Ebaes — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I visited Ebaes after a day of pounding pavement, starving, so I had very low standards for nourishment at that point and I left incredibly dissatisfied. I'm a fan of good restaurant ramen and, since it's a prominent item on their menu, I quickly decided that I wanted a big 'ol bowl of nice, soupy ramen. I was so hungry however, that I couldn't decide what kind I wanted: original (marked as a specialty), or spicy cha-siu tonkatsu ramen. I decided to consult my waitress for her opinion and, after a far-too lengthy conversation about the flavors and heat levels I decided on the spicy char-siu.

Immediately after the words came out of my mouth, the waitress said "oh well we're out of the char-siu - is chicken okay?" No. No it is not. Furthermore, why did you waste my time piddling around telling me about the ramen without mentioning that you were out of a crucial ingredient? Genuinely idiotic service aside, I ordered the decidely less appealing sounding "Original Ebaes Ramen" with shrimp. I also listened in to my friends' orders. The waitress actively advised my friends against a few sushi items (big red flag) and helped them select other dishes - as well as a bottle of pink 'sangria'.

The ramen I received was described and prepared thus: "spicy & creamy shrimp broth with choice of chicken or shrimp, green onion, tomato, mushroom, coconut milk, ' no curry'". Does this sound like ramen? No? Well it's probably good that it didn't taste much like ramen then. Not only is the combination is odd to begin with, but it arrived tepid, and it was badly made. The shrimp were tough, the noodles were overcooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside (how they achieved this feat, I have no idea), the topping freshness was inconsistent, and it was overall very sweet. I remember there being corn in there, despite it not being listed on the menu, but that could be because it reminded me of canned creamed corn in it's sweetness. I don't even know what this dis is supposed to be.

Also, as an aside, the "sangria" that my friends ordered was also disgusting. We all agreed that it was a lot of Welch's apple juice, a little cheap wine, and a ton of ice. It was like something you'd order in a nightmarish tourist trap that mostly serves cruise ship tours on their day trip.

Honestly, that's probably a good description of all the food I sampled there. Trying way too hard to be unique, while totally sacrificing the original point of the dish, and completely let down by the chef's actual...

Came here for a late night New Years Day dinner and I left full but unsatisfied. The food was not awful but nothing hit the spot unfortunately.

Decor is beautiful, and is very USC/fusion appropriate. Tradition meets new world cool. Seems like a great drinks spot. There's some wood-tavern feels, tall counters, and traditional tables. The ceilings are highlighted by paper lanterns decopaged with cool clippings. The servers wear fedoras and all black.

The food, however, left something to be desired. We went to try the ramen, and were sad to find out it was only served Monday - Wednesday. Then we opted for the fries (seasoned fries, which generally are not my jam, but were okay), k-town chicken (korean style fried chicken wings, which were peculiarly sweet and served over more fries), spicy tuna crispy rice (rice was too oily and soft), yuzu yellow tail (sashimi was nice but the ponzu was over-sweetened again, and you lost the yuzu flavor), and the seared salmon roll (4 cut roll pieces, but this was the best dish of the night, and trust them it is spicy). The thai iced tea is no longer free with a yelp checkin, and was overly creamy so you didn't get that cool thai iced tea flavor coming through. All the food was beautifully served, just the flavors were each a little off. Great flash, work on the substance a little.

Service was friendly, but I would've appreciated being told we ordered too much food for 2 asian girls, and also that the chicken wings were served over fries already so our extra order of fries was unnecessary.

Those 5 dishes left us out $60 (including tax and tip) and feeling full but...

The food is really good and the in person customer service is good.

But I order here nearly weekly and the amount of trouble I have had with the internet presence and remote customer service is mind boggling. Some weeks its flawless, other weeks I have no idea what changed that it became difficult.

Things to know:

You can't place pick up orders over the phone, you must do it online. They offer a number of ways to pick up/order delivery, but some of the apps will randomly cancel your order (or the restaurant will randomly cancel your order). Post mates seems to be the safest way to order. (This was an issue a couple of months back, maybe its fixed now). They offer two different cuisines, and you have to go to a different website to order the other cuisine even though the food is offered at the same physical location, cooked by the same literal people, and picked up at the same physical location from the same customer service because...it is still only one restaurant so you should just offer the full menu on one website (The pineapple fried rice is not worth the trouble it takes to order). Over half of the phone numbers online (websites, google, social media etc) don't work, don't have working voicemails. The food has different price points per different apps. So uh, be thrifty?

Update: Today I placed an order at 6:48 pm, only to have it canceled at 6:49 pm. No explanation given, couldn't reach the store through a valid phone number. Ordered the exact same thing at 7:30 pm, and it went through. Restaurant did not cancel the order it turns out, Chownow did. So avoid...