Sakura Noodle House & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Lubbock

I make an effort to try a new Ramen place when traveling and Sakura was what caught my eye. (It was close to me).

I'll start with the pros:

The parking lot and restaurant were empty, so I had it all to myself!

The inside was very clean and presentable, I thought the bridge over the pond was cute.

The owner was very nice and prompt.

It was filling.

I sat down, got my food, ate and left within 30 minutes.

Cons:

It was very dark and hot inside, I assume the A/C was out or it's too hot outside for a swamp cooler to work properly.

One of the first things I noticed was a human trafficking sign, that threw me off a bit.

I ordered the Spicy Pork Ramen with Tonkotsu Bone Broth and here's where I was disappointed. I heard a microwave open and close three times. As mentioned I was the only one in the restaurant so it was fairly obvious it was my order. This is the only time I've had ramen with ground pork, but the flavor of the pork saved the day, it was very tasty. The noodles and broth however had the flavor of instant ramen. Not joking.

I'm not saying don't come here, but if you order the Ramen for 14.02, you're going to be...

This place is hit and miss, depending on who is on staff. We went once when the head show chef was there, and he was amazing and personable. He made us a great meal, and was a joy to converse with. We went another time, and had zero option for show, the staff on hand claiming there was no show chef there so they automatically sat us in the dining room.

Service was awful that time. Literally every 'empty' table was not bussed by the time we left. We never got refills on drinks, and the hibachi steak my significant other ordered was done medium-rare instead of medium-well. They brought our entrees before the appetizer, and whatever staff that was on hand was SCARCE! You literally couldn't flag anyone down for help. We prebussed our table to try and help, because people kept coming in and nobody was cleaning the tables.

All-in-all eat at...

The food is very good. Unfortunately everything else from service to atmosphere professionalism and organization is garbage. Hence the one star for good food. I called an hour before they were closed per Google. And the person who answered the phone wouldn't take my order because they were closed. I asked what time on Fridays they close now since clearly their Google profile was incorrect. They were unable to provide me a time and after a couple of rounds of questioning they finally answered that they had little business today so they closed. While this is understandable it's no way to run a business. I hope that they find their desired rhythm soon because it would be unfortunate for a restaurant with such good food to go out of business. Although I do understand why they have little business considering the complaints...