On Sept. 10, Totowa welcomed JINYA, a high-class ramen bar full of dance beats and delicious smells. I visited with my fiancé, Dante, as we had been waiting for this place to open as avid ramen lovers. However, I’m sorry to say that we were greatly disappointed.
The first thing we noticed was how loud the music was, on top of the bustling conversations of everyone packed into this place. It was insanely busy when we went, with a line out the door and down the sidewalk. Once we were seated at a small table, settled between a birthday party and a family that reeked of cigarettes, Dante and I had to carry our conversation through shouting over the music.
In addition to this, whenever the waitstaff escorted someone to their table, they would shout “irasshai,” which is used in Japan to greet a customer. In response, the rest of the staff would shout it back. The first time this happened, it was a nice gesture that reminded us of our trip to Japan. However, after multiple tables were greeted and we heard this call and response again and again… we were a little tired of the yelling.
Then, there are the prices. Of course, we ordered the ramen, however, we were shocked to find that the bowls were $19/$20 a piece. This would have been understandable and forgiven had the ramen lived up to the price, however it fell short.
I ordered the spicy umami miso ramen because spicy miso ramen is my all time favorite. The noodles were way too thick, feeling more like pasta rather than ramen noodles, and there weren’t enough. I finished my noodles after roughly five bites and all I had left were the massive amounts of bean sprouts. Meanwhile, the broth developed an odd aftertaste, presumably because of the ground meat contained within the bowl, and I was unable to finish it. It didn’t taste like miso at all, which I could maybe credit to the “umami” portion of the meal description, but there was absolutely no miso flavor that I could detect whatsoever.
Meanwhile, Dante ordered the JINYA tonkotsu original 2010. He was unable to finish his broth as well. When I tasted it, the first thing I noticed was how salty it was. I am used to tonkotsu broth being well seasoned, but it was as if salt was the only seasoning used. This was the same for the tonkotsu itself, as the outer layer of the pork tasted like it was completely covered in salt while the inside had an odd sweetness to it that did not compliment the other flavors.
We realized as we finished our meal that this was not a place where you paid for the food, but for the “experience.” It is a restaurant hopping onto a trend with its dance beats and fancy drinks. We ordered one of these drinks while we were there, which is what proved this point to us. We got a lycheetini, which was lychee juice and shochu, to split.
When our waitress came over, she placed the drink on the table and then pulled out a bubble gun and blew a large smoke bubble on top of the drink. Dante gave me the honor of popping it, which released a cloud of smoke that smelled like a dessert flavored cartridge for a vape pen.
The one thing that made the experience worth it was the staff. Our waitress was very nice and came by often to see how we were doing, especially before we got the ramen. There was a bit of a wait for the food due to some holdups in the kitchen from what I heard, but she was on top of visiting our table and seeing if we needed anything.
If you want to go to a restaurant for its wow factor and ability to be posted on social media, then JINYA is the place for you, but if you want some good ramen, steer away. I’ve tried various places from the Mitsuwa food court in Edgewater to Ramen Wakana in Egg Harbor Township, to Nama Noodle Bar in Wayne, on top of ramen from Japan. This place ranks the lowest on that list.
1/5 stars
pbortner@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @jinyaramenbar, Instagram
