JINYA Ramen Bar - Fishers — Restaurant in Fishers

See edit belowMy wife and I are regulars at this establishment. The ramen is a bit overpriced but hey it’s great authentic ramen close to where we live so we keep coming back. But recently it’s been one bad experience after another and we are very disappointed to say the least. The first time when it all went wrong was when we brought a friend here. She ordered the rice bowl with added avocado that was extra. I ordered a red tonkatsu. Her bowl never came with avocado but was charged for it in the bill. My red tonkatsu was lukewarm when arrived and had to be microwaved. The next time was when we came in and we were in a bit of a rush and told the waiter we just want to order ramen, slurp them down, and be on our way. The ramens took forever to arrive and we were late (we budgeted plenty of time, they were just all of a sudden “swamped by a ton of online orders” and can’t prioritize us), and on top of that, we ordered the chicken katsu combo and the waiter dropped one of the chicken pieces on the ground so he just served the remaining two pieces and brought the extra piece later. On top of that, my ramen that time was clearly undercooked. Yeah you don’t want your ramen al dente that’s for sure. And to top it all off, today we arrived on Saturday night at 10:25PM. They close at 11PM. When I got in there and asked for a table of two, all I received were stink eyes, from kitchen and front desk staffs to my regular server who’s been tipped generously even when my ramen comes in lukewarm. I’ve done server jobs my whole life and I know how much it sucks when a customer comes in last second before we close. But 35-minute is plenty of time to order our usuals, slurp them down, and be out well before the official 11PM close time. We should not be treated with that kind of attitude and disrespect especially since we’ve been regulars to this establishment and every single time I tip generously even when the service or food is subpar. I’m not saying I’ll never come back. They do have a monopoly on good ramen in this side of town. But these hit-or-miss experiences have been a tough pill to swallow.

Edit

Kaily the restaurant manager expressed her regrets through email and invited us back out to give JINYA another try. The energy and service was night and day compared to before. It’s honestly the first time a restaurant has seriously made improvements from customers’ feedback and I thoroughly respect that. My wife and I had a great time during our return visit and it has reminded why we were regulars in the first place. My family is visiting from China and we will be taking them here for...

Unfortunate visit. First time here was great, this time NOTHING was right. I met my family at the table (stopped to wash my hands), and arrived after they had ordered drinks, but before server had walked away. As we ordered an appetizer of edamme, the server never even asked or offered me drink, just said "I'll be back with your drinks". Confused, I consulted my husband to see if he ordered something for me, which he had not.

About 30 minutes later, their drinks (and hot sake served with a shot glass vs a sake cup and a mocktail), cold edamme and a cold curry rice (that was part of our dinner order) was brought to the table. My husband had to track down a staff member to get forks.

When we asked the server if curry was supposed to served hot or room temperature, we received a disingenuous apology saying it should be hot, and walked off leaving the cold food on our table.

We did attempt to speak with another server/bartender regarding the missing sake, and before finishing our sentence she picked up my husband's sake to remove it, apparently confused that we were still waiting on a second drink, and we had to stop her and clarify.

She walked away as our server approached with the food. I had ordered a hot spicy chicken bowl, my husband a spicy (medium heat) chicken bowl. When asked if there was anything else we needed, I had to ask for my sake...again. Finally, after about 30 seconds, voila! The sake that I ordered with the dinner order....30 minutes ago. We were now 45-50 minutes into the visit.

When he did come back and ask how our dinner was, and we told him the orders were switched, "we apologize" ...meaning the kitchen messed up.

Next came the manager. While she was slightly more professional, she stated she was told our issue was the cold curry. Not the culmination of issues....again, so bare minimum apology and "we will take care of this tonight." After another apology, we were told she would have to "discuss what happened with the server after his shift" to confirm what we told her. Wow, talk about making me feel heard!

Bottom line, we didn't want free food, just a decent dining experience.......

Then came the bill. "We only charged you for the drinks", bill dropped and server walked away. Charged for the sake that I waited....over.... 40 .....minutes ...for???

In summary, we spent less time eating than waiting for a sake, paid for a watered down drink and some sake for 75% of our visit time to receive, and left utterly disappointed. Guess we won't be getting ramen any...

Update, of an over $50 order, I was refunded a whole $13.20 and still no apology or ownership of the problem. My rating remains the same.

Let's get one thing straight: the ramen here is delicious, when it's hot. If only I could say the same about the experience surrounding it.

I placed an online order with the promise that it would be ready in 12 minutes. I arrived on time, informed the sweet hostess that I had arrived, and she kindly went to check on my order. She returned with an apology, explaining that the kitchen was a little behind but prioritizing my order, assuring me it would be ready in 10 minutes.

So, I waited. And waited.

What followed was an absurd and frustrating display of poor organization. During the initial 10 minutes, two other people arrived and inquired about their carry-out orders. The first was basically told the same thing I was initially told. When the second person arrived (now there are 3 people waiting for their orders), we were all told that the manager just pulled someone to work only on carry-out orders. So that means, the kitchen didn’t even begin preparing my order until the third person arrived to pick up their food. That’s right: no one had even started on my order during the first 10 minutes I was there.

Finally, 20 minutes later, my order was handed to me, but of course, it was cold. I had waited twice the time I was promised, only to be given a meal that was lukewarm at best.

I spoke with the manager about my experience. She didn’t apologize, didn’t offer any real explanation, and only vaguely mentioned that she would “ask the owner” about a partial refund. No acknowledgment of how frustrating the delay had been, no effort to make it right beyond a non-committal “I’ll ask.”

I get it — things happen, kitchens get busy. But if you're going to make a customer wait 20 minutes, at least deliver their food hot and make the effort to own the situation. The food might have been delicious(after heating it up in the microwave), but the lack of organization, accountability, and basic customer service makes me think twice about...