Ninja City - Urban Kitchen & Bubble Tea

Worst Pad Thai I have ever had. For a dish that is supposed to be sweet, salty, tangy, nutty, and spicy, this was completely bland. Literally no flavor whatsoever. I also tried my daughter's ramen, which also had no flavor, and the noodles were all stuck together in a hard clump. And these dishes were both $20 each! At such a steep price I would expect them to be phenomenal, not sub-mediocre.

The boba here was literally the worst I’ve ever had. Overcooked and falling apart tapioca, milk tea made from water mixed with powder. $7?? You kidding? The people were nice, but don’t waste your money, no matter how bad you’re craving boba.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 4

The Bahn Mi sandwich was hard to eat. The inside vegetables and chicken were tasty, but the roll was very hard. Maybe toasted a little less it could have been edible. Maybe. The tots were good and there was plenty in the box. They were out of tapioca boba. It was pretty disappointing. I felt bad for the two employees who were struggling to keep up with the long line. Wouldn't go back. :-(

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 4

Great food, fun people. The Ramen is some of the best I've had locally. Check them out!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Food sucks. Not prepared fresh. No line and still took forever to get our food. The kids hated the soup and noodles. Shrimp looked sketchy.. was afraid to eat it myself. Horrible!!.. Stay away

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

This is the most disappointing way to lose $16.50. Soggy white bread, pate that smelled of cat food, honeybaked ham, and unseasoned everything. I'm certain there's more flavor in the paper bag it came in. Save your dollar and keep it pushing.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 2

Harsh but true, this place was gross. Unfortunately, after I'd already ordered, I saw a bag of meat and another page of meat sitting on a counter off to the side of the order area. Despite new concerns about food poisoning, we still ate. They gave me the wrong boba tea and my bahn mi was pretty flavorless with bread that was so soggy it fell away in gross, mushy clumps. My friend had miso ramen that was also bad. The staff member we ordered from was also just... Idk? Completely affectless to the point where it was off-putting. I'd actively discourage anyone from eating at this location. Seriously.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Fresh herbs and veggies abound in their steamed buns, papaya salad, noodle salad, lettuce wraps, banh mi, and more they showcased at the VegFest. Healthy and satisfying.

The food is good but they are *SO* slow. They need to step up their game.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 2

The guy with the long hair that works there is rude and terrible at customer service couldn’t even get to order. Horrible experience

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

So, I ordered the miso ramen, my husband ordered Pad Thai, and my friend got the pho.So my friend said that it was an interesting dish. I looked at it, and they didn’t give her the broth! They served pho without broth. She went to ask about it and they said they forgot. Wow.My husband say this was the worst pad Thai he’s had. He’s been to another Thai restaurant and the pad. Thai was excellent so he was really disappointed with this.My miso Ramen was very bland. The only thing seasoned was the shrimp and the shrimp was small. There were some noodles that were together that I had to remove and can someone please tell me why they serve the broth separate. Just put it in when you give us the food, it wasn’t a very pleasant experience for $16.50 + extra for shrimp. I was expecting a lot more. We were kind of disappointed with this experience we probably won’t ever be back.The cashier did give us a fun fact about aspartame. lol

Vegetarian options: A few things, not a lot

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 2

Recommended dishes: Pho

I don't normally write reviews. However, this (Van Aken) Ninja City is one of the most disappointing places I've encountered in some time. I've been a big chief Bac fan since his first restaurant (BAC - now closed) in Tremont. I frequented it often, as with the original east side Ninja City, his grandmother's place (Minh Anh), the Gorden Square Ninja City. I'm in Cleveland Heights and my wife does evening workouts at a place near Van Aken... so we were both excited about this new location. After 3 strikes... we're out.The first 2 fails came in the form of bland (but edible) orders of Pad Thai and Vietnamese Noodle Salad (with the pork spring rolls) - dishes I loved (along with pretty much anything I tied) at the aforementioned locations above. The service was also spotty... but I've unfortunately grown accustom to that - even at places that are good - in the recent years. It'd been a while since we tied it and I was craving some Pad Thai today... so drove over. What I received was simply inedible and had a closer resemblance to SpaghettiOs than Pad Thai. I've included a photo of my attempt to drain sauce from the dish in an attempt to salvage dinner (yes, the photo is after draining in a colander)... I gave up and moved on to plan B.The unfortunate thing is that this is a staffing/training issue - not an "oops, that order didn't turn out so well" scenario. Under no circumstances should someone preparing Pad Thai be under the impression that it should look like a pasta dish with red sauce. I've read other reviews and see that I'm not the only one with this type of experience. I hope that Bac and the team can find some better help, sort this out the quality issues, and get Van Aken back on track.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

One of our favorites. Love the noodle salad.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Vietnamese Noodle Salad, Vegan Taro Spring Rolls

Great food, excellent customer service, and the bubble tea was yummy.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Joel and Brandon-with-the-good hair were both awesome, customer service was unmatched, and the food was yummy! 10/10 recommend.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5