Takara Ramen Westchester — Restaurant in Virginia

So, you're driving in Midlothian and want to get some good sushi for lunch. You do a Google search and see a 4.7 Google rating for Takara Ramen. Must be fantastic, right? This was closer to a 3 for my wife and me. I won't blame the server because she was the only one waiting today, but everything was slow, and the food was not good. There were probably 5 tables and 12 people in the restaurant. We ordered 2 lunch specials with a pick of 2 sushi rolls. When my wife asked if she could get Miso soup instead of the accompanying salad, the waitress said it was their policy that substitutions weren't allowed. Really? So we ordered soups separately and in addition to the salad. That said, my wife never received her salad. Our Miso soups were very salty, the tofu was squishy, and it was warm versus served hot. Not good on a day it's snowing outside. The salad was what I'd expect. The sushi rolls were decent, but not great. There was much too little wasabi. When we saw the amount that came, we immediately asked for more, which came after I had finished. I'm a pretty normal, average user of wasabi with sushi, and there was only enough for 4-5 pieces. Each of 1 of 2 of our rolls were topped with copious amounts of an orange sauce which hid the contents of the roll below it. There was too little ginger on each plate - 2 pieces, but I could tear it apart with my hands and spread it out a little, but really went through that right away. There was no bowl for soy sauce, so we poured it out on the flat plate and dabbed the rolls in it. Overall based on the experience, length of time, and quality of food, I would not recommend...

Great for take out - don’t eat in!

My husband and I went for lunch the other day. We usually love their takeout once a month or so, but we decided to eat in for the first time. The restaurant appears nice, however service was AWFUL. We saw our waiter 3 whole times, once to order food, once to deliver food and once for the check, so if you needed anything else you’re SOL. He got my order incorrect (which isn’t surprising when he didn’t write it down), then didn’t even fix the order just said sorry. We both ordered from the lunch specials menu and it says it comes with salad, which we did not get, and because we never saw our waiter we didn’t even get to ask. My husband had to get up 3 times to get what we needed for our meal (ramekin for soy sauce, more water and spicy Mayo) which thinking back we should’ve asked for our salads then but at that point we already had our meals.

That was such a disappointing meal I’m going to start looking for a new place.

**01/07/25 : I forgot I left this review and came back again to Takara again today…. Two years later and you’re waiting over 35 minutes for food, service is still awful here. Time to find a new sushi restaurant in the...

Very lovely servers, which is good because my menu qr code didn't work, so I needed a hand. I just missed happy hour, but honestly my yuzu soda was pretty solid -fresh and not too sweet- so I have no complaints there. The menu selection is a little hit or miss, though. If you were looking for a ramen restaurant, it's not bad. If you were looking for a sushi restaurant, it's not good. My spicy miso ramen was very generous on the pork, and had an absolutely perfect egg with a jelly yolk. The chashu bun was tasty too, on a nice springy steam bun. My definition of spicy in theirs don't quite match up though, so if you want hot, bring extra chili oil from home.

The atmosphere itself is definitely more fast food cafeteria and sports bar than cozy ramen joint. It's an inescapably cavernous space, but the echoing pop music doesn't add much, nor do the dangling (not all functioning) strings of lights. The art is cute, though, and softens the space a little, where the advertisements on the wall for various specials don't so much.

Overall, it's a quick place to get a solid bite, nothing fancy but...