Hello and welcome everyone, to the first installment of…

Lulu’s Ludicrously Lacking Ramen Reviews (no one suggested anything better during episode 0 so you’re stuck with this)

Last week, well, was basically the pilot, a test, so I don’t have to explain what I’m doing for rating, so this week, we can get on with the show immediately.

I visited the restaurant that claims to be the first ramen place in all of Columbus, fitting for episode 1, and I certainly have some high expectations, at least compared to last week’s… dump

According to what I can tell, they seem to specialize in paitan broth ramen, which I don’t have as much experience with, to be honest, but I like chicken, so can’t say I’ll be complaining



Well, here we are. Inside, it looks like a cozy place to be honest

Though, with a 30 minute wait, I’d have hoped the stools they have would be a bit more comfortable, but 30 minutes goes by quickly enough, and I was taken to the bar area.

And… the chairs are almost just as bad, yeah, this is definitely getting docked. At least the place is generally pretty clean, and the cozy vibe helps. (also, clean restrooms are a plus). In the end, ambience gets a 5/10



It was also fun seeing the chefs work directly, and the waitstaff was quite nice and quick. Friendly and personable is always a plus. The food also didn’t take too long to come out, actually shorter than the wait time to get to my seat, so… 8/10 on Service quality, for sure



The mug they gave me for my soda looks really funny, but we aren’t here to rate that

What everyone is here for is…



jk, not that at all. I decided to indulge myself a bit for my first episode, so I got a chashu rice bowl to start out, tho this isn’t gonna be counted against the price score, or for the food score. Just me being a bit greedy.



It was very tasty, I will say


Okay, for the real main course!



A piping hot bowl of ramen, with edamame, cuz of course you gotta have a nice snack as well.



I went with the Meshikou Black ramen, if they’re confident enough to put their name on it, then that will be what I rate this place on, y’know

It definitely looks very nice. I did expect the “black” part of the name to be more uniform, but that’s really an aesthetic thing. It definitely smells nice and garlic-y, at least. No complaint there

I also got some extra noodles, along with extra naruto and eggs. I always find that I never get satisfied with what’s standard, soooo…



As for the taste, generally, extremely positive, the noodles are firm, tho I do prefer thicker noodles generally, but I can’t really complain about any ramen. And the broth is certainly very strong tasting, extremely tasty tho. I will say, however, I prolly should have gotten extra chashu too, the bowl only had one kinda small piece of pork belly, while we’ll get to that soon, a single piece of meat for the price is pretty meh… But that’s for a bit later. 8/10 for the food quality, only minor complaints.



I didn’t finish the broth tho, I was feeling a bit full with my indulgence earlier



No complaints on the edamame tho, thumbs up.


Last but very certainly not least (There’s a reason this show is only weekly, haha…) the price, but I already saw the menu earlier, so I’m not entirely confident I’ll be able to rate this well



As I said, I wasn’t gonna count the rice bowl against the score, and I while I think edamame should go with everything, I won’t count that either, the price for the bowl alone with all the add-ons I believe are necessary for me is still 19 dollars, and without those, 15 dollars is still quite a bit, so I’ll have to give a pretty low score of 3/10 to price.


To be honest, this is a much better place than before, but that isn’t saying much. Though it is held back by crappy furniture and maybe too low portions, the food quality was good and the waitstaff were nice and brought me the food very quickly.

I will be giving Meshikou a score of…

6/10

This post was last modified: Mar 25, 2024 at 7:35 AM by Draku.

Jesus that's expensive. It seems like a decent portion and all but even so, that's steep for almost anything, especially ramen. Judging by the photos and your comments on the furniture they're not exactly using all that profit to pay to pretty the place up either, the atmosphere seems like some crappy place you'd begrudgingly walk into because it was only $5 for a meal rather than 19 fucking dollars.

>tip guide at the bottom of the receipt

How obnoxious. I guess they don't pay their waiters much with that extra money, either. (I do tip when eating out obviously, but if the place is literally doing the math for you as if it's a must, that's a terrible sign of both how the staff is treated as well as wringing the customer out to cover livable wages.)

At least the food was good apparently.

Unfortunately, I don't think any of the places I got is gonna get a good score on price, except for maybe one.

i hope that's your hair in the soup


honestly looks kind of mid for a ramen place...? getting that little meat for that price is also honestly insane and i live in seattle where food prices are crazier than dr. insano. i'm also not into the aesthetic... the mug cups and the overall vibe are just... really kitsch in a bad way... idk maybe i'll participate in this garrison... maybe...

I think that's just the lighting there, I don't remember any hair
tho I guess if it was hair, then it would be my hair