Ginza Sushi & Ramen Bar — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

This place was really good! We came here to celebrate the end of the week, because it was a super stressful one. We had the octopus, salmon, salmon roe, red snapper, and eel nigiri to start. It was all fresh and good! We LOVED the eel! After that, we got a chicken tempura bento and a Vegas roll. The bento was really good, and so were the sauces that came with it. I get a Vegas roll anytime I go to a new sushi place, and Ginza did not disappoint! The only issue was the wait time. The kitchen was super backed up, so we had to wait a while for our food. We didn't mind that much, though, since we came at prime time on a Friday. (Also, just a side opinion, the Boba was really expensive!) Overall, we'll probably come back at some point, just on a less busy day and at a less busy time.

EDIT: We came back and tried their ramen this time! I had the tonkatsu beef ramen, and my partner had the red curry beef ramen. Both were good, but the tonkatsu easily beat out the red curry. The red curry had a lot of spices so it was grainy, and there was a lot of chili oil, so nothing really got incorporated. The noodles were great, the eggs were even better, and the beef was INSANE. It was so good! The broth is also very refreshing and tasty. We tried the harumaki spring rolls this time around too, and really liked them. My partner tried the Eel King Burrito roll and liked it too. We will be back again and again ☺

EDIT 2: We came back 03/12/2022 for my partner's birthday. We decided to go all out. Tempura and calamari was good, the makizushi we got was great (Monster, Vegas, and Spider), the nigirizushi was really yummy and fresh. We had the smoked salmon and the eel. The smoked salmon wasn't really for me, but that's more because I'm weird about fish flavor and less that the food wasn't good. The eel was, as per usual, insanely good! We both had ramen as well-- he pork and I beef. Delicious! The wait was a bit long, but we came at prime time on a Saturday so we have no complaints there. Our server, Tim, was also super nice and friendly! Love Ginza and did not disappoint. Writing this review on the way home with a happy belly full of delish ramen...

The first thing that strikes me about this place is "why in the middle of a fast food corner?" among other confusing location details, but eh.

Pardon my nitpicking here. I overheard the hostess in conversation with another customer asking if he wanted sushi or sushimi. Sashimi.

Sat down, waitress dropped off water and a menu and the usual stuffs. When she came back, she asked how my order was doing. Again, nitpicking, but I wouldn't know how my order is doing. I hadn't ordered it yet, and I'm not the one cooking it. Of course, that doesn't speak to the restaurant's quality, but still. Basic phrasing.

Got a house salad, lovely and fresh, no complaints. Got a bowl of that champion ramen, aaaaaaaand the waitress took away my plate. Lotta shells and stuff in there. I don't wanna put food or scraps directly on the table, but I was ready to after being neglected for a while. She did give me a new one when asked, though, sooo.. issue, but correction.

The ramen itself is surprisingly subpar. It's not bad by any means at all, but the noodles are surprisingly stiff, and the lobster had no flavor whatsoever. May as well have been tofu. Less work for both the customer and the kitchen while also coming up at about the same value in the dish itself.

Honestly, the waitress lost points with me all over the place, but I still left an above average tip. I didn't want to put up with the radio there anymore. It's not as bad as the average modern eatery, but it was still definitely more unpleasant than pleasant.

All in all, I'll probably forget this place was here. I don't mean to be rude, but at the same time, the experience overall was inconvenient and unpleasant, but not discomforting...

Ginza has a lot of really good food menu options. They might also be the best place near Grand Rapids to get ramen (although I hate to say it but I've had much better ramen in other cities. Their tonkotsu broth is quality but their tare needs more punch to it. The flavor is more subtle than in your face like I like it. But the noodles are great and house made!) The food quality is close to 5 stars for me but I've had a few experiences that dropped that rating down. The biggest problem was the Thai Iced tea. It straight up tasted like something was very very wrong. Like maybe they didn't clean the container it was in? It just tasted funky. I know they prepare it from a powder, maybe that powder is just low quality. Either way I drank it and almost immediately spit it out. Do not recommend. Also their spice levels are a joke. I always get the spiciest version of their ramen and I barely feel the burn. You gotta kick up the heat for those that love it. I've even asked for extra spicy paste to make it more spicy and it didn't really increase the heat. It kinda just plateaued. All that being said, their sushi is great quality. I usually get whatever nigiri they have on special that day, they usually have fresh options like toro and o-toro. I even got to try uni which was a unique experience. Their nigiri is some of the best in town. I haven't tried many house rolls yet but they have an expansive menu, so I'll definitely be back. Overall I love Ginza and I'm glad it's close by me. Restaurants like this make me happy to say I live in...