Ramen Nori

I tried Ramen Nori on a weekday for lunch, curious to see if the pesto ramen would really live up to the hype. It wasn't too busy, but it still took a little for us to get seated. They were a little understaffed. The menu is quite extensive. They actually have a lot more sushi than ramen, featuring lots of rolls, both specialty and classic rolls, along with nigiri and sashimi. Although I was here for the pesto ramen specifically, I felt like I needed to try the sushi just because it was such a big part of the menu. I went for the eel, salmon, and hamachi nigiri. Each order comes with two pieces and costs around 8 dollars per order. The sushi came out first, and came out quickly. There is a good amount of fish in the nigiri, but there should've been a little more rice. The hamachi and salmon were both fatty and high quality, but the eel left something to be desired. The eel wasn't fully deboned and came out cold. Overall, the sushi was good. I had some small nitpicks, but they were pretty easy to look past. The pesto ramen was very surprising to me. It was a lot better than I expected. Trying the broth first, it was intensely pesto-flavored. I expected the flavor to be pretty mild but eating this dish felt like I was eating a normal pesto pasta in ramen form, which was exactly what it was trying to be. The noodles were thin, chewy, and bouncy, but didn't pick up the sauce super well. The only gripe I had with the dish was with the cheese. It wasn't really well incorporated in the broth and was very inconsistent in each bite, making some bites very rich and oddly textured while not being present in others. I wish it could've been completely omitted, or that the kitchen had found a way for it to play a bigger part in the dish. I felt that the ramen was a much stronger dish than the sushi. Service was efficient but not memorable. They came right away and took our order, but didn't provide much more. No conversation and no check-ins, but I didn't really have a problem with it. To me, Ramen Nori is a great casual option that has intriguing, unique options as well as well-executed classics. The food isn't mind-blowing, and the service isn't special, but everything is solid and efficient. I would return to try different sushi options, but mainly for the ramen.