Engimono Ramen & Dim Sum — Restaurant in Federal Way

Updates: We have been back for their ramens and other items. I must say they have improved in efficiency and taste. I am happy to upgrade my rating to ☆☆☆☆☆.

(Previous review) There's not a Dim Sum place in Federal Way so when we learned that this place finally start serving it, we were eager to try so we finally did it today.

1st impression was between the names, ramen and dim sum were a bit of a identity issues so we decided just to try the dim sum to start. Place looked clean and well kept (from the previous buffet restaurant). Staffs were friendly. We were seated immediately as they weren't that busy at 11am.

We ordered via a QR code. They have a HUGE menu just on dim sum items alone. Losing a bit of the dim sum cart experience. But at least there were pictures in the online menu. We ordered a plethora of dishes that we are used to. Dishes start coming almost right away and were piping hot (good sign). High marks on the quality ingredients. Not a lot of fillers big chunks of meat. As you can see in pictures that they were all nicely filled.

The portions were good but a bit pricey at $6-$7 each so they better be good right? Well... almost. Though the bean curd rolls, baked char siu pastry, siu mai and har gao were good, tastes of other dishes were hit and miss. Quite a few items were under seasoned. The use of canned oysters sauce for the fried turnip cake doesn't work. We ended up using the sauce on the eggplants that needed it badly. The har gok (fried shrimp dumpling) was missing the usual sweet mayonaisse sauce. Phoenix claws were too fatty, should be fried prior to braising. Egg tarts smelled buttery but sadly lacked sweetness. I don't like things that are too sweet but this just needed a bit more. Fried item were a bit oily pushing the kid to fry oil wasn't hot enough.

We missed our pot of tea. It's odd to drink tea out of a bear mug.

We still compelled to give an outstanding ☆☆☆☆ rating. They have all the good ingredients to make the dim sum superb. Hope they will improve upon the tastes. We will be back to try many more of their...

I'm borderline wanting to rate 1-2 stars. But service is really friendly here, what really was disappointing was the food. The dim sum, congee, and ramen were all a little underwhelming.

Congee was the first indicator that the flavor profile was completely off. It tasted like water and there was so seasoning, flavor depth. It was like watery rice soup. I've eaten congee my entire life and this is not how it's supposed to taste. It also had an off taste from the meat, somewhat metallic and iron and gamey.

Dim sum was very disappointing, it was so disappointing that we canceled the last two orders that didn't come because everything that came was underwhelming, barely any seasoning and lacked that Chinese dim sum taste. The only ones that tasted decent was the Shumai and shrimp paste on bell pepper. The beef meatball tasted like there was too much flour filler and whipped too much so the meatball tasted like a sponge meatball. It was bouncy and felt like a soft foam ball. The flavor and texture was off. It tasted like processed fake meat?? Texture was rubbery and not like a meat consistency. Pork pan fried buns, expected the flavor to be different, but meat had sugar seasoning in it, it was overwhelmingly sweet. Xiaolongbao needs work. I used to work for a famous XLB company and I am well versed in XLBs, this one needs work on several things, but even my kids couldn't eat them and they LOVE XLB.

Ramen was okay, we had the miso one. It was pretty good and probably the one thing that was decent. Not as amazing as santouka ramen, but it was pretty good.

Anyways long story short, I recommend Seattle China town dim sum or drive up to Canada for some good dim sum. We came here because it was in the area and it was sadly ruined, we threw up afterwards because it didn't sit well with us. Besides that service was excellent. The staff was really friendly and took great care of us. Wish the food was good. I feel bad for writing such a poor review, but it was definitely sad to experience because we looked forward...

Both of my regular ramen places in Federal Way were going to close soon so I thought I'd try Engimono. I had a very unexpected experience. When I arrived the sign asked to wait to be seated. So I waited and waited. I arrived right around 805 pm. Lots of staff cleaning, sweeping but no one to seat me???? Finally almost a full 10 minutes later I was finally shown to a table. I almost just walked away. Now seated the team member told me that the menu was the scanned code on the table Scanned it and started making decisions but no one would take my order. Once again lots of staff around but no one talking to me or taking my order. Again, I almost walked out. Knowing they closed at 9p at 840 I was starting to grow concerned. By almost 850 another gentleman came by and said the kitchen is closing in 10 minutes. I looked at him and shared that no one had taken my order. He said you need to order on your phone. I told him the site said take out only. He took my phone and ordered for me. Wasn't impressed. Once again almost walked away. The food did come quickly and it was tasty. I have pics. As I started to eat it got weird again. I was being stared at and staff notably cleaned around me feeling considerable pressure to eat quickly so that they could get out of there by 9pm. I wasn't the only customer left. Another couple across from me commented to me the same feeling, "Are you feeling rushed so the can leave?" I said yes. Needless to say even if the food is good if you're not taken care of you won't be back. I won't be...