KAWA RAMEN HOUSE — Restaurant in New Providence

My husband and I were excited to hear about a ramen shop and drove about an hour. ThIs place is the size of a small diner but on a corner with little parking behind the building. Greeting was with a half-hearted smile and a “you can sit wherever you want” was all we received. The table we sat at in the corner felt sticky. Ordering drinks on the menu like Thai tea, unsweetened green tea and club soda, we were told no Thai tea (no alternate option suggested) then given a can of seltzer and a bottle of cold unsweetened green tea and never advised that they don’t serve any hot beverages. I eagerly awaited my hot steaming bowl of ramen, especially since I didn’t have lunch I expected it to taste even better. Edamame was edamame, can’t go wrong. Shu Mai was okay, like any take out Shu Mai. Spring rolls were crispy on the outside but didn’t have shitake mushroom and the veggies had a mushy consistency like the kind you by BJ’s/Costco. Tako Yaki had a mushy exterior and the inside was rubbery (I brought the rest home and my son described the texture as if chewing on a dog’s chew toy).The Spicy Seafood ramen bowl was not spicy, bland and lacked flavor, especially the umami-ness. The Queen bowl was ok but lacked more than the other. The ramen bowls looked decent but lacking any pizazz and the ingredients you read on the menu had you wondering where they were in the bowl. We did order Gyoza and, even after mentioning it, never received it but was charged for it. We had to get our bill redone. We left very disappointed. Many changes would need to happen before any sort of revisit here which is a shame since it is so close to where I work. For the price of our meal, you would think there would be better ingredients or made there but everything tasted store bought...

Mediocre at best. We ordered Queen (Shoyu ramen) and Tonkotsu (salt ramen). Also had pork belly bun and tempura rock shrimp.

Absolutely skip the pork belly bun.

1. pork belly burnt or reheated
2. lettuce and tomato??? Is this a BLT? Traditionally should be more shredded cabbage or cucumber.

And definitely skip tempura rock shrimp. I forgot to take a picture but it WAS not flaky tempura. Thickly battered and overfried. Sauce was fine but nothing to rave about. Also the shrimp was some whole, some broken into pieces. It was expensive for the little shrimp we got.

Now onto ramen….

1. looked legit from pictures
2. had underdone egg which is hard to do but they did it. Probably could’ve been better but decent.
3. broth lacked depth and flavor
4. broth was thin and runny…..wasn’t rich like ramen broth should be
5. wavy noodles was fine - was firm. Seemed to lack a bit of nuttiness but was fine. Definitely have had better.

Service was okay. They didn’t clear our plates before coming over to our table with the ramen so we proactively cleared our table for the server. Not sure what server would’ve done when he arrived to table and there was no space for the ramen. Server knocked off our napkin on floor while clearing appetizer dishes but failed to notice and bring a new napkin.

Servers were nice and...

I'm always a bit more lenient with reviews on takeout ramen, given ramen is really meant to be eaten freshly prepared out of the kitchen, but I was so disappointed in the taste of the food here that I had to share. We ordered the Vegan Explosion Ramen and the Coconut Green Curry Ramen to go and I do appreciate how well both were packed (secure containers, noodles packed separately, cardboard at the bottom of the bag to ensure everything stays straight). However as many others have noted, everything was lukewarm when handed over to us, and unbelievably bland. No flavor, not seasoned with enough salt or soy, and zero spice. The noodles were decent with a good chew and held up to being reheated at home. I know it seems unfair to judge a ramen place based on vegetarian dishes, but I've had so much mind-blowingly flavorful veggie ramen in other cities that I know for a fact that it's 100% possible. Maybe this restaurant caters to the bland palate of the locals, but if you want piping hot, savory ramen, just...