Akai Ramen & Izakaya — Restaurant in Salem

As a new location Fanatic, I had to take my family here to try it. Upon arrival I was greeted quickly and seated by a very optimistic and welcoming staff. Knowing all the pitfalls of an opening day from long wait times, to poor service, I had not experienced this and was quite surprised at the delight of a non busy hour on the 2nd day open. Cannot vouch for places like Miyokos opening as they had a very overwhelming opening and it was quite a breath of relief that this location was much more open and less busy.

Now on to the food, I had ordered their Miso Ramen, Black Garlic Tonkotsu Shoyu Ramen, Crab Puffs, coconut shrimp, steamed pork dumplings, Tan Tan Ramen, and Spicy Miso Ramen. The flavor was astounding, the ingredients where very well blended, the seasoning was well balanced and you had a mouthful of flavor in each dish. I could distinguish the vast differences in broths between the ramen, and had not 1 dull bite out of anything. With the sides, they came out hot and fresh with a very fulfilling flavor, our favorite being the crab Puffs followed very closely by the pork dumplings. The portions where aplenty with my family filling on half our bowles and had gotten to take left overs home with no hastle or disregard.

There selection of beverages is vast between normal sodas, to teas as expected to even offering Japanese soda and alcoholic beverages. Definitely would recommend the bottle of Moonstone Plumb Sake as it is great.

Unlike other restaurants that use plastic wear or basic glass dishes, AKAI Ramen uses dinerwear that is authentic to it's roots. You get served in large bowls I believe to be of a clay/plaster and a oddly different style of plaster/clay spoon but can use the traditional chopsticks or plastic forks.

Around the establishment it is a very calm and clean modern feel, with a splash of comedic decor. We love the simplicity and relaxibility of the establishment and enjoy the splash of comedy even taken to extent in the bathroom.

Overall the experience was great and I would highly recommend this establishment. I would also caution to those unaware of the complexities of an opening to realize there may be slight delays and wait times during openings and moreso due to holiday breaks and such. If you are in for a taste of something new or unique to the Salem area, I would not want to skip this restaurant.

Some things to note, not due to staff or anything but rather preference would be to make the customer aware if they could remove some ingredients if they are disliked, also to have some napkins at the table or brought to the table when sat down. This was a minor inconvenience but personal preference really and has no fault to the establishment or...

I am being over critical because this is not an $11 or $12 bowl of ramen that you can get anywhere in Portland at the best Ramen Houses. This Ramen is pushing $15 and that's if you don't add one additional single topping which a lot of people do. The broth is disproportionate to the toppings and noodles. In other words, way too much broth to make the bowl look full.

The broth flavor is solid and the chasu is respectable, but it pretty much stops there. There are some technical issues in the kitchen that cause this bowl of ramen to be less than desirable. The main thing is when I got the bowl of ramen the entire noodles underneath the broth was almost one solid unit. I had to take my Chopsticks and start to stir quickly to break them apart, but at least a third of them were already glued together. It's because the noodles sat in the bowl too long before the broth was added. This has to almost be done simultaneously and quickly. Either already have the hot broth in the bowl when adding the noodle or as soon as the noodles touch the bowl, the hot broth needs to be poured over top. Plus because the noodles sat in the bowl a little too long when the hot broth was poured, I'm sure that's what cooled it off to a point where it was hot, but not by Ramen standards.

The other item I ordered had a much bigger wow factor and it was not even made in house. Other than the sauce. But it tasted pretty good. This was certainly a better Ramen than the one inside Fork 40. That one was horrible. I think if a real Ramen Izakaya came to Salem, the ramen scene would have to...

I really enjoyed eating here. It’s a small restaurant, very clean, located in downtown Salems’s Equitable Plaza. One wall is made up of windows, so it’s great for people watching. J-pop is constantly playing as background music, which adds to the ambiance, or may start to drive you crazy. This place is primarily a ramen restaurant, but also serves some rice plates. There is a large variety of side dishes as well, like spring rolls, cucumber salad, etc. Plenty of drinks to choose from, including hot teas and imported Japanese soda. For those so inclined, beer and sake is also available. They have a good variety of ramen, including veggie, seafood, and spicy varieties. I had the black garlic ramen, and oh my Lord, that broth was so rich and delicious I’m smiling right now thinking about it. It’s all served in a huge bowl with a large wooden spoon. I ordered a side of spring rolls that were very good and came with a sweet chili sauce. The person I was with ordered some takoyaki, which is apparently some kind of squid dumpling. He said they were great, and I’m just going to have to take his word for it. Chop sticks, plastic forks, and napkins are at every table, along with soy sauce and little soy sauce bowl. I definitely recommend this place. Confession: I dribbled some broth down the front of my shirt. So if it happens to you, don’t feel bad, you’re not...