I have no qualms writing:
Ramen-ya is the best Japanese ramen noodle shop in West LA.
I first wrote about this small noodle shop back in 2005, when I began my humble diary of good eats and good finds in LA. And here I am, almost two years later... still blogging and still eating the same cha-shu pork ramen.
Whenever I eat at Ramen-ya, I order both the cha-shu pork ramen and a side of their pork fried rice. Nothing fancy, the mildly flavored fried rice is a good complement to the saltiness of the shoyu soy sauce broth.
While my entire family tends to order the shoyu cha-shu ramen, MS likes his pork in a miso flavored broth. Both come in large ceramic bowls and are quite filling - great amount of food for the price you pay. I'm always really full after some fried rice and a big bowl of noodles.
So when the new kid on the block, Santouka came into town and foodblogging friends including Oishii Eats, Rameniac, Eat Drink & Be Merry, and Daily Gluttony all raved about this Japanese noodle chain hitting West LA, I had to check it out.MS and I ordered our usual shoyu cha-shu and miso cha-shu ramen bowls. For the same amount of dollars spent at Ramen-ya, Santouka's ramen bowls seemed deceivingly comparable. I was pretty disappointed with the amount of noodles we got and didn't care much for the oily residue that flavored my shoyu broth.
There were some redeeming factors about Santouka though.
+ The wait was not long to get our cafeteria tray of ramen.All in all, Ramen-ya's still my LA favorite.
+ Plenty of seats in the Mitsuwa food court.
+ Packaged onigiris can be purchased for $1 at the market. Good thing too because MS and I ate two of them each!
Ramenya
Street: 11555 Olympic Blvd in Los Angeles
T: 310.575.9337
h: 11:30am - 9:30pm
www.ramenya-usa.com
[cash only]
Santouka Ramenya
Mitsuwa Market Food Court
3760 Centinela Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90066
h: 10:00am -
[cash only]
10 comments:
I love Santouka. The style of ramen served there (pork bone broth) sounds a different from the ramen at Ramen-ya (soy sauce broth). From you're excellent review, Ramen-ya seems like a must-try place for shoyu ramen.
I like the broth better at Santouka, but I much prefer the meat at Ramenya. Also, Ramenya has a wider variety of items and flavors on their menu.
By the way, Santouka actually closes at 7:30pm (I was there tonight). So that's another plus to Ramenya, as it's open later.
the ramen at santouka isn't the same strand as the likes of ramenya/asahi. its more of a poorman's shinsengumi.
pho realz,
that sounds so good...makes me hungry...mmmmm
The chicken salad at Ramenya is my personal favorite. =)
Santouka is very good! I've always been about Daikokuya, but the long wait during peak hours is annoying.
Oh yeah, and where were you Saturday? How did it go?
Hey ChubbyPanda! Yeah, it may be a different kind of broth... too bad I don't like that style as much. LOL! And maybe not all Santoukas are the same??
Hey Taste-Buzz! Thanks for the heads up on early closing times! :D
Hey MS! I love it. "Poor man's shinsengumi." LOL!
Hey Anim8or28! It is that good! ;)
Hey Pirikara! Mmm... I'll have to order the chicken salad on my next go! :)
Hey GT! Daikokuya's good too, but in Little Tokyo... And yeah... didn't get to make it out on Saturday. Was it fun? Update!!!
"Poor man's shinsengumi"? No offense, but that's not cool. One thing to praise your joints, another to put other people's joints down. Let's play nice yo.
Hey I Like Food! If you know me, I *almost always* play nice. ;)
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