Kiwami Ramen — Restaurant in McAllen

We finally decided to give Kiwami Ramen a try after the initial hype died down. We had originally attempted to visit during their opening weekend, but left discouraged. It was packed, and there was no proper system in place—no QR code, no waitlist, no taking phone numbers. Just a disorganized “line” where people were scattered everywhere. The whole thing felt unprepared.

This time, we ordered four appetizers, a hibachi steak, and two different ramen bowls. As someone who’s been to Japan and experienced everything from 3-Michelin-star restaurants to hole-in-the-wall ramen shops, calling this “authentic Japanese” feels like a stretch—and honestly, a bit offensive.

All four appetizers missed the mark. The avo tuna came out on what looked like a Pringle chip, topped with bland tuna and seasoning dusted on top—it was the most flavorless tuna I’ve ever tasted. The salmon carpaccio was just as underwhelming. The gyoza had dough that completely overpowered the filling; I even opened one up to taste the pork on its own—no flavor at all. The seaweed salad was okay, but that’s pretty hard to mess up.

As for the hibachi steak, it was incredibly dry—tough to chew and lacked flavor, even with the sauce provided.

Now onto the ramen: if you’re going to brand yourself as “authentic” and serve paper-thin pork slices, it’s disappointing. For nearly $20 a bowl, the quality should match the price. I read they supposedly have a specialist for their broth and noodles—if that’s true, they might want to reconsider their hiring decisions.

Having traveled and tried ramen across the country and in Japan, I understand the appeal for those who haven’t had that experience. It might seem like a novelty or even great to some. But to me, this was genuinely bad.

The only redeeming factor was the service—our server was kind, and the food came out quickly. But fast service doesn’t matter when the food falls this short. I’d rather wait an hour for something done right than be served this again.

EDIT: As I reviewed the owner’s response to my review, I noticed that their only rebuttal was that “actual Japanese people” enjoy their food. They did not address any of my specific critiques—not the flavorless tuna, the poorly made ramen and broth, nor the dry steak. This response reflects what seems to be a strong sense of personal pride in being a self-owned business, to the point that ego appears to influence how feedback is handled. In my opinion, this approach is unprofessional. I hope the owners can learn to distinguish between constructive criticism and personal attack, and use feedback to improve rather...

I must start with total honesty … for the valley it is very good. For ramen heads that enjoy ramen outside of the valley it’s a solid place(6ish).

Chashu is not a traditional pork belly roll slice… they are slivers of a pork belly flat cook.. meaning it will measure about 1 inch wide and 2 inch long and not a very thick slice. Negi(green onion) has a very nice stylistic slice and is long and thin which I throughly enjoyed. Ajitama was very good. Now the one issue that really held them back as a spice fan… I asked for hot oil and presume to have gotten their garlic spice oil which lacked severely. By severely I mean I added the whole serving and it barely raises the spice level… it would have taken 4-5 to hit decent spice levels. I’ll add that Im not unfazed by high spice chile torreados very well but will keep eating them as I consume my meal. Noodle had a decent pull/chew but felt slightly overcooked but if I’m being honest I’m being picky because they were solid in that department.

As far as the ramen I ordered the curry one and thought it was decent but wouldn’t order again(it’s just tonkotsu with added Indian flavors). The shoyu was light but flavorful but I’m biased since that’s always been my favorite. Tonkotsu(which they label as “kiwami style”) was solid but lacked in flavor and coulda have prolly done better with more MSG.

In the valley their a big fish in a small pond so I’ll prolly return but if I’m being honest don’t compare to Dragon warrior ramen when they were in their absolute peak prime(which they aren’t anymore).

OH also side bar… be prepared for servers to charge you and breathe in your face while that gratuity suggestion pops up to aggressively force you to hit higher than you’d like… cause you know… that’s how...

I've been to this place twice, now, and the food it's good absolutely love would eat it again, but it's not worth it for the service

Waiters are absolutely rude not helpful at all and very impatient.

My first time, I came in a group of 3, once it came for the last perosn to order a beverage they completely ignored her existence and gave her a water without asking what drink she wanted. No one ever asked us how our food was or if we needed anything it was hard to even ask for a refill since no one ever came to assist us. After we ate our food, our waiter offered to take our plates away very sternly when it was obvious one person was still eating and made us feel rushed and when the person still eating asked for a To-go container he, our waiter, proceeded to say "for that?" In a very blunt rude tone. She obviously felt bad and decided not to take it to go. After, he rushed us and abruptly took her food away, he asked how we wanted to pay. He held out his tablet to each of us staring straight at the tablet no care in the word looked up at us and would look back down when it came to the tip portion. This man stared staright at the screen didnt break contact and proceeded to imidietly pull the card reader away so fast our finger was still held in the air after we pressed the no tip option since we had a cash tip we wanted to five him after we all payed. And he didnt allow us to print our receipt either because he had pulled away the screen before we could even press the option on our screen right after...