Senzu Noodle Bar And Boba — Restaurant in West Melbourne

Senzu Noodle Bar- West Melbourne, FL- 1 Star

Melting Pot (Noun) – a place where a variety of peoples, cultures, or individuals assimilate into a cohesive whole. --Merriam-Webster Dictionary

I was taught that America was the ultimate melting pot. Looking around, anyone can see that this is so. I mean, you can get a tuna roll and some ramen at a baseball game, along with a hot dog, bratwurst and an ice-cold brew. If that is not mixing cultures, I don't know what is. This is a good thing and I never thought I would think otherwise until my name generator flashed the name Senzu Noodle Bar across the screen.

I know that traditionally, Ramen is a Japanese dish taken from the Chinese in the 1860s after reopening her borders to the outside world...gunship diplomacy at its best. I also know that I am a citizen of the greatest melting pot culture the world has yet seen, but ya still have some expectations walking into a joint.

What I did not expect to find is, according to Skyler, the unhelpful Gen-Z employee, a vividly Vietnamese decorated restaurant with Japanese Manga, a Japanese Menu with Thai ice tea (referred to “milk” tea and all the rage these days), blaring loud unintelligible music and exhaust fans so that your ears bleed. An interesting mix of motifs, but whatever works (hint—this does not).

After having a few minutes to look over the menu, I was approached by the aforementioned Skyler. Did I mention she was exceedingly unfriendly and petulant? I get that we are all going through our own stuff, but you have to be an adult and leave it outside of your place of employment. I did manage to get in an order of the Shio Chicken and some fried tofu.

As my server sulked away with the order, I again took in my surroundings. All I could think of was that Tokyo Disney, Shanghai Disney and a yet-to-open Disney in Bangkok pulled an all-nighter and puked all over the place. It was a complete mish-mash of Asian cultures. Thankfully, my too young to be so curmudgeonly mannered waitress arrived with my food. Well, thankful that it forced my eyes off the walls, but other than that...

El Pollo Loco is a Mexican-themed chicken restaurant chain in Southern California. I mention this only as that as such, they have the highest rate of problematic issues among fast-food chains. It's not that they don't do things properly, they do, it's that they deal almost exclusively with chicken and as we all know chicken is very touchy when it comes to being fresh. It goes in a second when left out for any length of time. I don't know if that is what they did here, but this chicken was so foul it threw the entire dish off. The Fried tofu tasted like, well, fried tofu. The yum yum sauce tasted fresh out of a bottle and the other concoction “The House Sauce” I didn't dare try.

The Big Boy says, “unless you already know what the menu is about, I would not suggest coming here as the staff is unfriendly and...

I've eaten at ramen food places in the Bay Area in California and loved it, so I was a bit excited to find this place here. I was a bit let down for multiple reasons: 1) The cost is way too much. A bowl of spicy beef ramen is 15 dollars, which is about 5 dollars more expensive than a larger portioned ramen dish in one of the most expensive areas in the United States. 2) The beef that came with the food was like rubber and wasn't very appealing. 3) The flavors were a bit lacking, so I had to add a few seasonings of my own. 4) The quantity of the noodles is too little. 5) The Boba drink I had is listed at Starbucks pricing, yet wasn't anywhere near as good. I had the coffee boba drink with crystal boba, and the coffee was absolutely terrible. I had to put coffee flavored ice cream and vanilla ice cream in it to make it taste better. Also, why charge people separately for the boba when the drinks are listed as "Boba Drinks"? I don't think I'm the only one on this last issue. There wasn't a lot of crystal boba that was put in my drink either.

Overall, once seasoned a little the ramen was tasty and definitely had potential. There needs to be some changes in order for me to come back, however.

A side note: when picking up my order, the store had a weird smell inside. I browsed through the reviews and noticed I wasn't the only one who is mentioning this.

EDIT: I haven't been to the Bay Area in almost 2 years now so when I checked out a ramen place I used to go to, I saw the price had gone up a couple dollars (used to be cheaper when I was there pre-covid and definitely was about 10 dollars), but overall is still cheaper and much better than this place. To contradict the owner's response you can see that the Bay Area and San Francisco are clearly one of the most expensive areas in the US and has clearly better ramen at lower pricing...why is that? You can look for ramen places dead in San Francisco and see Ramen listed for 12.50 at one I used to go to near the city college. This isn't California, stop putting prices that are higher than even their prices and don't tell people they are "very mistaken" when your food is definitely more expensive than food in one of the most expensive places in the US. You could get a meal at Cheddars nearby for the price you have on this ramen. You need to realize that people are sick of the greed and...

The way this business is operated is unbelievable. I went in with my coworker, and he ordered a thai coffee but they gave him a concoction of thai tea mixed with coffee. It tasted horrible, but they refused to give him his money back. They quoted some no refund policy on drinks that probably only exists because their drinks are terrible. While talking with them about the drink, they took his food. They refunded him for the food but not the drink. Now he is out $6 and still hungry. Terrible service. Rude employees. Bad establishment. Never returning.

Updated: After reading the establishment's response, I want to make it clear that it was my coworker who had the issue, not me. I am simply chiming in regarding the poor way it was handled. I heard them tell him that they could make a thai coffee. He was not informed that there was a no refund policy until after he was served the concoction he did not order, and asked for his money back. The staff was rude and condescending the entire time, and they had no interest in making the situation right.

The fact that they aggressively took his food while he was trying to sort the situation at the front counter, and were so petty that they preferred to refund $14 for the food instead of $6 for the drink, just highlights the kind of place this is. They chose to lose customers instead of owning up to their mistake, and now they are being salty about it on my justified review. Good customer service includes owning up to mistakes and not ripping off customers for pettiness. Simple as that.

If they had simply said we don't serve thai coffee from the beginning, that would have been the end of it. I left $20 worth of food/drinks on the table (with no refund) because the entire situation was an embarrassment to the establishment. I understand defending your staff, but it seems they either didn't communicate things clearly to you or you guys are simply poor at managing a business. Either way, I stand resolute in not returning to this place (I'm sure you guys wouldn't want us back anyways) and just wanted to give others a fair warning before they pulled up to the...