Kisara Japanese & Korean Restaurant — Restaurant in Easthampton

Kisara's ramen is pretty good. I'd recommend it to anyone. I just can't seem to actually get it these days.

They're open until 9:00 and stop taking take-out orders at 8:30. I called last week at 8:20 and was told they just stopped taking orders because "we stop at 8:30". Today I called again at 8:20 and was told that "we usually take orders until 8:30 but the manager wants us to finish up early today".

Yes, I realize I could have called earlier than 10 minutes before the deadline. I tend to eat late and often don't think about what I want to eat until 7:00 or 8:00. But they are open until 9:00 — it's not as if I'm calling when they're about to close.

Honestly, I've had a particularly low tolerance for Kisara these last few months because of their Covid-19 policy of not taking credit card payments and requiring exact change cash. That's right — you must use cash, and no change if you pay with two 20s. This was supposedly for hygiene reasons, except their employees weren't protected at all because they were still required to touch everyone's cash. And then when the restaurant reopened dine-in service, they still still wouldn't allow credit cards or make change for cash, even though they were already handing dishes back and forth with customers. A literal cash grab.

So why do I still (try to) buy their food? Because the food is legitimately good. And also because the poor employees are always so nice on the phone, and I wouldn't be helping them by boycotting their restaurant. But by leaving this review, I really hope Kisara's management cares to reconsider some of its decisions. I do recommend their food, so at the very least, potential customers reading this will know to bring...

Visited on the way back home after staying in Vermont for the weekend. Reviews looked solid and the menu appeared to have a lot of options and potential.

Two of us sat down at 7:00, we didn't get our order taken for roughly 10-15 minutes, nobody asked if we wanted anything to drink, appetizer (edamame) didn't show up until 7:45, and entrees until 7:54.

Ordered a hot and spicy ramen... the pork was either boiled or microwaved prior to serving. Never had pork so tough in ramen that you needed a steak knife to cut through it. I mean seriously... we're pretty handy with chopsticks but this was BAD. Didn't get offered any of the choices listed on the menu that were listed to modify it, and components of the soup listed were missing. (Nori, Bean Sprouts)

Also ordered the dumpling soup, listed as a beef broth with rice noodles, scallions and dumplings... whatever I got came out looking like someone ran tap water into a bowl of alfredo sauce and added a tablespoon of oil. It tasted overwhelmingly of garlic and butter to the point that I began to get extremely sick to my stomach shortly after trying it. There were also no noodles.

We requested the check shortly afterwards, and out waitress didn't seem to care or even notice that we had barely even touched our plates after they were practically just delivered. She actually seemed relieved that we were leaving so soon.

Won't be back, and if you have made it this far down the list, I highly recommend whoever was doing the cooking to stop by a reputable location and taste the difference: Mido Sushi, Kaliubon Ramen, Daddy Noodle, Mecha...

Hey just a heads up….

A couple weeks back, the Mrs. and I went out for a lunch date at what was once our favorite spot, Kisara Japanese & Korean Restaurant. They literally were our go to for the last two years whenever we would go out. High end, sushi, with great flavors and service, it was our happy place.

We ordered some Ramen, a Koni Salad, and some sushi.

The Koni came out, and had Avocado on it, even though we told them we had an avocado allergy in iur party, and to leave it off. Not BIG deal. I happily welcomed the avocado, and after purging it from the dish, the mrs could eat it. It was justt laying on top so not a HUGE deal.

Now here was a big deal……

We started eating the ramen. Eating away delicious. All the sudden, i look at my spoon, and notice some shiny strands of something in my noodles. I start picking them out, and relize there is about a tablespoon of brillo pad bits in our soup. At this point, Im a little upset that our favorite spot is doing us this dirty. The server came up, and I explained whats up. They, no joke here, asked “would you like me to bring you some more soup? Or I can take the soup off the bill”

I’m sorry, but I probably may have already ingested metal, and I dont think another serving of brillo soup is gonna sufice.

We couldn’t believe the solution here. I left my number and email to speak with someone about this. Still to this day, have not received any correspondence about...