Ninja Japanese express II — Restaurant in Van Buren

Tried this for the first time this evening and, wow, we were so impressed!

First off, there is limited dining (capacity around two dozen) and it appeared most customers ordered their food to go. However, for a dine-in meal on a Friday night, it was pleasant to more or less have the place to ourselves, so that’s a win. The atmosphere is no-frills, on-par with other less expansive Asian food restaurants.

Second, their extensive menu consists of sushi (lots of options plus combo specials), ramen, hibachi, and some sides like miso soup and egg rolls. Prices are phenomenal for the large portion size and delicious taste.

Our food arrived as it was ready, so it came in five stages—miso soup, sushi, chicken fried rice, ramen bowl, and, last, egg rolls.

My husband ordered Sushi Combo C—came with 24 pieces of sushi for $13. Yes, $13! And it was delicious, tasted like some of the freshest sushi I’ve ever had. It was a definite win!

My daughter ordered the chicken fried rice. We may forgotten to tell them that she wanted the veggies with it too, so she didn’t end up with those, but she had a huge plate of rice and chicken (no other trappings mixed in), and she had so much fun trying all the food on the table, not just her own—she certainly did not miss the veggies. There was some kind of sauce on her chicken which had a really good flavor, plus they gave her a bottle of some sauce (maybe yum yum sauce?).

I ordered the beef ramen with miso base—a large steaming hot bowl of ramen arrived, also delicious. The beef was steak like and also had a special sauce drizzled on it. I noticed towards the end that a lot of the flavor had settled at the bottom of the bowl, so I learned my lesson—stir as I eat next time so the flavor is more evenly dispersed throughout each bite.

I didn’t try the egg rolls but the other two really enjoyed them. They came with packets of duck sauce.

Will...

I walked in, and was not greeted very politely, which is fine, I'm not really worried about that. I ordered a chicken hibachi with no vegetables, and extra rice with a Razorback Roll. I sat down and waited for my food. I waited for 20+ minutes on my food, I got my sushi first. It was good, no complaints there. When I got my hibachi "chicken" is when I had problems. They gave me no chicken, double vegetables and normal rice. I told them about it politely and just said "Hey man, I think you gave me someone else's order, I ordered chicken hibachi with no vegetables and I got no chicken, and he said "it should be right. Do you want me to just cook you some chicken?" I said that was fine and sat back down. I finished the wrong order I had, and waited 15 more minutes, and got no chicken. I left without saying anything after being frustrated that I ordered 28 dollars worth of food and the only thing right was the sushi. Just go eat at Saku Saku. It's right up the road and blows this place out...

Fast service, great quality food. The order online system needs a bit of work and does not contain everything that is on the actual menu. However most items that are not on the online system are available to get on the spot. This is however an extra payment process though should not reflect negatively.

Examples of what is not available to order is the yum yum sauce, a simple order of rice, and similar smaller options.

Have eaten here many many times over a number of years, there has never been an issue with the order itself, however 1/30 times the food may be not quite up to standards that are common for this location.

Overall this is a solid location and ordering from here will be a cost effective meal for the quality, portions, and type of food it is.

I recommend the lunch hibachi Chicken with extra...