Drunk Fish Restaurant

This place looked sketchy and rather unclean. We ordered edamame, which were wilted from the microwave instead of being steamed. It was rather warm in the restaurant and it made me question the safety of their seafood. So we left. And I’m not sure where they get the name Drunk Fish, because they don’t even serve alcohol? I was looking forward to some sushi and sake but not from here!

Terrible service
They gave me the wrong roll and then blamed me
The sushi is good though

This place has some of the worst Japanese food I have ever tasted. The tempura breading was extremely thick and the teriyaki (both chicken & beef) tasted bad. I ended up throwing mist of our meal away.

Sushi was not good. Small pieces. Bones in the salmon. Specials are overpriced for what you get. On the other hand, Udon noodle was fantastic. I love them all– and will return for a to-​go order and sit outside on the cooler days.

If you come here expecting Ramen like from other local restaurants like Tatsu-​ya or Michi, TURN AROUND. I suggest ordering something different off the menu.
I made the mistake of ordering the Tonkotsu Ramen & the Shrimp Tempura and was very disappointed. The pork was strangely fried and too chewy. The ramen noodles aren’t authentic, unless you it is your goal to be reminded of your poor college days. I think they literally serve Top Ramen instant noodles in their bowls. The veggies were not fresh, seemed frozen. Also the tempura seemed to be made with a fish-​and-​chips batter, not with traditional Panko. :(
I feel like I could have made this meal myself (and I’m not a good cook) at home for one fifth of what I paid for it. I know it sounds harsh, but just warning fellow ramen lovers not to make the same mistake.

Tiny place which I love, wasn’t that packed so it was comfortable. Very good environment and very friendly service. My chicken ramen was amazing. Never looking at ramen the same again. Couldn’t even put a dent in it. It filled me up real quick. I’ll definitely be coming back.

I’ve been to this place many many times, I usually get the teriyaki bowl or ramen. And never once have they disappointed, for only being 2 people who work here the food is great and the prices are reasonable. The teriyaki sauce is home made and amazing is the only word I can use to describe its taste.
Yes it is self served and they do have a tip jar but it’s not like they bend your arm for it. It’s a great place and has a nice quiet atmosphere to it. The people are nice and I never leave unhappy.

Love, love, love the shrimp ramen soup. Spicy and delish. The fried tempura sweet potato is a great compliment. The soup is has a spicy kick, but doesn’t over power your pallet. The restaurant is small but gives a lot of personal service.

Very bad service and low quality food. The tuna roll is not fresh at all. We asked if we could do the basic cucumber roll instead which was actually cheaper than tuna roll. The owner said we needed to pay extra to get cucumber roll. I wonder if their sushi rolls are pre-​made and that also explains the low qualify tuna roll. The owners are very rude and don’t say any hello or goodbye at all. They even explicitly asked how much tips we’d like to give. Never go there again.

Good asian food. Ramen noodles. Sushi. Eel bowl. Bento.
A w e s o m e m e a l.
Good asian food. Ramen noodles. Sushi. Eel bowl. Bento.
A w e s o m e m e a l.
Sorry to spam because Unilocal forces me to say furthermore comment. :/​LOL

First off, this review is only about the ramen. I didn’t try anything else on the menu but I’m probably not going to come back unless I’m already in the area and I really need a rice bowl or some sushi and I’m too lazy to drive. I also knocked it down a star because of cost. The prices are already pretty high for what you get, and then they ask you to tip when you have to bus your own stuff anyway?
I distinctly heard my friend order the bulgogi BOWL, yet his order came out as a bulgogi ramen. He ate it anyway, since he wanted to try the ramen at some point, but the lady hadn’t asked him if he wanted it mild or spicy, like she had with me, and it was too spicy for him. Both of us were pretty disappointed in the ramen, and agreed it had approximately the same taste and quality of dressed up Top Ramen.
There was a lot of tonkatsu meat in my dish, so that was good, but might be better off in a dry bowl than in soupy ramen. I might be tempted to come back and try the tonkatsu with rice, but the relatively high cost for a dish you can get elsewhere for better quality is kind of a turn-​off.
In my opinion, if you’re looking for a ramen place you’re better off going to Michi Ramen on Lamar.

