Matt B.
Yelp
Killer vegan hazelnut tantanmen, but lacklustre service that needs some work. We visited a few weeks after opening, and man do they have some stuff to figure out in the service department.
I visited with my wife. We're both vegan, so we ordered (or tried to order) the miso cashew gyoza to start, which comes with vegan kimchi. But they were out of vegan kimchi, so they offered us non-vegan kimchi. Uh, no. We asked if they could substitute, for example, seaweed salad or more gyoza. The woman taking our order didn't know the answer, so she asked someone else, who apparently had to phone management to see if that was OK -- WTF?? Apparently, the answer was no, because the "meal doesn't go together"; "we don't mind"--to no avail. They could serve the dish at the same price without kimchi. That didn't work for us, so we canceled our order. How inflexible can you be? Management, you gotta sort this out.
We each got the hazelnut tantanmen ($18, plus tax; vegan) for our mains, which we'd tried before at their Portland and Richmond locations. It was as sublime as remembered it. Rich, nutty broth, with toasted hazelnuts, bok choy, shiitakes, shredded leeks, and wonderfully cooked, firm noodles. One of the best vegan ramens available in the city. It is in the pricy side though, so the value is worse than many other places (e.g., Danbo, Gyo Para, Menya ITTO) but it is damn tasty and very good quality.
Overall, top-notch vegan ramen, but the service needs some work.