Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya — Restaurant in Seattle

There are a number of Kizuki Ramen places in the area. When I used to work downtown, I hiked up to the one on Pine to treat myself to some of the best ramen I have ever had. I would sit at the counter and watch them tend to six pots of broth, each at different stages of the cooking process. The service was haphazard and the prices were high, but the quality of the food made it all worthwhile. When I retired, I stopped going downtown. Between fighting traffic, searching for parking and the blight that has infected downtown in the last few years, I don’t like going there. Alas, that means that I have given up on some of the good things, including trips to Kizuki. One day at the movies, I looked across the parking area and spotted the Thornton Place location. Imagine the thrill of being able to get my favorite ramen without the hassles of going downtown. I was in a hurry that day, but I made plans to come back as soon as possible. I made the mistake of going at lunch time. Every table was full and the foyer was packed. I went up to the hostess stand and waited to get on the list, but no one came. Eventually, another ramen fan pointed out that there was a computer screen when you sign up for a spot in line. I entered my information and went outside to wait. And I waited. And waited. Ramen is a dish that should not be rushed. You need to savor each bite to notice all five senses. The look of the artfully arranged toppings. The meaty smell of the broth. The perfect balance of flavor in the broth. The sound of the noodles getting slurped into your mouth. The way each ingredient feels while you chew. Glorious! Unfortunately, everyone leisurely enjoyed these sensations, so that tables did not turn over very often. By the time I was seated, I was starving. I ordered Karaage to start. These chunks of fried chicken are served with a delicious dipping sauce. They are also good with soya sauce, but that is true of almost everything. I gobbled up the chicken and went through the options for ramen. There are plenty of them. Shio, shoyu, tonkatsu, garlic, spicy... Each comes with a default list of toppings, but you can add whatever you like. Be careful if you customize, the toppings are expensive. I ordered Shio with extra char sui. The big chains in the restaurant world work hard to make sure that they are consistent from one site to another. You can go into an Applebee's anywhere and get the same dishes. They are all terrible, but they are consistent. Kizuki is not like that. While the downtown restaurant is a marvel, the Thornton Place location is just OK. The broth was good, but not amazing. The egg was slightly over cooked. The char sui was a tiny bit stringy. Note that even with these faults, this is still one of the best ramen places around. I savored each bite while the staff quietly urged me along so they could give my table to the next people in line. I finished up, paid the enormous bill and popped over to The Jewel Box Cafe for...

got the garlic tonkotsu ramen

ok - i wouldn’t say i’m the biggest fan of ramen generally - and this dish reinforced that. that doesn’t mean it was bad - on the contrary i liked it - but i think I’m not a fan of the concept of ramen as a dish. it consists of eating too many things separately and in isolation - and it’s straight up difficult to eat some of the protein involved in the dish

for example, in this dish i would say the pork belly had a good amount of fat/flavor, the egg was good, and the tofu was good, but it’s really hard to combine all of them the way you would if you’re given a plate. this leads to primarily eating the noodles by themselves while getting side bits of the other proteins - and the noodles themselves are pretty plain . also you’re drinking the broth completely separately from the rest of the meal

i did alleviate this issue a bit by asking for a fork upon which i could actually wrap the noodles

so in terms of ramen as a dish - i think i just prefer eating food the normal way significantly more - i don’t really like soups in general as well

ok lets talk about the actual dish

i thought the pork broth was spectacular. consider as it’s by far the main ingredient in the dish - if it wasn’t amazing this dish would instantly fall off - but it managed to meet that level. each spoonful was rich with flavor, just hot enough, and seasoned exceptionally with salt and other spices. the broth was easily the best part of this dish

the rest of the stuff i’m kind of mixed on. the noodles, the second main part of the dish, were pretty average - nothing special. the only way i could add any flavor to the noodles was attempting to cut up the protein i had access to and wrapping a bite of that with some noodles. even then, compared to my spoonfuls of the broth, the noodles were on a significantly lower level

i got tofu as an add on topping - it was fine i guess - didn’t really absorb any flavor from the rest of the dish but there was a good amount of it

the egg was decent enough but nothing to write home about

i did think the pork belly was quite good - there was a good amount of fat involved there - but the issue was it was pretty difficult to cut and eat. when i was able to get a piece of cut off though - it paired well with the broth

overall: the broth elevates this ramen dish to quite good, but the toppings can’t quite match its level, and i’m not a huge fan of ramen as a concept...

I’ve been eating at Kizuki ramen for years, mostly the Alderwood location, which has always been wonderful. I’ve been coming to this location at least once a week for the past couple of months after work and the service has been okay not the best, the food has always been good and that’s what keeps me coming. Today however was the worst service I’ve ever had at any restaurant in my entire life I mean McDonald’s has treated me better for Christ sake. With that being said when I first arrived and was seated I was greeted by the waitress a younger Asian woman. I asked for a garlic tonkotsu, I wanted to replace the egg with pork instead which is how I always ordered it. The waitress told me that she can’t do that and would have to charge me, I explained to her nobody has ever mentioned that before and I’ve always ordered it that way. Which wasn’t a very big deal I thought maybe it was a new rule but I tried to explain that I’ve been eating here for awhile and never have been told that. She went to go ask a colleague. Keep in mind I never got to finish ordering. She talked with her colleague and quickly started helping other people once finished. There was about ten minutes where not a single employee wanted to even make eye contact with me. Maybe they thought I was being demanding? Which I’m really not if she would have come back and clarified I wouldn’t have had any issue paying more this time. After about ten minutes go by a Latina woman who I think was the server brings me my food and I quickly explained to her that I never finished my order and the waitress never came back to explain anything, there were a few modifications that needed to be made. No big deal she takes the order back, however she seemed frustrated as if I was the inconvenience when all the waitress had to do was finish taking my order and communicate with me which she didn’t speak a work to me the rest of my visit. After I get my food I was pretty much ignored the whole time I feel quiet disrespected, nobody even apologized. In fact I apologized even known I didn’t even do anything wrong. If corporate could reach out to me that would...