Electric Ramen — Restaurant in Genoa Charter Township

EDIT: Unfortunately I am unable to reply to your comment, so I’m editing my review to add my explanation. From the many ramen, pho, rice noodle dishes, rice dishes, and Bao I’ve had in Hong Kong, Japan, asian markets, and from asian owned and operated restaurant across the country, unfortunately your noodles, rice and bao buns didn’t meet the expectations to the fresh, handmade in house quality that I’m used to. I did not intend to come off as I was saying that your types of ramen selections were bad, I simply stated I was hoping for at least one traditional option. Which is why, instead, I opted for a rice bowl. Additionally, my brother and myself did enjoy the flavor of our dishes, so please don’t mistake my review as saying everything was subpar. However, I do believe there are aspects of our meal or the preparation of the meal that could be improved on. I do not believe anything in my review was unwarranted and I’m sorry you felt the need to passive aggressively respond to my review, but this was my honest experience.

I really wanted to like this place. My brother and I had been planning to go for a while. Overall the taste of everything was pretty good. Not THE BEST I’ve ever had, but it was by no means bad. The main issue I had was that the majority of the things seemed frozen or from a box.

I ordered a shiitake bao and a pork belly bao. Bao buns are supposed to be soft and fluffy, and these unfortunately were not. I have a feeling they might be pre-made and frozen because the outside of the bun had a kind of “crispy” exterior, kind of dry, and a little more dense than the fresh steamed bao I’ve had in the past at other places. The shiitake one was overall pretty good. Poke belly one, not so much. The piece of meat was too small and I wouldn’t have know it had any meat if I hadn’t looked. Both baos in my opinion had way too much slaw and sauce on them. The sauce/dressing basically overpowered the entire bao, and the slaw to protein ratio was probably 4 to 1. For the price, $4-$5 each, I expected something a little better.

The shiitake rice bowl was alright. Flavor was good but the rice really fell flat. Maybe it was just because I came more towards the end of the day, but it looked and tasted like minute rice. There was no flavor to the rice itself, not like typical fluffy and sticky white rice. The mushroom in it was really good but I wish there had been more in the serving. Tofu was steamed and it was good, but in the future it would be nice if there was an option to how you’d like your tofu prepared: streamed, pan fried, fried.

Shiitake mushroom ramen was the only option available for my vegetarian brother. He really liked it and was happy with his food. Only thing I wish was better about the ramen is I wish the noodles were fresh and chewy like your typical ramen noodle. Vegetables in it were definitely fresh and tasted good and the broth was tasty. I just wasn’t a fan of the noodles. Being the only vegetarian option, ramen was good. The only other thing I didn’t love about the ramen overall is that their combinations were a little weird. While I didn’t try all of them so I can’t comment on the taste, they just seemed a too little weird to me, that’s why I opted for a rice bowl instead of ramen. I would wish they had at least one traditional option, or a “build your own ramen” option. Maybe they’ll do that if you ask, but I personally don’t like asking for things that are posted on the menu.

Overall the experience was a good one. The people working were super friendly and helpful with the questions I asked. Food came out quickly, was warm and tasted good. Everything was a little too expensive for the quality and the amount of food you got, portions are pretty small. I also just really wish there was more...

I’ve been here about 3x with my family the first two years we lived in Howell, from the end of 2021 until about mid 2023. Admittedly we haven’t been back since the convenience store next door shut down, but we’ve been thinking about it a bit. Driving by, I keep thinking about stopping back in, but no one is ever there when I do drive by.

The first time we visited, we were excited. We had just moved to the area and ramen was a HUGE deal for us where we used to live! It was super cool to see a place like that in Howell. When we got there, Mark the owner greeted us and told us all about how he was a chef and he worked in Florida and how he had a passion for authentic ramen. He was stoked to open this place. While we were there, there were a couple of guys that came in and ordered after us. One dude was like, “oh yeah I actually grew up in Japan, my dad was in the military and this is basically my favorite comfort food. So glad there’s a ramen place in Howell!” Mark went on about the soft boiled eggs and how he simmers them in soy sauce or something. Guy said it was a nice touch. After he got the ramen, he was quiet.

