Kanji Noodle Bar — Restaurant in Pasadena

This is my third time at this establishment and my last. It’s a shame that a simple positive customer service interaction could have saved this review, but the owner can’t bare to accept any fault.

Yesterday evening my husband ordered 2 tonkotsu soups and pork steam buns for pick up. Brought them home and were enjoyed. There were leftovers so the food was packed for lunch the next day. I go to eat my lunch and bite down and almost swallow a large chunk of sharp plastic. It looks to be something off a machine or kitchen utensil. I call to let them know, and though the young person answering seemed very aloof, I said no problem I’ll bring it by for you to see. When I arrive the young person behind the counter takes the piece to the back where they see if it’s something broken in their kitchen. They quickly said it’s nothing from the kitchen, mind you I could see them not looking around. The girl calls the owner who tries to talk to me on speaker phone in the middle of the dining room saying they can’t control what comes in their noodle bags. All I want here is an apology and a refund, and I’m told they can’t refund take out orders and offer me more soup. Why would I want soup that I just nearly choked on plastic? I waited 20 min for the owner to show up and when she did, she didn’t apologize, never looked at the plastic, and tried to push more soup or another menu item. I reiterated that I’m not interested in the food. She then said I would have to bring in the trash to be refunded. Who saves their take out trash for a refund…? Then they tried to say I didn’t have a receipt even though they found my order in the system. The owner then said she refunded me $10 and “what more do I want” and became irate saying that I put the piece of plastic in the bowl. Her stories were all over the place, her behavior was erratic and lack of customer service inexcusable. To top it off, she never actually refunded me and just punched buttons on the computer to print something that she crumpled up and threw away. When asked where the refund was she said “remove the review and we will give you $10.” Atrocious business practices, terrible customer service. I have never encountered a business that was so hard pressed to refund my meal after finding literal trash in my food.

TLDR: save your time and money (they’ll lie about refunding you) and go elsewhere for ramen where they don’t accuse you of planting plastic in your food. The poor customer service isn’t worth the mediocre ramen. But if you do eat here, make sure you save your take out trash for a “return” after you...

My wife and I were excited to attend the soft opening of Kanji Noodle Bar last Friday evening. We were particularly enthusiastic about having another Asian cuisine option in Pasadena, as the city has been lacking in diverse Asian dining choices for quite some time.

I decided to order the Kanji Mystery dish with a side of Takoyaki. However, my wife, who is currently pregnant and experiencing taste aversions, simply wanted a bowl of plain ramen in chicken broth. She made sure to request no nori (seaweed) in her order. Additionally, she ordered a side of shrimp tempura.

Our food arrived shortly after placing our order, but to our surprise, my wife's ramen had a large piece of nori on top, despite her explicit request to exclude it. Furthermore, the ramen contained additional ingredients that she did not ask for. Also, these ingredients were not listed on the menu. The waiter promptly acknowledged the mistake and brought out a new bowl of plain chicken ramen. I gladly consumed the nori from my wife's initial dish.

Regarding the food itself, we found everything to be oddly lukewarm. Even the shrimp tempura, which we expected to be freshly fried, was not hot. Moreover, the tempura had an excessive amount of batter, which was not ideal. As for the ramen, the Kanji Mystery dish was decent, but my wife's plain chicken ramen had an unusual musty aftertaste in the chicken broth. We also wished that the food had been served at a hotter temperature, as the lukewarm temperatures detracted from the overall dining experience.

Now, let's discuss the decor. The restaurant had recently undergone renovations, but the tile work and overall aesthetic resembled a middle school art project. The caulking used for the tile grouting was excessive and messy, with glue and caulk visible in various areas. The walls were adorned with decorated koi fishes, but the execution felt subpar.

All in all, considering it was a soft opening, our experience at Kanji Noodle Bar was average. There are areas that definitely need improvement before the...

So ordered a really big portion on their app today. I spent extra money to get double noodles, double chashu and an extra egg.

So for double noodles I don't think I got a double portion. Would I received looked like a single portion of noodles compared to other noodle places. There is a noodle shop in catonsville that gives you a pretty healthy portion of noodles, so I think Kanji's portion sizes in that regard are not as fair.

The meat looked good but again, it seemed like it was on the small end of portion size. I ordered double meat and it didn't seem like they gave you very much but it never does. I don't know if I could justify paying another $4.50 for two half slices of meat again.

I do like the takeout packaging a lot, and maybe I didn't get quite the full experience because I ordered takeout. But I usually don't think that that should make much of a difference.

I think if someone orders double the noodle or anything I think it should be packed separately. That way I know I'm getting a double portion. I felt really skimped on the noodles.

The tonkotsu broth is pretty good but probably not enough Dashi. You can definitely taste the pork flavor and it's very mild and nice but I just don't think it's savory enough. Maybe that changes when you add spice to it. I did not try their spicy version.

There ended up being a hair in my food.

Overall the experience was not super great. I think they're still having trouble with portion sizes. Sanitation is a must, fix the hair thing.

My only gripe about the food at first wasthat there wasn't enough which in its own way is sort of a non-problem if you think about it. But the hair was gross.

The staff was really nice. I was giving my order quickly and was thanked before going out the door. The decor inside even though I did not stay is very cute and comfortable and overall I think maybe I would come back and try the dine-in to see if it's any different.

It is not Uma Uma, it needs help. Please...