Kyuramen - Long Beach Island — Restaurant in Surf City

I hate to give three stars, I wish I could give 3.5 or 3.9, by no means do I think this Kyuramen was bad, maybe because I’m from NY and have had some different Kyuramen locations and maybe been lucky to have some different Japanese chains and independent restaurants in NY, that I just thought were better. Let me start with a list.

Service - Very awesome, everyone was nice, the place was empty so they kind of came a bit to ask for our order but it’s fine I get it, plus there’s a button for service when it gets crazy crowded which it does in NY! But nice and helpful service!

Food - I’m gonna be honest, I go to LBI for every major holiday to see our cousins, so my sister and I plan to try Kyuramen every fall visit since summer it’s insane the roads. We came this summer though for fun since we just thought let’s try it, I want to eat and judge more different items but I had ramen curry, pretty good nothing crazy it’s cool to get Japanese curry it’s hard to find in most places that aren’t theme authentic Japanese diners. Taste good like a real diner in Japan or SoCal, the chicken was good was made nice. Had some more Chinese inspire appetizer like spring rolls and Bao buns and they were good! I do wish I tried a dessert and maybe octopus but a fishing friend of my from LBI said it tasted frozen, I felt the same at other Kyuramens so I don’t want to blame this location, but sadly they have an extra small menu, no burger or omelette. Next visit in the fall will tried more appetizer at this location but generally if those were good I’m sure this location is great!

Rooms - ehhh not so private not that I care but a loud rowdy group were right behind me who were obnoxious tweens. I get it I was that age…. Maybe just a bad tourist day lol. The rooms look cool but feel weird the booths just me…

Bubble tea - Not bad but nothing crazy, I been lucky to have a Taiwanese bubble tea chain where I live. If you never had bubble tea though you’ll like it! Thai ice tea is a safe first time flavor to give a try!

Final verdict - if you never had ramen, live in quiet LBI I will say this place hits the spot! I just think some locations like the one in Queens were a lot better, and of course since they are a chain they have to freeze stuff etc like the octopus which sucks but I get it, it’s a franchise so they have to follow a corporate rule. I will compare it to the one in Queens and when I come back in the fall will give another try, also try more items but as of now, good if you never had ramen or been to a Kyuramen, but think it is OK for big ramen enjoyers or if you been to other Kyuramens. Still great though, give it a try!

Have a...

We ate lunch here today. The place is unassuming…just a small building with a view of the kitchen as you walk in. We saw only a couple of tables until we were escorted further in where booths are completely separated from one another by both walls and privacy curtains.

The menu was presented visually so you fully understood what you were getting, though the list of ingredients were identical in a few dishes which prompted questions about why they were separate items (it all comes down to the broth, it seems).

The food came out piping hot and was absolutely delicious. I think I gobbled mine down, even with my amateur-at-best use of chopsticks, before it even cooled - and the portion wasn’t small. I found myself spooning up as much of the broth as I could once all the noodles, meat, egg and veggies were gone. Drinks were tasty - the “Amazing Lemonade” had slivers of cucumber and a ton of flavor while one of our group enjoyed a passion fruit tea white chunks of passion fruit. He also ordered the combo so it came with a very tasty pork belly bao bun.

Dessert was equally good. The combo came with a fruity jelly (forgetting the fruit at the moment) and we took home an Oreo Mochi ring.

We look forward to going back again...

The food was good and staff was attentive. Seating and service was very quick. The fried oyster appetizer had plump juicy oysters that were coated in panko and fried to golden perfection. The curry ramen we ordered tasted like the Golden Curry japanese curry mix that you can buy at an Asian grocery store. Not a bad flavor, just an observation. We had tonkatsu with the ramen that was also breaded in panko and fried golden. Tasty, tender, and juicy but it did have a tiny bit of gristle. The only disappointment was dessert. We ordered mochi donuts to go and they were dense and soggy with the glaze sliding off the top. We've had mochi donuts here before that were delightfully light yet chewy with a great texture. The ones we got tonight were dense like actual mochi and wet. Not the best batch tonight. I hope this was just a one-off and not a sign of quality control...