Taiyo Ramen

In the beginning, I was really hoping that Makan's "dim sum" concept would work intown but it didn't... It was more Korean than Chinese. Well, their wives are Korean, which kinda tells you who wears the pants in the business. While they had a good concept on paper, the execution was disappointing... Ok, it sucked. But with one look at their location and demographics, do you think anyone eating here would really know the difference? Fuck no, but there was one fat fuck that did... The pouch. I tried it two or three times and each time was disappointing and forgetful, seriously, the only dish I remember was the wontons in chili oil... Which was over cooked with the mushy skin falling apart, greasy as fuck and lacked any heat from the chili. That was all that I wanted to remember from their dark ages.
Finally and luckily, they realized that this fusion concept wasn't working after all this time and decided to switch gears and go in a  different direction... Well, it was obvious that they would evolve into this concept with all the ramen shindigs they were doing. Now, it's called Taiyo and a full fledged "Craft" ramen joint. Should anyone be taking a joint that uses the word "craft" seriously nowadays? Every damn place says they're local, organic, craft... And every other hip buzzwords to lure you in... I got lured in, alright, not because of the crafty buzzwords, but because of the in your face ramen trend that's going full speed right now and I wanted to see if they indeed have improved their ramen game. Ramen is not new to Atlanta, it had some major spurts of it a few years ago then it died down because it was all about the pho... Then all of the sudden, all these ramen chains and local resto groups started the ramen woodwork back up, again. Makan was no stranger to the ramen fad and now they have gone legit with a name change and focus on ramen. Let's take a gander at their specimens...

A water down tiki drink called How You Like Deez Coconuts that you can't keep the cup after... And the ok tasting Asian Medicine didn't help my glaucoma or sack warts.

Oyster & Uni, shucked oyster, sea urchin, lime mignonette. $3.50 a piece... For a nugget of bled out uni and a brinyless sea snot. You would think putting these two umami specimens together would create an explosion in your mouth, but they were both tasteless and bland... Close your eyes and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference if someone put non-flavored Jello in the shell, instead. What a rip...

Salmon, wild salmon, soy sauce glaze, chicken skin powder, wasabi, cucumbers, cilantro oil. Sounds great on paper doesn't it? But this is what you get in real life... Another disappointment like my entire life. What is this suppose to be? An orange keyboard or harmonica? Anyone have a bagel and cream cheese handy? Because the salmon tasted like lox except that it wasn't cured and unseasoned. The soy sauce glaze was so thick and salty it really muted the entire taste of the salmon. The cilantro oil did nothing except to give it a contrast in color. The chicken skin powder sounded great but it barely gave you a hint of it.. If they didn't tell you that on the menu, you woulda thought it was dandruff. Skip it...

Wontons in Aromatic Chili Oil, pork & shrimp stuffed, poached garlic chili oil. I'm back again to face my fear, my nemesis... The dreaded chili oil wontons. Ok, it doesn't look that bad this time... Let's take a bite. Skin is a bit over cooked and mushy, the filling is small and you barely taste the pork and shrimp in there. The chili oil has barely any chili in it... It's all oil and lots of it. They just sprinkle some crushed red pepper flake on top. The oil has no flavor in it, not even a hint of spice or heat. These wontons are barely average at best... Are they edible? Yes. Are they worth paying for? Fuck no.

How did they know I needed all that oil to grease my hips to slip my skinny pajama jeans over my muffin top? That's a lot of fucking oil in there.

Tonkotsu (made it richer for an extra dollar), two day bone broth, roasted pork belly, bamboo shoots, arugula, poached egg, scallions, garlic soy reduction. Ok, so they have seven different ramens- tonkotsu, pork shio, kimchi beef, duck, chicken shio, seafood and veggie. And of course, I picked the tonkotsu because I didn't want to eat 2 different bowls in one night after that dismay display of small plates. First off, what the fuck is that brown jizz all over the egg? Must be that garlic soy reduction... Seriously, did y'all really have to drizzle it all over the egg? The bowl is dark enough already... Wait, why would you use a black bowl to serve tonkotsu ramen in? It makes the entire bowl look like a cesspool... Stick with the white or lighter colored bowls to bring out the colors and tones of this tonkotsu broth. So, I got the extra rich tonkotsu broth and praying that it will lip sticking good... Took a spoonful, temperature could be hotter but it was acceptable, slurped and swirled, puckered and pulled... Nada. No stickiness to be had on the first spoonful, the second, nor the third. Extra rich my ass... This was pretty watered down, not as bad as Nexto's tonkotsu broth but close. Jesus, is it bad to keep comparing all tonkotsu broths to Ton Ton's version? Shit, even after Ton Ton watered their version down, it was still stickier and richer than both combined. I'm still staring at that jizzlobbed egg... Poor thing. The roasted pork belly was like thin pre-sliced bacon from the supermarket, they looked and tasted like they were boiled or poached. It had the texture and feel of square lunch ham. Definitely unexpected and not in a good way. The ramen noodles were pretty good and had a nice tooth and spring, most likely Sun Noodles... Wait, who isn't using fucking Sun Noodle in this town or this nation? Ok, I should prolly address that egg now, shit, just dunk it in the broth and wash it off. And behold, it's a proper soft boiled egg and a bit runny inside. Too bad that egg didn't help lift up the overall taste of the bowl. The more you get down to the bottom the better it got but still not good enough to rank it as one of the bowls to come back for. I want to sample the pork shio and duck but my tingly pouchy sense says not now, perhaps not ever... I will try it one day, unless they change concepts again.

XO Bomb, dried seafood, duck, bacon, garlic, chili. Ok, I liked what they did here, this XO sauce was actually pretty nice, salty and fermenty bits of the trio of proteins. Adding a little bit of this to every spoonful helped the weak tonkotsu broth with added flavor.

Well, their new ramen concept did not wow me on any level... Is the pouch that hard to please or am I just taking crazy pills? Shit, anyone who reads this bullshit is crazier than me. Just take a look at the dishes sampled... I stared at them pics for days and they still look like crap, there's no way it's just me. Wait, strike that... The two love birds sitting next to me at the bar ordered exactly the same dishes that I had envisioned for them in my mind... The fried green tomato bun and pork belly bun and to finish it off, a bowl of the wontons in chili oil... When asked if they wanted a bowl of ramen for their main course, they said one bowl of Chinese food is more than enough for one night... Plus, they were too full from the buns to drink soup. Crackers are so goddamn predictable and they loved it, every bite of it. Jesus, the Great Kreskin got nothing on the pouch... But I must admit they made a good move on passing on the ramen, even though that's what people go there for. I don't know if this concept will last as long as their fusion concept but I am not rushing back anytime soon to try out the other ramen bowls... I saw what they looked like and a Krystal burger sounds better right about now. There was nothing on the menu that I loved but they sure are confident that you will love their food... On the bottom of the menu, it says this...

"LOVED YOUR MEAL? - Order Beer for the Kitchen Staff – It’s like “Tipping” Them! 6 Pack...$10"

Y'all got some balls... But no thanks, I think I'll just tip on my regular bill. Come to think of it, they might cook better if they were drunk as fuck.

130 Clairemont Ave 
Suite 100
Decatur, GA 30030
http://www.taiyoramen.com/