Ramen Dozo — Restaurant in Tempe

I ate lunch here last week on a Wednesday. It looks like a little hole in the wall, but it seems to be somewhat popular with the 30 year olds. I was not that impressed actually. The restaurant was kind of drab and I thought that the menu was a little overpriced. I questioned the waiter on what all these differently named ramens were and he seemed not to really understand it either and seemed annoyed that I wanted to know. Well there's no explanation for them on the menu so how would the customer know what they all are. So low score for customer service and ugly non explanatory menu. I asked him if they used MSG and he's delightfully said yes which is not a good thing so I told him I did not want MSG. He seemed to be really perplexed at that but MSG is a bad chemical used in food to enhance its flavor. A lot of it was pork-based and I am a vegetarian so I did not want any pork based soup. It's a good thing I questioned him as to what was in the soups so he finally understood what I wanted and came up with a spicy vegetarian base with no MSG. I don't know if that's what I got but that's what I ordered. We got the spicy one. it was okay. My son-in-law also ordered the spicy tuna roll which was about $5.99 so his bill actually came out to be $16 which I think is a little high for a bowl of soup and a few rolls pieces of roll. I know this because I paid for it. When I looked at who was serving there was only one Japanese looking kid behind the sushi bar and one female and then our waiter was a redhead so I don't know if it's authentic or not. I wasn't impressed. I might go back but probably not. There so many other better...

I don’t recall how I found this place, but I’m certainly glad I did. I’ve been coming here multiple times a month for a while now, and I’m never disappointed. The food is always top tier, and the service is amazing. The owner, Alan, is there every night, and he’ll always come around to make sure everything is alright, and to get to know you. He takes real pride in his work. The waiter, Tay, is amazing as well. He says he prides himself on his terrible customer service, but I’m afraid I’m gonna have to say he’s failing in that area. His customer service skills are five stars, not one.

Now, I’m a creature of habit, so I always order the same thing, a bowl of chashu (pork) fried rice, and a side of pan seared gyoza. At this point, I just come in and say “hello,” sit down, and Alan starts getting my food ready. I no longer need to order because they’ve memorized what I get. Alan makes his own chili oil, and I HIGHLY recommend it. The rice is flavorful and moist, and the pork melts in your mouth. The gyoza is crispy and flavorful, complemented by the soy sauce.

I really only have two concerns about this place. One is that Alan works too hard, and he needs to take some time off. The second is that I still haven’t seen Tay play “Uptown Funk” on repeat like he threatened to do if he got to control the music, although maybe Alan vetoed that.

Definite 5/5 stars. If you had one night left to live,...

RAMEN DOZO-The best bowl of ramen noodles I have ever eaten! The broth was amazing, and the noodles were the real thing.: Am I picky? Well, just to give you some perspective, the last bowl of ramen noodles was in Hawaii, and after taking a couple of bites, I left the whole thing on the table. The broth in Hawaii was terrible. I don’t recall the noodles, because I left, and I don’t recall if I ate any of it. But, at RAMEN DOZO the noodles were exactly spot on. They were actually real ramen noodles. The were presented to me at my table just slightly al dente, or slightly almost undercooked. It was chewy, it was almost perfect, so that as I ate, the kept cooking and by the time I hade eaten a quarter of them, they were perfect noodles! I guess I could have just waited for the to finish, but the bowl smelled so yummy I couldn’t wait. My waitress was really cute, and very sweet. I liked her. She ask me if I wanted light broth or rich broth. I had never been asked that, so after the last bowl of broth I had in Hawaii, I optioned for the light. It was fabulous. I ask for a small amount of cilantro, and doggone it the bowl entered the upper atmosphere of great food! Well, I’m almost embarrassed to say, but there was not one drop of liquid left in that bowl. You could have held the bowl upside down, above a brand new $2k iPhone without any fear of getting moisture on it. I love it! I can’t...