Kyuramen x TBaar - Wichita — Restaurant in Wichita

My first time having Kyuramen…

First glance once entering the restaurant was that it’s a beautiful atmosphere and very eye catching from the lighting to the honeycomb shaped dining rooms. My date and I were seated within 15 minutes. Our waiter came by and quickly gave us water and did not introduce himself. He left and came back within two minutes to take our orders. We ordered the lobster & chassu salad ball for an appetizer and he stated that the appetizer is a cold dish and if that’s ok which was fine to us. Then my date ordered a curry ramen dish and I ordered the pork tonkatsu omurice combo and our waiter quickly said that it takes awhile for this dish to come out and if I was ok, I said yes. He then asked what sauce would I like the glaze or curry? I asked him what’s in the glaze and his answer was, “umm I don’t eat the curry but the glaze is like gravy” which did not answer my question at all and then I asked him what kind of curry do they put on top? and he stated he does not like curry so he has not tried that topping. So the appetizer comes out and it’s beautiful, when we took a bite, the appetizer was very warm and not cold which our waiter said it would be so we were confused. The appetizer to me was very salty but my date enjoyed it. Another waiter comes by and drops off my food first which I thought it takes awhile for my dish to be made so I was confused there. Since it was my first time at this restaurant , I wanted to take a photo of my food and when the waiter puts the food on the table, he quickly grabs the knife and cuts into my egg before I was able to take a photo of my dish. I asked this waiter what was in the glaze sauce and he also did not know what to say. My meal came with a pork katsu and cute into large pieces and that waiter took my knife and did not give me a fork so how was I to cut these huge pork pieces without the right utensils? Another waiter comes right after and drops off my dates ramen and she asks us if we needed anything else so I asked if we could get more napkins and she said, “the napkins are in the little box on the table” then walks off. I open the little box and it’s all cocktail napkins instead of the longer napkins used for your meal 🤦🏻‍♂️. So my date and I have been there for about 25-30 minutes and our original waiter did not stop by once until towards the end. I quickly looked at his name tag and his name is KYLE. Kyle quickly asked if I needed a box for my meal and if we were ready to pay the bill while my date was still eating their ramen which I thought was rude. We were thinking about getting dessert but our waiter did not ask us but instead rushed us out the door bringing up the bill. We quickly paid and don’t know if we will be back due to the...

Authentic ramen and Japanese cuisine! Since moving to Wichita from California, I’ve been craving that authentic taste of Japanese restaurant food I’ve grown up eating, and this hits the spot. This is now my go-to lunch place!

I ordered the lunch special: free drink and appetizer with any ramen; I chose Thai iced tea, takoyaki, and the Mega Ramen. The quality of each dish I had was high quality and consistent, from the ramen to the yakitori and tempura and takoyaki. I was particularly impressed at the quality of the meat products, such as the chashu in the ramen, and the yakitori meat skewers — extremely tender and with the perfect amount of fat, but not too greasy. The takoyaki is the best I’ve had in Wichita, and I have had a lot of takoyaki — the batter is not too wet or airy and binded really well with the filling, you can actually taste the octopus. I finished my meal with the matcha tiramisu, which was perfectly creamy and not too sweet (a compliment for an Asian palate).

I enjoyed everything in my lunch today and I’ll be certainly coming back excited to try their other dishes that look just as promising. If I had the stomach, I would have tried everything on the menu.

The biggest thing that made me feel back at home was how nicely decorated this restaurant is. It’s connected to TBaar seamlessly in a beautiful scenery of modernized Japanese style interior, decorated with lots of wooden placards with fun writing and drawings on them. It’s giving trendy and super photogenic date spot. I absolutely love that the various booths are pretty private and so beautiful. They also played some wonderful Japanese 80’s / city pop music which makes me feel really nostalgic. The overall atmosphere really took my experience to the next level.

My one and only criticism is that the waiters should perhaps ask if it’s the customers first time at Kyuramen to give a rundown of the menu for those not as familiar with this type of cuisine, as I observed the table next to me felt pretty lost with what to expect of the menu since they do not really dine out to Japanese restaurants. However the service was still great, Quinn was good to us today.

I highly encourage people of Wichita to dine here for an authentic and immersive experience. There’s even a call button on the table to call the waiter over in a subtle manner! The $$ price definitely shows in the quality of...

So this is a mixed bag, but I'll review it mainly from the point of what it advertised to be, a ramen restaurant.

The ramen itself is the issue, it's not ramen in the traditional sense. The taste of different meal components overpower others and that's not how ramen is supposed to taste. A prime example is the pork instead of using traditional methods of preparation, it's cooked like Chinese sturfry. Now this isn't bad it actually tastes quite unique for ramen. But the rest of the meal doesn't compliment the taste of the now massively over flavored pork. Another review I noticed mentioned the broth is watered down, but I reckon it's from the Chinese style flavored pork vs the broth. So what else makes ramen than the noodles, yeah these aren't good too. While they are far from the alkaline noodles your getting in the dollar bags at the knock off store they aren't good, it's supposed to be egg noodles. But they are fairly tasteless and bland. I honestly think the ramen needs some work.

Ok now on to service, what can I say other than front of store isn't good. This is a chain restaurant and it's glaring. Instead of focusing on customer service, the staff is buried in iPads and technology. I get the revolution of tech in the industry but its implantation needs to compliment the staff not attempt to take over their jobs. The business I think has noticed this so instead of proper training there is a call button now at the tables... More tech to cover poor training and company policy... In the end the service is frantically running around and pushing buttons on iPads.

Ok now environment. While the use of space is questionable and the front area is loud to a excessive degree. There are back rooms that are more sit down and it's very reminiscent of a traditional style Japanese private dining and I guess it's signature "honey comb" style of seating was interesting. The environment wasn't bad if you want to consider that ramen is supposed to be fast food in Japan.

So wrapping it all up. The price. Ramen is supposed to be right there alongside fast food. But this is aimed at a premium experience. So I would understand a slight increase in price. But we ended up at 40 a person. So it's a mixed bag, I'm not sure it hits the correct notes. But it did hit some notes, it's worth a try but other local ramen restaurants are still a...