Mitsuba Ramen Noodle — Restaurant in Town of De Witt

Mitsuba is a Japanese Ramen Noodle restaurant with two locations in New York. They offer noodle bowls, poke bowls and bubble teas. Their atmosphere is very nice, inviting and modern. Service is counter service and they give you a buzzer to pick up your food at the counter when it's ready and you put your dishes in a bin near the entrance when you're finished if you eat inside. Service was fine at the counter and they actually brought our food to us at our table without having to get it ourselves so that was nice. The food was good but I was having a issue with the flavor with most things which was a bit disappointing. Overall, I would recommend you to try this place once to see if it's your jam but not something I would be rushing to tell my friends about.

My wife and I shared the Gyoza and I got the Tonkotsu Ramen and she got the Pho. We also had the Strawberry boba drink and Thai tea to try. My Tonkotsu Ramen had, Pork ramen broth, chasu (roasted pork belly), kikurage, eggs, green onion, and menma (bamboo). This was good but it had a flavor that was very off putting to me. I've had a decent amount of Tonkotsu Ramen in my day but nothing that tasted like this. Honestly, I'm not sure what could have made it taste like this and I'm giving them the benefit of doubt considering I may not be cultured enough to know what I was tasting but with my American palate, the broth tasted like toilet water. And it smelled like it too. Idk what they put into it but I was having a hard time enjoying it because it just tasted and smelled weird. Maybe it was the seasonings? Broth? The water they use? Idk. I was not impressed. The noodles, pork and toppings were delicious but something about the broth was not okay.

My wife's pho was good. They only sell it as one size and it was a good enough portion for the price and it met our expectations when it came to pho for the most part but it was the broth that we weren't impressed with yet again. It was lacking depth of flavor with beef and tasted a bit watered down. Good pho should have a deep, rich beef flavor as the broth but seeing as though this place is more ramen focused, it seems as though the pho was an afterthought.

Our gyoza was good and had good flavor as well as the dipping sauce it came with but it must have been made before our main entree was prepared because it arrived to our table lukewarm and wasn't super hot and the crispy side was soft. They were tasty but were not fresh from the pan and seemed as though they were sitting around before everything else was ready. We also got miso soup. That was the best thing here in my opinion. Loved the miso soup.

My Thai tea was delicious and how Thai tea should be but my wife's strawberry drink was also weird to me. She enjoyed it but when I tasted it, it tasted like strawberry soap. Again, giving them the benefit of the doubt here but the flavor profile for me was just off and not appealing whatsoever. Glad I didn't order it because I would have returned it..

Overall, this may be the place for you if you don't have a weird palate like me but I've tried a lot of similar flavors that we've tasted here at other restaurants and no place has tasted like the flavors that we've had here. Either other places are accommodating to American palates or something is definitely wrong here. I would recommend to try just to do so but I wouldn't come back honestly.

Food - 3 ⭐ Service - 4 ⭐ Atmosphere - 5 ⭐ Overall - 3 ⭐

Follow me for more reviews across America 😎🍔🍕 🍨🍦🦖🔧

Like this review if you found...

I'm leaving the original reviews below so you can see the overall picture of our various visits. 3rd and last time: everything was inedible. Rotten tasting actually. So glad we ordered (sour tasting) ramen bowls and not Poke which might have killed us with food poisoning. We threw most of it out and ate leftovers instead. I'm sorry to do this with Covid and all, but serving rotten food to save money is just not ok. 2nd time: We went back and the music volume was much lower and overall the ordering went much smoother. This time I got a ramen bowl with pork belly that was absolutely delicious. The pork was so tender it dissolved in my mouth and the half of a soft boiled egg was perfect. The broth is rich and flavorful. I can't wait to go back. I bumped them a star and congratulations on fixing the new restaurant kinks. 👍 Original review starts here: We love Poke and were excited to try this place with a Groupon. I want to give this place four stars because the bowls were super generous portions and fresh but there were some flaws in the set up and ambiance that spoiled the experience. For one thing, ordering at the counter is chaos. The register is first, then you have to shout over a clear plastic wall at the person making your food Subway style. The music is twice as loud as it should be and the employee didn't speak English as his first language - no big deal if he could hear clearly but the combo made for about a dozen or more repetitions of requests. The poke bowls are layered in with rice/greens/quinoa base first, and then the rest of the toppings are tossed in another bowl then flopped onto the base. Even though we were dining in, they served us in a disposable plastic bowl that was way too small for the contents. Everything was mashed together on top and there was no way to get the dressing down onto the base. Also, things like pickled ginger and fish roe are lost in the mix. Everywhere else we've had Poke it's been a composed salad. Items arranged on top of base so you can sample each thing on it's own or mix it yourself. It's only counter service and there's no water offered (I probably could have asked). It really could be a great take out place but they should consider ala carte sushi style ordering cards to expedite the bowl building. Much simpler to hand in your order than struggle to be understood in the current system. Hope...

Not sure if they just had a bad day.. but I have gone to Mitsuba ramen noodles in the past and have had great experiences with their food, except this last time. This time I had their tonkatsu ramen and original (black milk tea) bubble tea. And let me tell you it did not taste near to what I have had in the past at the same establishment. Tonkatsu ramen was simply put the same water they boiled their noodles on, no salt, no flavor, just a bunch of water with slices of pork/noodles and toppings. The egg was a hard boiled egg which was the first giveaway to me that it was not going to be good ramen already. What is worst is that it was just not edible, I’m not one to complain and if It was just okaish, I would have not cared and just eat it, but it was just not edible at all! Once I got to the bubble tea, I though hopefully washing down the awful taste of the food, well…. Once again.. just a bunch of water with powdered milk and no sugar/no flavor. Not even their boba had sugar. I gave them another chance and asked them if perhaps their boba is meant to not have sugar and i got a redone boba “with strong tea and sugar” according to them. What I got in the second bubble tea was just the pure flavor of the powdered milk. Not good ramen nor bubble tea for this experience. Once again, I have had really good experiences here and I wonder if this was just a day where the chef wasn’t there, or maybe a change of management? But unfortunately I would not go there...