Gin Sen — Restaurant in Pocatello

Don't believe the hype. Reading some of these reviews I'm left wondering if we even ate at the same place at all. I want to start by saying, I really wanted to like this place. The service and actual restaurant itself were fine, but the food... Be warned, this is a long review, skip to the end for the short version. I ordered the gyoza (dumpling) appetizer and tonkotsu ramen. First to arrive was the gyoza. Either the gyoza weren't pan-fried long enough or didn't get enough heat, as the texture was complete mush with zero crispiness like you'd expect. The filling was seemingly devoid of cabbage, I think I saw one piece out of all of them that had any. The flavor while there, was bland, even for gyoza. But that's not what inspired this review. The ramen. It would be easier to just list what was done right than what was done wrong. I could talk about how it looked but who cares. The noodles were undercooked, and not in the good "authentic" ramen type way but in the "leave it for 10 min, still same texture" kinda way. Made for a messier than usual affair as the stiffer noodles violently battled each other upon lifting. The broth was the single most confusing part of the whole thing. I've never tasted a broth more bland in my life. Even canned chicken noodle has more flavor than this broth and I'm not exaggerating. To the point where it seemed more apt to describe it as brown water than broth. The noodles, even if they hadn't been undercooked, would have had no flavor to absorb anyway. In an effort to save the broth I opted to add one of the things it was sorely lacking, salt. Sadly the end result only managed to turn my hot water into hot salt water. And let's not forget the pork. First of all, thickest sliced pork I've ever seen in ramen. Just visually you could tell it was tough and overcooked. I was hoping but, the first bite confirmed that theory. Imagine the dryest Thanksgiving turkey you've ever eaten, now imagine that but with pork. It just sucks the moisture right out if your mouth. Even then, the pork flavor that managed to survive the hellish heat was somehow BAD. Wherever or whatever that meat came from was probably the cheapest part of the pig. I couldn't make myself "get my money's worth" and finish it. Last but not least, the onsen tamago (egg). The only thing in the ramen that was done right, although they're cheapskates and only give you half the egg. All in all, if I had to do it over again I'd light $20 on fire as it would have been a more satisfying experience. If this ramen were a quarter of the price I'd have no reason to complain.

Short version: The public-school cafeteria version of ramen and gyoza. As absurd as it sounds, yes, I'd 100% take instant ramen over it any day. The price for the low quality you get is just not worth it in any way. Can't attest to their other foods, but after that experience I'm not going back to find out. If you've never tried any of these dishes before, you may think they taste okay. That said, if it's your first experience I doubt you'll ever be "craving" these things in the future.

To the owner/chef; please don't take this personally. All the things I've mentioned have easy remedies, assuming my criticism is actually truthful and legitimate. I'm guessing I didn't just luck out and get accidentally served food that was below usual standard, but I could be totally wrong. K, I...

Underwhelming and Disappointing:

My husband and I ordered the Beef pho and fried spring rolls. He got what was supposed to be a Modello (only God knows what they gave us) and I got a sprite which turned out to be sierra mist (if you don’t have sprite just say so).

-The fried spring rolls were just fried spring rolls. Nothing impressive but they were okay. The garnish of grated purple cabbage and carrot was extremely dry and while it was just a garnish it wasn’t pleasant to look at or have on a plate. -I got the Beef pho at a spice level of 2 which tasted like a 4. They also “forgot” (as the cook told the manager after my complaint) to give me a side plate of the veggies it comes with (the bean sprouts and what not). My issue with this act of forgetfulness was that they only took notice after I noticed another customer had these on her plate (this lady came in 20 minutes after my husband and I). It’s weird that the cook forgot because it was just us and one other family of three for a little while. The restaurant was empty when we got in and there was barely anyone but the additional family and lady that joined. After making the complaint after our meal (since this was when I only took notice) I was offered a free appetizer by the manager which I greatly appreciated. I got the crab Rangoon but soon felt regret as they were the worst we’ve ever had. They were fried way too quickly and this caused them to have a burnt taste on the outside. The inside had the weirdest mushy texture and it almost felt like pre-chewed food (weird but that’s the best description of the texture I could think of). In short it was terrible. -Our waitress, while sweet, seemed to have her thoughts all over the place. I almost felt sorry for her because she seemed to be confused or anxious in thought which caused her to bill us $64 instead of $34 for our order. It was only after my husband exclaimed at the bill that I noticed she added two additional dishes to our tab. How this happened is still a surprise because again, there were only 4 other people that came in much...

Have to update my review as of my last visit. I've been there more than 2 dozen times and I always order the beef pho. They bring it to me they bring the hot peppers and the sides and the hoisin sauce and it's perfection and the service is usually spot on. This last visit though I sit down with me and my wife we order an appetizer and our entrees and as I'm ordering the girl asked me how spicy I want my pho I said I don't know I've never been asked that question before that must be new and she proceeded to talk to me like I was a moron and said that's how they've always done it and I go I don't know I guess a three. So we go on with the rest of the meal all of a sudden our entrees are there but no appetizer to which she says it will be out in a minute. She walks away and I'm like can I get some hoisin sauce and she brings me the chili oil which is fine because the spice level isn't where I wanted it and I don't know what they've added to this to make the spice level what it is so I correct her again for hoisin sauce so finally I get the hoisin sauce and I start eating my meal and my drink runs out and she only has me and one other table cuz she's already given the tickets to all the other tables and she proceeds to take care of her own lunch plate and leave me without a drink for pretty much the entire time I'm there also my wife never got a refill when it was time for her drink either. so we only got one refill the entire visit. So anyways about 5 minutes after we're already into our entrees our appetizer comes. The food was very delicious as usual I do have to comment the last few times I've been there the amount of pho noodles and beef I have gotten in my entree has been significantly less but I still leave satisfied. Overall I will be back but I hope the...