Menya Rui — Restaurant in St. Louis

...different.

Not bad, but be prepared.

Was greeted at the door by a man who looks (to me) to be possibly the guy who owns(?) Bolyards. The truly excellent quality of the meat I received supports that theory. :) He showed us the gatorade-style coolers by the wall (sorry, that photo is really blurry) and the cups, napkins, and disposable chopstick bin behind them. We grabbed waters and chopsticks.

The place is tiny - thin bar seating front and back along the kitchen and front window, one row of tables that seat six each. My daughter and I sat at the far end of the table closest to the door - all photos are taken from that seat. All seats are stools with no backs. Each table has three QR code stickers - make sure you have a reader. The QR opens a browser to the menu, which is pretty short, and you order and pay from there, and they know which sticker you scanned so they bring your order to that sticker when it's ready.

We ordered the pickled cucumber appetizer, and it seemed pretty traditional - not euro-pickles. We enjoyed them. There were two kinds on yhe little plate. I also ordered a green tea, which I was surprised to find arrived cold in a can (see photo). I'll skip that next time. Nothing wrong with it, but it was plain brewed green tea, unsweetened, cold, in a can. Not what I wanted. Was expecting a fresh hot cha.

A friend who recommended the place suggested I try the cold Ramen with the separate dip bowl - daughter had the same. We added the egg. The noodles are cold-rinsed, so they arrive cold, drained, on the little plates with the bamboo mats. The eggs are soft-boiled and sliced in half, also served cold. A strip of dried seaweed is added. I'm sorry I forgot to take a photo before I ate the noodles.

The egg was plain, but strangely delicious with the seaweed. I didn't particularly care for the noodles being cold, though it is obviously intentional. My experience with traditional Ramen is rather limited. The hot bowl of very rich dipping soup was delicious, and I basically just dropped my noodles in and ate them directly out of there, because I lack the skills to dip them and eat them without making a mess all over my face.

The soup was excellent, with mushrooms and the aforementioned very high quality seared pork. The pork did have significant fat on it, but it was obviously intentional, neatly all at one end of the pieces for flavor, and it worked well. Very umame.

The place was busy, and strangers sit immediately next to you. I look forward to going back, but probably won't until the pandemic...

My partner and I had been looking forward to dining at Menya Rui, but our experience fell short of our expectations.

Upon arrival, we encountered a 20 minute wait outside, which, under different circumstances, might not have been bothersome. However, the subsequent dining experience didn't compensate for the wait.

The ambiance of Menya Rui was quite charming and inviting, but our encounter with the service left much to be desired. Our frustration began when we were informed that we could not order an additional bowl of ramen to go. Our server, who initially said it would be possible, later changed his stance without providing a clear explanation. This lack of clarity and seeming rigidity in the restaurant's policy was bewildering and off-putting.

We also noticed an inconsistency in service as other patrons received detailed explanations about the restaurant's ordering and service system, which we were not privy to. This led to some confusion on our part regarding self-service aspects like water and utensils and the fact that orders were to be placed through our phones.

A recurring issue during our meal was the waitstaff bumping into my partner's back, an annoyance that seemed to be avoided for other diners at our communal table.

Additionally, I felt an uncomfortable vibe from a kitchen staff member, as I caught her mean mugging me several times throughout the meal. Wasn’t sure what that was about.

The tantamen ramen, was average at best, a 5 out of 10. Given the high standard of ramen available elsewhere in St. Louis, this was a letdown, especially with our high hopes for Menya Rui.

On the brighter side, the cucumber appetizer was excellent and deserves praise.

Due to the restaurant's policies on leftovers, I felt compelled to overeat rather than take a portion home. Felt like I had to be calculated with how I approached my meal. This, combined with the previous issues, made for an uncomfortable dining experience.

In a gesture of unexpected kindness, our waiter brought our forgotten water bottle out to us, which I appreciated. It's small acts like these that save the review from being a one-star and instead warrant a...

My hubby and I wanted to try out this spot so I decided to cut my workday short and go for it with him. Seeing as it opened at 5 PM I thought we would be perfectly fine arriving by 5 PM. Boy was wrong.

We arrived at 5:02 PM and I jumped out of the car to stand in the already formed line as my husband parked down the street. Pro tip1 park down the street as the parking lot is very small and is shared by other businesses. Holds a dozen cars max.

Being the 30th and 31st people in line wasn’t so bad as many people would be seated and we would get in fairly quickly. Again I was wrong. I was unaware that the first group of people had already been seated and we stood in line for 1 hour and 12 minutes. That annoyed me since all the reviews said the line moved quickly… I think readers will appreciate a quantifiable period of time so expectations are in line with reality.

We were finally seated and atmosphere was nice and simply decorated. There were barstools at dining and bar height on four sets of 6 tops, a mix of tables and bars. Twenty four seats in all explaining the wait time.

To order you scan a QR code, which is unique to your location and the food came out quite quickly. We tried the chicken, cucumbers, and two pork Ramen. Everything had great flavor and was delicious.

From entry to exit we were in the restaurant for 39 minutes as they encourage you to be no longer than an hour. This is marketed as a cultural experience on their website since Japanese people don’t spend more than 10 to 15 minutes eating but of course it’s growing their the bottom line allowing for more customers and I’m not mad at the hustle. I just hate I was in there less time than I was outside.

Overall, it’s delicious. Not sure it’s worth over an hour wait but I did overhear a server saying 30 minutes before opening and 30 minutes before closing is your best shot to have the shortest wait time which averages around 30 minutes. Overall I’m appreciative of the experience, but it won’t be an every month visit unless I’m absolutely...