Kaedama — Restaurant in Newark

Kaedama is a Japanese restaurant in Newark Liberty International Airport's Terminal C which serves United Airline's hub. The restaurant is after security and near Gate 81.

The restaurant is part of the redesigned food court, complete with iPads for ordering food from any of the restaurants in the food court regardless where you sit. You can pay through the iPad by credit card for the meal, or cash. You have no dedicated server, and food is delivered from a central kitchen by food runners.

I had dinner here with two other friends. Unfortunately, we decided to eat at Kaedama. We all ordered separately on the iPads which were fairly easy to use. However, if you have additional questions about the items, there is no dedicated server to ask. We all put in our orders at the same time.

I ordered the scallion pancake appetizer ($10), and the mushroom shio ramen ($14). My friends ordered pork buns and okonomiyaki for appetizers, and pork chasu ramen for entrees.

The first issue with this restaurant is timing. The server noted food is made fresh which is good, but one still expects it to arrive in some reasonable order. It is pretty bad to get my ramen first, then my appetizer ten minutes later, then my friend's ramen followed by another ten minute gap for his appetizer, then my other friend's appetizer followed by another fifteen minute gap before his ramen arrived. That took so long we canceled the order as it arrived and he had to wolf it all down to make boarding . it took nearly an hour for his food to arrive. This would hardly be acceptable at any ramen restaurant, let alone an airport restaurant where speediness is essential.

All of this is minor, however, compared to the quality, or lack thereof, of the food. For my ramen was in lukewarm broth and the noodles were all stuck together. They were overcooked, and it was clear that the cook did not bother to shake or separate the noodles as they were overly soft, and pasty. In addition, the noodles themselves tasted like wheat paste used to glue books together. The broth, the foundation of any ramen dish, was really bland, a critical flaw. My friend's pork chasu ramen had the same broths, though described as being different. The bamboo shoots that were included in my ramen were of poor quality, being thick cut and very fibrous.

Given the price of the ramen, there are many places that you can have a much better bowl of ramen for less. In fact, you could make better ramen at home than this with prepackaged instant ramen -- at least the ramen would not be overcooked, have flavor, and have a soup that tasted of something. I would say that the quality of this ramen was so poor that you would have been better bringing two containers of Cup Noodle with you on board a flight and asking for some boiling water.

The appetizer which arrived after my main course ramen, was even more disappointing. A thin pancake with scallions in it, made of flour water and scallions essentially, should not be so difficult to make passable. Instead the thin, single pancake that was delivered was so tough that I con only compare it to jerky -- I had to bite down and pull hard with my hand to even get a chunk of it off. And beef jerky would have tasted better too, since the pancake had no taste to it, not even scallions.

One of the few acceptable foods our group had was the okonomiyaki, which was acceptable, though largely I suspect that this was because the sauce was prepackaged, and the shaved bonito was also prepackaged.

Given a similar upgrade of the Delta terminal's food court at LaGuardia, I was rather excited to see that Newark had done the same. I was even more excited to see that the offerings had broadened to include ramen. However, there is practically nothing redeeming here. This restaurant is simply stalled at the gate, and should be unceremoniously dragged out of...

I was hungry and decided to grab a bite. Ramen sounded like a good choice at Kaedama. Oh boy, little did I know what I was in for. You’re required to place your order online, and to do so, you have to fill out a form with your personal information: email, phone number, first name, and last name. Then, you’re asked to prepay and include tips before receiving any service. That experience left me both annoyed and frustrated. Honestly, going through customs was easier than ordering ramen here.

A word of advice for management: stop asking customers to fill out unnecessary forms and drop the mention of tips. Tips are 100% optional in the U.S., and it should be illegal to force customers to prepay them. I understand your employees rely on tips, but if you’re struggling to find people willing to work for you, start paying into their 401k and providing medical benefits. I’m fine paying $27 for a bowl of ramen, but if you expect tips, include them in the price. Stop harassing customers with your online forms and pre-charged tips.

Now, about the ramen itself—it wasn’t bad. It was hearty, and the server, a pleasant gentleman, did his best. However, I’m leaving a 1-star rating because of the absurd experience you put me through. The audacity of your business to make me spend time filling out forms and then demand tips upfront is outrageous. I’d be more than happy to discuss my experience with your corporate office.

I encourage you to be an industry pioneer by contributing to your employees' 401k and medical benefits. I’d gladly pay a higher price for ramen knowing the people working for you are happy...

QR code ordering system where you asked to top 20% before you receive any service or meal. We tipped regardless, of course. The drinks were $20 but came in a tiny class that was a little more than 1 swallow. Ordered a sushi roll that was 4 tiny pieces of sushi for $20+ dollars. We ended up also ordering from Wabi Sabi because their meals looked more substantial. We were fine with it because that seems to be the standard for airports these days but someone came up and asked how it was and we were honest. A few moments later a server (we had yet to see one until now) came up and offered a refund which we refused. She then started in on us about chasing away potential customers and how the prices, portion sizes and lack of service was the industry standard now. She was relentless and after a few minutes of her telling us what we did and didn’t say according to another employee who “heard it all” while we tried to explain what actually happened we felt so uncomfortable we left. Just know that if you eat here there is no ACTUAL service being provided so tip...