KYURAMEN Park Slope, Brooklyn — Restaurant in New York

Overpriced unabashed Chinese take on Japanese cuisine. Let me preface by saying I'm Chinese, love Chinese food and am also fond of Japanese ramen. The only overlap here is the superficial borrowing of the "ramen" in name.

I got the Spicy Kyushu Tonkotsu ramen combo with thai iced tea and pork bun, my partner got a teriyaki beef rice burger, and we got a macha crepe cake slice to go. This totaled $56+ including tip, and I am about 60% full.

I'll start by saying the dining experience is A+. Fast service, cute booths, branded glasses, and clean decor that's clean and thematic. I'm giving them some slack for that. However, that said, the food was a disappointment and I am utterly confused by the glowing reviews.

The biggest disappointment was the ramen broth. It smelled and tasted like Chinese creamy hot pot mix and our thoughts went straight to XiaoFeiYang (happy lamb hot pot). We had a laugh as our olfactory senses were slapped back to Chinatown without the faintest evanescent reminiscence of Japan. The "spicy" had strong notes of hua jiao (Sichuan pepper), which I'll say is the first time I've had it in Tonkotsu--not bad, but paired with Chinese broth made it less than unexeceptional. Nearly every ramen dish on the menu had corn--it's flavorful, overzealous, untraditional, and in my opinion cheapens the dish (some like it and it may have originated from Japan, but I feel it tips the experience towards the fast food side of things). Overall, the ramen scored a 1/10 as a ramen. It was dressed, priced, marketed, and sold as Japanese "ramen" but it was the furthest thing from any forgivable ramen expectations. Come in prepared for a Japan-influenced Chinese representation of the dish and it may score a 6/10.

Portions were small and at $17 a bowl, it was not worth it. If you consider that for Japanese ramen you are paying for the delicacy and depth of the broth's character, this is an insult to both palate and wallet.

The rice burger was over-represented on the menus. Generous teriyaki beef but otherwise anorexic at best. Unique, but again, overpriced.

The pork bun is perfect for the ramen + drink combo deal--nothing to write home about (unless that's what I'm doing now).

All said, the Thai Iced Tea was probably the best I've had in a while and definitely the highlight of the meal.

Sorry for the rant and lack of pictures. I was hungry and scarfed down the portions quickly, and was left disappointed. Compared to other ramen shops, the majority of which I leave feeling over-eaten and flavor-appeased for the same price, I'm not sure what I missed that all these prolific 5 star reviews...

i have struggled to decide on the most accurate star rating overnight but the terrible service experienced definitely outweighs the meal. my friends and i were craving a delicious meal around 9:30pm and stumbled upon this spot in the neighborhood. after being seated we were quickly informed that they would be closing in a few hrs and that last call was at 10:30pm, which is fair. after reviewing the menu for a few mins, the waiter approached the table to ask if we made our decisions to which we said no. within 5 mins, he reproached us and when a friend had questions about the menu, all responses were abrupt, unfriendly and near rude. i remember nodding my friend under the table because it felt like the waiter was annoyed we came in HOURS before they closed. we ignored this and got on with our meals. at the end of dinner while paying for meals and tallying the tip etc; my friend, as you would, fondled with an unopened pair of chopsticks. the waiter then said “you cannot take that home”, to which i replied “did he say he planned to leave with it?! i’m confused” but before i could get a response, he had already reached over the table and taken them. i’m unsure if our experience is based upon the color of our skin (black), the time we visited the establishment (though we LEFT before 10:30pm and they close at 11pm), or the waiter simply having a bad day. it is the least welcoming restaurant i have visited in a long time, i receive better treatment at a local bodega. all in all, we left a very undeserving 20% tip and...

Kyuramen is one of like, 5 places in NYC that actually makes omurice I recently discovered, and so despite a lackluster experience on my last visit I decided to give it another go. Unfortunately, once again I was let down, but this time it felt worse, since I was going in for something specific that was somewhat positively reviewed. The look is perfect, the omelette texture is right out of a tiktok. But the sauce, rice and the especially the tonkatsu were all wrong. The rice was forgettable. The tonkatsu was worse than a frozen patty from the microwave - weird taste, flavorless, and a straight off the factory line coating that felt far from panko. The sauce tasted like instant onion gravy; a far cry from the demiglace it's imitating, and really from any recognizable Japanese flavor. On the side, we had the unagi burger and the okonomiyaki. The unagi burger is kind of just pointless. The rice should be in a box, the veggies on top, and the unagi on top of that. It would be more balanced and easier to eat. The burger form factor had too much rice and was difficult to eat with either hands or utensils. The rice was also mid. The okonomiyaki was the best part, but still below average I'd say. To much flour, not enough cabbage. Too much bonito, not enough sauce. Hard to go wrong with that flavor combo though. This place has a flashy interior, but that's about it. Your money is wasted here, there are plenty of great Japanese restaurants all over the city, not to mention in this area. Not...