Got the taro milk tea with boba. Was good and pretty cheap. Boba was nice and chewy (contrary to one Yelp review). Wahoowa, five stars.
I would describe this whole meal as “alright”. It was a decent meal, none of us were inclined to finish our meals. We ordered the Yakitori chicken thigh, Mashu ramen, boba milk tea, and the pork tonkatsu curry. The yakitori was a bit over cooked, which is kind of hard to do with a chicken thigh. The Mashu ramen’s broth lacked flavor-a few dashes of salt would’ve made a world of difference. The noodles had great texture! The curry was good. The pork was so good with a great crunchy texture. The rice was very over cooked. Maybe we will come back and try more. I want Japanese food to expand much more in Charlottesville and I’m afraid this may be over shadowed by the other places in dairy market.
The Pork Tonkotsu curry is delicious! Highly recommend!
Delicious ramen! I had the spicy mayu ramen ?I've tried ramen all over the U.S (Japan one day, here I come!) It's a blessing a curse to have compared so many - it means I can usually find things I don't like, but that when I do, I'm quite excited!This ramen was excellent! The bamboo, egg and broth were seasoned perfectly. The noodles were a tiny bit over done, but I think it has to be that way in a smaller town or most people may think they're not cooked enough. The pork chashu was tender with just enough fat on to melt silkily in your mouth.Next time I'll bring a soup spoon - the nature of this food court setting means we only get chopsticks and a standard plastic spoon - which is more difficult for sampling the broth after every bite.The man working that day was very sweet. He felt terrible for not knowing I was waiting, he wants get a little bell for the counter now ?Overall, I highly recommend Mashu Festival, and tonkotsu ramen in general. This is the 3rd place I've tried in Charlottesville & surrounding area. I lucked out that it's so close to home - I'll probably be there weekly ?
We had a few snacks: the crispy shrimp and onion, gyoza, chicken karaage, and the rib eye steak yakitori. None of these food items are even close to good. The crispy shrimp and onion is suppose to be tempura but it’s like cheap diner fried onions and shrimp quality. I don’t think they make the gyoza, but just bought from an vendor. And they were cooked horribly. Super hard wrapper. The chicken karaage just taste like bad quality fried chicken. The rib eye steak yakitori is so over cooked.
Tonkatsu ramen was absolutely delicious! And large portion. Gyoza was good too. Even though it's in a food court it's a 5 star experience! Staff was very friendly as well
I had the Crispy Shrimp and Onion, and Bacon wrapped Scallops. They were both dreadful. The bacon and scallops were barely cooked. I don't think it was real shrimp - it was difficult to tell as the breading was so thick and flavorless you couldn't taste any shrimp. The Crispy Onion were onions rings?! Again, thick, bland, lumpy breading - the worse onion rings I've ever had. I've had better food at an airport food court.
Go get the boba milk tea. Great ramen too!
Tonkatsu ramen was wonderful!
The fried rice is generously portioned and delicious!!!