pai men miyake

lost in the sea of great places. pai men miyake is certainly not average or boring, but the narrow space, small tables and price:portion ratio lead us to consider it just average given portland's extensive dining options. the guinea hog porchetta was unremarkable other than the limited portion, maybe the chef's trying too hard on this one? the paitanramenwas a tasty bowl with a nice amount of velvety pork belly. the kimicheeramenwith shirt rib also was well flavored, both were satisfying yet seemingly a tad overpriced for their size, the tuna sushi roll was swimming in a mayo based sauce and lacked definition. in all i'm ok giving them a thumbs up, everything tasted good, but with all portland has to offer, our return is unlikely.

if you find yourself in portland craving authenticramenor just need a pork bun fix, this is a great place to satisfy your desire. enjoy!

pai men miyake , at 188 state street in portland, is one of the restaurants forming the food lovers' corner in longfellow square. when the restaurant opened, it was billed as aramenbar with a few appetizers. since then, their menu has expanded to include not only several different kinds of ramen, but sushi rolls, several appetizers, and yakitori grill . in the beginning, i went early and often, but fell off in frequency as more restaurants around portland vied for my attention. but now that i'm a west ender, walking to the corner for some appetizers and rolls is a fine weeknight option. on this particular night, a. and i found the restaurant fairly full at 7:30pm, and so we grabbed seats at the bar. we ordered an appetizer each and some sushi rolls. a.'s gyoza were fairly standard pork dumplings, but had a nice contrast between the tender wrappers and the crisp char. the special of short rib buns with creme fraiche and pickled beets attracted me, but in the end, i wish i'd ordered my

starters and specials. theramenis good but i think i'm too stuck on my longtime favorites (from away).

however, i love the rest of the menu and treat pai men as sort of an izakaya place. from fried pigs tails to hamayaki to the veg dishes, the food has been so consistently interesting and delicious. haven't gotten too adventuresome with the sakes, but so, so enjoy what i get. can't get enough!

upon hearing that food factory miyake was opening aramenjoint, i knew i had to try it. no opportunities came up for a few weeks until we were supposed to meet our friends marshall and heather at norm’s for some pub grub

tasty but overpriced. i went with my husband for some ramen. we had spicy tuna rolls to start which were great. the tuna was fresh and melted in the mouth. then came theramennoodles. i had the misoramenand my husband spicy miso ramen. while the broth was terrific and theramenwas done perfectly, for $9.00 i had 4 slurps of noodles, one slice of pork and half an hard-boiled egg. it should have been a kid size meal. my husband had the exact same thing with a spicy broth, and his was $11.00. i'm pleased with the flavors, but walked out still hungry and felt ripped off. oh not to mention $4.00 charge for two little cups of tea. i would go there again if the serving portions are more proportion to the prices.

amazing ramen. i have only eaten at pai men miyake once, but the meal i had was delicious. we had the pork dumplings- (delicious), the spicy bok choi, vegetarian ramen, and spicy miso ramen. everything we ordered was wonderful but the pork dumplings and spicy misoramenwere the best i've ever had.

go for the gyoza, not the ramen. my wife and i went to miyake for lunch. we sat at the bar. waitstaff was very nice, food was not very good. i had the vegetable ramen. i knew what was in it and expected a lot more than i got considering the price of it. the broth tasted like it was leftover from the previous week. there was only about a cup of noodles in it and maybe a few mushrooms. in my experiences of living in japan, and eating ramen, this vegetableramenwas terrible and shouldn't be in the 11$ range. my wife had the misoramenthat had some taste but again few noodles for the 9$ they charged. we also had the gyoza, which was the highlight of the 'noodle' bar.
i won't be returning to miyake, instead i'll just dream of a noodle bar where vegetableramenis loaded with noodles, scallions, shredded carrots, sprouts, and other combination's that warm one's belly up during these long winter days and evenings.

