According to Ronin Sushi Cafe’s Facebook page they are in dire need of funds and fast:
Ronin supporters! We’ve been given short notice to come up with $19k in 10 days! Please go to our website and read about the save Ronin campaign tomorrow! Come to eat, buy a coke, call in to purchase gift cards now and eat later! Whatever! …Thank you for all you’ve done, I love you all! For larger purchase supporters we are offering $600 gift cards for $500. Thank you & spread the word! – Nona
Ronin Sushi Cafe in Lakeville is one of those handful of restaurants that really needs to remain open and I am begging that you do what you can to get your ass in the door and feed yourself and your family to help them out. Nona and her family have invested their entire lives into this restaurant (refinancing, etc) to keep their dreams alive and spending some of your money on an excellent dinner is the least you can do to try and help.
While I am skeptical that anything we do will help them meet their $19,000 goal in 10 days, every little bit helps and I wish them the best of luck. So do what you can and get everyone you know out there to eat, drink, and enjoy one of the finest Thai restaurants south of the river.
What do you think about the likelihood of Ronin meeting their goal in 10 days? What do you think they could do to get the word out faster? Is there anything you could recommend to draw people in? Whatever you have to say about the possibility of Ronin closing its doors please comment on and show your support
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September 16th, 2009 at 9:15 am
This is very sad. I cant think of nicer people, and just reading this made me crave drunken noodles with chicken.
I plan on eating there this weekend. I dont know what they can do to come up with that amount of money, but I hope it happens.
Great food and great people. Seriously, the fact that Ronin could suffer while chain places thrive all over the south metro is disgusting.
September 16th, 2009 at 9:21 am
I could not have said it better myself.
September 16th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I do like that place and I go there, but after hearing about their trouble, I’d have a tough time buying a $600 gift card for any amount of money. They could be out of business in afew weeks..
September 16th, 2009 at 10:28 am
I’m working from home today and will go get some Ancient chicken for lunch.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I stopped by and grabbed some curry, sushi, and drunken noodles for lunch
September 16th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I met Dave there for lunch today.
That location is just cursed. Must be an ancient burial ground of some sort.
September 16th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
We are going there tonight with another couple, we won’t be able to make the 19k number on our meals, but every little bit helps!
September 16th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Thank you all for caring about Nona, her family and her dream! Every little bit helps and we are grateful for our loyal customers… It would be ridiculous to see Ronin close just because of this. We are also selling $10 gift cards for later use to drum up as much as we can to help keep our doors open! Thank you again!
September 16th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
That location does not have very good access so it’s not surprising businesses there have trouble staying open. Good luck though…with Kolwalski’s sitting there empty and the old liquor store empty that corner has it’s problems.
Side note: Did you see Copper Bleu is turning into a seafood tavern?
September 16th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Really?! That will be cool. I have been waiting for the notorious ‘copper thieves’ we keep hearing about on the news to strip the place bare! Glad something new will be going in the building!
September 16th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I will see about going this weekend sometime. I would certainly like to see them stay open.
September 17th, 2009 at 7:52 am
My wife and I went in and saw two other couples who read the site eating there as well. I ordered the drunken noodles (“Bill hot”), miso soup, and a cherry bomb.
Everything was back to where it used to be both on spice level and taste. An absolutely fantastic dinner. I really hope it stays open. Their food is just too fucking good not to.
Tell you friends people, beg and plead with them to get in the door and give Ronin another shot at the success it deserves.
September 17th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
An update from Ronin’s Facebook page:
September 18th, 2009 at 9:13 am
I stopped in for take out last night. It sounds like the issue is not with the location or business at all. It is an issue around taxes. I did not understand exactly what the deal is, only that they thought they had some sort of agreement with the state that has since been changed, requiring them to come up with a large sum of money in a short period of time.
The food was outstanding, as always.
