Birthday Dinner at Longevous Joy

Longevous Joy is one of the only restaurants in Bensonhurst that serves ramen, but that doesn't mean it's the best because it isn't. I feel that Longevous Joy is cramped with any hot and trendy Japanese food you can think of that's been wildly popular the last few years - takoyaki, sushi, yakiudon, yakisoba, uni, and etc.

On the potentially one of the coldest days of last year (December 15th to be exact), we came here to have birthday dinner for my girlfriend. This was mine and Will's second visit to Longevous Joy and we were trying to remember exactly why we never returned, but the quality of the food gave us a good memory.

The restaurant isn't very big so I wouldn't recommend coming here with a big group and I am sure their occupancy level is well suited for 20-30 people max. The restaurant is also a little dark in my opinion.

So this is what we had:

Appetizers

We ordered the Best Seller Roll Combo (eel roll, spicy scallop roll, spicy salmon roll, and California roll). The sushi was okay, but definitely not the best I've had. I feel they all tasted the same. We got the Takoyaki as well which I thought was on par. It was moist, delicious, and just melts in your mouth. The Stuffed Squid is one of their most popular menu items and it was one of the better tasting dishes that we had all night.

Tonkotsu Charshu Ramen 

It was freezing outside so well naturally got a bowl of ramen. I'm a huge fan of Tonkotsu so that's what I ordered and strangely it was the first ramen to arrive. The ramen had everything a typical ramen would have - half egg, fish cake, bamboo shoots, scallions, corn, chashu, but the problem here is that the noodles were well done and didn't taste or feel like ramen. The broth was extremely white. I felt like I was drinking a bowl of milk or cream. Another issue was the ramen was tasteless, couldn't enjoy that pork-like taste very much.

Satay Grilled Chicken Ramen & Curry Seafood Ramen

One friend got the Satay Grilled Chicken Ramen and Will and the birthday girl got the Curry Seafood Ramen. They said their ramen wasn't very savory either. There was minimal to no flavor in the ramen and there was very light curry flavor in the ramen. 

 

I remember very clearly why Will and I never think of going to Longevous Joy for food. The quality of the food can use improvement. I would rather travel to East Village for delicious Japanese soul food instead and ramen with flavorless broth is heart breaking. The broth and noodles are what it's all about.