Vvvvvery disappointing experience at Sober Ramen. We ordered beef ribs ramen, tonkotsu ramen, beef tataki, and scallops. Both ramen were extremely salty, with broth almost undrinkable, yet priced at AUD 33, which is completely unreasonable. The beef tataki was also poor value — clearly not high-quality wagyu, only six thin slices for AUD 22. More concerning, I had diarrhea after returning home, and I had not eaten anything else after this meal. This raised serious food safety concerns, especially as the open kitchen walls were visibly dirty with dark stains, and knives were hung directly on those dirty walls. The dining environment was very uncomfortable. Tables and aisles are extremely narrow — we had to pull our legs in and twist our bodies whenever staff walked past. Outdoor seating is unsuitable in hot weather, while the indoor air conditioning barely worked, making the space hot and stuffy. Staff attitude was cold and indifferent. We paid around AUD 50 per person, but the food quality, hygiene, comfort, and service were far below expectations. I would not recommend dining here.

Delish! Friendly team, service is amazing.. dumplings came out straight away, which we inhaled 😅 Prawn & Chicken Dumplings Kingfish Ceviche Oyster Mushroom Kirage Beef Brisket Ramen Lychee Martini!

The soup base for the black garlic ramen is nice and thick. The sliced pork could be better if it has some fat on it. The noodles are fresh and has a nice chewy texture on it. The braised beef rib is generous for its size, you need to borrow some fork, knife and a small plate to cut it though as the meat is not fall off the meat tender type. The place can be pretty tight, if you are a claustrophobic person, then this might be a deal breaker for you as the sitting is very close to each other. Also will be hard for people with accessibility needs. The place also has upbeat music so it's not your typical Japanese restaurant that is pretty quiet. The menu selection is also quiet limited, as we asked the staff for some agedashi tofu but they don't even know about it. It seems that most of the staff are non-Japanese as well.

I chose a vege tempura plate and tonkotsu ramen for lunch. The food was mid. First tempura was a bit over fried, tasted burnt in some bits and overall too oily, less frying time in higher heat would help. But I like the veggies selection of eggplants, long beans and pumpkins. The ramen has more problems. Bamboo shoots marinated for too long and the thick cuts makes it too distracting with the broth. Now, the pork and broth have the biggest problem. The ingredients were old making the whole dish taste like something I left in the fridge for over a week and reheated in microwave. The charring on the pork doesn’t help if your ingredients are not fresh, it’s just for look at this point. I still finished everything because it was not inedible and I don’t like food wastage. But the restaurant needs to do better quality control over ingredients. One more thing, I hope the restaurant could provide high chairs for family with small children. When I was there, there was a mother having to hold her child for the whole meal and were separated with her family. They still sat nearby and still be able to talk since it was not too crowded at the time. But it’s just sad that the mother could not have a comfortable meal in their day-out. Anyway, I hope the restaurant can consider this feedback and make adjustments. I’ll come back one day maybe, not in the near future though.

I appreciated the menu’s variety, with a good selection of starters and mains to suit different tastes. The vegetable tempura was nicely done, and we thoroughly enjoyed the 500g braised beef rib, which came highly recommended by a friend — it was absolutely delicious. As a fan of classic tonkotsu ramen, I found the broth lacking in richness and creaminess, perhaps because it wasn’t one of their ‘Sober Specialities.’ The dumplings were tasty with a nice kick of heat, and the gyozas were surprisingly succulent. While I wouldn’t rave about Sober Ramen as my favourite ramen joint, I wouldn’t mind visiting again for other dishes.