Tochi Ramen — Restaurant in Sheboygan

Actual ramen and other food- five stars, PERFECTION. Service and restaurant overall- questionable, just an odd experience??

To preface, this last Friday was our first visit to the new Sheboygan location. My husband and were long time fans of the Tochi in West Bend (we live in fond du lac) and we were so excited to finally get a reservation and crush that ramen craving that no other ramen place can top. Our reservation was for 6:45 for our group of four. We arrived a few minutes before that, and were told they were running behind, so it would be a bit of a wait. I don’t mind a small wait, the problem is that the restaurant is much smaller than the old location, and aside from the one bench to sit at, which was occupied at the time, there is nowhere else to really sit while you wait. It was cold out, so we kinda had to just awkwardly stand in the entry way and loom over the table of 4 that was finishing up who we would take the place of. Finally, the table leaves, we sit down. My husband and I have been dreaming about this meal for a while, so we already knew what we’re ordering. I wanted what I always got at the west bend restaurant- Tochi Ramen, with add-ons of an extra miso egg and chicken. The new menu didn’t say that the crispy pork was included in the Tochi ramen, so I wanted to add that too. The waitress asked for my order, and I was READY! I said I wanted that extra miso egg, to which she said they were running low, so she couldn’t do that. Okay. So I asked if I could get another of the of the other egg that was in the add-on portion of the menu, to which she said, “really, I think the Tochi ramen by itself if quite a bit by itself already!” No girl, I want my egg. Lol. I also asked to add the pork schnibbs, and she said they were running low on that, too. Okay. I asked if I could add the chicken, and AGAIN, she said something to the matter of “I really think you don’t need that much”. GIRLLLL. I’ve been waiting two years for this ramen! Do not assume how much I can or cannot eat! I have gotten this EXACT order many times before at the old location. I know what I want and love! I understand not offering substitutions to the original dishes, but these were all add-ons! I don’t think I’ve ever went to a restaurant where the server actively discouraged ordering more food. The thing that did make me a little miffed, too, was that a party of three who arrived after us (without a reservation), and who was seated before us, got two orders of miso eggs as an appetizer(I’m pretty sure it was like 8 eggs in total). So…. They can have 8 freakin’ miso eggs but we can’t have any? I know, I know, they are just eggs, but… what?

This all being said, our ramen was phenomenal, and it was the exact same flavor that I remember from west bend. The pork steam buns that we had were incredible as always. I will sing the praises of the Tochi chefs forever.

Basically, the waitress just really rubbed me the wrong way. I came to look at reviews afterward because I wasn’t sure if it was just a one-off experience, but it seems like we aren’t the only ones that got weird vibes from her. One of the things I loved about the west bend location was that the servers were always super cool and provided excellent service. I just wish I understood the approach of this new location. We will be back because the ramen and steam buns are THAT incredible, but I hope they get a better flow to the restaurant, and maybe a server who actually wants to serve and be nice and enthusiastic...

‼️LONG REVIEW AHEAD‼️

Honest review from my first visit at Tochi yesterday. I understand this is a new location for them and perhaps they were understaffed so I give them the benefit of the doubt, but this is not their first restaurant so I’m quite surprised how horrible the service was (they used to be open in West Bend).

When we arrived, we weren’t greeted. We had to go tell them we were there for a reservation and seated ourselves. Water and menus were not supplied upon seating. We probably waited 10 minutes for water and menus. The water that was given wasn’t enough for our table. Half of us had half cups of water. We then waited an additional 30 minutes to order. After ordering, while waiting for food, our water wasn’t replenished. We had to ask for more water. It seemed the wait staff paid very little attention to our table in general. By the time we got our food, we probably had waited an additional 30 minutes. Not sure if our noodles had been sitting a while or if that’s just how their noodles/dishes are served, but there was very little broth and the noodles were soggy (noodles seemed to have soaked up a lot of the broth). Once we finished, we waited an additional 20 minutes to just get our check. We asked on two occasions. 10 minutes after that, because the waiter/waitress never came back to cash out our check, I got up from our table and waited at the counter to be cashed out. There, I was ignored for another 10 minutes and it wasn’t until I got very annoyed and upset that I finally got some attention to get cashed out. And mind you, a staff member (who seemed to have maybe been the owner) was getting drunk and arm wrestling with other customers behind the bar area while I was standing there for what felt like forever.

Through the time we were there, the wait staff was rude, inattentive, and careless. Any apologies that were given were half-hearted and meaningless. It’s also hard to understand the inattentiveness when the restaurant is literally so small. There are three tables and a bar that seats probably 10 people. With such a limited amount of customers, you would think the service wouldn’t be so slow, but that was not the case. Even if the service was slow, if the service was great, I wouldn’t have minded the wait as I understand they’re new to this location and may have been short staffed.

Also, one thing I’d like to add is that the restaurant is SUPER muggy. Being a ramen place and dealing with boiling broth, they definitely need a better ventilation system. After being in there for so long, I was getting claustrophobic. I mean, even the table was sticky. 😵

The food there was alright. I would say it’s a 6/10. We must’ve gotten the bottom of the broth because it was quite salty and like I mentioned before, the noodles were soggy. Nonetheless, the actual flavor of the broth was pretty good (aside from the saltiness. It was better once I added some water) and the buns were pretty good.

I will probably give the place another try because like I said, I give them the benefit of the doubt but as a first experience, it was not enjoyable. Hopefully they will improve with time and find kinder, more attentive staff. If you do go, I hope your experience is better...

The short version: bad noodles, prices that are far too high for the quality, and staff that would rather not be there and audibly tells patrons so. Run away.

The long version:

I haven't had a restaurant-quality bowl of ramen since I moved back to the area from Minneapolis, and I was sincerely hoping for a really good bowl of soup when I found this place.

It wasn't off to a great start when the server assumed that I was there with the person sitting next to me. I'd never met them in my life. She was polite to him I'm assuming because he was a regular, but she couldn't seem to offer that same courtesy to anyone who wasn't already there all of the time.

I ordered the cukes as an appetizer hoping for a nice spicy pickle based on the description, but what I received was diced cucumbers tossed in a spicy mayo. Not horrible, but not what I wanted and not what the menu described. I was asked what I wanted for a main before the cukes even arrived, which in retrospect should have been a red flag. With nothing on the menu to indicate what was popular and unwilling to trust the "regular" who wouldn't take the hint that I didn't want to talk to them, I ordered the shoyu ramen with chicken, hoping that a simple dish like that would fill me up without upsetting my stomach following an awful migraine day.

The noodles were over-cooked and of an unpleasantly gummy consistency by the time they arrived. The chicken was plopped into the bowl in large chunks that were unappetizing to look at and had terrible texture. The guy sitting next to me thought I had ordered something vegetarian, it looked so bland. The broth tasted of nothing but salt and in my opinion lacked any of the nuance a good soy sauce broth should offer. I could barely pick up the egg with my chopsticks, and I'm pretty good at picking up food with those. Even the water I had to drink tasted bad.

I came all the way to this restaurant because the recent reviews for the other ramen shop in the area were terrible, but this meal was so bad and so utterly disappointing that I had to go to the bathroom just so I could have a moment to cry out of view from staff and other patrons. $20 just to be disappointed to the point of tears. That was the last of my money before my first paycheck from my new job comes through, and I regret...