Yagi Noodles — Restaurant in Newport

Very rude service with quite an abusive and condescending attitude.

🌷 Please note first that although this is a restaurant serving Asian cuisine, none of the workers I saw that day looked Asian-- which is very fine; international cuisine made accessible by anyone is cool. I'm pointing this out because I don't want readers here, without me providing any visual aids, to have a mistaken image of an Asian waitress mistreating a customer. No one of any race should mistreat others or be mistreated-- basic human decency.🌷

The following is what happened to me: I went to this restaurant for dinner at a bit after 8 pm yesterday. The place was not packed, but the staffers were all busy.

No one greeted me at the door, so I went to the bar and spoke with a young waitress (most of them there were young anyway). I asked her for the menu, thinking a take-out might be easier for both them and me. She told me they weren't doing take-outs.

I asked then if I dine in, about how long the food could be ready, she smirked and condescendindly said, "I don't know," seeming to enjoy giving a frustrating answer.

Since I was famished and had an online work meeting at 9pm to attend, I had to eat something pronto, so I decided to stay and would want to quickly order something. I asked this waitress who could seat me and give me a menu. Instead of getting a colleague who was in charge of seating customers, she reluctantly looked around where there were at least 10 tables available, and coldly said "You could sit at the bar," with a smirk and in a passive aggressive tone.

For food and pressed for time, I put up with that attitude and took a seat at the bar, and she came over with a glass of ice to be added to with water and a menu. I said, "oh no ice, please." She smirked again and acted as if she won a competition or something, cockily saying, "It's not for you," and she dropped her fake smile (smirk) and walked away. She never came back or got me any help. I waited for another 5 minutes, and still got no menu or service from any workers there.

I left and quickly got some take-out food from another restaurant. Before heading back to my place, I returned to this restaurant to speak with their manager. The manager was sorry to hear what happened (she had some empathy). She told me this waitress was very new to the service industry and they would train her better.

I hope so, but would not this be one of the very first things one would do when training a new waitress/waiter: how to politely and sincerely treat a person who is (or is about to be) a customer of your establishment?

Is it already okay for this restaurant to recruit rude people without giving them proper basic training since it has currently got 4.9 stars (with a total reviews of mere 48)? I don't think it's ever okay to run a restaurant this way no matter how many raving reviews one has gotten though. Hope they will become better than this soon...🙏

P.S. In the end, I did manage to finish my food from that second restaurant in time to attend my 9pm Zoom...

What a delicious treat. I'm a local not a local but read that the chef is up for best chef for james beard award. I can walk to this great spot and was not going to let another day pass without a meal here. So after the Saturday farmers market I walked over and enjoyed food so full of flavor and thought, every detail.

For appetizer I enjoyed the chicken karaage. It's Korean fried chicken either naked or two types of sauce. I went with the sweet chili. It was so filling, crunchy, and everything my southern craving needed trying to survive this north east world. I could make this a meal next time.

I had a hot tea in between my app and entree to reset my palette. A separate tea menu is avail on request and I found a tea I've never seen before served with just a touch of honey. I shouldn't say I would come back here for the tea. But I would. The name escapes me. But it was their only oolong tea and maybe "buds milk." Yes please.

For my entree, I enjoyed the tantanmen. It was such an interesting take on ramen with a creamy (yes correct) broth like gravy that complemented the house made Raman. I was practically full but ate a good portion. The bite was nuanced with a spice but not overpowering. It felt savory and good. I want this bowl on a cold north east day. Something about the way the broth coated my tongue made ea taste addicting. I wanted more.

I did enjoy the house made desert. I had cookies and milk tea. The cookies (2) were served warm. The cocoa and cherry together with a sip of my brown sugar milk tea just made me giddy from the nostalgic flavor.

I would come back. I get the james beard nomination for best chef. The food is clever and delicious. Newport doesn't really know how lucky they are with this chef right here and open in the off season too. Thanks for a great lunch and very gracious service who guided my culinary moments perfectly.

I hope you win the...

SO good! The atmosphere was nice - music and chatter, but not too loud. We started by splitting the tuna taitaki and the duck duck goose bao. Both were wonderful. Clearly well thought out and with quality ingredients. It really set the bar high for our ramen, which fortunately was just as high quality. I had the mushroom miso ramen and my husband had the tonkatsu ramen. We both were extremely satisfied. Portions were large but not excessive. Both had amazing broths. The noodles (which they didn't skimp on) were great, slightly chewy and held up well in the broth. The toppings were again high quality and well thought out, not just piles of stuff for show (though it was still gorgeous). The mushroom miso had multiple kinds of mushrooms and enough of them that I still had mushrooms in my last spoonfuls. The marinated egg on top was cooked up just the right consistency so that it was soft, but not oozy. I don't know how, but the fried onion bits (not the oily kind from a can - clearly house-made) stayed crunchy til the end. My husband's pork was flavorful and and tender. To drink, I had the citrus sparkler (bright, tangy, refreshing) and my husband had the Thai iced tea (smooth, sweet, satisfying). We left full but not stuffed and very happy. Brooke did a great job with service, and she was handling multiple tables. We never felt forgotten and she was totally on top of things and friendly (peep the special St....