Ajimi — Restaurant in New York

Tasty ramen but a deliberate rip-off due to small serving size!

Good flavor for their ramen broth though, reduced to achieve the flavors needed for a rich umami broth.

The ramen noodle portions are small, which has been consistently underwhelming during my 4 plus visits here. Still, I return because the broth is good.

The slow cooked pork belly did not have a rich taste and seemed like it had been boiled in liquid rather than slow braised, so it lacked the rich flavor. They torch-char it before serving which seemed unimpressive. I would have preferred a richer taste without the obvious hand-torch-char

The noodles were satisfying and chewy.

The black garlic oil ramen is a must-try.

.....

Unfortunately my experience with the wait staff and servers have been disappointing. They are unwelcoming and outright unfriendly. A server even spilled the ramen on my lap while placing it down during one of my visits there and did not even act like they cared much.

They only accept cash and will refuse credit card payments, yet they apply a tax charge onto the bill at the end of the meal which I am sure most can guess where that goes.

The ramen dishes are priced $13.50-$16.50 (2025 prices), yet their portion sizes are small, which seems to warrant a price of 11, or 12 dollars, yet they still serve small portions compared to other ramen places. In other words, if you order only ramen for yourself you'll be expected to pay nearly 20 dollars for your meal with tax and tip. And while 20 dollars is not a lot for a satisfying bowl of ramen- you'll certainly agree that you'd want the right amount of soup...

Relatively new only being opened for two weeks. That being said, there’s room for improvement. Delicious is subjective and for me, the cha siu is delicious when it’s fatty and tender. The cha siu I got from ordering the buns were lean. Not necessarily a bad thing, more of a preference. I would come here again with friends at a later time.

2nd visit (01.01.2022) - Round 2 at Izakaya Ajimi located at 8500 18th Avenue and 85th Street in Brooklyn (by 18th Avenue D train station).

I just wanted to clarify from my previous post from here that just because I said “it’s alright” or “meh” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “bad”. This place has the potential to improve. If it’s terrible, I will straight up say it’s terrible. Having eaten many Japanese cuisine elsewhere in NYC and in Japan helps me compare and make judgement of what I like for myself personally. What’s delicious for me may not be delicious for you. Taste is subjective from one person to another.

That being said,

Zurutto Classic: $11.5 Takoyaki: $7

The chef (and/or owner? Long hair Asian gentleman) was attentive and told me to be careful not to eat the takoyaki in one bite as the insides is “piping hot” (I knew that sir but thank you! 😂)

Takoyaki is always the best in Osaka but in NYC, it’s “alright” (again, not necessarily a bad thing)

Two improvements I can say this time are: 1. the cha shu, which had more fat to it and was smoky. (Not sure if they read my previous review but thank you!) and 2. The egg in the ramen had a more depth in the soy sauce flavor (if that makes any sense).

First meal of the New Year....

As a family we decided to pop up and see what this new restaurant was all about. We live in the area and we were so excited to see a Ramen place open so close to home. We set down Wednesday 23rd at around 5pm and was excited! My husband and I work in the service industry so we usually order a bunch of things on the menu to try the restaurant menu. I have two boys one age 16 and the other age 9 we were enjoying our food and everything was going great until the waiter decided to come to our table and discuss my sons weight and what he was eating. I thought this was really unappetizing and rude. My 9 year old didn’t know how to answer the waiters comment regarding his weight and my husband and I were just in disbelief that this was happening. I don’t make any comments because I didn’t want to bring attention to it, because of my sons feelings. I’m not looking to get anyone fired, but if you are the owner of this establishment and you happen to read this, it would be great for you to speak to your employees on how to talk to guest. Food was great but I wouldn’t go back to eat there. I would feel like I’m being judge...