Kotoyama Ramen — Restaurant in Noblesville

I went for lunch at around 12 noon. Was immediately greeted upon entry by a friendly gentleman who sat us and was our waiter throughout lunch. He provided the food menu, along with a drink menu.

The drink menu is expansive, including alcoholic drinks such as beer, sake, and cocktails, plus a large list of non-alcoholic drinks including teas, sodas, and other specialty drinks.

I specifically went here for the ramen, of which there were approximately 15 options, including a few different base/broth options (I specifically remember one soy sauce based one, and one miso based one, but I believe there was at least one or two others), spicy varieties, and at least one vegetarian option. These seemed to range between $15-$20. Any of the toppings could be removed if you didn't want them, and there was a separate part of the menu where you could add additional toppings à la carte.

For an extra $6.99, you could make it a combo, adding a Char Siu Pork Bun appetizer and Boba tea.

Of course you can see most of this from their online menu. What I really want to sing the praises about was the gentleman who waited on us. As I mentioned earlier, he greeted us as soon as we walked in the door. He confirmed we were happy with a booth and sat us right away. It's a smallish dining room, pleasantly decorated with Asian décor, but they were not busy at the time. He briefly, but adequately explained each of the menu's he placed in front of us, described a few of the drinks and dishes that were unusual or unique and recommended 3 of the ramen dishes. He checked on us frequently, but not so frequently to be bothersome, and was generally very friendly.

I will absolutely return, and hope I get him each time I come. I would especially recommend him for anyone who might be new to trying Ramen as I'm sure he'll direct you to something...

Ahhh ramen on a cool day, the rich broth and spices that came with my beef ramen were quite enjoyable. One can see by the picture posted it came with ample toppings to be stirred into the broth and noodles.(normally a fish cake 🍥 comes in this, I opted for corn)

Bamboo shoots, black mushroom and a perfect soft boiled egg brought the flavors all together the way I enjoy them. For sides I had some gyoza as well as a pork bun. The gyoza was rather good as well with a crispy under that gave a pleasant contrast to soft upper layer.

The pork bun was odd, normally I'm used to something akin to bao when I hear pork bun. This was more akin to a fluffy flat bread sandwich. However it was good, the asian inspired mayo had a nice tang to it and the pork belly was tender and delicious without being salty.

Sadly the meal has one hiccup. My milk tea where as it had plenty of popping booba and it tasted good until I got undissolved milk powder. It wasn't quite mixed fully leaving the flavor powder not quite fully dissolved. When I politely asked about this I was given the excuse that the powder doesn't always dissolve. Which left me scratching my head, I've never had the powder not fully dissolved in all the drinks of milk tea I've gotten. I informed the staff of this and she said she would talk to the person making it and ensure they used hotter water.

I really didn't get much of an apology which isn't really such a big deal. But I feel trying to pass this off as normal isn't quite right. The tea does cost a decent amount for a drink of it's size so it should always come out right.(I did compliment the amount of popping booba I got.)

I'd recommend trying this place if you like ramen despite my drink issues. I will be going back myself to try other items from their extensive list, I'll just be more mindful...

For a soft opening this is a good first start. Food was very tasty and flavorful.

Original fried rice was nice and fluffy, but my husband thought it might come with pork since that wasn’t one of the meat options, so it could have used a little something more or a better description.

We both loved the fried chicken bun, though I might have preferred some kind of pickle to the lettuce. Definitely makes me want to try the Chicken Karage or Fried Chicken Ramen.

I had asked my husband to get me the Char Siu Donburi but I think between him not knowing and it being the first day with the cashier still learning the POS something got lost in translation. I think I ended up with the Shredded Char Siu Donburi with just onions, meat and rice and non of the toppings I was hoping for. Everything was really delicious though and I loved the Char Siu, honestly could have had so much more of that.

I had wanted to try the tiramisu bubble tea advertised on their grub hub menu but the cashier told my husband they didn’t have that so he got me a Matcha one instead. The Matcha bubble tea was totally serviceable and as I would expect save the rectangular agar-like tapioca jellies they use instead of traditional pearls, which were different.

My mom got the Beef Donburi which I snagged a bite of and though was full of savory flavor, if a bit on the fatty side (though personally I like that).

All-in-all really looking forward to coming back to try this again after they’ve had some time to work out the kinks and become more comfortable with their menu. The food is great and that’s the most important thing at the start, everything else will likely improve with time.

• Didn’t have more pictures because we are the...