Broth: 4.5/5
Noodles: 4/5
Toppings: 4.75/5
Portion size: 5/5
Appetizers: 4.5/5
I was excited to try Menya Gumi during a day trip to New Haven. Overall I enjoyed what I had and would probably come back if I found myself in the area again. We went on a Saturday for dinner ~6:20pm. There was no wait but the restaurant did slowly fill up as the dinner hour continued. As others have said, the service is a bit non-standard when you first walk in (nobody greets you; they just tell you to sit wherever). They also have a rather aggressive sign in all caps that says that looking at the kitchen won't make the food come out faster -- it made me feel self-conscious about looking at the kitchen even though it was right in front of me. That being said, once we got seated the service was quick and smooth.
We got two appetizers. The karaage ($10) was solid -- it had a crispy exterior and tender interior. I would have wanted slightly more flavor -- maybe some ginger/garlic flavor or some saltiness. Overall not my favorite karaage ever, but still good. The tebasaki wings ($11) were also good. These had good flavor reminiscent of Bonchon soy garlic wings. I was glad they weren't too sweet. They had a good crunchy texture and were quite large. Overall very solid ramen appetizers.
I got the shoyu chintan ramen ($16). The broth is quite good -- well-balanced, not too salty, with good chicken broth flavor. The noodles were your standard packaged yellow wavy noodles. Mine were clumped up in a few places but otherwise good. The ramen had a lot of toppings -- for $16, this is pretty generous given what I'm used to. The toppings were all quite tasty. One thing I noticed was that everything was cut quite thick (or not cut) -- the bamboo was given in thick chunks, the shiitake mushrooms were cut pretty thickly, the pork belly was a thick slab, and the egg was not cut in half. As a result you get a lot of toppings, which I'm not complaining about, but I think it could've been even better if the toppings were sliced a bit.
Overall I enjoyed my experience and certainly came out of it very full. Good flavors and plentiful toppings. I would come back. I definitely want to try some of their sandos next time!