i was really looking forward on savoring authentic japaneseramenin my home town. my first visit. very disappointed. my second visit. disgusted. i had miso-ramen on my first visit and the broth had no flavor at all until i saw a big chunk of miso paste on the bottom undissolved. the noodle they used was a cheap flat noodle you see at a local asian store.
my second visit was on a cold windy day. the first thing they served me was ice cold water instead of hot tea. i've never been to anyramenshop where they don't serve any tea. this time i tried tonkotsu ramen. the broth still had no flavor. just salty. and they even cranked up a price. i shared pork bun sandwich with my husband which was okay but too much mayonnaise. i was so disgusted. after a month they haven't improved at all! my over all impression on their mentality is "american can't tell the difference".
this place is just a lousy imitation of momofuku noodle bar in ny but the quality and service don't even come close. be more original and do the right thing pai men!!!

really?!. i have previously written a review, but it was taken off by urbanspoon. so i will put this in a nutshell:

i have eaten at many noodle bars, including ones in nyc, boston, and london. i have never experienced noodles the way they are prepared at pai men. this is not a noodle bar, this is aramennoodle bar with disgusting half dried out eggs, and slimy fatty pork.

noodles dripping with fat, slimy, greasy thick fat.
noodles smell like the draining from a tuna can.
if you have a shellfish allergy beware of the food here. there was only one thing on the menu that was "safe" for me to eat. there is no warning on the menu about this, but be sure to ask.
service was rude. beyond rude. 20 of us waiting in line outside before opening were shooed away 5 minutes before opening. it was also slow and clumsy.
there are other things that i feel fitting to write on here, but i was told by urbanspoon that it "was more fitting for the health department."

the quality of food and service was ridiculous, and i am sad to report it, as i love miyake's sushi. he never messes that up.

i would stick to miyake sushi.

that's it in a nutshell.

good luck

noodle house love. we have not posted any reviews for some time and now is time to do so. with great anticipation pai men miyake has opened this week with mixed reviews. we have developed the following opinion after having the pleasure of dining here twice: wonderful decor and an open atmosphere that is perfect for slurping miso andramensoup. as for the starters, the pork gyoza and pork buns are the best that we have had north of nyc. the selection of 15 sakes are both reasonably priced and well thought out to complement pai men's menu. masa's excellent sushi rolls are available. i am astonished about prior reviews of the 'traditional' miso andramensoups? perhaps some people do not know what true japanese noodle soup should taste like. this is not theramenyou lived off of in college! i know that it is the first week of opening and some details are still being worked out, but both noodle soups met my standards with flying colors! the noodle soups compared to the great bowls of steamingramenthat i have had in both nyc and san francisco. for less than $50 we had two starters, two bowls of soup and sake! reasonably priced pan men myake is a welcome addition to the portland dining scene.

more info and photos at: http://portlandfoodcoma.blogspot.com/

nice start, great potential. pai men miyake is masa miyake's new portland noodle house. located at 188 state street, it joins a half-dozen other restaurants (local 188, evangeline, hot suppa!) in what is fast becoming an area with some great dining possibilities.

during my visit, i had the pork gyoza (potstickers), which were darn tasty. i loved the contrast of the soft pork with the slight crispiness of the wrapping skins (they are lightly fried). next up was the pork buns. after my first bit, my reaction was "wow, i could eat 20 of these!" but by the time i had finished both buns (each one topped with pork, pickles, lettuce and a great sauce), i found myself well-satisfied by the rich flavor of the perfectly-cooked pork. honestly, i was full enough that probably could have even done without my next course, but it didn't stop me from eating.

continuing my pork-themed meal (in retrospect, i probably went a little heavy on the pork), i had theramenin pork broth. it was garnished with pork belly, half an egg and sliced mushrooms (i don't know what type). i'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to ramen, but i really enjoyed it. i thought the flavor was really simple, but very pleasant.

pai men miyake currently offers a couple of beers (i had the allagash white) and, i'm told, about 15 different types of sake. more beers should be on their way soon.

i really liked the decor, and i found the all-male staff (not sure if this is a trademark of noodle places or just how the staffing shaped up on this particular evening) to be friendly but reserved. being on my own and somewhat uninitiated to japanese cuisine, i would have welcomed any sake pairing suggestions, but none were offered. not a big deal, though... i could easily have asked for some suggestions if i really wanted to. my only other complaint (and it is a minor one) is that the restaurant was a little warm for my liking. i immediately noticed how warm it was when i walked in (the thermostat read 76) and when i left it had reached 78 degrees. i think maybe there are some heating/air conditioning issues that need to be hammered out.

i'm already looking forward to my next visit, and to trying some new dishes.