Kimen Ramen & Izakaya — Restaurant in Fairfax

My recent experience at Kimen Ramen & Izakaya left me thoroughly disappointed and frustrated with the restaurant's policies and treatment of customers. The blatant disregard for customer satisfaction and the insistence on prioritizing larger parties over our needs was simply unacceptable.

Upon arrival at the restaurant on a busy weekend, my party and I were excited to enjoy a pleasant dining experience. To our surprise, despite the availability of a perfectly suitable table, we were informed by the staff that we could only be seated at a cramped and uncomfortable counter. The reason? The restaurant preferred to accommodate larger parties.

This decision not only showcased a complete lack of consideration for our comfort and experience as paying customers, but it also revealed the establishment's misplaced priorities. The fact that they would deny us a proper table, even when one was available, purely for the sake of accommodating a larger party, is an outrage.

The staff's handling of the situation was equally disappointing. Rather than attempting to find a fair and satisfactory resolution, they seemed dismissive and uninterested in addressing our concerns. Our requests for a more suitable seating arrangement fell on deaf ears, leaving us feeling marginalized and undervalued as customers.

It is utterly disheartening to witness such a blatant disregard for customer satisfaction and the unwillingness to provide equal treatment to all patrons. As a customer, I expect to be treated with respect and fairness, regardless of the size of my party. Kimen Ramen & Izakaya clearly failed to meet these basic expectations.

I strongly advise against dining at Kimen Ramen & Izakaya.Their discriminatory seating policies and complete lack of consideration for customer comfort and satisfaction make it abundantly clear that they prioritize profit over providing a quality dining experience. There are countless other establishments in the area that value and respect their customers, offering far superior service and hospitality.

I sincerely hope that this review serves as a wake-up call for the management of Kimen Ramen & Izakaya. It is crucial to remember that every customer deserves fair treatment and equal consideration. Discriminatory practices have no place in the hospitality industry and should be rectified promptly for the benefit...

My boyfriend and I came here on June 29. We are both Asian, so we love supporting Asian businesses around NoVA. However, this was one of the most disappointing experiences we have ever had dining out. The service was subpar; we have never had a waiter been so pushy to take our order. we even double checked the hours of the restaurant to make sure we weren’t near closing (we were there three hours before closing, so no issues there). He came back to our table twice to ask to take our order with less than two minutes between each visit, after the second time saying “come get me when you’re ready.” But then he returned to our table just a few minutes later saying, verbatim, “please tell me you’re ready to order now.” Even if it was meant to be playful, we didn’t appreciate being rushed and told to order even after the waiter had literally told us that we could just go get him when ready. Clearly we weren’t ready if we didn’t say anything??

The subpar service ended up foreshadowing subpar food as both of the ramens we ordered (mazemen for my boyfriend, shoyu for me) were bland and lacking flavor. The mazemen had an unpleasant flavor, and I had to douse my shoyu ramen with copious amounts of chili oil to make it edible. The bad service also continued as I informed the waiter that I had ordered pork, not chicken, with my ramen to which he questioned my polite comment with “really? I remembered you ordering chicken.”

Though he did quickly bring me a new ramen after that, I felt his conduct was unprofessional. Dude seemed nice at least, he just needs to work customer service a little longer - he seemed young and new, so perhaps he hadn’t been working there for long? And I will also say that the atmosphere is great; decorations and vibe are cute and homey. But based on the flavor profile of the food (we didn’t even take leftovers and we ALWAYS do) and the service, we will not be coming back.

Genki Izakaya is a SUPREMELY better choice for a Japanese restaurant and will earn our business instead...

The place Pro: This restaurant gives a cozy feeling and very cute. Friendly staff. Con: Because this place is small, it gets filled up quickly. They place the music way too loud and it was very difficult to carry a conversation. Hopefully they will be more mindful in the future. Def recommending making reservation during high peak hours.

We ordered the Miso Ramen, Spicy Ramen The Original Ramen. For each type of ramen, you can choose the meat to be either chicken or pork. We also ordered the Katsudon.

Ramen: The noodle is nicely cooked. It is not mushy and has a nice bite to it. As you chew the noodles in your mouth, you can feel the springing texture of the noodle. The veggies/egg are very fresh and the egg is perfectly cooked. The yolk of the egg is nice and gelatinous with good flavor being soaked in the soy sauce marinate. The broth has a lot of body and flavor. As soon as you take a spoonful of the soup, you feel instant comfort and warmth coats your throat as the soup goes down. Very pleasant flavor and feeling. The Miso ramen’s soup base was a bit too salty, but can be diluted with some water as needed.

The Katsudon: The Katsudon typically has the sweet soy sauce and this particular sauce was sweeter than other Katsudon I have had in other place. Definitely noticeable the sweetness but not appalling. They did put a lot of the sauce so when you start eating away from the top to the bottom portion, you can see the rice immersed in a puddle of the sauce. Again, not bad tasting, but a bit more than what I was used to.

Because the restaurant is so small and there are people constantly coming in, it was a bit difficult to be relaxed while you are eating and I felt a bit rushed b/c there are people standing, wait for a table to be opened. However, with all that said, the food overall is of higher quality than other ramen restaurants we have been in the area and we did enjoy the...