In October 2022, Patti and I were invited to another Ramen Hayashi grand opening in Fresno at the El Paseo Shopping Plaza at 1175 Herndon Ave, Fresno. I wrote a review about the opening night and the food served for that opening.
Now it's time to review the food months after the grand opening and an unexpected visit by Patti and me.
Allergy Concerns
Due to a peanut and sesame allergy, I can't have peanuts in food or handle peanut oil; the same goes for sesame seeds and oil.
About 95% of their meals have one or the other, so finding a dish I could eat took some time. Ultimately, we found two dishes I could enjoy with pork, which was excellent since I like pork.
With the allergy concern settled, we're on to dinner.
Patti's Order
Patti went with the Shio Ramen with chicken breast. It also had spinach, hand-cut sweet corn, soft-boiled egg, green onion, and nori (seaweed) with thick noodles. Many of their dishes now offer no sesame oil, which is excellent, but on the night we went, that wasn't available, so this dish wasn't for me.
Patti loved this dish. The chicken was tender and juicy, not dried out at all.
All ingredients were fresh and cooked, so they had a snap when you bit into them—no mushy veggies in this dish. Everything, according to Patti, was perfect.
My Order
I went with the rice bowl and pork. I guess I could've had chicken, I found out, but I stuck with pork.
The pork was tender and juicy, just like Patti's chicken, although I must say my pork had more flavor than her chicken; that's usually the case.
Chicken isn't always the best meat to order since it takes a good chef to know how to season it correctly for flavor, tenderness, and a moist inside.
Dark meat chicken will always tend to be more juicy, tender, and flavorful than breast meat, but some people like me only like breast meat, and we have to learn how to make it right.
But pork is usually a more tender and flavorful piece of meat if cooked correctly, and this was cooked to perfection.
The veggies were all fresh and tender, with the perfect snap to them when you took a bite.
The rice was fluffy and, again, perfect for this dish. I will order it again and again.
Service
Service that evening was excellent. Patti and I were surprised, as usual after a grand opening, service goes downhill, but in this case, it was just as good, if not better, since there wasn't a crowded room. There were only about three couples at the time we went. So it was perfect.
The staff greeted us and worked with us to get the correct dish I could enjoy, even with my allergy. I mean, when you take out peanut and sesame oil from an Asian dish, the flavor isn't there, at least in my opinion. This always makes it hard to go out for Asian food.
Clovis Location
We haven't tried the close-to-home Clovis location, but we will soon. If you have tried it or the Fresno location, please let us know in the comments section how your experience went.
Buon Appetito!
Mark & Patti