Ramen House Shinchan — Restaurant in Vernon Hills

We decided to try this local Ramen place with our son. I'm vegan, and my son and husband are both pescatarian (no shellfish). The restaurant is absolutely adorable. Our server was pleasant, but very visibly overwhelmed (not their fault by any means - they appeared to be the only server on a busy Saturday evening). When we ordered, we very clearly noted our dietary restrictions (I was to have a vegetable broth, the vegan noodles, and absolutely no fish, egg, dairy, meat products whatsoever. For our son's, we were very clear that his food was to be entirely vegetarian (veg broth, no meat, no meat broth, etc), and my husband had a poke bowl without the shrimp. The server repeated our order back to us, and was very clear about our dietary restrictions. Unfortunately, our son's order which we were told was correct....had meat in it (meat broth). Only after he began eating it, did the server come over and asked if we'd started eating yet. We immediately stopped, and asked for clarification - they had mistakenly given him a meat broth instead of the vegetarian broth. The server was very apologetic, and we could hear them correct the kitchen staff in how the food needed to be remade with special attention to the vegetarian nature of the food.

The food was absolutely delicious, however, I do not believe we will be back. This was terribly upsetting to our son, and to both my husband and myself.

If you do not have dietary restrictions, I would highly recommend this restaurant.

*They do offer vegan noodles, and have vegetarian broth. However - for those who consume a vegan/plant based diet - be aware that you need to be very clear with...

Always love coming here with my family every other week since they opened. Pro tip though get here at like 4:57 or something, right before they open at 5, because it gets packed here in a hurry! For good reason -- the ramen noodles are a great texture, the broth is rich and made carefully. Nice selection of apps from gyoza to takoyaki, and limited ones like shrimp shumai or BBQ katsudon. Favorite part is how hot the food is, so it's super fresh with generous seasoning.

Most of the staff is professional, except this wavy dark hair girl with glasses; she was condescending and unbothered that tables (same party size, similar food order) sat long after us were getting their food before us, while ignoring our empty appetizers plates long after finishing them. I understand when kitchens are held up, but the dispassionate attitude was unnecessary. When kindly asked to check on our food, she instead told us the kitchen was slammed, no apology, no follow up. That's not what we asked for; we asked for our food to be checked on, and were given a meaningless answer. I've seen her on past visits, and she's usually standing near the kitchen on her phone. It's fine if you don't mind a no urgency kinda rude server, that's your business.

Otherwise, everyone else has a genuine attention to detail, friendly demeanors, and informative off-menu information. Everyone else here are exemplary models of impactful and...

Why 2 stars? For me, 5 (or 1) stars means I am actively encouraging people to patronize (or avoid) a place. 3 stars means that I can take it or leave it. 4 (or 2) stars means that, if asked, I would tell someone to patronize (or avoid) a place.

If asked, I would tell someone that Ramen House Shinchan is a place to avoid.

Their ramen, which is the whole point of this restaurant, commits a cardinal sin: They toss in a refrigerated hard-boiled egg (instead of soft-boiling them fresh to order), so your bite of egg is cold in the center. The sliced pork is overcooked. While the tonkotsu and miso broths were both nicely made and flavorful, every other element in the bowl (aside from the green onion garnish) was poorly executed.

The fried rice is dry, not very flavorful, and features overcooked bits of pork. The fish cake pieces and slices of tart pickle were nice.

The servers were all polite, efficient, and appropriately attentive. The interior of the restaurant was pleasant.

If you have experienced authentic Japanese ramen, you will likely leave this restaurant...