Ramen Ichizu Bar — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

I went here for lunch yesterday with my husband. I wanted to try their vegan ramen specifically since it's difficult to find good vegan ramen. While the vegan ramen was pretty good (albeit odd and toppings were skimpy), a few weird choices by the restaurant will probably prevent me from returning.

I know many restaurants have QR code menus and digital ordering interfaces, but this restaurant has the awful experience of ordering your food through Toast. They call it "digital dine in". This makes the restaurant experience deeply unpleasant. I don't go to a restaurant and sit down just to have the same experience I get through DoorDash. I felt the heavy reliance on smartphones was impersonal, stressful, and I dislike the lack of personal privacy. I carry cash to use at local businesses to reduce transaction fees for the business. I was unable to pay with cash, I had to enter a lot of personal information for my order, and it required a smartphone for the entire process. This restaurant seriously lacks the charm and fun of a physical restaurant and instead makes me wish I'd ordered takeout somewhere else since that's their interface. I understand having a digital POS in a restaurant, but in a restaurant which doesn't allow modifications to your order, I fail to see the point. If every dish is standard, why put your guests through that? Places like Ichiban Sushi don't sacrifice the restaurant experience by having customers use an online takeout app in-house. Their waiters use an ipad to enter the order. Or restaurants like the new Kura Sushi replace the traditional ordering process with a tablet at the table. They make the experience fun with their robots, animations, and conveyor belt, and you don't need to use your phone, spent a bunch of time entering in your information, and give up personal data just to place a simple order. I left Ichizu feeling stressed, uncomfortable, and unhappy which is wild. Ramen places should be comforting and cozy, Ichizu may have the decor but the actual experience missed the mark. As for the vegan ramen I ordered, the broth was incredibly warm, rich, hearty, and delicious. It was everything I hoped for. The homemade noodles did not disappoint, either. Unfortunately, their choices for toppings and their strict no modifications rule mean I can't fully recommend this ramen. I love japanese vegetables and the toppings are just as important as anything else in a bowl of ramen. My husband's meat ramen came with generous portions of meat and a good variety of toppings, but my bowl had hardly any toppings. The main topping was 2 halves of a tomato. I do not like tomatoes. It's a baffling choice for a japanese dish to come with such an emphasis on tomatoes and having them as one of the only vegetables was deeply disappointing. The only other toppings were sliced green onion and shitake mushrooms (the mushrooms were delectable and one of the highlights of the dish). If I hadn't ordered an appetizer, I would have left very hungry (not great for the price I paid). I hope to check back in a year or so to see if they've rounded out their vegan options. If they had another vegan dish with more toppings to rival the meat dishes, I'd consider putting up with their god awful ordering process. If they simply allowed modifications, my issue would be solved as I could swap the tomatoes for some more vegetables or tofu or something! As it is, I don't think this restaurant is there yet. I'll keep going to Jinya Ramen for their excellent spicy creamy vegan which has many delicious toppings and always leaves...

Went yesterday (Sunday) for dinner with some friends. It was my girlfriend and I's second time coming and we wanting to show it to my other friends. I met the owner when I helped her carry some items from her car and she was really nice. When we arrived we were second in line and there was not a wait list. (Which ended up being a huge issue later). We were initially told "10-15" minutes on the wait which quickly turned into over an hour of standing in the sun outside. Once we were finally seated there wasn't enough water glasses for everyone (I assume was because the people waiting outside had went inside and grabbed some to stay hydrated.) so we shared. After we ordered our food one bowl of ramen and fried rice came out around 15 mins after ordering. The rest of the food did not come to the table for another 30 mins or so. Once everyone in my party was finished we realized we did not receive the 3 orders of extra noodles, or the 2 orders of gyoza. Our waiter didn't seem to care at all and just said he would remove them. He didn't even apologize or offer to bring the orders out. I would say overall the experience definitely tainted the taste of the food for my friends and I am positive they will not be back.

The food is great, because it was so busy they ran out of shoyu. Was not an issue for most of us. One of my friends can not eat pork due to her religion and we asked the owner while we waited in line if they had the vegan option and she said she did. Once we sat down our waiter was unsure if the vegan ramen had pork or not in the broth and was pretty reluctant to ask the chef. She then decided to just do a bowl of fried rice and he said he would make sure there wasn't any pork but it came out with diced ham.

Service was ok at best. I would say they fell short in a lot of areas. Waiter and the owner told us different things when it came down to the vegan options. Wrong food was brought out. And some of our order was not fulfilled at all. Server didn't care to apologize or make anything right.

Atmosphere is good, I enjoy the music and it is very clean.

I really wish I could give this place 5 stars, I really do. The food deserves it. They fell short on the service. I would recommend for them to nail down their waitlist and ask people their name in order. We could (should) have been sat down 30 mins earlier but some lady in a party of 3 threw a fit saying they were there for way longer and I told them to go ahead to avoid conflict. I think an organized wait list could have fixed this issue. I would also recommend some bench seating in front to accommodate the wait.

If you are thinking of going I would recommend a party less that 4. We were a party of 5 and it was a excruciating experience.

I also want to stress to anyone reading that we were EXTREMELY patient and understanding throughout the entire night. We never once complained about the wait, wrong food, or missing items. I know that the owner and waiter can attest to this. I tried my best to maintain a level head in my party but there was only so much I could do. They were very disappointed with how the night turned out and instead of continuing it we all went home due to how tired...

Came here for lunch on a Friday because we got sucked into the hype. We came right at opening to ensure we got a table but realized it wasn't necessary as there was just one other person there. Already the second I walked in it was a weird vibe, not because of the small location but with at least 5 people in the open kitchen not one person looked up and acknowledged me. My friend mentioned we had to self serve our water, this was never relayed to me by the staff. The place felt cold with no music and a small dining area and bar seating.

We all ordered the everything ramen to make it easy. Our server, the girl in a lot of the restaurant's reels on IG, was very cold this is in stark contrast to her persona in the videos so it was a bit surprising. My friend asked her for a bowl so she could feed her son some fried rice but after two times of reminding her she had to go to the counter herself and get it. Although we were the second table to be seated it still took a while before our orders arrived so I can't imagine how slow it would be with a rush. The ramen broth was nice and light and I loved the texture of the fresh ramen noodles however, there was a slice of meat in there that was absolutely inedible. It was not only impossible to chew but it had such a strong liver smell and taste. We all had to discard it.

What bothered me the most was when my friend requested a to go container bc her toddler son couldn't finish his friend rice she pretty rudely stated they don't do to go bc they don't want people to complain about the food bc the quality is not the same when their food is taken to go. I understand not taking to-go orders but that shouldn't apply to those not wanting to waste their food. She kept interrupting us saying it was posted on the menu and wall but again we understood it as not filling to go orders. Asking for a box to take leftovers does not negate the fact that the food was already enjoyed and such the quality was already appreciated at the restaurant. Having people pay a significant amount of money for food for their toddler when there's no kids menu then expect the remaining portion to be wasted. I understand if this was clearly stated but the attitude and rudeness was uncalled for. In general service was extremely cold, the owner I Believe did come by to help drop off the food and he seemed friendly enough but reserved. All in all the place didn't live up to the hype to justify $22 a bowl when you factor the...