Boru Ramen Restuarant Review

When it comes to ramen noodles, the first thing that pops into my head is the orange package of Maruchan ramen noodles with chicken flavoring – always chicken flavoring. Ramen noodles have always been my go-to, my right-hand-man, when it comes to a perfect serving of food in a matter of three minutes.

However, Boru Ramen Bar, which recently opened on February 22 on 75th Street, is taking a twist (probably for the worse) on the quick and easy ramen noodles. Boru Ramen Bar is a Japanese-based restaurant, including aspects of Korean as well as Asian flavors into their take on salads, rice and ramen bowls.

The inside of the restaurant held my favorite aspect of the entire night – aesthetically pleasing, color coded and super clean. Even better than the red, black and white color scheme were the eight TVs playing old music videos from the 80s.

Choosing the ramen bowl with the most familiar flavors to my taste buds, I went for the Shoyu bowl, which had chicken, loads of scallions, sesame seeds, eggs, pickled shiitake and bamboo shoots.

Within 10 or 15 minutes of pleasant chatting and watching others around the restaurant scarf down their ramen, our food was served in just the perfect time where I was hungry, yet not famished by the wait.

I dug right in with my fork and spoon — I don’t quite have chopsticks mastered yet. The first thing that stunned my taste buds was salt. And I mean a whopping amount of salt. It seemed as though the chef mistook the broth of the bowl for a bottle of soy sauce. I needed a bottle of mouthwash as soon as I got home.

The rest of the bowl was divided into sections: ramen piled in the middle, scallions on the left, mushrooms on the right, and strips of chicken plopped right on top. After stirring the entire bowl, the only things I found pleasant to eat were the thick ramen noodles and the chicken – the most basic items out of the whole bowl.

After seeing our grand total of close to $45 for three ramen bowls, I came to the conclusion that the 25 cent ramen from Hen House is the way to go.

Although I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this new and upbeat restaurant, the punch of salt in every bite and unpleasant combination of flavors left me wishing I stayed at home on my couch with a nice bowl of Maruchan Ramen Noodles.