: Restaurant Review - Umami Noodle Bar.

I'll admit that I had high hopes for a place like this in Maine. I'm a huge fan of Japanese food, and I've always dreamt of trying real ramen.

The logo design is pretty cool, and suggests something new age, and modern. Umami is the fifth of the 5 basic tastes. Its considered to me similar to saltiness, but unique in it's own sense. Green tea is said to have a lot of umami.

You walk up to the counter, pick your broth, protein, and add-ons. The add-ons cost extra, there is a $1 and $2 section. The base price is $7.99. Honesty the prices are not that bad, but if you want a typical ramen-like meal it might add up. Typically, ramen includes egg, naruto, and napa cabbage. (They don't offer naruto at this time.)

I ordered "Japanese Miso" with tofu, and 1 add-on, napa cabbage. Jessica ordered Japanese miso, with tofu, and 1 add-on, hard boiled egg.

It carried a pretty good aroma of miso, and onions. Although the restaurant itself wasn't filled with any distinct scent, which was surprising since there should be a lot of flavorful broths being made. Broth carries a lot of aroma, not as much as say, bread, or a baker, but still.

The miso itself was pretty weak, and to my amazement, it needed salt. Miso usually is pretty salty, its actually one of the reasons why I like it. The noodles themselves were okay, they didn't have anything special going for them, they tasted like typical pre-packaged ramen noodles. (Not the 20 cent package kind, though.) The extra $1 I spent on the napa cabbage was really a waste. Maybe two or three pieces in there, it did taste pretty good though. The tofu was really the star (As it should be) and it was fried. It was cooked really well, and had a great taste. I wasn't disappointed in the tofu at all.

As far as flavors go, they are okay. Not fantastic, or memorable in anyway. Its also brand-new, first or second week open. They were also completely packed, and the line was out the door. I wont make excuses for them but I am also going to revisit them in about a month to see if I have a better experience. Their customer service is pretty awful; Jessica's noodles were substituted without her being told, as they were out of the other kind. The problem with that is: we paid extra for those noodles, but were given cheaper ones, and no refund. She also didn't have tofu on hers. When she complained they just tossed cold, uncooked tofu on top. Completely unacceptable. She complained again because we suspected that the noodles were different, and her tofu was awful. So they redid her entire meal, and the second bowl she had completely lacked the hard boiled egg she ordered. (Also $1 for half a hard boiled egg? What the hell?)

I really hope that the lack of good flavors, and bad customer service was due to the amount of people there that day. I paid $30, $5 of that being a tip. The tip was pre-food/service, otherwise I wouldn't have tipped at all. Honestly, if they had even decent customer service, I should get my money back.