About Ichitaru Ramen
Beyond their size, small businesses are defined by their spirit. And at the helm are their intrepid founders—scrappy, ambitious, and resilient. They invent and build things despite uncertainty, because it’s what drives them. Their risks lead to innovation that moves the world forward. And we need them.
I really liked the food here, and have been here twice now and been impressed with the ramen and appetizers each time. Unfortunately, the building itself reeks of sewage, so much so that we considered walking out within 10 seconds of entering the building. It smelled this way both times (several weeks between visits) and was really difficult to enjoy our meal while smelling sewage so strongly. I am not seeing any other reviewers mentioning this except on Yelp, so I am leaving this review so that the owners hopefully notice and do something to fix the smell. I'd love to come back, but I will not be doing so until the smell issue is fixed. (And I'll happily update my review to 4 or even 5 stars then)
Ordered online for take-out, got charged more than the online menu stated. Ordered 2 ramens and an appetizer and got charged $8 more than expected per prices on their current online menu. Also online spice level is out of 20 so for one of the ramen bowls we chose 4/20 but came back extremely spicy. And my Ramen was too salty. We both couldn't enjoy or eat much of our ramen. I called to let them know that they should update their pricing online but they would put me on hold for 10+ minutes then ignore my calls after that so the customer service also sucked unfortunately.
I came here to satisfy my ramen craving and I came out mostly satisfied. The gyoza was good, but nothing amazing. The peach tea was sweet and refreshing. I got the miso ichitaru ramen and it was a solid bowl of ramen. The broth was good, but isn't anything standout. The chasu was good, but again just fine. The charred garlic topping is a bit of an odd choice as that can produce a charred bitter taste that doesn't necessarily add to the bowl. The bar setup kind of reminds me of Ichiran, so I guess they wanted to replicate that kind of setup.
Not sure how helpful my review will be since I only eat Tan Tan ramen. I can’t eat fatty meats or textures like chasu so there aren’t many options for me. When I lived in NY most restaurants have Tan Tan but here in OC, I’ve yet to come across a restaurant that serves it. That is why I was delighted to see a ground pork and Chasu option. My brother gets my chasu (he normally orders extra for his bowl) and I get my ground pork. Most of their ramens don’t have an egg or bamboo or corn (all extra). The portions for appetizers and noodles were big. We all left very full. Food was also very good. Service was also great. Our server was really nice. We came 30 minutes before closing and they still had a lot of guests so the kitchen was a tad slow. I normally never want to go get ramen but now that I can macGyver my ramen here, I’ll definitely be wanting it more often
This is a great place to get ramen! Lots of options, especially for kids. I like that nothing has to be spicy. You can get anything without spicy. The service was great and very friendly. The boiled eggs are creamy and delicious! The jalapeño bombs are amazing! Will definitely go back!