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Oyasumi Ramen
Japanese Restaurants San Juan, San Juan
3.0
Oyasumi Ramen should be the place for you if you want to cap off the night with a ramen fix. In this ramen house located in the food hub Little Baguio in San Juan, you will realize how eating ramen will make you feel like you deserve this bowl of happiness.
Service needs work but Cheesy Risotto for the win!
3.0
Food 3
Ambiance 4
Service 1
Price 3
It was a lazy Saturday evening and my SO was craving for ramen. (It’s his comfort food.) I indulged him, saying there was a new ramen shop in Greenhills. Tucked away in the quiet streets of San Juan is a new ramen shop called Oyasumi Ramen (“rest” or “sleep” in Japanese) serving Yokohama-style ramen. They had 5 flavors to pick from with Iekei as the original, but I was feeling a bit adventurous and my SO almost ALWAYS picks spicy miso ramen.
It was no mystery that he went for the Kara Miso Tonkotsu Ramen and maxed out the spiciness level. It was so spicy that each spoonful was inferno in our mouths, just the way my SO likes it. As for me, I liked how it had a slightly complex taste with a rich consistency. However, I can’t say that I liked the noodles. They were thicker than usual AND tough. You can’t really have both thickness and toughness together, because these are a recipe for one mean indigestion. Oyasumi is probably going for authenticity, but there should totally be a warning and/or an option about the toughness of the noodles, just like there’s an option for the spiciness. (Honestly, I felt the empacho kick in immediately.)
As for my order, I was intrigued by the Filipino-inspired La Paz Ramen, but ended up picking the Tomato Tonkotsu Ramen. I was disappointed that the “tomato” flavor just wasn’t there. The broth lacked the tang it promised. In fact, I felt that the only form of tomato in this ramen was the pureed tomato topping. The soup wasn’t interesting enough to finish so we decided to use it for something else.
That “something else” was what caught my attention: Cheesy Risotto. The server took the leftover “tomato” broth and came back with a steaming bowl of Cheesy Risotto made with the same soup. It’s pretty clever if you think about how nothing goes to waste (so Japanese!). The dish was surprisingly good! We played with the taste a bit more by adding some of the kara miso’s leftover as well.
In terms of service, there’s a lot to be improved upon. First of all, when we got there, none of the servers greeted or received us. No one took our names to put us in the wait list, and we had no idea how many others came before us. We were standing around like idiots blocking the entrance, waiting for someone to notice us. But NO, we felt like ghosts. The staff just saw right through us.
Secondly, there was only 1 server upstairs and no way to call her whenever she was downstairs. Also, she never really came to take our order. We had to yell it from across the room because she was pre-occupied with clearing the tables when she asked for it. As a result, she had to come back up minutes later to check if she got our order right.
Lastly, we were given tea cups but no tea or water. We had to ask for it. The server got us a tea pot. Halfway through the SPICY Kara Miso, we had to ask for water too, which should have been there before the food arrived. On top of that, we weren’t given any glasses for the water. We had to empty our tea cups just to be able to pour some water! Let me tell you, it was such a chore! Spicy Miso + Hot Tea = Extra Pain on the Tongue!
The food was alanganin, but I felt that the dining experience could have been salvaged somehow. Unfortunately, it was ruined by the lack of customer orientation in the service. The staff needs to be trained…severely.
It was no mystery that he went for the Kara Miso Tonkotsu Ramen and maxed out the spiciness level. It was so spicy that each spoonful was inferno in our mouths, just the way my SO likes it. As for me, I liked how it had a slightly complex taste with a rich consistency. However, I can’t say that I liked the noodles. They were thicker than usual AND tough. You can’t really have both thickness and toughness together, because these are a recipe for one mean indigestion. Oyasumi is probably going for authenticity, but there should totally be a warning and/or an option about the toughness of the noodles, just like there’s an option for the spiciness. (Honestly, I felt the empacho kick in immediately.)
As for my order, I was intrigued by the Filipino-inspired La Paz Ramen, but ended up picking the Tomato Tonkotsu Ramen. I was disappointed that the “tomato” flavor just wasn’t there. The broth lacked the tang it promised. In fact, I felt that the only form of tomato in this ramen was the pureed tomato topping. The soup wasn’t interesting enough to finish so we decided to use it for something else.
That “something else” was what caught my attention: Cheesy Risotto. The server took the leftover “tomato” broth and came back with a steaming bowl of Cheesy Risotto made with the same soup. It’s pretty clever if you think about how nothing goes to waste (so Japanese!). The dish was surprisingly good! We played with the taste a bit more by adding some of the kara miso’s leftover as well.
In terms of service, there’s a lot to be improved upon. First of all, when we got there, none of the servers greeted or received us. No one took our names to put us in the wait list, and we had no idea how many others came before us. We were standing around like idiots blocking the entrance, waiting for someone to notice us. But NO, we felt like ghosts. The staff just saw right through us.
Secondly, there was only 1 server upstairs and no way to call her whenever she was downstairs. Also, she never really came to take our order. We had to yell it from across the room because she was pre-occupied with clearing the tables when she asked for it. As a result, she had to come back up minutes later to check if she got our order right.
Lastly, we were given tea cups but no tea or water. We had to ask for it. The server got us a tea pot. Halfway through the SPICY Kara Miso, we had to ask for water too, which should have been there before the food arrived. On top of that, we weren’t given any glasses for the water. We had to empty our tea cups just to be able to pour some water! Let me tell you, it was such a chore! Spicy Miso + Hot Tea = Extra Pain on the Tongue!
The food was alanganin, but I felt that the dining experience could have been salvaged somehow. Unfortunately, it was ruined by the lack of customer orientation in the service. The staff needs to be trained…severely.
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