Sera's Ramen Enclave — Restaurant in Denver

We got 2 separate recs for this place so decided to do our last lunch in Denver here. You walk down a small alley to get to the "front" of the restaurant that leads you to a nice patio, and the indoor seating. The patio was an enjoyable setting for a tasty meal, and our server was attentive and efficient.

We got the veggie gyoza to start which were fried crisp with good flavor. Had whole edamame inside in addition to the other vegetables. The dipping sauce complimented the flavors of the gyoza and was light and not too salty or sweet.

We then each had a bowl of ramen. My partner had the veggie ramen with the house made chili sauce, which, was maybe some of the better chili sauce I've ever had. There was a note on the menu that it contained fish sauce, I never would have thought to put fish sauce into a sambal style chili sauce but it was SO GOOD! It was also pretty spicy, not for meek tastebuds or tummies. The ramen was also quite good I was surprised at how flavorful the fully vegetarian broth was.

I had never seen a dashi broth on a ramen menu, but dashi is one of my favorite Japanese flavors (I have had many a heartbreak at New Orleans sushi restaurants who put agedashi tofu on the menu and then serve me tofu with no sauce, but I digress). So I had to get it, it was advertised as spicy and definitely has some good kick, but when I tell you I want to drink that dashi broth from a mug daily, it was finish the bowl even though you are beyond full and unsure if you'll be able to move-good. The chicken was also very flavorful and delicately cooked, I added bamboo shoots because I miss that texture when it's not in my ramen.

There were 2 things that I thought could be different that would have made the ramen just a notch higher on my list. I would add seaweed, which I didn't see as listed on the menu as an option. The other thing was the consistency of the noodles, which was dense and well cooked, but not chewy enough. I don't know if that's the right descriptor but I just bit through them a little more easily than I would have liked. Still...

i used to dream about this place. i’ve literally driven from steamboat recklessly to get the previously delicious oxtail ramen by there ridiculous 8pm close. but fine you have good food so i’ll let it slide. finally. i’m in denver on time to get this ramen i’ve dreamt of and narrowly missed on many occasions. but this last encounter will make me never visit this place again. The server was extremely inattentive, rude, and letting her kid play on his ipad as loudly as he could. I get in and say hey we have 3 coming. server: “is your whole party here?” me: no, we have one more coming but i’m starving so if we could sit and get appetizers, that would be great. “no we can’t do that. please have a seat in the lobby”. ok fine. we sit and wait on my buddy zach. he arrives about 4 minutes later. I say, ok ma’am our whole party is here. she sits us down. no offer for drinks then proceeds to go sit on her phone for 10 minutes without so much as bringing us waters or looking up to deal with her son who’s still playing his ipad as loud as possible at the table right behind us (we are the only people in the restaurant and that’s where she sat us…) 10 minutes or so later she comes to take a drink order, i say we would like to order everything now. We all order different ramen and a dumpling appetizer. the appetizer dumplings were the saltiest dumplings ive ever eaten. and the ramen i dreamed about? 😂 what a joke: i was so embarrassed: i had built this place up to my two buddies like it was gods gift to ramen. 🍜 horrible. every last dish. then i hand the lady my card to pay and she brings it back and the only options to tip are 18% and up. no no tip option or custom tip option at all. not that i would ever not tip, but you don’t give 5% worth of service or so much as ever bring a single refill and you want 20% after not seating us. 🚮 this place is absolute garbage now. right it off. save yourself $30/person with no service....

I came here as a visitor from Chicago which has a ton of really good ramen joints, but just because we are outside of the city of Chicago, doesn't mean the ramen eating stops.

I'm gonna start off with the service and drinks before getting into the ramen. The staff was all very nice if not a bit forgetful and all over the place. I had asked for some chili oil and never got it. They kept switching back and forth between to people and I didn't know who was helping us. Anyway not the biggest deal. For drinks, I got a black plum wine with crushed berries and my friend got a Thai milk tea. Both were absolutely delicious and so worth it (I don't usually get drinks when I go out to eat).

Anyway let's get to the main course, the ramen. I got Sera's Sesame Pork Belly Ramen which I will say right now was amazing. A spicy tonkotsu broth topped with several slices of chashu, menma, enoki mushrooms, an egg, green onions, and nori, this bowl was wonderful. To start, while the broth wasn't as rich and creamy as other tonkotsus I've had, it was still very flavorful and the togarashi that they used added the perfect level of spice to it. The 3 slices of chashu that were in the soup were very thick cut, nice and tender, and so delicious. I'm usually not that big of a fan of enokis, but they worked well in this bowl. Most of the rest of the toppings were pretty standard fare although the egg was subpar. It's called an onsen egg and technically that's how it's supposed to be, but honestly I'm just not a fan. I'd prefer it if they just soft boil it. Then the noodles themselves were also great. I was wary when I first saw them as they looked very similar to the instant ramen noodles, but my mind was changed when I ate them. Nice and springy and cooked perfectly, they worked harmoniously with the rest of the bowl. This place was wonderful. Although it wasn't in my city, I do hope to try it...