Ramen Yokocho Association

Terrible taste in venues – no seating, was dirty, dusty, hot, badly organized.
Ramen was great, but the experience could have been so much better.

I had a good time at the ramen festival — I went with two friends and we split 6 bowls of ramen between us.
The good: lines were really short except for one place (which we decided to skip even though they seemed like the favorite). Also… ramen! It was fun to try different kinds of different ramen, especially ones from the Japanese shops that we wouldn’t get to try otherwise. They had beer (yay) at typical event prices (meh). They had bottled tea for $ 1, which was great. There were a ton of other food stalls, but I saved all my stomach space for ramen.
The meh: it was kind of pricey since the bowls were on the small side and we were already paying for parking + price of admission, but not too bad. It was a really hot day and they didn’t provide seating — we managed to share a table in a nearby area with a nice family.
Recommended — much better with friends so you can get a large variety of ramen to try.

So i came out on Sunday with my sister and brother and two nephews. We dropped in about 3’ish and it was scorching hot still standing in the lines. There were 9 competitors, 1 didn’t count because as the person explained it, «the competition is for LOCAL ramen’s and this one is from Japan», pointing to the last entry. Okay. They all looked good but my sister and i opted for the Shen Sen Gumi ramen. It had a mixture of chicken, pork and beef. I think i only tasted the pork. It was good though, maybe too much bean sprouts but it still tasted good. The ramen was fresh, the broth was tasty and i rather enjoyed it overall. My brother and nephews went to a different ramen and their broth was a little creamier it seemed and i actually enjoyed that broth a little better and theirs had seaweed which i kinda loved.
There were other food places there which i appreciated. The squid legs were awesome to me, i enjoyed the deep fried squid with sauce, yummy! And the rice balls, i had mine made with Salmon in the middle and wowzer! My brother and sister went back multiple times so that was a winner in my book.
I talked to some of the vendors and asked if it was crowded and everyone said not so much. I have suggestions that would bring me out and possibly more like me. Like, #1 — how about have hot soup in the winter not Springtime in California. Or have it at night when it’s at least cool. #2 — How can we vote if we don’t sample all of the different types of ramen? I suggest small taste samples, tiny sample bowls for free. Or charge $ 25 for instance and give out small samples from each competitor, charge $ 25, give them 10 sample tickets, one from each competitor. And the one they like they can go back and buy the regular bowl for the $ 8.50 price.
So that’s it. I probably won’t come back to this event unless something changes like this. Otherwise, we have local ramen restaurants much closer that will satisfy this girl.

I had hear horrible thing about the Ramen Festival last year. I had when to the little tokyo one during Nisel Week. There was no line in 5pm. I highly suggest you go get your ramen that time, since you might find some good deal and no line. The risk is that some ramen shop might running out of soup… but the weather coolor and more idea as dinner time anyway.
The parking is free but only if you park in gate 6… Which was hard to find at first. I came here during the Ramen Championship in past weekend. It got more ramen shop than it used to. They got 4 ramen shop from Japan, I believe that’s the most ever. All of them are worth you to try I believe, they are better than domestic one.
I was lucky to won the ramen contest, which give me 5 ramen tickets good for 5 ramen bowls !!! However I still needs to paid for the entrance fee. I wasn’t going to go but with the free ramen ticket then is worth it. 3 japan and 1 domestic one. The domestic one Shishigumi won the best ramen of the tournament. I had to disagree with that. It was the weakest ramen of the 3 I had try. Is just a basic ramen but with added chicken broth. My favorite would be Kurume Tonkotsu. This is the shop from the hometown of Tonkotsu ramen, it was probably the best tonkotsu ramen I had eated in a long time. Strong flavor broth and perfect chewy noodle. The longest line was the Shrimp Tonkotsu one… Pretty good but a very usual ramen, the noodle are very thick. Almost udon alike and the meat is pork belly… I wish someone would came out bacon ramen that would a real winner ! The broth was not as delicious as I hope but is interesting.
Their non ramen especailly the ice cream and green tea drink are dirt cheap liike $ 1 each. That’s like supermarket price.

We went the Ramen champioship at Santa Anita Race Track. We arrive there 45 minutes to closing time, we found parking then we went into Santa Anita Race Track and headed to infield were the Ramen championship will be.
There was little bit confuse but there were another event called Japan family day. But now we clear things out we headed to our destination. When we got there it was almost empty, suddenly we couple of friends of ours they it was a nightmare for them we came in on the right time.. The Ramen stands were not fully we can go to anyone first we need to buy our tickets it $ 8.50 a ticket.
We try almost all but the time it close by 6. I have to say they were the best Ramen I ever tasted including from Japan they were very delicious. There is one we enjoy it was from Hawaii/​Japan called Kamitoku that was so amazing. After we finished our bowl we walk though the Japan family day stand then we saw one of our favorite Japanese bakery Yamazaki bakery we bought some drinks it was still hot then the Yamazaki employee offer us and other people there to free a ke buns that was nice.
We enjoy the bread very we thank them. Overall we have a good time Ramen champioship. Hopefully they come again.

