Ichiraku Ramen & Fusion (Smithfield) — Restaurant in Smithfield

Considering this place just opened, I'm cutting them a little slack, as I figure it must be tough as a new restaurant during this pandemic and they're probably still getting the hang of things. However, I'm only giving 2 stars because of: slow service and decent food. I did feel as if the menu didn't really give great descriptions of some of their items, so you might need to ask about something before you get it. Also, this is going to be a long review so if you're not going to read the rest, I would keep in mind that they did not have some of the items on their menu available, so I would suggest asking if something is available before ordering it.

Short review: This place is decent for a new ramen shop, so if you don't feel like driving too far for better ramen, I would suggest this place as a good alternative (keep in mind I've only been here once at the time of writing this).

Now, the real review:

Once we got sat down, we were handed waters right away. After that, it took a while until our waitress came to take our orders. I did feel as if our waitress was a bit short with us (not necessarily rude, just that she gave off the vibe that she didn't want to be there). She did seem a bit angry about something about halfway into our meal, maybe something happened, I don't know.

The appetizers were good, I got the fried calamari which came with two sauces: a sweet Thai chili sauce and the other sauce I didn't really know what it was since it didn't have much flavor, I figure it's some kind of oil? But Idk what. The calamari was good, and we got two kinds of I guess buns you can call it, it's like a soft dough with meat inside, cucumbers and different sauce for each. Those were good, I believe one was pork belly, I forgot what the other one was.

Now, for the ramen. I wasn't paying too much attention to the time, but it seemed like it was close to an hour that I had been waiting for my ramen after I placed my order. I got the Tonkotsu Miso ramen (it came with chashu pork, ground pork, bean sprouts, half egg, bamboo shoots, corn, green onion, sesame seeds), it was good, but it wasn't one of those dishes that blew my mind away.

Final thoughts: a nice spot if you want decent ramen, just keep in mind...

If there was an option for a zero star review I would give it.

This was my first experience and last experience here probably for a very long time. We waited at least 20 minutes for someone to even ask about our drink order. We ordered our drinks and proceeded to wait another 15 minutes before our drinks were brought over to us. It was this moment when we knew it would be a longer than usual wait.

We were cutting this place some slack since it has just opened and is still in their soft opening. They were CLEARLY understaffed! The waiters and waitress were running around with their heads cut off. The table next to us who arrived after us received all their food before we even got our appetizers. We waited an hour for our food and received 1 entree and 1 appetizer for 3 people when we each ordered an appetizer and entree. We asked about our food 3 times and got told it will be right there. We called over for the manager and turns out the kitchen lost our ticket. After being in the building for a little over and hour and a half we were DONE, I was not about to wait any longer for our food to be done when it was almost 8pm. We had the food we didn’t receive taken off the bill and left.

NOT TO MENTION, they are NOT following the social distancing guidelines, the tables are NOT 6ft apart nor do they have plexiglass between tables or an empty table between each booth.

In conclusion, if you are thinking about trying Ichiraku ramen I would wait a couple months for them to get more staff and train them properly. I am deeply unsatisfied with my experience and not sure if I will be going back.

If you would like a decent ramen at a decent price and in a timely manner you should try Lotus in North Smithfield, I have never had any problems there and love their...

Probably one of the worst dining experiences I've had in a long time. Although we were greeted with smiles upon entering and quickly brought to our table, we were given take out menus instead of actual hard cover menus other tables had. It took tile for our waitress to greet us and she took our drink and appetizer order but when we got it we had to ask for plates and silverware. We got fried calamari that looked nothing like what they portray on their online menu. It looked like large onion rings. It was a little fishy and chewy. The mai this were missing sour mix and not good at all. The rest of our meal came and the tuna roll looked like chopped salmon mixed with breadcrumbs. The ramen bowl was salty and unappetizing. The sashimi was unevenly sliced and the uni we ordered didn't come. When we asked about it the waitress went to check on it and came back to say they were sold out since yesterday. Something she should've known when we ordered it. We shouldn't have had to ask. The manager should have come over and spoken to us. The waitress was well aware of our disappointment. The fact that the manager either didn't care enough or the waitress didn't inform him is disappointing. The food was subpar and the service was bad. I was really excited about trying this place but it was more than disappointing. First impressions speak volumes. Won't be...