Ramen Bar

Reviews 3

PE

Penn Appétit

Ramen Bar is a welcome addition to the University City dining scene, filling a gap in noodle offerings in West Philly. The restaurant boasts a fully renovated space, with clean lines and hardwood finishings. The food is tasty and the prices are reasonable (most of the entrees are around $10 and most of the appetizers are below that). I ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen, a pork bone soup with hunks of pork belly, scallions, ginger, bamboo and mushrooms. The pork belly was tender and well-seasoned, and the broth was the perfect combination of salty and savory. For $9, this is a great dinner deal--its so much soup that I couldnt finish it. I also tried the seaweed salad ($5), a standard that was good if not exceptional, and the green tea ice cream ($5), another bargain portion size-wise. Like many new businesses, though, Ramen Bar has a few kinks to work out before its ready for primetime. The service was slow (it was a long time before they brought the water I asked for and I had to ask twice) and they might want to spell-check their menu ("appetitizers," anyone?). However, Im confident that given time, Ramen Bar will smooth about these little hiccups and make this place a must-try for noodle lovers the city over. Check out the full menu over at Grub Street Philly. -- Kiley Bense I am a huge ramen fan. My first experience with ramen was in the summer of 2010 in Tokyo, and I fell in love with it. After that I visited a number of ramen restaurants in Seoul, Busan (another Korean city), Philadelphia, New York, and even London. Still, the ramen I had for the first time remained the best. The ramen places that I visited in Korea were good, some amazing, but some of the ones I went to in Philly and New York were disappointing. Maybe I had picked the wrong restaurants, but it was enough to chisel in me the notion that if I wanted really tasty and authentic ramen, I would need to wait until my next visit to Korea or Japan. I had been satiating my ramen cravings at Tampopo (near 44th and Spruce), which actually sells okay ramen, but being always in search for great ramen, I was more than ready to try out Ramen Bar on 40th and Locust. My friend and I arrived at Ramen Bar around 7:15, and since the restaurant just opened, it was no surprise to find the place brimming with people. After waiting 20 minutes, we were seated, but had to wait another 10 minutes for the waiter to bring the water. I ordered my favourite Tonkotsu Ramen, and my friend ordered the Spicy Miso Ramen. Then waited another 30 or 40 minutes for the food. The Tonkotsu ramen has pork bone broth, while the Miso of course has miso base. I ladled my long-anticipated Tonkotsu ramen soup to my mouth, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually quite delicious. The broth was rich and savory. The meaty flavour was there, but did not overwhelm; and was not too oily or salty, which was the opinion of a couple of my friends who had already eaten here. The yolk of the egg was moist, and the slice of pork (chashu) was very generously thick and succulent. My only complaint is that the noodles were clumped together. The clump did not separate well at all, so I felt like chewing on a big piece of flour at times. I only had a ladle of the Spicy Miso ramen soup, which was equally good, but did not try the noodles, which were thicker than my Tonkotsu ones. Lucky for my friend, his noodles were not all stuck together. So overall, the meal itself was highly satisfactory, and the decor and location are very nice--but I was not impressed with the service. Of course, the place was jam-packed even when we left but the waiters were not very attentive. Hopefully when the hype dies down a little bit, the service and speed will improve, because I do want to visit this place again... and again... and again. -- Emily Yoon

JA

Jared DiCioccio

First off: The food is REALLY good (even if the ramen portions are a bit small), but the service had me really angry. Hence the 1 star. I almost feel bad rating it so low but Ill never go back again and very much hated the experience. The food was very high quality though. The service was so bad I was visibly angry. We had a reservation and were sat quickly. Then we sat around for at least 5 minutes before someone even asked if we wanted any drinks. By that point we knew what we wanted so we just ordered gyoza and two bowls of ramen. We received our drinks, then our gyoza, then our ramen. Then I couldnt get a waitress to come over if I tried. I know, because I tried to the point of getting up to ask a waitress for the check. This whole time I waved to a passing waitress multiple times ad tried to grab one as they served the tables next to us. It was like I was invisible. It got worse though. The place is fairly narrow and its impossible to just miss someone trying to get your attention multiple times. At one point the waitress, empty handed, just walking around, made eye contact with me and quickly ignored me trying to wave her over... over the 5 feet she was from my table. I then watch her walk to the back of the dining area where she and 2 other waitresses spoke to each other for about 2 minutes. They were just chatting. No big deal. For about 10 minutes my broth sat getting cold as I desperately tried to order more noodles and a drink. It was absurd. After that I stood up and walked over with the intent on saying something, but they dispersed to (I presume?) service other tables. But the place is narrow so I ended up, intentionally, face to face with one and asked for the check. One of the few times I didnt tip. Theres plenty of other good ramen places in Philly that wont treat me like they dont want me there.

RI

Ritesh Shah

We were a party of 7 and were able to find ample seating once we walked into the space. Its a shotgun type layout, with seating on one side and the bar/kitchen on the other side. The space is fairly spacious though there isnt any onsite parking. Would suggest either taking an Uber or driving in early to circle around for street parking. I ended up taking an Uber since it was a rainy evening and didnt have too much time to spare. The ramen was pretty savory for the most part. I ordered the Green Curry Ramen. The soup was tasty, though mild for my palate so I had to dress it up a bit with the curry powder, chili oil, and Sriracha. I chose to forgo the fungal additions to the dish and asked mine to be made with the remaining vegetables. The order came out as asked and I appreciate that they had a vegan broth option for vegetarians/vegans to also partake in the whole ramen experience. The service is pretty good. The waitress was attentive and able to help explain parts of the menu that I wasnt familiar with and also offer insight between dishes when I couldnt make a decision. The food came out promptly served at an acceptable temperature to start eating right away. This was my first time having this "elevated" ramen experience. I think it was a good start, but would prefer more veggie options and a more spicier take to avoid adding all the additions myself. Overall, I think I would return again to check out the other options and maybe ask to have the dish be prepped at a spicier level.