Master Chef — Restaurant in South Hadley

My gosh what a hidden gem. Never heard of this place until we moved nearby.

Big city quality and menu creativity with small town portions (generous).

Food: We've ordered off the sushi and the primary menu. Sushi menu has variety without being overwhelming. Main menu has a variety of Japanese and Korean faire with some fusion items. (See pork belly tacos!) Portions were above expectations, especially these days! Shoyu, Miso, and Tonkatsu ramen? Japanese curry too! (so rare in the states) All on one menu? Sign me up.

Kimchi ramen: Great flavor, meat was juicy, noodles firm, tonnes of veg, and the broth was...chefs kiss.

Sushi: Good size, fresh, and my lord that's a lot of wasabi. All good!

Service: We've been twice and both times the service was way above expectations. Super friendly & very helpful. I normally focus on food for reviews, but I really can't emphasize this enough. Whether it was genuine or they were just good at their jobs, the servers seemed genuinely happy. I hope management is treating them well, because they damn deserve it!

Recommendations: Only two - Needs Wi-Fi: It's a pet peeve of mine. But I really appreciate even some basic Wi-Fi for customers. Especially when the cell service is very spotty, T-Mobile and Verizon are 1 bar at most.

Bao: I loved the tacos but I would love to see a steamed bun option. Maybe I'm just conditioned by Momofuku, but I love a good Pork Belly Bao before a bowl of ramen. (curse you David Chang!)

Overall: 10/10...

Update: I've been back and there have been no further mask issues with staff. Updating my star rating!!

MASK ISSUES WITH STAFF BUT GREAT FOOD. I have never been to Master Chef but have heard great things. They have a nice online menu in which you can order and pay online. You are given an estimated time which was reasonable at 65 minutes on a Friday evening. Upon arrival, you get into a car pickup line. (So far so good!!) There are easy to read instructions posted on their main door with a number to call when you arrive. Had this not been covid times, this restaurant would likely be getting 5 stars because the food was really great but the woman who brought my order out to the car DID NOT HAVE ON A MASK. This is alarming. In order for her to hand the food to me, we are less than 6 feet apart. It is likely no masks are being worn inside at all... I am trying to support local but it is hard when places are blatantly disregarding the safety of their customers. The food is 5 stars but if you don't want yo catch COVID 19 maybe skip Master Chef for the...

We were pretty annoyed with the service and food. If we hadn't asked several times after a 30-minute wait, we think we would've been stuck there for a whole 50 minutes, rushing to finish our food in 10 minutes. If you're swamped with takeout orders, it would be really helpful to let customers know how long it will take, especially if it's going to be 50 minutes.

There were only three tables with customers around 7 pm, but after a 30-minute wait, we had to go up to the front and ask about our ramen and fried chicken. Finally, the waiter brought the fried chicken. When we asked about the ramen, they told us it would be another 20 minutes. That meant we had just 10 minutes to wolf down the ramen because they close at 8 pm. We didn't want to waste a whole hour waiting, so we decided to cancel the two ramen orders and settle the bill. However, five minutes later, another waiter hurried over with the ramen noodles. The 40-minute wait resulted in an overly greasy classic ramen and burnt pork, which was even worse...