Mazete
Summary
Typically when we walk north on 6th ave towards Trader Joe’s for groceries, we stop by Cava across the street for a snack. We saw this seemingly new interesting restaurant opened with no one in it. The space is very bright, modern, and definitely has a Japanese cafe-chic vibe to it. This dry “ramen” place just opened along 6th Avenue between 20th and 21st Street.
This is another one of those “pick X of this and Y of that” type of restaurant except the theme here is Japanese.
For the base, you can pick:
- ramen
- rice
- mixed greens
For the sauce, you can pick:
- miso bbq
- tomato soy milk
- tonkotsu tantan
- original soy sauce
For the protein (extra meat $2.95), you can pick:
- pork chashu
- sukiyaki beef
- tsukune chicken
- tofu stew
For the finish (extra toppings $1.95), you can pick up to 3 toppings:
- chili beans
- mushroom salad
- curry egg salad
- wasabi guacomoli (+$1)
- beet tamago
- shrimp tempura
- spicy nuts
- marinated tomato
- fried carrot
- bamboo shoots
Note that the cheese and scallions are complimentary if desired.
The first bowl had mixed greens, miso bbq, tsukune chicken, mushroom salad, curry egg salad, and chili beans. I thought the miso bbq sauce was pretty salty and wasn’t a big fan of it though my partner loved it. The tsukune chicken was pretty decent. It’s like a soft chicken patty with chicken thigh as the meat.
The second bowl had ramen, tonkotsu tantan, pork chashu, shrimp tempura, marinated tomato, and beet tamago. The ramen comes in a package which they throw in a hot tub of water right before putting it into your bowl. The tonkotsu tantan was actually pretty good. It reminds me of the Chinese peanut/sesame sauce that you get with cold noodles. They also ask if you want it spicy, and if so, they will pour some chili oil into the bowl. After pouring the tonton sauce on top, they mix the ramen with the chili oil. The pork chashu tasted very tender and delicious as expected. For the toppings, I couldn’t care less about the shrimp tempura or marinated tomato. The beet tamago was pretty decent albeit it’s just a hard boiled egg with the yolk being slightly runny.
At the end of the bowl, I felt decently satisfied. I was neither full nor hungry though I can see the bowls being on the lighter side for hungrier people.
Final Verdict
This is a nice and fast dry ramen place where I can see it can fix that quick craving for noodles with a Japanese twist on it.
Yelp Jabs
The tempura shrimp is bomb. The tomatoes are bomb.
The tempura shrimp was actually pretty lackluster. I was expecting the batter to be more puffy/airy. The shrimp also was dry and just uneventful.
It tasted okay but the portion is TINY. They only give you one piece of meat if you opt in for the pork.
I think it really depends what you get in order to be full. The pork chashu and chicken patty are small at first glance, but they are enough to help make it to the next meal. It’s definitely not a Chipotle or Cava place where any type of bowl you make will fill you up.