The owner, cook, and sole waiter of the place is admittedly quite blunt. He has his ways of doing things and won't hesitate to turn you away if you do not follow his rules in the restaurant.That being said, I can respect someone who has that much conviction over their way of handling a restaurant, and it isn't out of place compared to the mannerisms that I've seen in Japan.My dinner, the beef curry, was great. I would recommend checking in to the place early in the case that it fills up (it's a small establishment and he will not serve you if he is already busy).Informational Note: The restaurant accepts credit card. My VISA worked, not sure about Mastercard. Definitely not amex.
Amazing little hole in the wall that should be on "You Gotta Eat Here" or Triple Ds. Freaking AWESOME food! I went with my husband, son, and his buddy. We all loved every bite. I am a chef and find it difficult to enjoy meals in many restaurants but this one-man show is the real deal. It's hard work. If you are looking for a romantic posh quaint cafe where you will be gushed over by the staff, this isn't the place for you. If you want genuine home made excellent fresh food that you will never forget than give it a shot. Be prepared to wait. The gentleman who owns it also is the chef, host,server, and cashier. A genuine character. Every meal is made to order and well worth the wait. Not recommended for vegan.
The food here is absolutely amazing. Please get to know the owner so you understand his way. Others have to understand he is the only one working and his food is at a very cheap price. If you are not happy with his response or his way of doing something simply ask why and he will gladly answer. He uses high quality ingredients and no msg. He is a lovely hardworking gentleman who offers great food!
I work part-time right close by this place so I gave them a visit. Turns out it's a one-man show at this place. I ordered the 'larmen' and I got to say it's pretty good. Very light and fresh. Taste very home-made.
What wonderful little hidden gem. The owner is a very Japanese straight-up-no-nonsense brash old man and I can’t say for the others who had a bad experience with customer service here but I personally had a very pleasant conversation with him. The food was delightful and very homely. Be nice to him, and he reciprocates. 10/10 would recommend eating here.
Why did I find out about this place just now?! Definitely worth trying—and worth coming back for! The food is so refreshing, not a lot of seasoning (msg) but tastes so good! It even made me teary probably cause I felt the chef/owner’s passion on the food he prepared. He will prepare your orders one by one. If there were already people who placed their orders before you, then you might have to wait for a bit—again, definitely worth waiting for! I was so full cause I ordered a lot but not like other restaurants, I didn’t feel dizzy after eating. It’s a perfect place to go for dinner after a long day at work, it’s like I went home to my grandpa’s homecooked meal My new favorite in Richmond. Will come back again!
It’s like going back to your grandpa’s place for a bowl of heart ramen and curry. It’s an one-man show so if you are looking for something fast, heavy, lots of powdery taste (msg) in your food, don’t come here.We have now tried all three types of larmen (don’t ask why it’s not called ramen) - miso, shoyu, and shio. Shio is hands down my fav. The soup base is so clean but flavorful. Miso also blew my mind - it’s NOT salty nor heavy. It had so much more flavor in addition to the miso.We have also tried three different types of Gyoza, my fav is the cheese with chicken. It’s so different from other gyoza I’ve had.Go support him!!!! He’s a lovely and endearing grandpa, who is super proud of his food!!
Amazing Restaurant! Food was amazing! Can wait to come back and try other ramen from here. When we got here, I noticed that it's just one person working. Us thinking that it's a restaurant with servers and wait to be seated. But it's just the chef working. Reminds us of restaurants in Japan, where is just the chef/owner that serves you. I highly recommend this place. But please be patient, if you come here with a lot of people, it's not a big place, and it's a one man show. But food is worth the wait! (Sorry no pictures, food was too good for me to wait)
My boyfriend and I were the only ones in the shop and we had a lovely conversation with the owner/chef and his experience in Tokyo and his passion for using high quality ingredients instead of relying on MSG - the food was authentic and tasted yummy. We ordered the Special Set (Larmen + pork gyoza) and the chichen-don (teriyaki chicken with rice) and came to a total of $26.50 (without tips).
We had curry and gyoza, which are made from frozen, and you can taste that.The chef/ owner is a one-man show, and has horrendous attitude, no courtesy, only cared about minimizing work for himself. He said: “ I cannot give you sharing plate because I don’t have time to wash extra dishes”, when we didn’t ask for sharing plates, and there were no other customer, already past lunch time.He also “cannot recommend dishes, because customers don’t order what I recommend anyways”.More distasteful details, to make our 20min there unforgettably loathful.