Le Shrimp Noodle Bar (South Coast Plaza) — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

Pretty mediocre seafood ramen. Sort of tastes like a mild / less flavorful Singapore laksa. I drove 1 hour from LA on a trip from Las Vegas so I was pretty excited to try it and chose to stop by during the happy hour.

The sign is hanging right outside the restaurant and the caliber of the shop looks like the type that would automate everything and be super efficient. My change was wrong, I didn't get a copy of my receipt, and the happy hour 30% was not applied. The checkout process when you pay at counter on your way out is usually efficient but this was a mess and I left confused and had no receipt. The only receipt I got was the waitstaff one with no pricing and just the items we ordered. No check # or itemized list.

I realized on drive home I paid full price during happy hour for a mediocre bowl of expensive ramen. With inflation now I choose every meal carefully and was expecting a lot more from this place.

Since I'm from out of town, I called back the day after when they reopened, they confirmed a mistake was made and I did pay full price when I shouldn't have and the in-store credit they offered me to buy ANOTHER bowl with a discount... even though I already bought a bowl at full price that I didn't love was not a suitable resolution. I'd have to drive 4-5 hours to use the credit and still spend money on a second meal I don't want. Even if I was still nearby they'd only give me credit towards more ramen, not the money I'm owed. I'll be gifting that credit to a friend who can maybe use it if they can't just use all the technology the world has to offers (payment apps and paper checks) to just honor the discount.

This has only happened to me twice in my life and the restaurants used PayPal, Zelle, etc. to refund. Another reason I'm hesitant to use cash at restaurants since you can't be refunded... even though I want to support them and not use a card, in these scenarios it pays to use one for your own piece of mind. So disappointed since the ramen scene in SoCal is so great, this was a total let down.

UPDATE: Customer service reached out with no real solution again besides revisiting restaurant that's 5 hours away for a credit. Place is owned by corporate restaurant group so unfortunately you're not going to get same result as a restaurant who personally identifies with their brand and food. You'll get a promo credit like you do with Amazon or Walmart. Morale of the story, pay mom and pops in cash if you can, it is helpful for them. Pay corporate restaurant groups with a credit card to protect yourself.

UPDATE 2: while customer support that reached out here was argumentative and petty with me offering no real solution and not reading my situation that I live in another state... the general manager Michael however did read and replied with a refund that worked easily and simply. Took 1 email and about 5 minutes to resolve what the rest of the customer support couldn't seem to grasp. Michael did the right thing quickly and easily. He did exactly what I suggested they do from the beginning and sent me the refund via Venmo/Zelle. Staff at restaurant was actually fair as well but just had less control or say...

Came here because Paradise Dynasty was no longer taking guests in their waitlist and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of food here!

It’s located in the Collage dining area of Bloomingdale’s on the lower level. It’s a very tiny shop with limited hours but when we got there at 5:15pm we could have either waited in line or get a call back whenever the table was ready. They don’t have a Yelp check in set up so they manually took our name and number down and called us in approximately ten minutes.

The wait itself was a little slow just because there were only 3 people working the front seating, taking orders, serving/bussing, and processing payments but since the restaurant is fairly new I kind of expected these growing pains.

The menu is small enough for them to really specialize in their food but still offer enough variety so you could try different types of flavors.

POACHED LETTUCE WITH SUPREME SOYA SAUCE ($5.60) — absolutely delicious and worth ordering. It looked nothing like the menu photo because of the way they cut the lettuce but we still enjoyed it.

LONG JING TEA LAVA EGG ($1.90) — the egg was at the pre soft boiled egg stage which is why it came out way too runny and not completely formed like the menu photo. I was surprised to see some sort of sauce with it on the plate but the taste was still delicious. Honestly just ordered this to add to my shrimp ramen but I ended up eating it by itself.

TERIYAKI CHICKEN SHRIMP RAMEN ($12.99) — the chicken was buried under the sea of broth but that was no concern of ours. The chicken was very soft, tender, and flavorful and certainly not dry at all. The broth tasted exactly like I expected it to with most of the flavor rendered by the juices of the shrimp head.

EBIKO PRAWN PASTE SHRIMP RAMEN ($15.99) — I got so full from this ramen that I ended up giving more of the ebiko to my boyfriend which I instantly regretted once I actually ate one of them. They were absolutely delicious and light! The broth is exactly the same as the other one but that was no concern of mine.

Overall, it was a different take on ramen that was refreshing and new. I would definitely recommend trying it out but am admittedly a tonkotsu girl so I can’t guarantee I’ll be back for a second...

I was really excited about this new restaurant, tucked inside the food court of Bloomington at South Coast Plaza in Orange County, after seeing some videos and posts about it on social media.

First, the restaurant is a bit hard to find - it's at the very back of Bloomingdale's on the first floor, and there was almost no smell to guide you to the restaurant. Right beside the restaurant is a mochi donut shop, for landmarking if this might help.

Le Shrimp Ramen is part of the Singapore Paradise Dining Group. The layout of the restaurant, menu design and decor all looks quite similar to what you would find in Asia.

Service - terrible. While the wait staff tried, they were quite relaxed and forgetful. I had to asked for chili sauce THREE times before they remembered to bring it, along with the request from the table beside mine. Food orders were slow - you would have thought they were catching the shrimp after you place your orders! There was at one point a lineup outside the restaurant of about 8 people, even though there were many empty seats and tables inside (which they just couldn't clean fast enough to bring new guests in).

Food - the broth was legit shrimpy. If you're a fan of shrimps, the broth is amazingly rich. Though I admit after the first 5 bites, everything taste the same. The shrimp balls were chewy and flavourful, I liked the actual two shrimps that was included with their hallmark noodle soup. We ordered the bamboo shoots, runny egg and bok choy as sides too - these were greatly marinated and made with nice presentations. Reasonably priced too.

I didn't try the dry noodles but my friend who did enjoyed the dish and despite minor shrimp allergies, had no problems. So an alternative for those who aren't big on shrimp but would like to try the restaurant.

They really can improve the service though before I would consider...