Journey East Noodle Bar is a must visit

Journey East Noodle Bar is the place to curb your Ramen cravings.

Journey East is a small, friendly restaurant located in Mandeville. They serve a variety of Japanese dishes, with their main star being ramen. It’s the only place to get authentic ramen in the area.

It’s a small yet welcoming space with a bar and a few TVs set up around the room. It is almost like a sports bar for Japanese cuisine. There are a fair amount of tables set up, some for couples, others for slightly larger groups.

“The atmosphere is authentic. It doesn’t feel like you’ve walked into that exact same restaurant a hundred times before,” commented Madison Antrainer on her first impression of the place.

It’s much different from other restaurants in the town. It’s a fresh, new type of food for people to try with friends, family, or a date.

“It’s a good place to go with friends. They have TVs and pretty big tables. Not good for huge groups but for three or four friends maybe. It’s a pretty chill place to go,” Nick Pavon, a frequent customer of the restaurant added.

With a family friendly and relaxing atmosphere Journey East Noodle Bar definitely has an inviting environment. But let’s answer the question you’ve been waiting for. How’s the food?

The restaurant provides a decent sized menu with a variety of options. They have fruit teas, egg rolls, ramen, vermicelli dishes, and even soup dumplings on Saturdays.

They have about eight different ramen bowls to choose from with rich and unique flavors in each bowl. Light and savory broths and thick and creamy ones. Pork, chicken, steak, and even vegetarian options.

“The food is delicious. I’d recommend it,” said Gavin Bowers, one of the waiters at Journey East.

Each bowl is a very large serving which you will most likely have to take home for a second meal. There’s no doubt the food is good, but with each bowl costing between $15-$18, is it worth the price?

“The food’s good but overpriced for the quantity given,” Antrainer remarked.

For most young people, the prices may be a bit high to go often. Antrainer said she felt there wasn’t enough food for the price to be so high, but Pavon disagreed.

“The food is expensive, but I think it’s worth the price. It’s 16 bucks for a bowl of ramen, but it’s pretty good ramen,” voiced Pavon.

The prices are set high, but most ingredients are made fresh in the restaurant and are more expensive. The soup dumpling cost $9 for just three tiny dumplings, but it’s because of the time and work it takes to make them.

“It takes us 4 hours to make a batch of the soup dumplings and we have to cook them with the steam which takes 25 minutes,” Bowers shared.

It seems rather overpriced, but when you consider what goes into making these dishes fresh and tasty for us to eat, you begin to understand the high prices.

Unless you order the soup dumplings, most of the food comes out rather quickly. They never seem to be too packed so it’s typically a quiet and short wait.

“Most of the food takes about 10 minutes to make depending on how busy we are,” said Bowers.

The wait is short and the staff are friendly and check up on you often to offer refills and take any requests.

“They were kind of slow when I went so the customer service was great. I never had to wave down our waiter or anything,” Antrainer commented.

The staff are not only attentive, but they engage in conversation and joke around with their customers. You can tell they have a few regulars.

“They’re friendly and seem to actually talk to their customers. It’s pretty relaxed there,” Pavon stated.

Even though there only seems to be one or two waiters at a time, they are on top of everything and make you feel taken care of.

The restaurant’s atmosphere and the friendly staff make you feel at home as if you were eating your childhood comfort food. The food is warm and flavorful and comes in large portions, leaving you feeling full and satisfied.

Journey East Noodle Bar is a great place to visit if you are in the Mandeville area and looking for ramen. It’s a restaurant you have to visit at least once — just be careful not to get addicted if you’re on a budget.