Ichiddo ramen — Restaurant in Franklin

I wasn’t happy with this experience. The menu was a little confusing—I could not find a straightforward tonkotsu ramen, and when I asked, got an odd sort of runaround from our server. I finally gave up and ordered the thing he seemed to be indicating was the closest to what I wanted and hoped for the best.

In the meantime, we tried the takoyaki and loved it…it came right out of the oven and was perfection, very creamy in the center and loaded with octopus. Toppings were on point, including the bonito flakes (sometimes restaurants around here don’t serve those). In addition, we tried the char siu pork bun and the edamame. Edamame are always the same so no problem there. The pork bun wasn’t anyone’s favorite—the pork was good but the rest of the bun seemed sort of anemic. We didn’t fight over them like we usually do. :))

The ramen I was directed to was the char siu ramen, and although it mostly looked like tonkotsu, it ultimately wasn’t right. I was not happy with it. It didn’t have the richness nor the collagen content of a classic, well made tonkotsu. I was reassured that it was tonkotsu mixed with (something) and that they do not serve straight tonkotsu. Which sounds crazy to me. Either way, whatever the real story is, it wasn’t a quality tonkotsu broth.

I make tonkotsu at home. I had to buy a huge 30 quart pot to make it. It takes 14 hours to get it right, including boiling impurities out of the bones, picking the bones clean, adding the aromatics and vegetables at the right time, and babysitting it for the other 12 hours at the perfect temperature.

I know what tonkotsu is supposed to taste like, and I also know what it’s supposed to feel like in your mouth.

This was not right. Not a traditional tonkotsu. In fairness, they don’t even call it a tonkotsu on the menu, but at this point, I’m just annoyed that this place calls itself a Japanese style ramen restaurant and doesn’t even offer the most basic, traditional ramen broth. The ramen they offer is not the kind of ramen I enjoy.

If you are hardcore all about the tonkotsu, I’d stick with appetizers and just enjoy those.

Fyi, for those who care, this is a chain based in the Midwest. It is a Midwest American take on ramen. I think it’s helpful to know that going in. I wish I’d done some research before trying this restaurant.

Neurodiversity note—as an autist, I feel moderately comfortable. Seating was hard but noise level...

Three stars because the service was good but food was very meh. I got sick for a few days afterwards too. Constant stomach aches and diarrhea. I had the Niku Soba Ramen, Takoyaki, and bubble tea. The only flavorful thing was the seasoned meat in the ramen. The noodles were cooked well but the broth lacked flavor. It was just an oily broth that only offered texture. It wasn’t enjoyable to finish. The takoyaki was just a fried ball of goo with octopus pieces inside. It also lacked flavor. The only flavor I was tasting was the soy and mayo sauce drizzled on top of it. The taro bubble tea was different. It was a milk tea but for some reason it had a thick and oily texture. I also had a piece of black plastic or something in there. It wasn’t the black tapioca ball. It also had this weird chemical taste to it? I don’t know how they made it but it was weird. Overall, my meal totaled to $30 and it really wasn’t worth it in my opinion. On the receipt, they had a really confusing way for you to add tip. I wish I took a picture because it would have been good content for /r/crappydesign on Reddit. Essentially it asks you to write the tip twice. There’s a checkbox selection with 15%, 20%, 25%, and ‘Other’ options with total tip amount and total bill amount after tip. However, the ‘Other’ option had a blank field for you to enter your tip and total amount of your the bill after tip. So I checked 25% tip and put a zero for the blank fields in ‘Other’ just in case. Then on the bottom of the receipt it asks for tip again and your signature. So I put zero again. That was really weird. It’s a nice restaurant in a nice area with good service. That’s about it. If you want bold flavor that makes say yum then this is not it. Next time I’ll just go next door to Honey Baked...

Pretty decent ramen and appetizers, but nothing extraordinary. The ramen was a bit on the small side in my opinion. I had the char siu ramen and the flavor was there but it wasn’t out of this world. The broth was silky and rich but not as flavorful and I’d like for it to be. The char siu was decent though. House salad was just your basic American salad mix (iceberg with red cabbage) with a creamy dressing. Wished it came with something extra, like tomatoes or cucumbers. Seaweed salad was your typical seaweed salad that you’d expect anywhere else. The takoyaki was good—the sauce was delicious and it had a good amount of bonito flakes on top. It came with enough octopus in there that you can detect it, but a bit more would’ve been perfect. Mine was missing the kewpie mayo drizzle but it was fine without it. It might’ve been a tad undercooked too, but I’m not for certain.

Staff were attentive and nice. My small complaint is that the takoyaki came last to the table though and after I was almost done with the ramen. I was already full by then, so I had to take it home instead. I had assumed that they forgot my order because it came out so late.

Overall, it’s not bad, especially in an area that is still growing rapidly and doesn’t have a huge Asian population. I’d go again if I were in the area but it’s not good enough that I’ll drive 30 minutes. I haven’t been to many ramen restaurants around town, however, it’s far better than Otaku. Black Dynasty is still my favorite ramen place in...