Okiboru House of Tsukemen — Restaurant in New York

Hospitality is the art of making those who enter our establishment feel welcome & like family. However the treatment my family& I received here was the complete contrast of what 22 years in the hospitality industry/ & degree in hospitality was taught to me. Maybe I’m oldschool & hospitality has changed a lot in those years but really the essence should remain the same, that every person that walks thru an establishments door should be treated with the same respect& dignity. However we did not receive that. My family of 4 children ages 12, 6, & two 3 year olds came with much excitement as we had researched where we wanted to eat & saved okiburi in our maps. We drove thru wild nyc, found parking and crossed many streets with young kids which should be an Olympic sport to finally make it finally to our destination. We were so excited when we walked in but were met with an interesting welcome, Mimi the waitress at the time looked concerned when we walked in. She was concerned about the seating of our kids sitting on the stools & wanted us to stand behind them and hold them the whole time if we were to sit and we agreed & although it didn’t feel welcoming & more like she was trying to detour us from eating there we brushed it off like perhaps she was truly concerned about our safety and so agreed to stand in back of our children while they sat on the stools. We ordered quickly our tsukumens for our kids because we came there specifically for them to enjoy their noodles. Mimi looked increasingly stressed out by our presence, she would smile at others yet have a very serious face with us. Every time she passed behind me she would say in an angry voice excuse me brushing against my back and sometimes not even using words and nudging me out of the way with her shoulder as she passed. It felt very passive aggressive but I continued to just focus on my children who were straying to get hungry and the anticipating the food. Young kids don’t have a concept of time and also don’t know how to express themselves like adults. They are full of emotions. The moment of total disrespect why I am writing this review is when my 6 year started crying because my husband asked her to not touch the chopsticks because they are for when new people come to eat. As hospitality professionals we try to teach our children etiquette in public spaces especially restaurants. However we cannot control their emotions. My daughter began to cry. She cries with a lot of emotion that was louder for Mimi’s liking. As I was trying to console her Mimi comes behind her and starts yelling. “Enough, make it stop, what’s wrong with them, too much noise, people are leaving because of them, this is a restaurant, they can’t act like that, ect.” Really cruel things to a crying little girl and a mother trying to console her. As a mother if it would’ve gotten out of hand or she would’ve continued crying I was going to walk her outside to help her regulate, but now I had an unregulated waitress yelling at me. I continued to focus on my daughter till she stopped crying. But when I was done I calmly turned around and asked Mimi is she had kids and told her that that’s not the way you talk to children or families. She would not apologize but firmly stood in her belief that my children were nuisances. She continued yelling at me in the restaurant. She was telling me I had to take my food to go and I asked for a refund because at that point I wanted to leave and not even eat but had to think of my hungry children and put my ego aside and say no I want our food now. She said you eat but get no refund so I agreed. But as my children ate quietly and happily, I walked over to her and asked her then for a refund of the 20 percent tip we had put on in the beginning since you pay for you meal first before it comes out. She gave me the worst stare and we locked eyes for a while as she tried to intimidate me. In the end we received a full refund as she passive aggressively passed me the void receipt and we ate our food with the worst feeling in our stomachs from not...

[ Response to Owner: I was not expecting such a prompt response on this matter and was astounded by the owner's immediate actions taken to address our concern. I appreciate the apology and accept said apology, will also let our group know about your response and the steps taken. I will be returning with my family as we took a trip to Japan, and this ramen borderline beats the ramen experience we had in Japan. I hesitated ever setting foot in this place based on what happened. Still, the response shows the owner's passion for their food, customer experience, and bringing the community the best possible ramen with no shortcuts that I could see. Happy to drive 2 hours again to try this fantastic ramen ]

Revised Review: Now going into more detail about the food, the ramen is fantastic. We tried all available options and have no complaints. All the flavors were excellent, and every bite was a journey in itself, a true delight. The wait staff was next level. We sat down, and the food arrived 4-5 mins after ordering through their seamless QR code system. Some of us even got extra portions of pork, and that came almost instantly was marvelous. I've seen some reviews saying the cold noodle experience wasn't the best or the line was too long, and to that, I say... First, eat it at a pace that keeps the broth warm and dipping quickly so as not to cool it so fast. Secondly, the line is about 20-30 minutes on both occasions that I went, and to me feels worth it for such an authentic dish that took who knows how many hours to prepare. This place is nice and cozy, and you can taste the passion they put into their cuisine with every sip. This place is a must-try.

Previous Review: [ Great Food, Manager is very unprofessional. What kind of manager yells at customers when one of the group members asks if she can give up her seat with a group member that went to pay for parking…(he waited in line with us). He then proceeded to kick both group members out. The man was itching to fight with someone by his demeanor. (I got up close with a group member and removed him, then death starred him outside with our other group member while they were waiting for us to pack their food.) Never had such a negative experience in a restaurant, never seen such an arrogant manager

TIP: Next time a group asks hey, our group member is a few minutes out, Say you can’t save his seat, but you are welcome to wait for him then we will seat you. That's how you avoid treating your customers...

TLDR; I like ramen now BECAUSE of this place

I HATED ramen with a passion because they never get it right, the noodles are always too thick (no the noodles aren’t udon), or the soup and noodles never tasted combined, as if water and oil. I came here because I heard really good things about this place, and I will say, the tsukemen ramen changed my view of ramen. It was well balanced oddly refreshing, just the right amount of umami and filling. Was it toe curling mouthgasming delicious? Honestly I could argue it, but this is definitely something to write home about. This place is definitely a great place to bring first time ramen eaters.

Food: I did not get the Tontori ramen this time as I got the Tsukemen Ramen. The Tsukemen ramen by itself will cost 19$ before fees, around 25$ after fees. (3.50 ish in tips and the rest in tax). I got the traditional cold noodles instead of warm noodles. What difference it makes is that the soup you will be dipping your ramen in will be hot, the chilled noodles will be at the right temperature for you to consume when you dip it into the soup. It also sticks onto the noodles very nicely (not in an chicken alfredo way, but more like a mcdonalds chicken nugget being dipped into a sweet and sour sauce packet type of way), not too chewy, not too thick, flavorful and not too salty.

What occasion/ essence does eating this food require. DO NOT COME HERE EXPECTING A FINE DINING EXPERIENCE. The type of taste buds you would want to come here with are as if you finished you had time for lunch around 12 and would like to eat something food before your 2pm meeting, or as if this is a cool spot that your friend says “hey, I know a pretty good ramen place, wanna head there” type of vibes, and not the overly exaggerated “This ramen made my soul have an existential crisis”. It’s a spot you come to knowing it’s good and leaving happy as if you were hugged by the noodle gods themselves telling you to stay strong and have a great rest of your day.

Rating 10/10 would commute to the LES/EV just to eat this ramen again. I know good food when I see it, other people will say anything taste good, and I’ll be honest when it’s not worth it. This...