Minji S.
Yelp
NOTE: I would rate this 3.5 stars
Kenzo Ramen rebranded itself as Kamen, which I didn't know about until I went to the restaurant. This ramen restaurant is more catered toward those wanting to try spicy ramen, and I believe it's an attempt to be a bit different from the ramen franchises that has been popping throughout Mississauga. It seems to be working because this place was packed when I went. They had an electronic waitlist, where you put in your info, number of party, and phone number. They would text you when there was a seat available. They also had a screen at the waiting area so you could see how many minutes you had been waiting and how many people were there before you. According to the screen, we had 3 parties (6 people in total) in front of us, and we waited 30+ minutes. However, it wasn't exactly accurate because there were a lot of takeout orders happening during the wait.
The restaurant itself is pretty small, so it was a tight fit with all the people eating at the restaurant. There was already a lineup that I could see through the window as we sat down, so there was the urgency just to eat and leave.
Flagging down staff was also pretty hard. I think there was only two servers working and both were pretty busy with the takeout orders. Interactions with the servers are pretty limited because they are so busy- you just order and then pay. If you were expecting personal experience, this place is not for you.
Surprisingly, it took a very short time to actually get our orders from the time we ordered.
We ordered:
Roasted Garlic Spicy Ramen: Topped with roasted pork, roasted garlic, bean sprouts, black mushroom, fish cake, bamboo shoots, scallions and chili threads
- Not a bad ramen. Solid 4/5. Level 1 was not spicy, but had a hint of flavor,
Kamen (Shio Broth): The signature "Fire-flavoured" ramen - Choice of ground pork or chicken, mushrooms(w/b), cabbage, bean sprouts, carrot, and scallions
- Level 2 was definitely more spicy but still tolerable for me. I enjoyed the spice with the noodles, meat and vegetables, but I thought it was a bit too much when I was just drinking the broth.
-Pork was chosen but it was a little bit of ground pork with a lot of vegetables. 3.5/5
Miso Ramen: Topped with roasted pork, fish cake, bamboo shoots, scallions, bok choy, bean sprouts and dried seaweed
- The broth was so good but it had so little soup compared to all the other ramen. It shows that Kamen can make a decent ramen even without having to make it spicy. But once again, there was so little soup. 3.75/5.
This is an observation that I had while eating the ramen, but I can't call these ramen authentic Japanese ramen. The ramen resembled Korean noodle dishes more than anything. As well, I know some people don't care or even consider it lucky, but I didn't really like the chipped bowls that the ramen was served in. I was more surprised that this was going on because it has bad connotations in Korean culture and I was pretty sure the owner was Korean (unless the owner changed).
So overall, the service was subpar, the food was good and I probably would order takeout if I wanted ramen from here.