Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya (Bellevue)

Reviews 5

ST

Sterling Yun

This seems to be one of the trendy ramen shops that tries to imitate restaurants from Japan. For this restaurant in particular its pretty easy, since they have franchises in Japan itself (although I believe those franchises are named Kukai, as this place used to be named). It mostly succeeds; the atmosphere is very much one of a ramen bar, complete with bar seating in front of the kitchen and an open floor plan. With regards to the actual food, its also quite good, although service is a bit on the long side, especially so on weekends and some nights when the line goes out the door. Wait times are longer accordingly, so try and find when the restaurant is least busy. When I went, I ordered takoyaki and chicken karage. The ramen pictured below was ordered by a family member, so cant really comment on its quality. Takoyaki was alright for something from the United States, although compared to what I tried in Japan its still lacking a bit in green onion and actual octopus - this is, as most American takoyaki orders are, optimized for maximum potato starch content. Chicken karage was tasty and offered a pretty good value (for just under $10, I had enough rice and chicken to take home for lunch the next day). The salad is pretty good, although the dressing is a bit thick and too salty, and betrays the American influence on this restaurant - it tastes a bit like Thousand Island with a little more tangy taste and some sesame seeds, rather than something I can imagine a Japanese chef coming up with. The chicken was pretty good, although the breading can be at times extreme - you lose a little chicken flavor, replaced by thick, hard breading. All in all, a pretty good restaurant and a place I would eat at again, as long as Im not in the queue for half an hour because I came on a busy night. At least the bathrooms have mouthwash dispensers - admittedly not that useful, but at least the novelty factor is there.

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TE

Tess DiStefano

If you order a typical item youll probably be fine. I however ordered two different vegetarian items in the last two days and they put meat in both even after I specifically asked for vegetarian. The first was the vegetable ramen, where I randomly found about half a piece of pork in the bowl after I had finished eating most of it. This made no sense to me at all, especially since no version of this dish has meat and the piece of meat I found wasnt even a whole piece. It definitely says a lot about how much their kitchen pays attention to detail. I dont even want to think of how this piece of pork got into my bowl. Because my boyfriend didnt have any issues with his ramen we went again the next day. The dish of mine that they ruined this time was the salad which they claim "can be made" vegetarian but I had to send it back because they gave me the chicken version after I specifically asked for vegetarian. This could either be due to our servers neglect or the kitchens. When they replaced the dish, the second one was prepared much more carelessly in terms of presentation and amount of seaweed which was a bummer. And as for non-vegetarian, my boyfriend noticed that the pork belly was about 95% fat and not an ideal consistency at all. After paying more for the pork belly as opposed to regular pork, this is less than ideal. So now neither of us has any desire to return to this location. Both times we came well before peak started, so that cannot be used as an excuse for the terribly served food. We have been to one of their Seattle locations and had a great time. I think that the problem with the Bellevue location is that their kitchen staff is not well managed and their quality assurance is very lacking.

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JO

Jonathan Chen

This is and has been my favorite Japanese Ramen store in town. I like to look at what ramen stores do with the simple dishes, like the Shio and Shoyu ramen. At $8 a bowl (which by the way is roughly the price for a medium pho in the area), it really shows what they are made of. Since Kizuki (previously Kukai) debuted in Bellevue, they have had their ups and downs. They have listened to customers and really stepped up their game. (Most notably the low sodium option, and the quality of their soft yoked eggs) They have since expanded to multiple locations (4 now, soon 5) just in the Greater Seattle area. I call it a good day (for me) when I dont have to wait for more than a few minutes for a dinner for two. And no... that doesnt happen often ;) Ramen eating tip: Often ramen stores use a basic solution to soak the noodles before cooking them to give them a chewy and bouncy texture (just ask the authentic Chinese wonton noodle stores). While completely safe and authentic, some people may find it soapy/stinky. You can ask a waiter to give you some white vinegar to neutralize the taste, while letting the natural flavor of the vinegar contribute to your taste buds enjoyment. Dont put too much though, it can easily overpower the soup. My favorites: Shoyu ramen, traditional, wavy noodles; Spicy ramen, traditional, wavy noodles;

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DA

David Mitchell

First time eating here, I go in with my GF and we are seated and order. Waitress says the kitchen is closing soon and asks if we can order.(why seat us if you are closing??) We start eating, she hands us the check so she can ring us out, but then the manager comes up two minutes later and tells us to not hurry but we are closing, (again why seat us or let us order and pay for the food and experience in the first place if you are closing???!!!!!))) we say ok but have not finished eating and have only been there for maybe 15mins, not 2 or 3 hours. The manager then comes up and angry mugs us from the counter!! This was completely wrong!! That was a horrible experience and not our fault at all! If you wanted to close why seat anyone????????!!!!!! or have them order to go!! This was your guys mistake and we had to have a crappy experience because the manager is unprofessional!!! Never going back!! This happened today at the Bellevue location off 148th around 2pm. I will always remember this and bring it up to anyone at the local Bellevue Collage and anyone I run into asking about this place, not happy at all!!

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AL

Allen Chan

I met a very nice family who suggested this restaurant to me while visiting town. First, ramen isnt my favourite food but Im up for trying a new place. This is their Yuzo Shio Ramen. I was impressed! The broth is not traditional (not to my limited ramen knowledge at least). Its made with French sea salt, kelp and Japanese citrus as the base. Its crazy good!! The first spoon of soup was full of newfound flavours that I never knew possible in the ramen world (its very limited for me as you see). It came with bamboo shoots, scallions, Chinese broccoli and a seasoned half-boiled egg. I upgraded to the fatty pork belly chashu, added fish cakes, and ordered a side of Takoyaki. What a great combination! This is the second time I truly enjoyed ramen! It was worth the long and congested trip from downtown. The Takoyaki tasted really good too! Its much better than most Ive tried in the past. I would say that its on par with those in Vancouver (maybe, even better). And whats that cup of green stuff? Why, green tea of course! I have to keep this meal more or less healthy, right?!

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