HinoMaru Ramen — Restaurant in New York

Came here with 4 people and a baby and had a pleasant time. Service was excellent. They were really attentive to what utensils needed to be replaced after the baby threw them onto the floor, multiple times. They even refilled out water after the bill had been paid for.

For appetizers, we had their chicken neck, buta kimchi, agedashi tofu, fried asparagus. Out of the appetizers, the buta kimchi was the best. What was really weird was that it only had one slice of pork but if you dig around in the kimchi section, they have pieces of pork. At first, I was appalled of only having one slice of pork, but luckily, they didn't skimp out on that ingredient. The kimchi was excellent and not too spicy at all. Definitely a well balanced dish. I had an issue with the asparagus because it wasn't al dente. It had to do with how they cooked it and then fried it. The tempura batter was excellent, lightly fried. When I bit into it, the asparagus was soft and a little "stringy". I guess a combination of produce selection and cooking method caused the dish to commit seppuku. I somewhat liked the agedashi tofu. It was extremely lightly fried which was good but the tofu was a little hard for my taste. I like mine a little softer but I guess that's just a matter of preference. The soup/sauce base is a little sweet but I thought the dish was good overall. The least appealing thing was the chicken neck. It really lacked seasoning and flavor. I don't mind the abundance of bones but fairly flavorless. I wouldn't get it again.

For main course, we had their Miso ramen, Kurogoma tantan, Hinomaru Ramen, and Oyako don. Overall, the price you pay for the quality of food is decent enough to not have to trek to Manhattan for Ippudo. However, the ramen at Ippudo is better than this place. My miso ramen was on the salty side and definitely little to no miso taste at all. Definitely due to the overpowering of the pork. My noodles were also too al dente, bordering raw. The Kurogoma tantan (Black sesame miso and butter calamari) tasted more like black pepper and garlic sauce but soup based and with calamari instead of the traditional pork in chinese dishes. I didn't like the dish at all, one bite and I thought I was eating a chinese dish. Instead of this, they should make it into a black ink squid ramen. I think it would suit them better. I did however liked these noodles better than mine. The Hinomaru ramen was salty as well and the egg noodle reminded me of wonton soup. I just didn't like the noodles for this dish. All the other ingredients worked well in this dish and as another reviewer had posted, it isn't oily at all. That's one common theme for all the ramen that I tried, none of it were overly oily. I didn't get a chance to try the oyako don but from the looks of it, the chicken looked a little dry and little to no sauce at all for the entire dish. Not sure if that's how it's supposed to be but I'm sure I can find another variation of it where there are sauces.

Despite the overall dissatisfaction for their ramen (3 stars), still giving it a 4 stars because of the service and buta kimchi and not having to go into Manhattan and wait 3 hours for ramen at Ippudo. I would still come here again and I would recommend it with...

Racism/Discrimination from Floor staff

I would like to preface by saying it's sad that I have to even write this review. I stopped by yesterday for lunch, added my name for the seating waitlist, and waited patiently with my husband while another nice family waited. 10-15 mins later, there were more people coming inside the restaurant either in pairs or solo. They signed the waitlist chart and waited to be called. My table was called, I sat down, and noticed some of the patrons were then called to a table. Server approaches us, takes our order for one app, two drinks, and one spicy miso ramen. This wasn't a complicated or massive order. Eventually, I started noticing that the people that were called to a table after us or some that walked in 5-10 mins after were already served their food. I mean, we're talking a guy literally walks in, gets seated and served a bowl of ramen after waiting 20 mins later which was bizarre. It was interesting to see how non-PoC were given a higher priority and how quick they were served where myself and husband were deliberately overlooked. The first family that I was seated next during the waitlist was in and out. That was the family I sat next to in the beginning and since there was four of them, they obviously had a larger. Again, they were in and out with zero wait time. As this family made their way out the door, I noticed that we were still waiting and did not get our food while other people were already eating. As a PoC, I've dealt with similar treatment to where I can recognize a pattern when it does happen. I was very respectful in your establishment. Very patient. The front house workers also blamed their cooks which doesn't make sense since their not serving customers to know who is being seated and where each order goes. That is the job of the front house. Again, very sad I have to write this review especially when you're also...

I think I fell victim to the hype here. Firstly, HinoMaru is boasted in more than one publication to be considered a "one $" in terms of price. Which I believe means dinner (?), just entrees (?) should come to about $11 on the high end. This is not the case no matter how you slice it. Unless you're a child 12 years of age or under. I'm not complaining about the prices of menu items, I'm just throwing it out there that it is going to cost you more like $20 per person when all is said and done to have a soft drink and a ramen dish, no appetizer. I honestly found the prices to be appropriate and fair - just misrepresented where HinoMaru is hyped up (trendy magazines/publications, etc.)

Secondly, the hype had me wildly excited that I would have a bowl of ramen that would have me running back every chance I got. I do not feel this way. I love spicy everything. I ordered the HinoMaru spicy ramen. I thought the heat was good, but the overall flavor didn't do much for me. I tried my boyfriends dish as well - same feelings with a lack of spice. Maybe I need to try another broth. I feel like my expectations were set too high, again.

We got the pork gyoza as an appetizer - it was pretty good. I've had better and more plentiful dipping sauces, but I think I'm just feeling jaded on this place at the moment after recapping my ramen bowl.

The service was very friendly. The restaurant is really cute. It was busy at around 8:30 on a Saturday night. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the staff.

I would come back -- this is half a block from my apartment. My boyfriend absolutely loved it. Ramen is my go to when it's cold or I feel crumby. I have full faith I will find something I enjoy more next time. And if that is the case, I will update my review...