Ramen Bar
4040 Locust St
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Neighborhoods: University City, Spruce Hill

This is an update to my original review.  I came back here for the third time.  This time it was because it was super cold outside and I wanted something hot to warm me up.  I dropped by and asked to sit at the bar overlooking the kitchen.

The food was good as usual, but the primary reason for my review update concerns the cleanliness of the restaurant.  During the 20 minutes or so that I was sitting there, I noticed that the chef was multitasking with his ungloved hands and without washing his hands in between each task.  What was he doing?  Nothing too gross - but he was basically picking up ingredients and dropping them into my soup, cleaning the counter with some towel that I'm sure was not something I want his cooking hands to be contaminated with, cleaning up random empty containers, etc.

I also noticed the pork was just sitting out on the counter at room temperature - granted, I don't know how long they actually keep it out.  Regardless, it probably should not be placed in a location where someone like me can sneeze and immediately contaminate future customers with my yucky germs.  That's right, if you came in on Wednesday, you and I are probably closer than you think.  Just kidding, I didn't sneeze :)

Having eaten at Philly food trucks and traveled to countries where food cleanliness is the least of my worries, I'm not a "germaphobe."  But, given Ramen Bar's attempt to be a somewhat decent mid-end restaurant, I expected better!

A little self-promotion before I get to the review.  If you haven't already, check out my post (48-Hour Experiment) that was featured on the Huffington Post.  Read it, share it! Make sure to click on "Fan" to get notified of future posts!

Ramen Bar
4040 Locust St
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Neighborhoods: University City, Spruce Hill

I dropped by here for lunch (after the normal rush hour), so there wasn't a crowd.  In fact, there was only about 6 of us in the restaurant.  The interior is sleek and modern - not what I was expecting before walking in, so kudos there.  We split the fried octopus balls - be careful, these are HOT so eat slowly.  These were okay - good to try once, but not twice.  I ordered the Zenbu No-se Ramen - the "everything in" bowl.  I don't even know what I ate, but it was good!  All I remember is that the pork was so tender, it melted right in my mouth.

A bit blurry - it was cold outside!

My only qualm with Ramen Bar is that it's on the pricey side ($15 bucks for the Zenbu, $19 with tax/tip) - definitely not the price range that will allow me to come here on a regular basis for lunch.  Nan Zhou, though it's farther away and doesn't have all the special toppings of Ramen Bar, is a third of the price and just as delicious.