very disappointed!. i went to nomiya for lunch with my two young boys as i understood it was a family friendly restaurant. being japanese i was looking forward to my meal since good ramen is hard to find in edmonton. also, i was watching for presentation, within the restaurant and the food, as well as service because that is what can make or break an authentic (or close to) japanese dining experience.
when we walked in, we were asked to wait even though there were a few tables open. i also asked for a highchair. while we were waiting, i took a moment to look around at the surroundings. the establishment looked clean (if you don't look at the floor) but a little crowded with 3 or 4 (strained looking) servers running about. there were small, red (bathroom?) tiles along a couple of walls which took away from the rest of the, passable as japanese, restaurant. we were seated at a booth and given a booster seat. there was nothing to strap the seat to so my 20 month old sat precariously at the table. the table looked like it had been wiped but did not look cleaned. there was confusion as to which waiter was going to serve us. we waited 8 minutes (timed) to receive a menu and a waiter came to take our order less than 2 minutes later (not enough time to look at the menu when trying to settle your children). the waiting staff seemed inexperienced and unorganized.
we ordered a pot of tea, shoyu ramen, chicken kara-age, and tendon (tempura rice bowl). i also asked for a child friendly bowl and fork for my younger son. a waitress asked if i wanted a glass bowl or a plastic bowl. (do you really need to ask?) she came back with a small but deep bowl and a very large fork...
the genmai tea came in a lovely looking pot meant for black tea. too much tea leaves had been added and the tea was strong when it arrived. of course, as the pot sat throughout the meal, it became even stronger and therefore too bitter to drink.
the kara-age came first. there were 5 medium pieces in a large square wooden bowl. it came with a sliver of lemon and a touch of parsley. the bowl itself was beautiful but the contrast of brown fried chicken in a brown oversized bowl with a touch of colour was not too appealing. the dipping sauce that the menu spoke of was nowhere to be seen. the chicken was flavourful and juicy, perfectly fried.
next came the shoyu ramen. the bowl itself was (too) heavy, thick and shallow. the soup was black with a thick layer of oil on top and there was chashu (flavoured pork slices), a few strands of green onion, same amount of young bamboo, and half a dozen floating corn niblets. (nothing like what the menu describes.) when i stirred the soup the bottom half of the noodles were a semi-solid lump. the noodles were a little too hard and the soup was very flavourful but too salty. the soup sppon/ladel was nice to look at but not practical to use. the soup was not hot as it should be, so much so that i didn't have to cool the food for my youngest.
the tendon came a few minutes after the ramen. the tempura and rice already had sweet sauce on it but for some reason it came with a small bowl of tempura tare (dipping sauce). the bowl was very simple and did not add or take away from the presentation. the tempura was light and crispy. there was more rice than topping but the sauce was flavourful enough to compensate.
my youngest was very frustrated by this time, trying to balance on the seat without falling off and trying to dig his food out of the bowl with a too large fork.
the bill came shortly after and when i flashed my debit card, the waitress came immediately. she asked how much i wanted to leave as tip (!?) then punched in the total amount including tip into the debit machine (!?!?) i canceled the transaction - because tip should be entered separately. another waiter came and told me the transaction did not go through. i explained to the waiter what happened and he corrected it. after paying for the meal we got a strong impression they wanted us out of there as there were people waiting to be seated at the entrance.
we left with full stomachs but were thoroughly dissatisfied. the kara-age was good, the tendon decent, but the ramen undesirable. the experience was not worth the $30 and i will not be going back anytime soon. i would recommend you go to a different restaurant for authentic japanese food even if they don't have ramen.