text: This restaurant seems actually run by Japanese people, which is rare for a Japanese restaurant in the US. It also seems to receive a good number of Japanese regulars, which is always a good sign. I see they're trying to be authentic in their food (I lived in Japan, and I can tell). \n\nAnyway, the ramen I tried, I guess you just can't make it as good as you'd get in Japan. It is pretty ordinary ramen (stuff you could make with the material you gather from an asian market without much efforts), but pricey, (not as meh and pricy as the ones I tried in St. Mark's Place in NYC though, those were absolute rip-offs and were literally cup-noodles in bowls!). \n\nThe lunch sushi plate I didn't try but I saw a sample display at the entrance --- the usual cheapie American style sushi, i.e. a bunch of makis (easy to make a bunch, easier to cheat the flavor of lower quality sashimi, not accidentally never ever seen served in restaurants in japan), fake crab meats (seriously, why would any supposedly \"authentic\" japanese restaurant serve this crap? Why not skip the crab anything altogether if the real thing is so expensive?), etc.\n\nOK food. Really, not much better (but certainly not worse) than any other japanese or sushi restaurants in Charlotte, and the prices were OK. The Japanese regulars seems to frequent the place because they know it cannot get any better in Charlotte as far as Japanese cuisine goes (not because the food there is as good as they'd get back home). So what can you do?