mizu ramen sushi — Restaurant in Oklahoma City

Quaint little restaurant. Dined during COVID season, so, I'm not going to go into detail about some things.

ATMOSPHERE Upon entrance, had a fairly quick seating. I was the only guest, but it was just as they opened. Restaurant was observing COVID precautions (tables were spaced adequately apart, employees were wearing face masks, and the tables smelled of disinfectant). I sat down at a table in the corner, but close to the door. The waitress laid down a menu (too bad it wasn't a recyclable menu; would have been more sanitary) and informed me of the special (Gyoza and Edamame was half off, lucky me!), then proceeded to ask what I would like to start with. I ordered a Coke and an order of Gyoza. I had come into this restaurant with a plan, so I didn't really need the menu. When the waitress walked away, I gazed about the place. I looked under my table and saw an old piece of, to my knowledge, chicken. Mind you, they just opened, so I was mildly taken aback, but I've seen worse places, so I held my tongue. Shortly after, the waitress came back and asked if I already knew what I wanted while bringing my drink. Of course, I did, so I ordered the Tonkotsu ramen, as well. A cartoon was on at the back that I couldn't hear because of the elevator music. I vaguely recognize it and the elevator music, but I had only had two cups of coffee this morning, so I wasn't about to try to remember. Now, for the part you've all been waiting for.

THE FOOD My ramen and gyoza came out steaming. I could tell from the look of both and the way they glistened in the sun that they had performed in the movie Twilight; either that or they had been bathed in oil. Judging from the heat of the meal, it was the latter. The food was served in disposable, recycled paper containers (you know the stuff that looks like they ground up paper after soaking it in water and flour to form a type of paper mache that had then been formed into bowls) and smelled amazing. I tried the piping hot Gyoza first. I'm not one for moderation, so I doused the first piece in the minor amount of soy-based sauce that was provided and popped it into my mouth. Mistakes were made. I pulled the typical guy move and immediately started sucking in cooler air from outside to cool the liquid hot "magma" that was in my mouth. After cooling the piece down, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of flavor in the appetizer. There was just enough filling-to-pastry ratio and it tasted really good. The sauce was just slightly sweet, just how I like it. I proceeded to wipe the oil from my mouth with the provided napkin from the utensil set (chopsticks and a napkin; all one should need) and proceeded to devour the hot, delicious morsels, only stopping to wipe the oil from my mouth before the next piece. Next, the entree. The ramen had a beautiful-looking broth, with flecks of black garlic from the oil scattering it. Two halves of an ajitama (ramen egg) were placed in the soup, along with some delicious looking bamboo shoots (menma), some kikurage (a type of mushroom), and topped with green onion. The braised pork (chashu) had a grey-ish color, but the outside was cooked nicely. I started off by chopping up the chashu with my soup spoon and chopsticks and mixing up the soup. Then, I continued to the ajitama. They were the perfect doneness (medium-soft boiled) and very flavorful. You could taste the soy and vinegar used to marinate the egg come through along with the creaminess of the yolk. Next, I grabbed a couple pieces of menma and some noodles. The menma was the right softness with just a slight crunch and delicious. The noodles were cooked through and not too soft, absorbing the flavor of the broth quite well. I spooned some of the broth up and was delighted with how much garlic I could taste. The kikurage was also flavorful and not rubbery. Finally, the chashu. I was disappointed at the grey colour and even more so when I couldn't taste any smokiness. It was easy to eat, though, so, points for that.

TL;DR: Eat here. Their Gyoza and Tonkotsu are pretty good. Will be...

Guys. Do yourself a favor and stop by. **Environment: I'm not gonna lie it was a little warm. We were immediately greeted, sat by a window at a little after 7, and a lovely woman explained the menu after asking if we had been there before. We were brought our drinks promptly by Ronaldo ,who was very attentive and gave good recommend, and ensured we were comfortable. It was a little loud as expected in a restuarant during dinner rush with tile floors but it wasn't an unpleasant obnoxious loud. We were checked on several times by all sorts of staff so I definitely appreciate the attentiveness. The food arrive promptly and it looked absolutely wonderful. *House salad: Fantastic. Everything was fresh and the house made ginger dressing is wonderful! Not watery and full of flavor. **Food *Takoyaki: Presentation was really nice! Usually ,at other Ramen houses, there is always far to much breading leaving you more than underwhelmed. This takoyaki? Wonderful. There was more filling than breading, the sauce complimented it beautifully rather competed, and it wasn't over fried! *Tonkotsu Ramen: Good in flavor. The broth is very flavorful. Pork belly was a really good portion size and was fairly thick. Not very fatty and thus not "squishy" in the broth. Boyfriend said he would order it without the bamboo because well..he doesn't like bamboo! The ramen was actually hot! Not spicy just in temperature. Normally, in my experience, by the time ramen arrives it is slightly warmer than luke warm so this was a wonderful change of pace. *Deluxe California Roll: presentation was pretty good. Integrity wise when you pick it up with chopsticks it just kinda..falls apart. I'd say roll it tighter and tone down on the mayo so that all of the deliciousness gets into my mouth! Still good but needs improvement. *California Roll: it is ,after all, a sushi roll staple. Flavor wise its pretty standard but ,again, the sushi wasn't rolled very tight making it a little difficult to ensure a mess free dinning experience. *Happy Roll: presentation was good, flavor was good, spicy mayo was a nice touch but it isn't really anything to get excited about. Its tasty but its flavor profile needs some more depth. *Spider roll: Boyfriend did not like this one at all. It was mostly the tempura breading on the end pieces which was disappointing but once those were "disposed" of ,aka me, the roll was again a little better than average. The eel sauce could've used a once over but that was my only issue. *Spicy mayo: the mayo to spice ratio is a little off making it taste more like mayo with a little spice verse an actual spicy mayo. Still good but needs improvement.

Overall a total win in my book. We spent a little less than 50$ and are absolutely stuffed, satisfied, and so excited to see the potential of this restaurant come to fruition! We will definitely be back and hopefully have an update on the full menu...

I'm torn about this place. First, the service was quite nice so no complaints there. However, the star of the show is the food. I was looking for a decent bowl of ramen and have tried a snootier version near downtown that didn't impress me at all. This place is better than that BUT I suspect that they are serving ramen that they've purchased online. I say this because the ramen that I ordered came in a disposable bowl. It had some of the usual ingredients one would find in Japan such as menma, jew's ear mushrooms, and scallions. Where it fell short, is not having seaweed or a proper half-boiled egg. Those ingredients are excellent additions to a freshly made bowl of ramen so are dead giveaways when they're missing and/or overcooked.

Because this is Oklahoma, I don't hold it against them that they might be using pre-packaged noodles if not from an online purveyor as a kit or even that I wasn't asked how I like my noodles cooked. That type of action is going to be limited to a true ramen shop which I have yet to see here.

Overall, I gave 3 stars because this type of food is in short supply in this area and some may not be distracted by potentially being able to get this on your own and to make it in one's own kitchen. It is OK for the price and the taste is acceptable, too. nMy advice though: Get your own nori and make your own half-boiled...