Bushido Ramen — Restaurant in Kettering

Soooo, tonight I had a chance to try the new ramen shop on Wilmington Pike. Its called Bushido Ramen. Gotta say it was very good and I would go back to try some of the other ramens they have. Friends one and two ordered the bushido bun as an appetizer. It was a pork cutlet with bushido sauce and mayo on a bao bun. The cutlet was crispy and moist and the bun was soft and pillowy. They each ordered the spicy sesame vegan ramen and raved about it. It was just the right amount of spice. The broth was soy milk based and the bowl consisted of sesame paste, bean sprouts, black mushrooms, seasoned fried tofu, corn, seasoned bamboo shoots, Brussel sprouts, red onion, shredded green onion, and bushido spicy oil. They also added a seasoned egg. This was different from the usual soy egg that I am used to in ramen. It was one of the better ramens they have had.

I went with one of the recommended favorites: bushido black. It came with pork belly, bean sprouts, black mushrooms, shredded green onions, seasoned egg, corn, seasoned bamboo shoots, and black garlic oil. The pork belly also had a hint of sweetness and the broth was flavorful as well. Considering there was a lot of noodles, it would have been nice to have three pieces of pork belly instead of two. But otherwise, it was very filling and I would definitely order it again or try one of the other selections. The owner came by to give samples of fried calamari that he has been working on. He wanted our opinion as he is trying to perfect it and we were more than happy to provide our input. We found it to have a good flavor and was not overly chewy. We felt the smaller pieces were crispier than the larger rings. It would be good for the larger rings to be crispier as they would not transport well if placed as a to-go order. He appreciated our thoughts and mentioned he would look into perhaps frying the larger pieces a little longer or finding another solution. He also chatted with us about the trials of getting his restaurant up and running. Be sure to stop by and support this business so it can stick around.

Bottom line, Bushido Ramen is worth checking out. The prices are reasonable and the food...

I really wanted to love this place since it is a nice local location. But, after 2 visits I just can't recommend it unfortunately. Attached to this review are the 2 experiences we had at this location.

First visit we went during opening week. We had been looking forward to the location since we followed all their updates on social media. One of the biggest issues arrived right at the start when we were placing our order. We tried to order the curry and was told they were out of rice. This was definitely surprising, so we pivoted to ramen and appetizers. The karaage chicken was okay, but a bit under seasoned. The buns though were extremely tasty, and something I would order again. The ramen itself wasn't bad, but the presentation was very lack luster and a bit off putting. After this visit we decided to wait a few weeks before we tried it again, so they could work out some of the kinks.

Second visit was today. We decided to do take out from this location. Our order was supposed to be ready at 6:15, but when we arrived we were told it had not been started on. Time it got completed it was 6:35. I am unsure why it took so long to get started since there was only 4 other people in the restaurant at the time. This annoyance aside we decided to just see how the food itself was since we had been looking forward to the curry. When I opened the carry out box my jaw dropped. The amount of food provided for our take out order was a joke. The cutlet was 4 tiny pieces. It looks like they split a single cutlet between us both. We paid $5 extra for eggs as well and each only got half an egg. We paid $40 for this meal! The portions are just completely off. Our cutlet was burnt and the curry itself was not good.

Overall we are not going back to this location.The price does not justify what you get, and it just seems like there is a lack of care in the food. We will continue to make our drive up to Fairfield Commons...

I really wanted to like this place because it's so close, but compared to other ramen places in the area, it really fell short.

The service was not the best. The waitress checked on other tables, but did not check on ours or offer refills on water. She was kind when we did interact with her.

It was miserably hot inside. I'm not sure if there is no air conditioning or it isn't working, but we left literally dripping in sweat. They have fans running, but it does very little to help. Offering refills on water would have been super nice because of how disgustingly hot it was.

I ordered the bushido black ramen. It smelled good in the presentation was nice. The pork belly was long pieces, which was nice, but it wasn't spectacular in terms of taste. The ramen egg was cooked perfectly, but a little salty. The vegetables were very tasty. The noodles seemed to be angel hair pasta, which was a fairly poor noodle choice for me. I would have liked it slightly more without noodles, to be honest. The worst part about it was the broth. The overall taste of it wasn't horrible, but it had a slimy, thick consistency that i've never had anywhere else. I really love authentic ramen and i've been to around six other ramen places, and none of them have had a broth with that consistency, or even use the type of noodle they used. Unfortunately, the broth consistency was extremely off putting and I did not even finish it.

I'm not entirely sure if I will order from here again, but if I do I would not want to try the ramen again and I would...