September 18th, 2009 at 9:17 am
http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/taxes/collection/other_supporting_content/liquor_posting_list.pdf
Ahh, they are delinquent on their liquor taxes to the state. This could eventually lead to them not being permitted to receive liquor, wine or beer. I think I’ve only had a beer there once so, to me, it’s just not that big of a deal.
September 18th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Wow, that is a very interesting list. I wonder if there have been some changes regarding liquor tax payments? There are quite a lot of names on that list, some of chains and/or very prominent locations in the Twin Cities.
September 18th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I noticed those in Burnsville.
16249 Noso Restaurant Group Inc Hooters Restaurant 12950 Aldrich Ave S Burnsville Sep-09
18718 Richmar Inc Primetime Sport Bar/Grill 14103 Irving Ave S Burnsville Sep-09
22000 Exceptionally Good Taste Hosp Inc Kraemers Catering/Applewood Deli 1996 Hwy 13 W Burnsville Sep-09
Hmmm, wasn’t the “BROKE” Dan Gustafson who sits on the Burnsville City Council providing consulting services to Kraemers Catering/Applewood Deli?
Curious if The Applewood Rustic Grill is part of this and ows the State taxes, looks to be the same address.
Hooters in Burnsville, they hurting financially as well or just an oversight?
Primetime in Burnsville.
I wonder if these establishments are leveraging tax revenues to keep their businesses afloat and have cash flow problems and they appear on this list due to they elect to use the tax revenues for keeping their businesses solvent instead of ensuring that these taxes go directly to the state as they are taken in on a monthly basis.
September 18th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
If you look outside Burnsville, there are several very high profile Twin Cities places on that list.
September 20th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
More on the issue from Ronin’s website here: http://ronincafe.com/Noodles.aspx
September 20th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
First trip to Ronin. One word: Nummy.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:48 am
I would encourage everyone to go to the Ronin website and read the whole post. It sounds like they have been through an awful year.
http://ronincafe.com/Noodles.aspx
Good luck Ronin, we are rooting for you.
September 21st, 2009 at 10:50 am
Yeah, after reading through all that, I’m really amazed they’ve held on so long. If I ever feel like I am having it rough, I will read through that again and feel grateful for what I have.
September 22nd, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Looks like three days to go and they have $8000 more to raise. People, I fucking beg you to get in there and save Ronin!
See here for more information from Nona:
September 22nd, 2009 at 5:23 pm
hmm. I was really wanting some more ancient chicken. (I had leftovers for lunch, but it just wasn’t enough)
September 24th, 2009 at 11:23 am
I just saw this story today and posted it to my FB page. Not 6 minutes later, my brother IMs me and is on his way down so we can go show our support and fill our tummies.
September 25th, 2009 at 7:52 am
I got the impression that they were “gonna make it.” The campaign has had such great support that they are nearly running out of food some days.
September 25th, 2009 at 8:57 am
We picked up carry out last night. Great dinner as always.
Drunken noodles with chicken and Basil Chicken with egg. Yummy
September 27th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Anyone have an update on the campaign?
Last update on their website: September 22nd, 2009 $11,000 Paid another $8,000 to go.
Today was the date they needed to come up with the payment (I assume tomorrow morning since the state government does not work weekends and appears to me to be very inflexible even if they see progress or intent being made to correct an issue).
September 28th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
From Ronin’s Facebook page:
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:37 am
Stopped in last night for some Red Curry (Bill hot, of course) and asked how things were going. The waitress didn’t have much info, but stated she thought they might make it, but would know more this weekend.
October 4th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Nona seemed cautiously optimistic when I was in for what I think was my 5th purchase there in a week. =:-D
October 13th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Ronin could use some more mentions on yelp, IMO. http://www.yelp.com/biz/ronin-sushi-cafe-lakeville
December 31st, 2009 at 6:53 am
Are these guys still open?
December 31st, 2009 at 6:55 am
Yes.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:01 am
Cool.
December 31st, 2009 at 9:34 am
For a restaurant that has been on the brink of failure, I’m surprised they’re closing on New Year’s Eve and the whole day after — a Friday and Saturday no less.
