Kanji Noodle Bar — Restaurant in Delaware

I came here with my girlfriend for a quick bite. We had driven by this new restaurant a few times and finally decided to give it a try.

The service was fast, the food was OK, and the space had a clean, modern vibe with stylish decor. It’s casual, but thoughtfully put together.

Overall Ratings

Restaurant 4/5 Service 3/5 Food 2/5 Parking Free

Atmosphere

The restaurant is nicely decorated, with an open layout. Some of the booths are set up just like the ones in restaurants in Japan. Everything was clean for the most part.

Service

Staff were friendly, efficient, and helpful, making the ordering process smooth. While I appreciated their recommendations, it eventually started to feel like they were upselling everything on the menu. For example, if we ordered one item from a category (like appetizers or ramen), we were told nearly half of the other items in that same category were also must-tries.

What We Ordered

-Kanji Wings (They were decent, but essentially just Chinese-style fried chicken wings with KEWPIE mayo. Nothing special.) -Pork Bao (Almost cold when served. It came out fast, but felt like they didn’t bother heating it properly.) -Vegetable Ramen + Chicken (The broth had good flavor, but overall, it was your standard ramen shop experience.)

The food was fine, but felt very average. It’s like they played it safe, especially with the wings, which weren’t memorable aside from the store-bought sauce. The baos were on the cold side and pricey compared to other places that offer more than two pieces for nearly $8.

Final Thoughts

It’s OK-good. The service was solid, and the decor was the highlight. In the end, it feels like they played it safe. The experience will satisfy your hunger, but you're unlikely to feel...

We typically enjoy trying new restaurants when we can go out alone, as it’s easier to relax without worries about slow service or subpar food. We often visit places ahead of time to ensure they’re suitable for our picky son, but this experience was disappointing from the start.

We visited this noodle shop expecting a quick meal, as we assumed it would be fast. We were seated immediately, and our order included a mango smoothie (which arrived quickly) and the daily special—$12.50 for chicken for my fiance and shrimp for me. Unfortunately, after an hour, our food still hadn’t arrived, and others who came in after us received their orders first. When our dishes finally arrived, they were burnt, and the portions seemed larger than typical for a lunch special. The chicken was bland, the rice overdone, some vegetables crispy, and others soggy. My shrimp was overly burnt to the point of hurting my throat, and the vegetables and rice were similarly overcooked and flavorless. We tried to eat what we could but ultimately couldn’t finish, as it was just not enjoyable.

To make things worse, we were billed full dinner prices for both hibachi meals despite clearly requesting the daily specials. The waitress insisted she had made the decision for us, which we did not agree with. She also upsized our drinks without permission, compounding our frustration. When we pointed out these issues, she became confrontational, and the situation ended on a sour note.

Overall, this was a very disappointing experience. The food was far below expectations, the service was unprofessional, and we felt overcharged. We won’t be returning. Would...

So excited that another ramen shop opened up in New Castle County. The restaurant has a lot of nice decor that's traditional and modern. We ordered karaage chicken as an appetizer, tonkatsu ramen and the kanji mystery ramen.

It was a little weird that our ramen came out before our appetizer, but not a big deal. The tonkatsu ramen was flavorful, but the kanji mystery ramen tasted a little too fishy (possibly due to the clams or mystery broth base). I got the medium level spice and it was just the right amount of spiciness. The karaage chicken was nice and crispy, but we did end up with a big piece of bone in our order.

The servers were very attentive...maybe a little too much. Upon being seated by our server, she brought and poured water for us. Within 2 minutes, she was back asking us if we were ready to order. We requested a couple more minutes to look over the menu as it was our first time here. After another 2 minutes, she came back and just hovered over us with her notepad. It was a little uncomfortable having the server just impatiently wait for us to order. We noticed this with several of the wait staff at other tables as well. I could understand if there were limited tables with a long wait list, but this was at the beginning of dinner time around 6pm with about 5 tables occupied.

Definitely willing to give this place...