Ebisu East Providence — Restaurant in East Providence

My fiancé and I decided to go here for a little date night last night 10/14/ 2022 around 6:15-6:30 PM. We didn’t think we needed to make a reservation as the restaurant wasn’t too busy according to the live google tracking. There was still a few spots left in the tiny parking lot. We went in and got sat down immediately.

The placement of the seating was the last table sitting against the windows in the main dinning room.

The restaurant was pretty full but there was still some tables left where other guest could be sat down. The restaurant is not big at all!

There was a large party of 8 behind us who was there previously. The table next to us got sat down about 30 seconds to 1 minute after us. Which becomes an important part in my review.

About 5 minutes after we sat down at our table were still were not greeted by our waitress or waiter. I’m pretty sure the waitress that sat us down would be our waitress for the night as she was working the tables near us.

A party of 2 were seated about 30 seconds to 1 minute after us was greeted first and were NOT able to get a simple glass of water! All we had at our table was our MENU! The two ladies next to us were greeted again by our waitress and placed their drink orders. My finance and I THEN thought we would be given a glass of water at this point but we were WRONG!

My fiancé and I still waited at our table seeing waiters and waitresses going up and down the aisle walking past our table. I kept looking at them thinking they would get the hint at this point that we needed some attention.

Our waitress then went over AGAIN to the table next to us and asked them if they wanted to place their appetizer order. My fiancé and I were STILL waiting for some WATER! After the table next to us placed their appetizer order we waited a minute or two later as we saw some waitress and waiters coming our way. As we waited the wait staff stopped at the tables in the front.

At this point my fiancé and I waited 15 minutes for a glass of WATER! We were discussing the tip amount and my fiancé stated they would not get a tip as they didn’t deserve it. I stated to him “Why should we even stay if we’re weren’t serviced at all? Since we were NOT serviced at ALL, this restaurant doesn’t deserve to get our service. Let’s leave!

My fiancé agreed to leave and we got up and walked out the restaurant. While walking out what I believe to be our waitress looked at us and didn’t say anything.

This was such a DISAPPOINTING visit compared to our first visit where we sat at the front of the restaurant and got a glass of water a couple of minutes after and the waiter was attentive! I understand they were less busy the first time but no matter how busy the restaurant gets a simple “Thank you for waiting let me get you a glass of water”...

Went on a Saturday Evening at around 7pm. The vibes are pretty basic, some leather seats with a bright atmosphere. There are some cultural aspects here and there, but overall, I would have a hard time knowing that I was at a Japanese restraunt.

They had a pretty decent sized sake and cocktail drink selection on the menu. I got some Junmai Sake by Kino, which was a really nice chilled and smooth Sake. 🍶

We then ordered a few tapas. We ordered the Takoyaki, Spicy Honey Chicken Bun, and some Tsubai Maki Sushi Rolls. We also ordered the Tan Tan Men and Spicy Pork Katsu Ramen for dinner, and later on we ordered some Green Tea Mochi Ice cream. If you get anything from my experience, this is what you need to know:

🐙THE TAKOYAKI IS THE BEST IN PROVIDENCE. 🐙

I literally dream about there Takoyaki! Seriously, if you want good Takoyaki, this place has it! So good, I can't recommend it enough!

The Spicy Honey Chicken was also good. The Sushi was just ok, but keep in mind, this place doesn't specialize in Sushi. Now for the Ramen 🍜. The Tan Tan Men is delicious, full body goodness! The broth was on point! At first I wasn't that impressed by the Katsu Ramen, but I was so wrong, and figured out that I was eating it wrong half way through the bowl 😅. Once i ate the Katsu Pork with the noodles and broth, the flavor meshed together perfectly! Literally changed my whole outlook on the dish! Don't make the same mistake I did, mix those suckers together!

After our spicy ramen, we cooled off with the Green Tea Mochi Ice Cream, which was refreshing.

Service was fantastic! Seriously, we barely waited for any food! It felt like we put our order in advance and they were just bringing it out to us. The servers were also very nice and personable, and made the night that much better.

Forgot to mention, this place can get a bit pricy when you start ordering all the appetizers. Just a heads up!

Overall though, I will definitely be coming back for the Takoyaki and the Ramen. Both were fantastic! Especially the Takoyaki 🤤

Food: 8 Drinks: 9 Service: 10 Vibes: 6 Variety: 9

Rating:...

I soooo wanted to love this place! I saw all the positive reviews about the ramen and decided I needed to go check it out! Unfortunately, there were more cons about this place than pros.

PROS - Place is super clean and welcoming! Service is extremely friendly and fun. Atmosphere is cozy. Food is generally okay and presentation of food is nice :)

CONS - Food is not Japanese unfortunately! Sorry but I had been living in China for the past two years, up until COVID broke out, and traveled to other Asian countries during my vacation breaks...including Japan. When I first tried the gyoza here at Ebisu, my palate was immediately transported to homemade Chinese dumplings! They were good but not as thin, crispy and melt in your mouth as gyoza. They're just different!

Next we had the 30 hr Tonkotsu broth with seafood...this was even more disappointing. This broth is meant to be CREAMY, THICK & UNCTUOUS....but the one we had wasn't any of these at all. It didn't even taste like pork...or seafood for that matter. It was a bit on the salty side but I don't really care too much about this - my problem is just that the menu has false advertising.

Listen, I OBVIOUSLY didn't expect to have as good as a ramen here as I did in Japan because hey, this is RI. However if you have a tonkotsu broth on the menu, then I expect the broth to taste SOMEWHAT like it! This one just had a strong garlic powder seasoning and a lot of sesame oil flavor to it.

Uhhh I'm just really sad...I DO think the staff here are tremendously kind and friendly but the food is simply not Japanese and I was really craving those authentic flavors. Wish I could've left a better review.

P.S. The chicken was crispy and thin in the spicy honey...