Artisan Taste Noodles & Dumplings — Restaurant in Harrisonburg

This place was... okay. I'm always really excited when we get a new restaurant in Harrisonburg and was really looking forward to trying this one. But the actual experience was lackluster.

Husband got the vegetarian ramen and vegetables spring rolls, since they were the only things on the menu he could eat. I ordered the Tonkotsu ramen and chicken soup dumplings.

Ramen is one of our very favorite foods. But neither one of us was was very impressed with the ramen here. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't great. The pork in mine was very dry. The broth had good flavor, though.

I had never tried dim sum before, so I was excited to try it. But the dough tasted undercooked and the dipping sauce was incredibly sour. I have nothing else to compare it to, so maybe they are supposed to taste this way and I just don't like dim sum, but I'll have to try it at a few other restaurants to be sure.

The restaurant was clean, staff was nice, but the atmosphere felt kind of depressing and cheap. I think part of it was everything being served in to go containers. That pretty much killed the vibe for me. This is just my opinion, but ramen needs to be in a real bowl to taste good.

I will genuinely be shocked if this restaurant is still here in a year. So many have come and go at this location, to succeed here you really need to go above and beyond and do something special. Not to mention use real dishware. I could see the plastic to-go containers being fine for college students, if the food prices were actually cheaper - but they aren't. I can pay the same prices at Bobo and get some of the best food I've ever had, and in real bowls.

I don't love writing reviews like this, but I think it's worth being honest. I do not think the people who opened this restaurant did their research. Maybe they will read this and learn to adapt. But there is no reason to eat here when Bobo is literally a block away and they have some of the BEST food in town - incredible ramen, rice bowls, nori tacos, and just an exceptional menu overall. And you get to eat off of real dishware. If this place is going to survive, they need to be better, expand their menu, get some real plates, and do something different...

I visited a few weeks ago, and was super excited ever since I saw the 'coming soon' sign on the building. The prices are a little steep, but for authentic and great food, that wouldnt be an issue. I was so excited to get real soup dumplings for the first time, and was super happy to see they had boba. The boba I got was very watery and not that sweet... The soup dumplings were almost all popped and with holes whenever I got home with them. The wait time was insane for the food, which also is understandable at times, but there were two screaming children running around the place, so it was just a bit unbearable. Might be worth a try again, but the prices being so high plus the food not doing the main selling point (soup being in the soup dumplings...) makes me unsure about justifying...

The food there is extremely authentic and not overwhelmingly saucy, sweet, or Americanized. The boba is the best in town as well. I’m Chinese and from the Bay Area, so I’m so so so happy that Artisan Taste opened up and hope that their business prospers!

We got the Lanzhou beef noodles, tonkotsu ramen, pork dumplings, spicy pork soup dumplings, pork bao, passion fruit green tea, and classic milk tea with boba. All were delicious - great prices, great portion sizes, and very flavorful. We left feeling very happy and satisfied! In fact, the food was so good that we only remembered to take one photo…

Ps to the business owners - you should consider doing ads on facebook...