text: I had somewhat of a high expectation given favorable reviews from one of my trusted yelpers as well as from the expectations that people have from recent openings of authentic ramenyas in this town nnThis just shows how simple things such as Ramen is not easy to imitate by wannabes You cannot just put mayo and yum yum sauce to cover crap up nnI have read beforehand that the owner of this establishment is Hawaiian Japanese nisei or sansei As Ramen is sort of a soul food for Japanese people this was a source of slight concern for me as many nisei sansei etcin this country are not as well versed in the Japanese language and culture as they think they are But all the background info aside I wanted to see what Bachi folks interpretation of ramen was so here is my take on this place nnThe decor is modern chic not very Ramenya like but it is a cozy place The menu is written in JapaneseEnglish and the Japanese part of the menu gave away that the owner is not a native speaker My daughter and I look at each other with a look of concern but we said as long as it tastes goodbut it baffles me why the owner did not have a native speaker proofread something as important as a menu imagine reading a menu with a bunch of typos Most people will not even notice this but it tells ME something about attention to details nnWe ordered an appetizer of gyoza and I had tonkotsu she had butasan which is basically a tonkotsu ramen with extra chasyu nnGyoza was not bad Not Monta quality but satisfactory They also have a gyoza sauce but a lot of us like to make our own by mixing soy sauce and rice vinegar along with rayu and I am personally not very fond of premade ones nnAlso you are asked whether we wanted our noodle firm or soft Firm I ordered as it should be Im not sure who would want a ramen noodle to be soft That is just wrong to me It is not the way ramen noodle is supposed to be nnSo the ramenI do not even know where to start with this The broth was not all there Actually it was not there AT ALL It tasted thin unsavory hardly any umami and was void of any rich tonkotsu flavor that it was supposed to have The menu said hakatastyle but I can see someone from Hakata feeling quite insulted by this If I put a bunch of MSG in chicken broth it might taste like this nnThe noodleWTF It was floppy soft and had absolutely no KOSHI which is a term used to describe not exactly firmness but the quality of rebound or crispness you feel when you bite into it and I ordered a FIRM I could not tell if this was a problem of having poor quality noodle or was just horrendously overcooked but I have a feeling that it was both I think packaged ramens have better quality noodle nnThe two main components or ramen are noodle and soupbroth just as Nigiri Sushi has riceshari and fishtane and just as nigiri sushi the harmony between those two parts is the very important rd component of any good ramen This ramen had zero out of three I was trying to decide between or stars but I would have to go with given the quality of this ramen It is with great sadness that I have to leave such a review but I have to be truthful and for those who are familiar with my reviews I stress authenticity quite a bit but this ramen is at a level where authenticity is not even relevant It is anime ramen level It is not something you expect out of a place that specializes in ramen I am at a loss for words here nnAs much as I enjoy recent boom of authentic Japanese restaurants in this town I just as much if not more resent wannabes who try to ride the bandwagon and I must say that this is one such case The other reviewers who spoke highly of this place should really revisit monta sora and fukumimi and listen to their palates Shoku is not in the same league as the above IMHO it are not even in the same ball park or the same sport