1981 Ramen Bar — Restaurant in Lowell

We were very dissatisfied with our experience today. Three of us went for dinner. The only good thing about the whole meal was the sauce for the dumplings. (Yes, just the sauce). The rest of the food and the service was terrible. The waitress meant well and was nice but she was not attentive or timely.

It began with super slime lemons that were served basically rotting. The edemame had no flavor and was overcooked to the point of being mush. One of us ordered mild spice with an egg on the side. The other 2 of us ordered chili oil on the side. The egg didn't come and neither did the sides of chili oil. The "mild" ramen was extremely spicy. It ruined the dish really. (We all tasted it for verification). The pork belly was rubbery and weird.. it looked like McRibs.. the broth.. not sure how it really cooks for "48-hours" and still tastes like flavorless noodle water.

The server never came back during the meal to check on us, correct the orders or even refill the filtered water i had to ask for. She came back when we were finished to ask how things were going and she said she assumed well since we had finished our food already. No, she was just gone for the entire meal. (She was busy. She meant well but she was not juggling her tables well) They were out of several of the sakes, even basic ones (waiting on an order to replace what was used for folk fest.. a month ago), and the one we were offered and brought instead was a tiny $12 bottle of what tasted like fake powdered lemonade (don't get the sparkling "lemon" sake.. it's actually yuzu anyway). The ramen was not good enough to make up for any of it. I must also touch on the floor that looks like it has never been mopped and the women's room that had definitely not been serviced all day.

I'm really not sure why this place is so popular. Maybe people have bad taste and dont expect proper service at a restaurant? Maybe it was an off night for the staff? Either way, i doubt any of us will return. Its a shame because it was fabulous when it...

Came here on a Friday night. The wait for 3 was not bad at all ~ 35 minutes.

Apps: we had wings and duck bao. I like duck, but this duck didn’t taste that good. And it was a bit dry to me even though they had a sauce on them. It needed a sauce in the bun too. The wings were really good and tasty. I don’t like cucumber in my pork buns in general, so that was a negative for me. I picked them out but the juice lingered.

Ramen: We ordered the regular tonkotsu ramen. You can choose spice level (mild, medium, extreme). I went with mild it had perfect amount of kick. My partner got extreme hot, and he loved it. The noodles were the thin, firm-ish kind I like in my ramen. Not over-cooked, soft or instant-noodle like. I think they could’ve cooked a teeny bit longer though. The broth was not as rich as the rich tonkotsu broths I’ve had at NY places. It was still tasty though. The pork was too fatty, not enough actual meat. We asked for extra pork too, but it seemed to be the standard amount of pork that other ramen places give. I could do without the nori.

Service was a bit slow, but they were nice and checked on you.

One thing that upset me was that they set our tables automatically with forks instead of chopsticks. It was a bit offensive that they assumed because we were non-Asian people we did not know how to use chopsticks. (Unless that’s just what this place does? It was not a good move to us nonetheless.) As a ramen place you should set it with chopsticks automatically unless the patron requests a fork. I’ve never seen that in the many other ramen places I’ve dined at, and I’ve had ramen at at least 10 other restaurants in various states. They also need better chopsticks because the wood on theirs doesn’t smooth out properly. I know it seems like a pesky thing to complain about, but it kills the atmosphere and authenticity you’re trying to create.

Overall, cool place- ramen is good. Definitely nice for the locals, but not a dish...

All I can say is utter disappointment. I had ramen here a few years ago and it was super salty, not at all enjoyable. This time I decided to give them another chance, but it was yet another bad experience. I really don’t know how this place has consistent good reviews! I had the vegetarian ramen and my boyfriend had the smoked chicken ramen. The vegetarian broth had absolutely no flavor! I had to taste the broth a few times to realize that my tastebuds weren’t lying to me. I stopped eating after a few bites and I really hate wasting food! I lost my appetite altogether. Both of the broths were extremely bland and watered down! The smoked chicken ramen was like old rotisserie chicken with soggy skin in a flavorless broth. We really could only taste the chili oil in the broth. Our marinated eggs were also tasteless. Also they don’t serve appetizers or anything but ramen on Friday nights apparently. That should’ve been a red flag for us to not eat there. My boyfriend also had a mai tai and it basically tasted like bad pineapple juice with a splash of rum and a hint of dirty sink water, topped with a couple fruit garnishes. We’ve had many mai tais in our lives and this was hands down the worst! We sat at a table next to a bar and was sprayed with liquor mid meal and it left my phone and my boyfriend’s arm sticky! Not even an apology from the bartender even though he acknowledged what he has done. Very bad bartending etiquette. Even more points were further deducted from our experience tonight. 0/10 would not recommend and will never go back. I completely regret our decision to come back...