Vibe N Slurp — Restaurant in Toms River

Good Quality – High Price

Vibe N Slurp Review:

So apparently the latest craze is ramen noodle places to eat. I thought I would give it a go. I took several individuals (picky eaters) to this location in Toms River, NJ on 12/28/2021. We got a chance to speak with the owner and family whom are all working at this location. Friendly people for sure.

Menus: Now mind you the visit on this date was a soft opening. There was no menu’s, for someone such as myself that has never been to a place like this I had no idea what I was looking at. The waitress assisting us advised we can use our smart phone’s (which the people I drove did not have) to look up the menu under their website. On their website there was no pictures to give us an idea what the food would look like. The descriptions were very vague so you really didn’t know what was going to be in it. (Skip down to the waitress description) Like I mentioned this was a soft opening so I’m sure this will get better.

Food: Okay so we ordered 3 bowls of ramen, 1 bowl of rice, 1 appetizer, and 1 desert. 1 bowl was vegetable ramen. This was just regular noodles with no vegetables in it. (Cost $17.00 – way too much for something like this) 2 ramen bowls had two different meats inside. Now these I can see going for about $20.-. All three of these bowls were delicious and amazing tasting. Very flavorful. The vegetable rice bowl. Very disappointed with. If I ordered this as my main meal I would be very upset. The vegetable rice bowl, was just plain rice, no other vegetables in it but my requested scrambled egg, and pork on top. Mixed together the bland taste of the white rice still popped in my mouth with a feeling like the rice was just sitting in a warming bowl waiting to be served. No flavor whatsoever. The appetizer (vegetable dumplings) were the most delicious, and tasty. The desert was also tasty.

Waitress: Thank goodness for our waitress. Great personality and on top of her game. There was several moments as new people to the experience we were contemplating leaving. If it wasn’t for the very helpful waitress to sort out the menu problem we might have left but I’m glad we did not.

Overall Experience: Very nice owners / employees. Display of food was awesome. Taste was awesome. Cost was a little too pricey for me so instead of several visits throughout the year it might be a special treat only once or twice a year. 3 bowls of ramen, 1 bowl of rice, 1 appetizer, and 1 desert for a hundred bucks ($100.-) is a little much in comparison to other high quality restaurants is a little too steep in my opinion. Yes I would go back again but not often because...

Oh Vibe and Slurp, where do I start. I visited here with such high hopes and excitement and the song I left with in my head was, Build me up Buttercup by The Foundations. For the younger generations, the song says, 'Why do you build me up just TO LET ME DOWN. But if you listen to the song VnS IS Buttercup. They were A TOTAL LET DOWN. So upon walking in, you don't know whether you should seat yourself or wait to be seated because there is no acknowledgement of any kind for a while. Eventually I was waved to go seat myself.

With every intention of reviewing the place, I took meticulous notes.

The place opened at 2:30. I got there at 2:55. By this time there were only 6 customers including myself. The waitress came to me and gave me the run down on a plethora of items that were not available on the menu. She said, " Well we do have it but it hasn't been prepped for the day because our shipment just came in... ANYONE IN THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS KNOWS DELIVERIES AND PREPPING ARE DONE HOURS BEFORE OPENING TIME. The waitress got my order wrong even after she said it back it to me. She had no pen and paper. Just a bad memory. By the time I got my WRONG appetizer, (1 oxtail Boa Bun. I ordered the 3pcs oxtail Boa Bun) twenty minutes had already went by.

Its a Ramen eating restaurant and the waitress gave me a fork and ladle. She didn't even ask me if I wanted chopsticks. Also, I hate putting my lips to cups so I asked for a straw. Not only were there a lot of unavailable items on the menu but apparently straws weren't available either. By the time I got my Ramen entree it was precisely 3:52. Again, there were only 6 customers including myself. And remember my arrival time? Yep, 2:55 .

When it was time to pay I noticed the pricing on the menus differed from what the waitress rang up in the computer. My trip to VnS was annoying, frustrating, confusing and wore on my patience.

Believe it or not the Ramen dish ( Curry chicken) was... flavorful. I actually found it hard to enjoy my experience and the Ramen that was set before me because of the impression that was given.

The place however was very tidy. I did not use their restroom so I will not comment on that. Restaurants higher kids because they can pay them minimum wage. Perhaps try hiring someone who actually has passion, motivation, organizational skills and a promising future in the food and restaurant business.

After reading other reviews about this place, ordering takeout is worse than going to the actual restaurant. I would not recommend this place to anyone unfortunately. Sadly, I wholeheartedly think this place WILL NOT last. Chef Wayne, maybe it's time to return to the...

Today was my first visit to Vibe and Slurp. I seen it on TikTok. I was greeted by the owner who made us feel right at home. We were able to pick our own seat and sat down. The building is a smaller building so there wasn't a lot of tables but there was enough and the spacing was fine. The owner came over and told us about the specials of the day. I ended up ordering a cucumber salad, 8 Thai chili wings, ramen mac and cheese, and my husband got a rice dish that I don't know the name of. Before I get into the food let's talk service. The service was great. He checked up on us multiple times. He presented the dishes with poise and ease. We felt very welcome and comfortable. The chef (owner's wife) explained to me how to reheat the meals. Both of them were very friendly and inviting. The food was nothing less than phenomenal. The cucumber salad had a hint of wasabi and was very refreshing. The wings were large, juicy, fried, and very flavorful. I don't normally like bone in but these have a great flavor and are my new favorites. My ramen mac and cheese was delicious! It is a limited-time thing so make sure you try it if it's on the menu when you go. It was very cheesy and cute with the little flower on top. My husband's dish, which we don't know the name of was the chef's special. It was a crispy chicken with scallions over a black truffle rice. I tried the chicken which was good I'm not a fan of truffle so I didn't try the rice but, my husband would not stop saying mmm after every bite. My only negative comment would be that they don't take credit cards. They do have an atm inside of the building for you to use. When I told the owner I would be using a credit card he said there is a small fee to use the atm but he would take that fee off on the bill. So while it is a minor inconvenience it really wasn't. We really did enjoy our time trying out this new to us location. We will be back and I WILL be getting those wings again.

EDIT: upon review and the owner's comment my information was incorrect. They do accept credit cards. The machine was down...