Akira Ramen and Izakaya — Restaurant in Maryland

After recently visiting Japan my family was looking for a place that had some authentic noodle dishes. We were really hoping to find a place that has tantanmen and hoped that the "Akira Volcano Ramen" would be a close analogue. Unfortunately, while the food was okay it wasn't on par with what I expected and, in my opinion, not worth the price. (For perspective, a similar ramen bowl in Japan is literally half the price Akira charges. I understand this is an apples to oranges comparison, but it does play a part as to the expectations I had for the food.)

The greater reason for me writing this review was the customer service. One of the dishes we ordered for delivery was the beef ramen. We have a member of our family that has a severe seafood allergy and so we were surprised when the beef ramen arrived and included fish cakes in the toppings. When we contacted the restaurant about this we were told we had to take it up with the delivery agency and refused to make it right. To be fair, we did not indicate any food allergies on our order, but there was also no indication that the BEEF ramen contained fish. To that end, the delivery person did not put fish on our ramen so being told to take it up with them felt rudely dismissive.

That attitude, plus the failure to meet expectations, and the prices means we likely will not be ordering from here again.

EDIT: For what it’s worth, at the end of the day the owner called me and asked what could be done to make good on this experience which is deeply...

A small, izakaya style ramen, sushi and donburi restaurant. We arrived and were greeted right away, though they were very busy. They quickly cleaned a table that was just vacated and seated us quickly with plates, chopsticks, and water glasses and provided a decanter of iced water. The table had salt, pepper, soy sauce and hand sanitizer available. They gave us about 5-10 minutes to look at the menu and then came to take our order. We each ordered a nigiri sushi roll from their selection and different ramen bowls as well. The sushi arrived first and they were cut into perfectly even and tightly wrapped pieces, though both rolls were served on the same plate with pickled ginger and wasabi, sauce trays were provided for individual use for soy sauce. Following shortly afterwards was the ramen. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to ramen and let me tell you about their broth, it was possibly the best I'd had. It was full bodied when it came to flavor, tasted like a pork bone broth with miso, though the usual saltiness and fatty/oily heaviness wasn't there meaning I wasn't constantly drinking while eating it and I didn't feel so full that I was sick to my stomach, though I consumed all of the broth in the bowl. The chashu pork was belly was also a good cut and well selected to maintain balance in the bowl. The portion size was reasonable for the price and would highly recommend trying...

A solid 4.5. I had been praying for a Ramen shop to open in my town and my prayers were answered! I've been here a few times now, and it's such a great meal every time! Most recently my friend and I ordered takeout and it was an extraordinary meal!

The ramen is definitely good, but not the best I've ever had. I've tried several of their varieties and they're all good. The chashu pork is succulent. The broth is okay, but could be more flavorful. I love their soft boiled eggs, but not a fan of how much they charge for them.

The sides are sooo good too. The seaweed fries are crazy good- definitely give them a try! The chashu bao is off the charts amazing. I crave it on the regular. Gyoza and spring rolls are fairly standard, but still delicious.

If you dine-in, the interior is clean and has a cozy atmosphere. If you order take-out or delivery, your order will be nicely packed up, and we've never had an issue of missing or cold items.

There are still a ton of items on their menu we need to try and I am definitely looking forward to it! So glad we have this place as an option, and I definitely suggest it as a solid option for a really...