Wei Ramen — Restaurant in Indianapolis

This place was recommended as a must try for ramen lovers. I'll break my thoughts into two components, the 1) food and 2) the physical location.

1. The food was aesthetically pleasing, but it did not taste as good. I had pork tonkotsu ramen, which should have a thick fatty broth. The broth was too thin and lacked the rich flavor profile I've come to expect from good ramen. It wasn't bad - it just wasn't that much better than the instant stuff you can buy at Costco. The noodles were stuck to each other, resulting in noodle clumps that couldn't be taken apart without significant effort. Another issue I had was the egg. The yolk was not runny and the egg was not marinated for the tamago flavor. It's not a key component to the ramen, but the lack of small details add up to a mediocre product.

2. I'll summarize this as a lack of attention to detail. Walking in, it was clear it needs a good cleaning. It felt dirty and sticky with lots of unfinished work, such as a random plank of wood on the stairs going up, a TV leaned against the counter, dirty linen curtains on the way to the restroom - lots of details that added up to a lot.

I won't say much about the service because you can't replace bad food or a dirty establishment with it. I really wanted to like this place, but I just didn't. Indy needs better ramen and...

They promote menu items as “Japanese” but it’s not what you would expect if you’ve ever actually lived in Japan. And it doesn’t help that their website doesn’t have many pictures. The curry udon, for example, was a soupy, Thai-style curry. Rather than the thick Japanese カレー. The Japanese pancake (okonomiyaki) said it came with mayo and bonito flakes (as it would in Japan) however when he brought it out, it only had Tonkatsu sauce. I had to ask for the mayo and bonito and he refused at first until I showed the menu where they state it comes with it.

Then he took it away, topped it with bonito flakes and handed me a bottle of mayo. It was decent but it also was clearly premade in a mold and reheated.

Last was the karaage chicken. The udon was supposed to come with 4 pieces of karaage chicken, which is a battered and slightly sweetened Japanese style fried chicken. They served me a very overcooked chicken Katsu cutlet. The biggest difference is that chicken katsu is coated with panko, whereas karaage is a batter. And it wasn’t even 4 pieces. It was one cutlet cut into many slices. (See my pics)

I don’t know what their crepes were like. So I can’t speak to that side of the business. But I know the food and the wait staff on the dinner side was lacking and definitely NOT Japanese style, except for...

The food is good but make sure you go at least an hour before they close. We got there at 9:30pm (they close at 10pm.) We asked if they were still seating people and they said yes. Shortly after sitting down I realized that the song Closing Time was playing over the speakers. I at first thought how ironic given that it would soon be closing time. However, after the song ended and then began again, I realized that they had it playing on repeat. So for the next 30 mins, we were repeatedly reminded that we were not valued as customers and they just wanted us to get out. We finished our meal and were done by 9:59, still just shy of their official closing time as listed online and on their door. On the way out the door we noticed that they had started to shut the lights out in the restaurant where about half a dozen customers were still eating their food. It's a Friday night in downtown Indianapolis. If you don't want customers past 9pm, then change your hours to 9pm. Overall, it's a very rude thing to do to your customers who are paying good money for some over priced noodles. It's unfortunate because the food was good but now that I know how little they care, I don't think...