STEAM noodle cafe — Restaurant in Great Barrington

I work at a ramen restaurant in Chicago and the ramen at STEAM is watery and bland. The noodles are overcooked to the point where it was falling apart and absorbed almost 0% of the broth. The broth itself is watery and bland. I was looking forward to the tonkotsu ramen because of it's supposed to be rich pork broth, but was left disappeared with it's bland taste. The chasu is chewy, already lost points there because I was really hoping for the soft, delicateness of what chasu is supposed to be. The also tried the kimchi ramen, same disappointment sadly. The gyoza has an interesting filling that I'm sure some people will enjoy. But the dough was soggy for some reason? Not quite sure what happened there. The spring rolls oh goodness. The spring rolls were so bad that everyone who was eating with me refused to eat it. The chicken inside is cold and gave me flashbacks of my time in middle school, the dipping sauce was pretty good so nice job there. The curry puffs were great and the only thing that was finished at the table. The ramen was really disappointing, especially when you consider that the only nearby ramen restaurant is bad. The prices do not match the...

About a year ago I came to Steam noodle cafe. This was when they were still a to-go-style counter. I remember ordering the Chicken Khao Soi last year and I loved it: There was so much flavor in the broth and the chicken was falling off the bone. When I ordered the Khao Soi today—it wasn't horrible—but since I know how delicious it was last time, that's what i was expecting. Instead, the broth way less flavorful and they made a poor decision to switch from bone in chicken to sliced chicken breast (even though it says bone in on the menu). My boyfriend's dish ended up being worse. He ordered the ramen and was baffled at almost every choice they made. The spicy tonkatsu broth had no flavor: it was super oily and watery and tasted nothing like ramen broth - or any broth for that matter. The pork was tough & bland and the noodles were mushy. Thankfully they were kind enough to apologize and take it off the bill! It seems like they took on too much and expanded too fast. It sounded like the owner or the manager was talking to the chef about ways to improve the ramen so that's a great sign! I'm looking forward to coming back to try Steam again once they've settled...

Edit: Jan 2, 2020.

I still stand by my original review that Steam makes the best Ramen and the hot oil is to die for. This is one of my 3 favorite restaurants in Great Barrington. Since they opened I've been there many times and enjoyed eating at the counter. I rave about the Ramen to everyone I meet.

Of late, I'm very unhappy about their ability to get orders correct. A couple nights ago, my VEGAN Khimchi Ramen showed up with slices of PORK in it and there was no dressing for the noodle salad. (They have refunded the amount for the Ramen). A couple months ago, they missed a couple of items in our order that we discovered after driving home and they couldn't be bothered to figure out how to refund the amount.

I'm happy that they are very busy and doing well. But, clearly, the growth in volume seems to have affected their ability to manage orders. I would ordinarily give any restaurant a second or a third chance. But, PORK in a VEGAN dish is a bit hard to forgive. Goodbye STEAM.

Quite simply the best Ramen noodle in the world. And the...