$ 11 for ramen they bought at grocery store for .11 cents. Then they added hot sauce and a little meat, not quality meat at that. Wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Should have read the reviews before deciding to eat here.

One star because I feel so completely ripped off eating here! My boyfriend got the katsudon ramen and it was made with instant ramen noodles! Not worth the price at all. I got the chicken teriyaki rice bowl and the rice tasted old, some parts were firm like it had been left in the cooker too long. Chicken was tough and the teriyaki sauce completely overpowered the taste of the other ingredients. Would not eat there again under any circumstances.

The warning signs should have been the pictures. When looking at the ramen photos on the menu the noodles looked suspiciously like .10 instant ramen. It doesn’t matter if you use spicy broth and good toppings if you’re served instant ramen but still pay $ 11 you will feel ripped off. The only +1 star is that the fried gyoza was good and the katsu was tasty but get it with the bento box instead. If you want ramen then avoid this place and go to Ramen Tatsu-​ya up the road.

This is a great little hole in the wall kind of place that I would frequent in San Francisco. Living in the south, we don’t have enough of these places. Loved the combo ramen and gyoza.

This place does not have too many reviews/​positive reviews so I’ll give one. Although I’d give it a 3.5 if I could. 3 starts seems a bit unfair.
Was going to see a early showing of a movie over at the Arbor theater and needed a bite to eat beforehand. Honestly there is hardly anything decent to eat at the Arboretum for dinner, unless you want to eat at a chain, which was not appealing at all.
There are a lot of negative reviews over the ramen, but we got sushi and a couple appetizers. Now, the ingredients used in everything is by no means «fancy» we got a salad where the lettuce was probably the same kind of prepackaged salad mix you’d get from the grocery store. However, none of the food is as cheap as it should be, it could be a little cheaper, but with them being in the Arboretum, maybe they feel they can keep prices a little higher.
the sushi was fine. I’ve never eaten sushi in Austin that I would call utterly terrible. I got the drunk fish roll and the Hawaiian roll. My only complaint would be that the fish on top both of the rolls would fall off sometimes when you tried to pick the piece of sushi up. Otherwise it satisfied my sushi needs.
As others have said, this truly is a mom and pop operation, as in, they are the only ones working the kitchen. The husband makes the sushi, and the wife does everything else. When we got there we were the only ones there (it was pretty early) but later on a couple and their little kid came in and got ramen. Yes, they use instant ramen noodles, but again, I came here for the sushi, not the ramen, if I want the real deal I’m gonna go to Tatsuya’s
all in all I did not leave disappointed. If you are shopping at the Arboretum, and need something to eat for dinner, this place is worth a try for the sushi. I can imagine this place being a little crazy if they were super busy though, it’s a pretty small space.

I love the location and cuteness of this little Mom & Pop joint. In fact, that is the only thing I liked about it. For the probable high cost of the real estate and cost in rent they are in… I hope they improve their food to keep up with all the choices in Austin. The pictured menu from the window was enticing enough to get my BF and I to physically come back to try their advertised «Ramen» on the menu, whilst having Amy’s ice cream. Sad thing is… it was SUPER disappointing! The Ramen, is no Tatsuya… that’s for sure. Worst thing is…, my stove top, home cooked 0.10 cents Top Ramen would have tasted better. I had the Combo Ramen & BF had the Goyza Ramen. They nailed it on presentation, on taste… it was horrible! They both tasted the same with the exception to the added ingredients. Neither one of us finished our meal. It was the worst $ 10 for a bowl of cooked soggy noodles anyone could ever get. I believe the chefs were the 2 owners. No other staffs were seen in the visible kitchen. We had dinner at about 7:30pm, and there was only one other family dining in. The phone never rung once, in the 30 minutes we were in there, and no other clients arrived. We didn’t try any of the listed Sushi; but by the judge of their failure in something so simple as Ramen, and how few there were of clients to have dined, I cannot imagine how quickly they are able to sell their fish in order for it to stay fresh. For the expensive price…, everything was self service, including bussing your own table, but Tip was expected.
Overall, unless this cute place is under new management and new chefs, we will not be back! We had some hope for what looked so cute in a decent area, but left SUPER disappointed!

if not for the drunk fish roll, I would’ve given this 1 star. we both had the tofu teriyaki bowl which comes with veggies and steamed rice, but the tofu was so overlooked, and if it takes you a while to finish eating (like me) the tofu just gets tougher. for that reason alone, I would not come back. but the drunk fish roll was perfect! I loved the taste and the eel was tender. still, not enough to bring me back to this place. too bad.
service was kinda slow and the place was tiny. for 8.99, I think I can get a better deal elsewhere. sorry drunk fish!

