Ugly Duck Japanese Americana Street Food

Reviews 3

GA

Garrett Dillon

To put it simply, the food was great, the service was just awful. We came in around 6pm on a Saturday night and were able to get a large table right away for our group of eight people. The girl that sat us passed out food and drink menus and filled everyones water glass, but she was not our server and did not give us any indication of who would be our server; she actually barely even said anything at all. We sat there for about TEN minutes while a group of staff huddled in the corner, apparently discussing who was actually going to be our server. Eventually, a girl came over and basically said "I guess Im going to be taking care of you all this evening." Since we had so much time to look over the menus before being served, we had all decided on what we wanted, but she did talk about the menu at all or offer suggestions; she was just an order taker. They had a good selection of unique beers, including some imported from Japan. I tried a pilsner because the menu suggested it as a pairing with my entree. Later I had a Japanese brown ale that was also very good. Only one person in our party ordered an appetizer, it was a fried pork fritters that we passed around the table, and it was extraordinarily good, I definitely wanted more of them! While we were waiting for our entrees to arrive, a staff member came and dropped two brussel sprout salads on the table. None of us ordered these, but someone in our group said that some of our entrees must have come with the salads and so we shrugged it off. I ate a brussel sprout out of one of the salads with my chopsticks, and someone else in our group ate a piece of the other salad. However, moments later, the same staff member came back and said she dropped the salads off at the wrong table and they werent for us! We told her that we both had eaten pieces from the bowl, but she took them up and DROPPED THEM OFF AT THE NEXT TABLE ANYWAYS!!! GROSS! For what its worth, the presentation of the salad was very nice, and the piece that I had was very tasty. I would get it again if I ever go back. Eventually our entrees arrived. It was a bit of a wait but not too bad for a Saturday night and for a group of eight people. I got the super spicy pork ramen bowl and boy it was a good kind of spicy. The soft egg in the bowl was delicious, and the pork melted in my mouth. I was sad that there were only four pieces of pork in the whole dish, but the rest of the bowl was still very tasty. The pilsner I ordered went very well with the spiciness, so good job for recommending that pairing. What really killed the experience for us, is that when it came time to pay, the poor girl took FOREVER to get our checks to us, and when she did, they were incorrect. She asked us at least two different times how we wanted everything split up, but still took three trips to the table to get everything arranged correctly. Someone in our party had ordered a soda but he never got it, but at least that wasnt on his bill. A basic seat numbering system would make splitting checks much easier! All in all, the food is the shining star of this restaurant. There were egregious shortcomings in basic restaurant customer service that was very frustrating. I feel like they could have used at least one more staff member, or a manager on the floor to help fill the gaps (run food, pre-bus tables, table touches with guests, help out behind the bar). I want to go back, but if I do, it will be with a small group. Address these glaring service issues and this place could be great!

JO

Johnson Bui

tl;dr The consensus among four experienced ramen eaters is that the ramen here (specifically pork belly ramen) is very unbalanced, heavily leaning towards the saltier end. As you eat, the saltiness stays at the forefront of your tastebuds and overwhelms all other flavors of the dish. I shared this lovely meal with 3 other strangers whom I befriended on this Sunday afternoon adventure and we ordered the sashimi, hamachi, fried pork fritters and some unknown fish (edit will come) as our appetizers. The sashimi was untraditional and served in curled slices with cucumber and garnish on the side. It was alright. The hamachi fared about the same, garnering likes but nothing noteworthy. The pork fritters were great, but unfortunately they were a bit soggy from the oil and were undoubtedly not as crisp as intended. The green mint sauce balanced out the taste and surprisingly paired well with the slight amount of mayonnaise that it was served with. It was an odd tasting dish overall, but I liked it. The salmon collar fared much better against our tastebuds than the others and was mostly plain served with herbs beside it. The meat came off easy and was soft. The chef did well with letting the salmon collar stand on its own against the herbs and sauced onions. It was light and the fish itself did not taste frozen which was a surprise. This dish was wonderful and I would recommend this dish if I could remember it! And the moment that you have been waiting for! The ramen! We all ordered the pork belly ramen. It looked as you would expect. The hardboiled egg was perfectly cooked with with inside still gooey as it was served. The shrimp and one bit of anchovy gave us a flavor profile reminiscent of a traditional ramen bowl. Unfortunately, Ugly Duck Ramen botched the foundations of a ramen bowl, the noodles and the broth. The noodles were noticeably rigid when I bit into it and had the texture of mass produced, dried ramen like that of a higher end microwave ramen. The broth was overwhelmingly salty. It was hard to taste any of the savoriness or chicken broth that you would expect from a traditional ramen bowl. I normally make a note to drink the broth every time, but this time it was too much for me to finish. That said, this was their last popup until they open. I am looking forward to returning to see if a proper establishment setup will lend to better control of the ingredients. Until next time, sayonara, Ugly Duck. Edit Notes: Removed unnecessary paragraphs and edited the names of some dishes.

SI

Siddi DeSoysa

A gorgeous dinner at the Ugly Duck last night. The Asparagus Tempura (middle) was an unbelievable surprise - crunchy and refreshing. The Spicy Pork ramen (top) was delicious, but the pickled veggies were a bit overwhelming on the palate. The Chicken Miso ramen (bottom) had an unusually fatty broth, and didnt contain any of the refreshingly light, malty flavors typically associated with a miso. The establishment is in the heart of Midtown Crossing, next to Marcus theater. It has the edgy, trendy interior you will find atypically associated with the area. The most striking feature is a mural with a blazing battle of wills against a squad of ducks, a bowl of fire-breathing ramen and an octopus. Unfortunately, outside of a Duck Fried Rice, there are no other menu items featuring the poultry. Given the restaurants namesake, that was a disappointment. Octopus is not on the menu but the menu contains many pork entrees for those who like the taste. While every piece of literature and the wait staff will call the dishes Japanese-American, the menu screams Pan-Asian-American, with Thai, Korean and Japanese fusions. Overall, its an experience per bite, so we plan to go there again! Note: The chef was eager to learn of our experience and tracked us down even after we slipped out the door. When we told him about the unexpected Miso, he explained he uses a fatty, protein-rich blend with chicken stock, which may account for the odd taste. I could also do without the Eminem soundtracks preaching to the wind, which encourages a more take-out experience.