Midori Ramen - Review

“Mid”ori

There is a slew of new ramen places and I tried out Midori last week. Hailing from Toronto, this opened in south Edmonton and had a cute bonzai at the entrance that you could eat next to. Kind of cool but you look onto a bunch of parked dirty trucks from the constant cycle of snowfall and warm temperatures that we’re experiencing. Enough about the location, let’s chat about the food.

Gyoza

Duck Tataki

Overall the appetizers were unappetizing. The best one was the Purple Yam Fries that were tempura’d yam which sounds not too exciting but trust me, it was the best appetizer here. The edamame was unsalted, takoyaki was light in flavor, and gyoza was meh. Some notes on the Aigamo Tataki was that it was very dry. Like I understand this is duck that would have been in their duck ramen but like as an appetizer this thing should have been marinated in ponzu sauce instead of it just being on the side, or better yet maybe sear both sides. I get it’s supposed to be cold, it just was either refrigerated for half a day, or it just sucks like this all the time. We also had these tofu cubes that tasted similar to mcdonald’s fries and were so underwhelming I almost forgot we had it.

Edamame

Takoyaki

Yam Fries

Deep fried tofu cubes or whatever

Chicken Karaage

On to the ramens, for the most part I enjoyed all the broths. I had the Signature Tori Paitan that had the chicken broth and it was pretty decent. It didn’t felt heavy despite it being creamy. I tried the truffle broth which was rich yet tasty. The one thing that I didn’t enjoy was the portions of proteins they gave me for my ramen, they were almost razer thin. The chasu and chicken was soooo thin that I didn’t get a good chew and for something that had a good broth made it so underwhelming. The one thing you can’t complain about here is the noodles as you’re able to choose the size. I always get thin noodles and these these were pretty great and had a good spring. What’s also available to you is many add-ons to your ramen such as corn, black fungus and bamboo shoots…things that should come in your ramen but they don’t. A lame way to get your ramen over $20. 

Thin slices of chashu

While I would maybe come here again, I don’t recommend anyone go yet until they fix many of their menu items. Compared to the current ramen offerings in Edmonton this falls on the low end of the list. I feel like the rollout of this franchise was rushed as many liquor options weren’t available due to poor planning or restrictions with AGLC. Something where these items should not even be in your menu. 

Sal says: Just Skip It (2.3/5)