Honestly we shouldn’t have been back, but Mark & crew were nice enough, so we figured just give it another shot. Went back, wasn’t fabulous but wasn’t bad. Just meh. Third time the kids were like, “we really want good ramen!!” So we went back, and there was a new menu. That was when we decided we should learn how to make the good ramen at home.

Very salty, odd quantities of toppings, very few “safe” options/varieties, and way, way too expensive. Listen, it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever eaten, but it wasn’t better than Maruchan with some extra things added. And I can get Maruchan + extra ingredients for like $2 per person, tops. Electric Ramen is the most I’ve ever paid for ramen, and I used to go to Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, and SoCal ramen houses. They’re legit. This is not.

I’m not the biggest fan of leaving negative reviews just because something isn’t my favorite. The food was edible, I went several times over the span of 26ish months, and just felt very meh about it all. Not worthy of a review. However, with the recent happenings and finding out that Mark, the guy that was super nice to us, albeit misguided in his ramen direction, went absolutely unhinged because someone else didn’t like his food, was utterly shocking to me. At first I didn’t even believe it, but then I researched on my own and saw it. What’s worse, is I saw it with other people, too. Mark, I don’t know what’s going on, but this is wild behavior. Vindictive, inflammatory, and just flat out embarrassing. I hope you have some time to reflect on your behavior. I hope your friends have time to reflect on their participation in the slam campaign. Your ramen isn’t the best in the world, my guy, but you had some fans. Can’t you just be grateful? Reviews are subjective. You’re never gonna make everyone happy. If you read one that you don’t like, you can learn from it or you can ignore it. You did neither one of those things! Instead you took a hard left turn and brought people with you. Do you know what you did was illegal? Because it is. Deleting it off the internet doesn’t mean it’s gone, sweet pea. It’s still there.

I only review a place when I’ve been there multiple times, a minimum of 3, and can make a very honest review. I liked the noodles when I had them, the broth wasn’t fantastic, and the meat options weren’t great. I liked the potstickers. I feel like it’s trying too hard to be edgy without putting a focus on the very good staples that already exist in the ramen world. Make sure you do the staples really well, before you move on to your out of the box...

Like a lot of the reviews say - this place is pricey. However, I’m confused how they justify their prices: We ordered two half-size ramen bowls, vegetable potstickers, and 1 Mochi: after tip it was almost $40. The mochi we’re almost certain came from Aldi, so it wasn’t like it was sourced anywhere legit. (Note for the update from the owner: I apologize, I should have said tasted like. When there’s freezer burn on your Mochi, what else are you supposed to think?) The vegetable potstickers we’re also pretty sure came from Costco because they taste exactly the same, and are clearly not homemade. (Update per owners comment: menu confirms, it’s $7 and for getting 5 of something that’s not homemade, it’s disappointing) I got a vegan ramen bowl (blackened tofu) and everything was soggy except for the noodles. Edamame should not be so soft you can chew the entire pod and swallow - edamame is supposed to have the beans pulled from the pod then the pod discarded, but obviously from what I just said I was able to chew and swallow the entire thing (note that the owner did reply and say they were snap peas, but the menu in the restaurant said edamame - so that’s what I was expecting to eat. Also update on price per the owner: I wouldn’t call it a hearty meal, especially when all of my vegetables were soggy - regardless if my meal had been the same quality as my husbands, I wouldn’t complain about price). Tried giving the leftover broth to our dog, who did not want it. Husband got the rotisserie chicken ramen, and I’ll admit his was much better than mine and our dog did like his leftover broth. However, veg was still pretty soggy and like the title of the dish, we’re pretty sure the chicken is from a Costco rotisserie chicken (per the comment from the owner, I’m not hating on Costco rotisserie chicken, there’s a reason it sells out every night). The service was great and the employees were very friendly, but having spent that much money - even supporting a local business - I’d expect more from a restaurant, especially when you can get authentic ramen 30min away in Ann Arbor.

Update for readers since the owner replied: I’m not trying to start a fight on google reviews, I’m giving an honest opinion on the quality of the food we received - not every review is going to be 5 stars, and I think 3 stars is more than justifiable and encouraging enough for another reader to give your restaurant a try. You’re a niche restaurant in the community, but when you’re fighting the fight for customers who’s choosing to pick between you and driving to Ann Arbor for ramen, I’d want honest feedback so customers would choose...