Brothers Ramen — Restaurant in Murfreesboro

Unfortunately my boyfriend and I did not have a good experience with an employee at the restaurant last night. We have been coming to brother’s ramen for years with no issues. Usually all the staff is very friendly and helpful. Last night on 4/13 my boyfriend and I walked in at 8:10pm. The restaurant has listed they close at 8:30pm. When we walked in the cashier at the front told us the dining room was closed, so we asked if we could do takeout. She hesitated like she wanted to tell us no, then she proceeds to tell us only if you already know what you want will I take your order, and that we only had 2 min to place it. I already felt like her vibe was off and she didn’t want to service us, and her making that comment verified it. My boyfriend responded by telling her we eat here all the time and know what we want. Then with an attitude the cashier tells us to step aside so she can service someone else. We sat for more than 5 min., which was past the time the cashier told us we had to have our order in because the kitchen was basically closed. Once she finally takes our order we ask her for the brown sauce they serve with the buns. We couldn’t remember the name but it was a type of soy dipping sauce. As I said before my boyfriend and I come here a lot and anytime we say that to the employees they know exactly what we are talking about. We told her it’s for our buns which was a total of 8. The cashier then makes a face at us like she has no idea what we are talking about, and like we are stupid and she walks away. Once she comes back with our food my boyfriend starts to open the bag to make sure our food was correct and the right sauce in there. As he opens the bag the cashier tried to stop him and says very rudely “everything is in there and the sauce” my boyfriend responds with okay I just want to make sure. The cashier had an attitude and made another face because he continued to open the bag to check our items. My boyfriend noticed the cashier only put one soy sauce for 8 buns in our bag so he asked her if we would could have another one, since it for both of our meals and she responded with “no”. My boyfriend then asked her why she could not give us anymore and she said because she already put it up. At this point, I told my boyfriend let’s go because her customer service was lacking tonight. Mind you we paid 42.00 for our meal and couldn’t even get a few sauces for our food. This was an unfortunate event since we have been supporting this business for years, but will most likely not be back. Food is too expensive to feel like your service is unwanted. I get customer service can be difficult and she might have been having a bad day, but she should have responded better to us as customers and should have never...

The service was very pleasant. The decor was about on par with what you might normally see in a typical American ramen restaurant.

We had the calamari appetizer and that was enjoyable—crispy and well seasoned. I wondered if it was frozen but forgot to ask.

So…I had to salt my tonkotsu broth…I’ve never had to do that before in 15 or so years of enjoying ramen. That was….odd.

I took my leftover broth home to refrigerate—I do that because it’s the best way to determine whether or not the broth was made correctly. (I make my own tonkotsu broth a few times a year so I’m familiar with the process). I’m not surprised, but really bummed that after a night in the fridge, my broth did not solidify, not even a little. Another shocker for me, because tonkotsu broth is made with pork and chicken bones over at least a 14 hour period, which means the collagen is pulled from the bones into the broth. No collagen means the broth doesn’t turn solid when cold, which means…what did I just eat?? I don’t think I just ate a properly made bowl of tonkotsu, that much I know, but I don’t know what it actually was. That’s disconcerting for a lot of reasons, but especially given my food allergies. :// If I really ponder, my suspicion is that it’s bone broth but not fully cooked, perhaps to save money. It’s cooked until the proper color is achieved, and then maybe pumped up with some MSG or something. Honestly, I don’t know and I shouldn’t speculate, but I do know this was not a proper bowl of tonkotsu. My husband agreed—the mouthfeel wasn’t there, the flavor wasn’t there, there was no richness in the broth, and the noodles were “ok” but bland because of the lack of flavor in the broth. They were also on the thicker side, which I actually personally prefer, but someone with more authentic preferences wouldn’t appreciate.

The other issue with the tonkotsu was the chashu, which was pork, but definitely not chashu. It was belly that wasn’t properly rendered and wasn’t chashu, just pork belly. It was not actually made into chashu, and was cut too thick and had tons of unrendered fat attached. Did not like that at all. Biting into a proper piece of chashu after acquainting yourself with your tonkotsu broth is one of life’s great pleasures, but don’t expect that here. :/

The service was very kind and friendly, but it didn’t make up for a disappointing dining experience. The food is the backbone of why I eat out, as I suspect is true for a...

First time trying Brothers Ramen and not sure if it will be my last. Met my brother in laws friends here because they highly recommend it. They told us it was one of their favorite spots in the Boro so of course I came in with high expectations.

I will say I love the vibe of the restaurant. The interior is decorated very nicely and gives a more upscale appeal. We were also seated right away even though our full party wasn’t present, which was nice. They only had a couple other customers for it being a Saturday afternoon.

Service was good. Our waitress came around to check in on us a couple times before the remaining part of our party arrived. She was also good with refilling our drinks and making sure we good during our visit.

Unfortunately something happened with their oven while they were preparing our ramen so we had quite a bit of a wait. I’m also not sure why we were served after the table to our left and right were, even though they all came in after us. Both tables ended up finishing their meals and leaving before we even got our food. So I’m not sure how they do their tickets for orders. Wasn’t really happy with that.

The food was the biggest disappointment. Very lacking in flavor. I ordered the chicken curry and pork buns. My husband got the Kaisen ramen and Takoyaki. He said he didn’t like it, which is surprising because he’s more forgiving when it comes to food compared to me. The pork in my pork buns was the thinnest piece I have ever seen and the soy sauce was very overpowering. The curry I had in my dish was very thin and watery. The chicken was basically the karaage they use for the appetizer, not actually chicken cutlet like I’m used to.

Part of me was thinking maybe it was because I didn’t order ramen at a ramen spot but the fact that my husband and my sister both didn’t really like their ramen tells me I might have been disappointed anyways.

It’s unfortunate but I guess we will still be on the hunt for a good ramen spot in the Boro. I’m rating two stars because my husband and I both liked the vibe of the restaurant and our waitress was good. But other than that they were a bit lacking with the food and service as far as who got...