Slurping Turtle

"I absolutely adore this place. I've only been twice so far but it is 100% one of my new go to restaurants in Ann Arbor. Fair warning they are super busy, if you're going in a group you need to make a reservation. The first time I went was for a friend's birthday party and they were able to accommodate 15 of us since she had called earlier that morning to make a reservation. Both the food and the drinks are absolutely delicious. I always get the Sunday morning roll, it is by far my favorite sushi I have ever had anywhere. The presentation of the dishes are stunning, I would honestly pay way more for the food here. It is on the pricier side compared to other sushi restaurants in Ann Arbor but in my opinion it is well worth it. I just ate here alone yesterday and despite the hour wait, I was able to be seated at the bar downstairs right away which was amazing. I've gotten the haru mojito both times I went here & it's one of my favorite drinks in town. I wasn't a huge fan of the sochu mixed drink I got, but that's just personal preference, it still tastes great!! The bartender was super nice & so was everyone working there despite the insane amount of people, I'm sure working there is so chaotic."

"Was very happy with everything we had. Pork belly stir fry was perfectly cooked. Bao was interesting, a little difficult to eat, but good. Cali roll was a little on the small side compared to most places, but considering it was a shareable for us that worked out fine. Would certainly go back."

"Stopped by for lunch and they were super busy but we only had a couple minutes wait. The sushi was great. They have a few unique rolls I hadn't seen before. Try the veggie roll!"

"Slurping Turtle offers an excellent dining experience in Ann Arbor if you're looking for high quality Japanese food. The Red Curry Ramen has an exceptional flavor profile and was our favorite. He Vegetable Bao Buns were quite good, and the Kinoko Mochi had an interesting sweet-savory taste. The cucumber avocado roll was also quite good! The service was excellent (Kevin took great care of us) and the vibe was great. Highly recommend!"

"To start with some good things about this restaurant before I go into the negatives. We went on a Saturday around 7pm(19:00). First, our actual server was super kind and he was really knowledgeable about the menu itself. He also gave some recommendations as it was our first time going to Slurping Turtle. He also offered to put in our appetizers in first, but we opted to have everything brought to us at once. Also, the hostess was also really kind. Even after our 45 minute wait she was really helpful in finding us a table to sit at rather than forcing us to sit at the bar just because we were only a party of two. However, after she found us a table the male who took us to our table was extremely rude. He didn’t speak, didn’t smile, and pretty much threw our menus at us. He didn’t introduce himself so I don’t have his name however, I can describe him for you. He was pretty thin and tall, short hair, and he had tattoos on both arms. I don’t believe he had any piercings. He also had dark black hair. Now, asides from throwing our menus on the table he did the same thing when he brought us our cloth wrapped utensils. For a ramen shop using cloth to wrap chopsticks already makes it seem fancy compared to typical ramen shops you’ll find in Numazu, Aichi, Shizuoka, or in Tokyo on the corner of a busy street before the last train at night. However, when you unroll the cloth you don’t find high quality chopsticks but disposable ones. Not, really a bad thing, however when your bill comes out to $70 you’re expecting at least high quality chopsticks. In terms of the food, it wasn’t up to par at all from even some of the worst ramen shops I’ve been to in Japan. The worst thing on the menu that we ordered was the Gyoza by far. For the Gyoza if we were to rate it, we would give it a 1/10. The meat was bland and they didn’t come out hot. They were lukewarm at best. We decided to give it a one simply because of how it was folded and fried. However, after closer inspection we are thinking that these could have been frozen/store bought gyoza. If that is the case, they are extremely low quality. We also ordered the Negitoro maki. This was perfect. We would highly recommend it to those looking for a quick thing to eat while waiting for your food. 10/10. Shoyu Ramen or as they call it Classic Tokyo Shoyu, had a very bland broth compared to what I have experienced this was very disappointing. While it is supposed to be light it still should have held some flavor. The noodles were clearly made in house. Which I was very pleased with personally. Also they definitely give a lot of toppings. I’m assuming to make up for the horrible soup. The cuts of pork belly is definitely larger than anything you will get from a ramen shop in Japan. 5/10 is the overall score I’d give it. The Tonkotsu ramen or as the menu calls it: Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen. It had an actual flavor to the broth and again the toppings amount was really nice. Compared to the Shoyu ramen, this one is the most authentic to what you’ll find in Japan. There were some flavors that was missing but it was still pretty close to the “real” thing. 8.5/10 Another small thing is the fact they charged for hot tea. At any typical ramen place in Japan hot tea is usually free and typically they leave the powder on the table and you just add the hot water from the machine attached to the table. If it isn’t there they typically bring it to you without any problem. If there is a charge it typically isn’t more than $1. Lastly, the seating. Now, given the fact we went during a busy time frame their island tables in the center of the restaurant is not the best idea especially if you are on a date or meeting somewhere for a business meeting. We unfortunately got sat next to a very large and loud group that didn’t know how to control their volume and lack spatial awareness which had them either bumping us or awkwardly waiting for us to move over more rather than asking or them moving themselves. The tables definitely need to be spread out more."