Ashiya — Restaurant in Mill Creek

I can't believe I didn't know about this place until now. Honestly, I had heard of Ashiya before, but I never bothered to visit until recently. Finally, I decided to check it out.

Ashiya is conveniently located near Martha Lake, right across from Walmart and Bowlero. Parking is easy, with plenty of free spaces available in the building.

Upon entering Ashiya, my friend and I were warmly greeted by a man who seemed to be the manager or owner. All the staff were polite and wore matching shirts that read, "Do you want to eat ramen?"

The menu at Ashiya is impressive, offering a unique variety of dishes including ramen, udon, curry, donburi, fried rice, yakisoba, cream udon, stir-fried dishes, and teriyaki. With so many options, my friend and I had a hard time deciding what to order, so we did a quick search for the most popular dishes at Ashiya.

Since it was our first visit, we chose two entrees and one appetizer from the highly recommended dishes: Calamari, Omusoba, and Curry Cream Udon with Chicken Katsu.

While waiting for our orders, we enjoyed iced tea. My friend then noticed some interesting sodas that appeared to be imported from Japan. Naturally, we had to try them for the new experience. The soda, called "Ramune," was a bit of a challenge to open, but the manager, who showed up with our calamari at the perfect moment, kindly showed us how. He was very nice and funny. The soda had a unique and pleasant taste, slightly sweet, and definitely worth trying for the novelty.

As for the food, the calamari was incredibly fresh and flavorful. The crispy exterior and tender interior made it the perfect fried dish. The Omusoba and Curry Cream Udon with Chicken Katsu were special in their own way, blending Korean and Japanese styles into something uniquely Ashiya. The Omusoba had a delightful mix of flavors, with the soba noodles inside complementing the omelette outside perfectly. It’s hard to describe, but it was absolutely delicious. If you prefer rice over noodles, you could order for the "Omurice" instead. The Curry Cream Udon is another dish that’s unique to Ashiya and can't be found anywhere else.

All the dishes we tried were amazing and well worth the drive up north from Seattle. I will definitely come back anytime soon to try more of their...

Discovered this place recently with my boyfriend and boy has it become a favorite for us to try different things! It is a Korean and Japanese fusion restaurant with a variety of dishes. So far we have tried the Pork Katsu Curry, Kimchi Cream Udon, Spicy Pork Ramen, Champong Ramen, and Spicy Pork Donburi. All the dishes have tasted really good, and definitely unique in that I have never tried anything quite like it elsewhere. In my personal opinion, the Kimchi Cream Udon can be a bit heavy to eat on its own so I was glad to have the Katsu there to balance out the flavors. They also have the standard teriyaki dishes as well there. We just specifically tried their popular dishes right away.

We went the first time during the weekend in the evening around 6pm so the wait to get your food was long, about 30-45 minutes after we ordered food. There were lots of people coming in and also ordering their meals to go, and even then their wait was like 45 minutes. The second time we went on a weekday around 5pm and there were not as many people, our food came out maybe 15-20 minutes after we ordered. So if you’re on a time crunch, don’t go during their busy hours!

Definitely would recommend this place to anyone who loves...

I recently had the unfortunate experience of dining at Ashiya and I have to say, it was one of the worst dining experiences I've had in a long time. The food was mediocre at best and the service was downright horrible.

First of all, let's talk about the food. I ordered the friedrice and it was completely bland and flavorless. It was as if the chef had forgotten to add any seasoning at all. The portion size was also quite small and definitely not worth the price. My dining companion had the noodle and it was equally unremarkable. We both left feeling completely unsatisfied and disappointed.

To make matters worse, the service was absolutely terrible. The guy on the counter was uninterested and unengaged, barely acknowledging our presence throughout the entire meal. When we asked for recommendations or had questions about the menu, he seemed annoyed and inconvenienced.

Overall, I would not recommend Ashiya to anyone. The food was mediocre and the service was downright horrible. Save your money and go somewhere else where you'll actually enjoy your meal and feel like a...