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Kenzo Ramen – Downtown vs North York

I like good soup noodles, and I’m willing to pay a little more for a good, quality product. I can make damn good noodles at home, but sometimes when I’m out and about, I still want to eat some noodles. There are two Kenzo Ramen joints in Toronto – one downtown on Dundas, just west of Bay St, and the other in North York on Yonge Street, just south of Steeles. While I was underwhelmed with the downtown Kenzo, I’m positively disappointed by the North York location.

I’m told (by others online) that the North York location is actually owned and operated by a different group of people than the downtown location.  The original owner of the uptown location sold the store and opened the downtown location.  The folks online say that the North York location has, at least, kept the quality at the same level.

I’m not so sure about that. However, it’s not just the food quality that leads me to say that I unequivocally prefer the downtown location and that I will not return to the North York location.  It’s also the service and atmosphere.

First, let’s talk about the food. The reason why I wanted to try out Kenzo in the first place is that I’d heard that they had the best ramen in the city – not Tokyo-good, unfortunately, but at least Toronto-good. The noodles were supposed to be good, and just as important, the soup base was supposed to be good. When I ate at the downtown location, yes, the soup base was indeed very nicely done and enjoyable, and the noodles were good.  Overall, an enjoyable experience, though the environment could have been better.

How so? The decor downtown is lovely, but it’s so low-energy there. The place was full that night, but it was so quiet. It felt like I was in a French fine-dining establishment, but that’s not how a casual noodle joint is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be livelier, and especially for Japanese noodles, people are supposed to make some noise when eating. Yep, you’re supposed to slurp your noodles when eating the Japanese way! It was altogether too quiet, and I just didn’t feel comfortable in that environment for noodles. Plus, the service was slow. Still, I left the place thinking the soup base was really well done, and I might come back again.

The uptown location, however, does not meet the same quality in any way. The soup base was nice enough, but it definitely wasn’t as good as the downtown soup base. The noodles were alright – probably on par with the downtown location. Still, much of the experience comes from the soup base. I will say, however, that they added big chunks of meat into my bowl which was nice. Unfortunately, they gave me the wrong dish – I had actually ordered a different ramen! That’s alright in the end, though. They gave me the same one I ordered at the downtown location so I was able to do a direct comparison.

Service was nonexistent at the uptown location, primarily because it’s too much for just 2 people to handle. The uptown location is run by an older husband and wife couple. The husband is rather stern, and was pretty cold when taking our order, when giving us the bill, and when giving us our change. The wife is friendly enough, but she’s got so much to handle that she isn’t able to give any table sufficient attention. It took a while to get my tea refilled, and while I would have liked to have a third glass, I didn’t want to wait another 15 minutes for a refill.

Plus, I realized when I got home that the guy had shortchanged us. Oh well. I’m not going back there again in any case – that’s just the kicker and the cherry on top.

I cannot in good conscience heartily recommend the downtown Kenzo, but if you must try out one or the other, go downtown. Skip the uptown location. Maybe go to Ajisen Ramen a little bit further down on Yonge Street if you’re up north – the noodle quality isn’t as good, but the soup base is alright and the service and atmosphere are much better.