Itto Ramen Bar & Japanese Tapas — Restaurant in Fletcher

I am rarely so conflicted about a restaurant. I am mostly vegetarian so I cannot speak to the meat dishes beyond the tuna samba. There are water bottles on the tables but you don’t get cups for them unless you ask. Otherwise you just look at it.

We ordered the avocado katsu. It was good, but the sauce was almost absent from the pallet.

We then ordered the tuna samba I mentioned. It’s veggies wrapped in a beautiful cut of tuna. The fish was absolutely perfect. It was served upside down, so chopsticks (which is all we got) did not work to get the oversized bite into our mouths. It had another sauce that, again, had almost no flavor. I asked for ponzu and it really made a positive impact on the flavor. I wish I had only ponzu and none of whatever the sauce was.

Lastly we got the “stuffed” sweet potato. Which was not stuffed, much to our disappointment. It was a fried sweet potato with toppings. We asked for eel sauce which we drizzled on top to get some sort of flavor out of the dish.

Here’s the thing. Yes, my review is overall negative. BUT. The components of each dish were perfect. If my meal was deconstructed and everything separated I’d probably have nothing bad to say. But the combination of everything did not necessarily work.

None of the sauces that were incorporated into the dishes stood out at all. They disappeared behind the main ingredient, which - as someone eating mostly vegetarian dishes - was heavy on avocado and sweet potato. There was not enough acid to cut through the “creaminess”. Eventually I felt some warmth and flavor from the “spicy” miso sauce a few minutes after I was done eating. But most of my meal didn’t register flavor until moments later.

The Tuna Samba was almost ruined by the sauce it was served with. It was an otherwise perfect albeit upside down dish. I wish I ordered it no sauce with a side of ponzu because it’s heavenly dunked in their ponzu.

Overall this place is great but doesn’t seem to understand what it’s trying to be. I recommend you order with all sauce on the side, and order additional sauces to try things with. The eel sauce and the ponzu were excellent.

Also, the service staff...

The food was very bland we ordered the veggie Ramen burger( it had no seasoning )and the classic ramen( it was very watery with no flavor ) diffently not worth the price I've had better ramen at bombing ramen in hickory or typhoon noodle in asheville I order the same type of ramen at very one of these places the atmosphere felt more like a fast food atmosphere vs a sit down Restaurant. Diffently didn't match the them of the restaurant. It gave off a Craped Feeling. Everything was extremely close to each other. They're playing rap music. Plus had 2 TV going one with the news and the other with a baseball game The service. Wasn't ideal. We walked in and waited. to be seated, because there was a sign that said to do so just to be told. Sit wherever you want. The waitress came by and asked us what we wanted. We told her this was our first time there. She didn't suggest anything nor ask if we had any questions. She came back roughly ten minutes later. Gave us some water. What she spilled on the paper menu that was sitting in front of me and reached across me to put my water on my right hand side. Left and came back 5 mins later Asked if we we're ready to order. We said yes, and we ordered.the Waitress didn't ask us if we'd like any drinks. Nor did she tell us that they had drink on a separate menu. We had to find that out for ourselves. the Waitress only gave us each one napkin, which was at the table. When we got there along with a plate and some chopsticks and a menu...

I feel this is a hidden gem! I never would have imagined the experience looking at the outside. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cute outside, I just never expected the high level of chef talent contained here. I have visited three times the past 7 days. You get to choose where you would like to sit. Our first server was Isaac, and he was excellent! I chose the Vegetable Ramen. It was so delicious, I keep ordering it each time I return! The creamy broth is very flavorful. The veggies are fresh & kudos for using Organic Arugula 💯! Much appreciated, as I love to support restaurants that use organic ingredients! The Marinated Tofu is delicious! Hubby has ordered the Salmon twice. Food has always been excellent, service is always good to excellent, but what blows me away is the PRESENTATION of the dishes! It is like you are dining at a high end restaurant. I always wave at the chef before we leave. The pride in his work is immense! I can’t help but to keep...