CHICAGO RAMEN Lab — Restaurant in Elk Grove Township

I went here like around 8pm to get food for me and my husband. When I walk in ,I want to ask questions but was immediately shut down and told to use the kiosk that they have up.. I understand they close at 9 o’clock ,from the sign, I saw when I walk up. When ordering my food I got extra noodles for both dishes, I added extra meat and eggs , an order of mochi ice cream. I add extra spice to my husband’s food because he likes spicy . I do not like spicy food. I put in the notes on my food no spice. It’s come out to around $55 . I don’t mind paying for good food (again my first time being here but they have really good reviews) took about 15 minutes for me get my food.. I wanted to check it but I was rushed out with the body language and tone of voice, when I was handed to me. When I got home and opened my food I was missing the almost 6 dollar ice cream I paid for ,the food was wrong. The chicken tasted like it was sitting out all day , it was very dry ,the noodles taste like they did not cook them properly because they was in a rush. I ask for no spice in my food, ( I put it in the notes on my food) but somehow I ended up with all the extra spice that was supposed to be in my husband food, and he had no spice in his food. I did not receive the extra eggs I paid for. The meat that was in my husband food was dry Also .. it was like they gave us food that was just sitting there for old orders .., when I went to call it want to voicemail. I literally live seven minutes away. When I want back they was close. So we don’t eat it .. I packed it up nicely and put it in the refrigerator to take back to have it remade the next day … everything was awful and tasted old .. the next day I went back up there where I was greeted by a young lady that was very respectful and very nice when I ask to talk to the manager . she told me he wasn’t in. It didn’t know when he was gonna be back in. I told her my problem, and what happened the night before . I didn’t really expect her to do anything because she looked very young but she work there , she give me three mochi ice cream and told me sorry and told me try talk to the manager another day when he’s in.. I had a very bad experience rather than the young lady I spoke to when I wanted to speak to the manager. She was very nice very respectful. It’s just that she really couldn’t do anything to help me in my situation.. .. I just want my money worth, and not food...

Swung by here on Saturday afternoon to see how it compares to the Des Plaines location, and for the most part it seems to be the exact same taste.

I almost exclusively get the Tsukemen ramen, which is where the cold noodle is separate from the broth and you simply dip it. Their broth is exactly the same as in Des Plaines, which means it's phenomenal. It's a thicker broth, very savory, has some bean sprouts, bits of the pork, and what I believe is bamboo shoots.

If this tastes exactly the same as the other location, it's safe to say the other items do too.

There are some things to note if you do decide to come here to compare it to Des Plaines:

The menu: it looks to be smaller. I believe Des Plaines has at least 2-3 pages to look through, including other dishes. I may be mistaken, but I'll post a photo of the menu I took. It's a one sided page. Additionally, the portion seems to be smaller than I remember, however, I did pay less than I did at Des Plaines so it's still a fair balance.

The inside: it is tiny. There are three tables that seat two, and the bar that has about 8 stools. That's pretty much it. I had an early lunch so I got a seat, but I can easily see this being packed once people realize it's here and the weather let's up. Additionally, this is a order at the counter kind of place. Not a big deal, they did bring my food out to me.

This location seems to heavily focus on carry out and online orders. The entire time I sat there eating they were busy in the kitchen cooking. People were in and out picking up orders. If you live close, you may enjoy a carry out rather than dining in overall.

I'm happy this location opened up closer to home so I can...

Great when it's open, but consistently not. Restaurant consistently has a tendency to just not be open but not modify their schedule and doesn't pick up when you try to call to confirm if they're open or not. Does not remove unavailable items from the menu: tsukemen is not available here, rather it is as another associated location about five minutes away by car. The king seafood ramen has always been unavailable for a very long time. This wouldn't be the worst problem, but you can order online and I'm unsure if it'll just end up eating my money or not given how frequent I've come here just to see the door closed when it says it's open online. Someone else mentioned they ordered online and it was not communicated with the owners here, so I worry what might happen if you order food when they're closed outside their usual hours.

Will change review when this stops being a problem, but even so they really need to remove things that are no longer available from the...