I had to give this a few days to marinate in my brain. The first time I had Ramen out to eat was actually at the Whole Foods in Chicago where I used to work. That was better than the one I had for lunch this day. But this was first time eating Ramen at a restaurant I’m going to have to this 3 stars.
This has been all the craze so I had been doing some reading on blogs and different magazines online. I’ve read through plenty of reviews of restaurants in Houston and Austin. When we were visiting in Austin I had asked my Dad if they have gone to any of the Ramen restaurants and he said no. I was surprised the day my dad and I were the only ones home and he asked if to go to lunch to try at the Ramen place at the Arboretum. I had been looking through all the reviews for Ramen restaurants in the Arboretum area and I was missing it or totally overlooking it. So this would the first time I would have eaten at a place without thoroughly looking through Unilocal reviews.
I remember going to the Arboretum when I was in high school. It was the place to go to shop, hangout and eat Amy’s ice cream. I also remember there was a salon there that I got my eye brows waxed for the first time.
Drunken Fish is located next to Amy’s Ice Cream. A very small hole in the wall type place. It’s counter service so you order food and find a place to sit. This shouldn’t be too hard because there’s only about 20 or so seats. There’s a few down stairs which include counter seating facing the window outside and then there’s an upstairs which I didn’t full see but imagine there’s a few tables and seats. My dad got the seafood tempura ramen, I got the Tonkatsu (pork cutlet) Ramen and we got a Rainbow roll. This place is what imagine small hole in the wall, mom and pop ramen places would be in Japan. I’m only guessing this from the research I’ve done and what I’ve seen in movies. Don’t judge me. It seems that it’s a husband and wife operation. The husband was the main making the sushi rolls and the wife works the counter and they work on the hot food orders in the kitchen. When you order you can order with your eyes… don’t get smart. What I mean is that they have pictures of everything so you can really order something that looks appealing to you. Even the sushi rolls have pictures. The rainbow roll was fresh and delicious but I’m not sure what it all was. My guess was there was finely chopped crab with avacado in the middle with salmon and maybe yellow fin or albacore on the outside.
Shortly after our sushi was ready our piping out Ramens were sitting on the counter waiting for us to fetch them. You know this was definitely made to order because the soup was hot! It was also spicy which was good. I didn’t feel that the broth had any complexity or a full flavor it was just very plain and spicy. Noodles were chewy like I expected and then pork was crispy and abundant. There was also broccoli in my soup and green and red cabbage as a garnish but also went well with the soup. My dad seemed to enjoy his and we both finished our bowls. It was decent.
I need to go to some of the other more top rated place and get a taste for all the Ramen hype. It also seemed a little bit more pricey than the other places I’ve looked into. I would go back and try some other sushi, bento box and rice bowls but I’ll go try some other Ramen places to determine which will be my favorite.

Wow. What an interesting name. Maybe they came up with it while eating sushi and drunk on Sake’. Well, the place is BYOB! Now before you judge this review and why I gave it two stars; two stars is «Meh. I’ve experienced better».
Lets focus in on what I had to eat. My chicken udon soup was quite sad. If I was a kid I would have arranged the cuts of chicken to make a sad face.
The noodles remind me of udon noodles you can buy in packs at an asian market. It kinda looked like they cut open a bag of those noodles and barely cooked them. I think it should have been cooked for at least 3 more minutes!
The chicken was also sad. It looked nicely grilled, but I can not over ephasize the sorrow in this dish. The presentation of the bowl was nice as you can see in the attached photo. But boy was I disappointed. The chicken was DRY making the food really hard to eat or enjoy. I kinda felt like I was eating it to be curteous and not hurt the owner’s feelings.
Overall, a pretty sad experience. maybe they are subliminally telling us to get drunk before eating here. So, if you want to enjoy your food while sober I suggest you eat elsewhere.
Dang! I even feel sad while writing this review.