Modita — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Not sure what all the hype is about this place, but it definitely broke my heart. I tend to go to chicago a couple of times a year & never leave without having soup dumplings in chinatown, so being from indy, this place has been on my must try list forever. Came here for my birthday & I was so disappointed. To start I won't blame my server for the extremely slow service since it was a busy saturday night, but my god everything is extremely slow here. My boyfriend & I ordered 5 items & intended to get it all together & share. We were advised that our food would just come out as it was finished, i said that was fine thinking it'd probably stagger 5-10 minutes between dishes coming out. However it was more like 30 minutes between everything. (25 minutes in) We first got the crab lettuce wraps & a tempura shrimp roll, those were pretty good. Next came the soup dumplings, supposed to be the highlight of my night, they were just warm, very doughy on the top & the taste was just okay. The pork bao buns came next, room temperature (& okay taste) like they had been sitting in the window waiting for anyone to bring them. We ordered drinks, which i will take the blame for. Asked for 2 strawberry mojitos as they appear to have a full bar (we were sitting right next to it) the drinks took 30 minutes & had no mint in them (isn't that the point???) Sodas are not free refills even though they only have coke, diet coke & sprite? After another 30 minutes, my Abura Soba came out (highly recommended by the server, supposedly the best rice/noodle dish on the menu.) By that time my appetite had passed from waiting so long for everything but I was still excited to try this "saucy ramen." This was the most bland item i've had in a long time. The pork belly pieces were fried hard like bricks on top, the noodles tasted like instant pork ramen from the grocery store, & again it was room temperature as if it was sitting in the window. I took 2 bites & just sent to back, didn't ask for anything to replace it because I was tired of being there. Our server seemed like she was having a long night, very cold to us, however I've been a server for years so I understand having an off day. I reminded her it was my birthday & asked if they had birthday desserts, she rushed away, came back with the dessert menu & then rushed away again. I saw other ppl celebrating their birthdays with candles on their desserts but mine was just brought out & sat infront of me, no happy birthday no candle nothing. As I was already desperate to leave that just put the cherry on top so I asked for a box for the yuzu bar so we could leave. Also, it was mind boggling to me how all the food would take forever to come out & be lukewarm, yet a lot of employees were huddled up behind the the wall separating the dining room from the host stand. Maybe they need to hire food runners or make everyone accountable for helping each other? Overall everything was lackluster, & it was extremely disappointing since it was my birthday & I had been really looking forward to going here. Even if the service was better I wouldn't return because the food is so average. If you want soupless ramen try Strange Bird, Kizuki, literally...

Edit: Haven't heard anything from them

Edited to reflect conversation with Brandon (see reply): They are planning to update the chopsticks and working on the menu. They offered to reach back out when the menu is better and send us a gift card to give them a second chance. Hopefully they can keep the 5-stars after that visit :)

This was the worst Asian-inspired restaurant I have ever been to. We ordered the bao buns, drunken noodles, short rib "bulgogi", and yuzu bar. Thankfully they were out of the soup dumplings, so I didn't have to see that ruined. Both the bao buns and short rib were drowning in overly tangy sauce and poorly paired. The deflated, damp, and flavorless buns were soggied by a lump of what was supposed to pass as Asian slaw. Drunken noodles are famous for their wide noodles, but Modita threw some ramen-looking noodles in there. I don't even know what to say about the short rib besides that it inspired us to order the dessert (that failed to earn any redemption) because I wanted to forget the overwhelming sauce. The yuzu bar was straight clickbait - see picture - and did not taste good either. With Wei Ramen and Thaitanium right in the area, I am definitely never returning. I am also appalled the Cunningham Restaurant Group counts this as their only restaurant with Asian food. Stop AAPI hate and respect our cuisine??? Two stars because the service was lovely. It's not the waitstaff's fault that the quality of food was terrible. Also, the hydroponic wall is cute, and the general ambiance is nice if you have no concept of what Asian food and culture are. I guess I should have lowered my expectations when they had disposable chopsticks set out on holders next to the regular metal fork and...

The service was top notch, that's the first thing that needs to be said. There were some questionable ingredient choices. Cilantro wasn't a listed ingredient, but the sushi was drowned in it and it absolutely overpowered the pear flavor and honestly all the other flavors. The yakisoba was good in my opinion, but my wife found it far too heavy on the peppers. The Miyazaki nigiri was excellent and the only change I'd make would be to offer a blue option instead of a sear. The char offered an interesting flavor, but when compared to eating it rare the way the room temperature fat just melts and the beefier flavor is something you miss out on with that kind of beef being cooked. The lumpia were good, but paled in comparison to the soup dumplings which were a definite winner. I spied some other tables eating edamame and shrimp dumplings and they looked really good, so everything I saw was always very well presented.

Desserts were awesome. The yuzu bar and chai spice ice cream were both top notch. It's hard to find good yuzu anything and my wife was super happy, and chai spice anything wins me over. These were both winners in my book.

I struggle between 3 and 4 stars, but at $150 for a date night where both main entrees fell short, and surprise cilantro being the main flavor of the sushi, I can't go a full 4 stars even with the great servers.

I wouldn't not recommend this restaurant, but maybe if it's your first time as it was ours be careful because it seems there can be off menu surprises and you should carefully confirm ingredients. The food IS good, you just have to know what you're getting and ensure it doesn't contain ingredients you find...