What’s up with that?
February 15th, 2010 at 9:43 am
I stopped by Ronin on Friday, after having been away most of the winter. Sometimes its just tiresome to try to get out on work nights in the winter with a two year old.
Anyway, while not crowded, business was steady, and the food was great. Service was wonderful, but I feel like I know most of the people there, and consider them friends, so its difficult to comment on service. My exerience may be different than others, although I hope not.
I was a bit nervous based on some comments I had read about food quality. I was happily surprised, or not surprised I guess, that everything was great. Its very possible that the Basil Chicken with Egg has become my favorite dish, passing the drunken noodles. Everything was hot, fresh, spicy and delicious. I dont know how the Valentines meals went, but it sounded like it was going to be a pretty cool experience for sushi lovers. We considered going, but I just dont appreciate sushi all that much.
As expected, it was a fun relaxing meal. Thanks Nona!
June 3rd, 2010 at 7:02 am
Two coupons for Ronin today:
Groupon is $15 ($35 value)
Living Social deal is $15 ($30 value)
June 4th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Went there for dinner tonight with a Groupon purchased yesterday. It’s not a very large space so I can see why the recommend reservations.
Server was friendly enough the couple times she was at our table but service very slow. Over 40 minutes from when we ordered until our first item arrived. Another 15 before entrees.
When the appetizer came out she explained there was a mix up in the kitchen and we only received a half order. We wanted a full order even though we asked for it to come out first in order to hit our $35 coupon. She said she could put in an order for another half but after waiting so long already I didn’t want to find out how long that would take.
Someone else brought our entrees to us and our server never did stop by after delivering the appetizer to see how things were or if we needed anything until we were done with the entrees.
Because of the small size of the place the lack of attention was surprising to me. Maybe they are not used to having the place mostly full?
For the food…well I have to issue a disclaimer. I don’t like Asian food. I only went because my wife does like Asian and you have to dine in with the coupon. I ordered tempura shrimp which also comes with veggies of some sort. Wife ate the veggies and I ate the shrimp. It was ok, but as a cocktail sauce fan it wasn’t something I loved.
Tried one spoonful of the miso soup that comes with and that was enough. Wife ate that too.
My entree was the pad Thai noodles with spicy level of 2 and added shrimp. Probably would go for spicy level of 3 next time. Again it was ok. I wish the green onion would have been chopped up smaller since the pieces were bigger than I wanted to add to my mouthful. With the noodles and peanuts and bean sprouts it’s a different taste for me. I can’t say it tasted bad, just not something I would say tasted good.
Like I told my wife, I’d be fine if I never ate it again though I would eat it again if we go back.
Wife had yellow curry with chicken. She loves the curry dishes from Ronin and it’s her favorite thing to eat right now. So she thought her entree was awesome.
To make sure we hit our coupon amount after the 1/2 order of tempura shrimp we tried the leche ice cream for dessert. We agreed it was an odd flavor. Sort of a citrus taste to it. Not really a bad taste just a little different. Bigger thing I didn’t like was that it had the ice crystals in it like ice cream gets when it’s sitting around too long, so it wasn’t very smooth. Probably they don’t sell too much of it.
So the only reason I’ll go back is because it’s my wife’s favorite food. She had only gotten take-out before and agreed the service is slow but loved the meal. We have 3 other coupons to use now, though I suggested she should take one of her friends who would appreciate the food more. ha ha…
June 5th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Andrew — If you do go back, I recommend you order the Drunken Noodles and/or the Ancient Shrimp (or chicken). Neither have ingredients uncommon to “American” foods (like miso which is definitely not a familiar flavor and which can be kind of strong). The Drunken Noodles always highlight their use of fresh vegetables and good quality ingredients. The Ancient Shrimp is vaguely similar to the General Tso’s/Orange Chicken dishes you’d find at Panda Express, etc. — fried and in a sticky-ish sauce.