to...