Kombu Sushi Ramen — Restaurant in Winter Park

We were looking for a new sushi spot in the area and stumbled upon this hidden gem. It’s a pretty small restaurant and only has a couple tables for parties of 4-6 and a few more tables for parties of 2. I wouldn’t come here with groups of 10 or more since that’s basically half the restaurant. I think it’s a good date night spot though as they have a good variety of sushi and kitchen food as well as sake and beer. Oh and Thai tea! After at least 10 minutes of contemplation I decided to try their Tonkotsu Ramen. This is my usual point of reference for a place that claims they have good ramen. OK LISTEN. I truly enjoyed every single sip and bite of that amazing bowl of ramen. Everything from the refreshing broth (anddd, it actually wasn’t salty when I got to the bottom) to the way the pork was cooked and melted in my mouth. And the texture of the noodles. It wasn’t too thick or too slippery either. Call me Goldilocks when I tell you it was just right. I think it’s one of the best bowls of ramen in Orlando when it comes to subtle but delicious. So I’d give the Tonkotsu ramen a very high recommendation. I’ll let you know about the Shoyu next time. As far as the sushi, we ordered the 2 rolls pictured: Hokkaido (with the mango on top) and the Storm (with avocado on top). They were both very delicious and not too overly complicated so we appreciated the flavors because they worked well together. I guess I knocked off a star bc the server wasn’t as attentive and friendly? I honestly would only knock off half a star since she was literally taking care of the whole restaurant by herself so I’m sure she had better things to do than offer niceties when there are tables of hungry people waiting for assistance, but you know Google don’t deal with half stars. Anyways, long story short: Ramen yassss. Sushi yum. And go early bc it gets kind of packed since it’s a...

They have the look and menu items down pat! Unfortunately the taste is seriously lacking :/. One of few places to offer donburi, which was a nice surprise, and various good choices to boot. The katsudon was cooked right and decent flavor, but panko came out pretty mushy. This was the best item out of all that we ordered. The tonkotsu ramen looked fantastic! But tasted meh... The broth was weak. The noodles didn't look/feel/taste like the normal springy ramen noodles with kansui that you get from Japanese owned places. The obligatory miso soup clearly came from a package. It's like everything they served came from packages from 1st Oriental Asian supermarket. And the simple sushi roll I ordered (tekka) was the worst. The rice was cold and had no flavor at all - vinegar, salt, sugar, kombu - nothing. And the nori was damp and mushy :( It's like they made it hours before and it was sitting in a refrigerator. It tasted like Publix sushi. At least it was cut very well, but I make much better tasting sushi for my own family. It's not hard to make good tasting sushi. If you're going to charge normal sushi prices, you should be making real vinegered sushi rice served with crispy nori. There have been a few good sushi places in Orlando for over 20 years now, so there's no excuse.

Unfortunately the server was also not wearing a mask, and all of the tables were full. Given their tiny square footage and the hit they've probably taken during the pandemic, I understand the need for customers. But there's no excuse for not wearing a mask at this point!! For your own family's safety, put a mask on lady!

They are new. And they are definitely not Japanese owned and operated. Give this place some time and maybe they'll clean...

Kombu Sushi Ramen is SO GOOD! Definitely one of the better Japanese restaurants in this part of Orlando! We visited here earlier today and every single thing we got was awesome! We came for lunch on a weekday and it wasn’t very busy, and we finished within a half-hour. I have heard from other reviews it can get quite busy here though (as it is pretty small), so keep that in mind!

We ordered 2 Thai iced teas, takoyaki, chicken karaage, chicken katsu curry donburi, and the mayu tonkatsu ramen with pork rinds added. Everything was so good! The Thai tea tasted exactly what good Thai tea should taste like (and it was BIG), the takoyaki was some of the best takoyaki I’ve had in Orlando, chicken karaage was just excellent fried chicken (super crispy) with a really good mayo sauce, the chicken katsu curry donburi had wonderful flavor and a perfect amount of crunch, and the mayu tonkatsu ramen was easily some of the best ramen I’ve had in all of Orlando as well. Such awesome flavors!!

I definitely want to try their sushi rolls because they look exceptional, and I want to try more of their ramens! So many things look excellent on their menu, and this seems like one of those places where you really can’t go wrong. They really know what their doing. Do keep in mind the ramens and donburis are super big, so if you’re coming for lunch, you definitely don’t need to order as much as we did! You could have just a ramen and be very full afterward. With the donburi, you even can choose a miso soup or salad to go alongside for free, so you’re in for a nice, big meal! And by the way, the miso soup that we got with the chicken katsu was excellent as well!! All in all, awesome restaurant, and we will be...