Ninja Ramen & Thai — Restaurant in Sioux Falls Township

Found another Ramen restaurant! This makes my 4th to review and I’ve got to say, as far as the food goes, I’m glad I found it! It’s no secret that Ramen Fuji has been my favorite Ramen joint, that’s basically what I’ve been comparing all others to. I’ve been trying to decide if I like this better but both restaurants have their pros and cons, I think I’ve got to say that they both tie for first place.

The first thing that sets this place apart is the dining experience. Most Ramen eateries that I have found are fast food style, meaning you order and the counter and refill your own drinks. This is a full dine in experience, although, kind of a lackluster one, I’ll get back to that.

The food here is really good. The meat in the Ramen was not as tender as it usually is at Fuji but the thing I like better here is when they say something is spicy, it’s got substantial heat! I’ve been disappointed every other time I’ve ordered a “spicy” dish at one of these places but NOT this time! Both the Ramen dish and the Spicy Basil Fried Rice did not disappoint. For that reason, as far as food goes, I’ve got to give the edge to Ninja Ramen & Thai. Really nice work!

Getting back to the dining experience. Service was a little slow but not horrible considering there was only one waitress covering the whole restaurant. We were not checked up on as often as we should have been, refills were definitely on the slow side. Drinks and entrees were auctioned off (I explain this better if you have read some of my other reviews but this meaning they had to ask who got what, a no no and a pet peeve of mine). Food came out super fast but did not all come out at once, my wife and my son got their food within 10 minutes but that was several minutes before I got mine and I noticed the same thing happened to an older couple sitting next to us. This should not happen at a dine in restaurant! Even at McDonald’s they give you all your food at one time. Finally, it took a while to get our check. I was starting to wonder if we paid up front, another pet peeve of mine. Nothing worse than not knowing how to pay your bill and if it’s a dine in experience, the server should take care of you at the table. I’ve never understand why places like Frying Pan wait on you, bring you a check, then make you check out at a register. Hate that! However, the waitress did eventually bring our check and we did take care of it at the table.

I think the dine in experience could really help set them apart as a Ramen restaurant in addition to their legitimately spicy food but there is definitely room for improvement in that department. I don’t see it as a benefit as it is now, if you’re going to do dine in, you’ve got to do it right! If not? You’re better off following suit and turning this into a order at the counter like the other places. A sub par dining experience won’t do anything but hurt you, no matter how good...

Had dinner at Pad Thai Tonight with my kids (11 and 14 y.o) and we were pretty pleased overall. We've been really missing good Thai food since moving here a little over a year ago and are glad to now have this source. I'm sorry that we didn't take pics of the food. We were just too hungry and the food looked too good...lol! We ordered the Massuman Curry, the Pad Seew, the Lemon Grass Pork (don't know the Thai name for it,) and the sticky rice. All of the food was really tasty but a bit on the sweet side but not in a bad way, at least not for our tastes. The Massuman Curry was for me a little thinner than I like and more like soup than I'm accustomed to but there are as many versions of ALL of the menu items as there are grandmothers in Thailand so it just it what it is and will not prevent me from ordering it again because the chicken was nice and tender as were the carrots and potatoes and the sauce was overall tasty and I really loved that the coconut milk was prominent in the flavor. The Pad Seew was also a bit different than we're used to having a thinner sauce instead of the gravy we know but again, different take on it here but still really good overall. The final entrée was the Lemongrass Porkchop. I really wish I had taken a photo of it. It was beautiful. Very well plated, but even better was how good it was. The pork, which is apparently marinated and grilled is then sliced into strips and served with several spears of perfectly grilled asparagus artfully placed and plated with a molded portion of an amazing fried rice. The rice has chunks of mango (I don't like cooked fruit but my kids loved it,) raisins, and cashews in it. We'd never seen that before but we're really looking forward to it again. The dish is also served with a small dish of nuoc-mam cham type sauce that really makes the already tasty pork just that much better. Finally, is the sticky rice. It is not indicated on the menu so, just as a warning, it should be on the dessert menu. The rice is apparently cooked with sweetened coconut milk and is even served with a small amount of coconut cream to dip it in and we loved it! We usually have it to dip in things like the curry but this sweet version is great! So, overall, the food was really good, if a bit on the sweet side, and they give nice portions for a decent price. The staff were nice and very attentive and we look forward to our next visit, and I'll try to remember to take pics next...

Thought We would try this place. Easy to get to plenty of parking. Got there, and had to wait a bit for the server. Place was not busy. Once server came ask for drinks, and that part ok. Next we ordered appetizers, and then he took our main dish. I posted pics, of the menu, really hodge podge. N in bad shape, using printed sticky label for prices n menu is out of shape, next there a appetizer dish that came with chipped edges. Shortly after we got our appetizers. I mean 3 mins, the server started bringing one dish at a time. There was four of us. Total time for the last person was about 7 mins from start to finish of delivering four dishes n have yet completed our appetizer.

One dish was shrimp mango and the shrimp was over cooked. Rubbery. 2nd dish had chicken in it over cooked and dried. 3rd dish was shrimp with scallions. Did not find any scallion and 9 shrimp with a ton of honesty old tasting onions sitting in oil with not fully cooked bell peppers n dish was look warm. It was not tasty n not spicy. Last was a pork shop it was cook descent. The rice in a bowl was hard not cooked throughly.

It was really disappointing to try a new place n only to leave disatified.

I do alot of dining. And this was the worst experience table for four 96.00 bit high for so little. I get inflation but honestly other places serve more...