Shinji Ramen and Roll — Restaurant in Southern Pines

Extremely rude, strangest experience l've ever had at a restaurant. I highly recommend avoiding Shinji and here's why...

I stopped in at Shinji for lunch with my 2 daughters (age 6 and4) and my mother. My mother and I weren't very hungry but my daughters were. We had been to Shinji before so we decided to try it again.

I ordered two kids karaage chicken meals for my two daughters. An appetizer and mochi for me and my mother as we weren't all that hungry. Moments after the woman took my order she came back to the table to tell me that I'm not allowed to share. Confused by this, l asked her what she was talking about.

She said, "you ordered kid meals to share for everyone." (Not true) I stumbled over my words as I attempted to explain that l ordered two kids meals for my two kids, an app, and a dessert... she then doubled down and told me that I'm not allowed to share... to which again I reiterated that I'm not going to share... she kept saying no no, then she angrily walked away to grab a menu and brought it to me.. I felt very uncomfortable, so l asked for the food to go.

So apparently if you order food for your kids, you will be treated like you're stealing from them. Not only did I order food for my kids but I also ordered an app and dessert. Absolutely ridiculous and uncomfortable dining experience.

Maybe they don't realize that this is a very kid friendly town and this type of behavior towards families/ mothers will not go over well for the longevity of...

Honestly, this restaurant doesn’t even deserve one star. We waited 30 minutes just to get a seat, then it took another 10 minutes for someone to take our order and another 10 minutes just to bring water. The food came out 45 minutes after we ordered — for ramen! Are they picking it up from somewhere else? It’s just boiling noodles in pre-made broth, right?

And to make matters worse, they brought us the wrong dish at first.

Let’s talk about the food. The broth — supposedly the foundation of any ramen — was extremely salty to the point I had to keep drinking water. The noodles? Completely overcooked and soggy, with most of the broth evaporated. The noodles were also overly glutinous and sticky, leaving the broth murky and unappetizing. I’ve never had ramen like this in my life.

The restaurant clearly has serious management issues. If you're short-staffed, hire more people.

The only thing that came quickly? The check. That was brought over in record time. Even one star is...

Very disappointing in every way possible. Seats are too close to each other, feels like you're right on top of the people next to you. Boba choices are mediocre especially since they utilize a lot of the milk powder, very inconsistent as well; website says they have lactaid milk with the matcha boba, waitress said they do not have lactaid, only a nondairy creamer which they can't use in all the flavors. Which means a lot of the boba is probably premixed powders. The Neko roll was 80% panko and 20% sushi. The panko is so overwhelming, you can't even taste the sushi. The ramen is more like chicken noodle soup at best. Lacks flavor and just doesn't taste coherent. They use only half the boiled egg in it and I want to know where the other half goes? To a different customer? The seaweed doesn't go well with the soup and the bok choy is out of place for a "ramen" bowl. Overall the whole experience was a let down and will definitely not be...