I really enjoyed the festival today. I wish it was 10-​degrees cooler. The Express Pass was so worth the price. I bought it online for $ 25 which included a bowl of ramen. It definitely helps to go with a group so I was able to try 5 ramen vendors. Other vendors that offers rice ball, fried squids and etc were tasty as well.
I hope to see more participants next time.
Venue– I love this space. Lots of parking and handicap spaces. I wish the venue was a bit closer to the parking lot. The walk under the tunnel was quite a bit much for my elderly dad and 4-​year old daughter. There were horse races today so we got to see 2 races, lucky us!
This year, the event is held at Gate 6. You must enter through Gate 6 to get free parking.

My first time coming here and I wasn’t disappointed. I came because I wanted to try the ramen house from Japan. I think they had four this year and few local ramen houses like shinsengumi.
The processes of getting in and paying for food is easy and orderly. I think learned a lot from last year.
It is $ 5 to get in $ 8 per ticket for a bowl or ramen and $ 2 per ticket for drinks. The cons session stand is available sodas is for $ 3.50
Expect to wait in line for the guest Japanese ramen house. The locals have a very short line.
The serving sizes is half of a regular serving size, it’s okay since you can try the other ramen houses specialty.

I like the idea of all the famous/​delicious ramen joints gathering in one place, but I think it’s hard for them to recreate the ramen in the same way out of a booth than in their own kitchen. We were there for a few hours and were able to try 2 ramen stands (neither one the ones that I went for, unfortunately, because those lines were RIDIC) and a ramen burger. The ramen burger was the longest line of what we tried, and it only kind of lived up to the 1+ hour wait. The ramen was okay, but again, I highly doubt it tasted the same as if they had cooked it in their own kitchen.
I honestly don’t know if there’s a «right» time to come, since the lines were long the entire time we were there. Maybe show up right when the doors open? But like others have said, definitely get your tickets first — better yet, split up your group and assign people to the different lines and then you can all meet back in one place and eat everything all at once! Maybe wait in pairs so it isn’t so boring though, haha.
There were also stands selling beer and other drinks, and they ran out of Sapporo mid-​afternoon which was a bummer.

$ 4 parking fee
$ 5 entrance fee
$ 8 ramen
$ 2 drinks
Came around 2PM and it was still pretty crowded. Lines were mostly long for the ramen booths from Japan.
Having this event at the Santa Anita racetrack was a good choice, there was plenty of space. I thought the event was really well organized! You purchase your food and drink tickets first, before lining up for the different ramen lines. They also had people holding up signs for the end of the lines, which was VERY HELPFUL. I’ve been to other events where people were lining up at the wrong lines cause they didn’t know where the ends of the lines were.
Having tickets also made it easier because you just give the vendor your ticket and get your bowl of ramen and done. No looking for your cash and spare change to use. NOBODY’S GOT TIME FOR THAT.
I thought some ramen places were totally underhyped. The lines were so short! We tried:
Mattou Seimen — Toyama Black Mapo Ramen, really good! Well flavored and just the right amount of spiciness in the both.
Men-​Oh — Super Rich & Creamy Tokushima Ramen, actually pretty good as well. Surprised that the line was so short. The meat was super tender and well seasoned and flavorful broth.
Overall, I had a pretty good experience compared to some other smaller festivals.

Ever heard the saying, «Don’t knock it ’til you try it?» Well, I’ve tried this event and now I’m gonna knock it.
This whole event was nice to try once to see what all the hype was about, but I was not impressed and will not be returning next year. I’ve been all over CA (San Diego, LA, and Northern CA) so I had already tried a lot of the ramen stalls that were from the Calfornia locations. My main food goal was to try the ones from Japan.
DIVIDE & CONQUER:
My friends used a divide and conquer strategy, which worked really well. Rather than all of us stand in each line for over an hour, we split up and bought multiple bowls from different stalls, met up and shared them.
We got there around 11am and the lines were already over an hour and only got longer when we left. Those poor souls. It was really hot that day and no shade/​protection from the elements while in line. Bring an umbrella and wear sunblock.
THE RAMEN ITSELF:
After trying the ramen from Japan, there was nothing too special to make me want to wait in a line over an hour long. It was good, but not milestones better than the best ones here. The Chashu in all the bowls were good, but there was also no egg. Ramen with no egg?! Noooo! I will not stand for this.
Also, the amount of ramen you get for $ 8 was very sad. It was placed in one of those Styrofoam bowls, about half the size of a regular bowl of ramen. So with $ 5 for parking and $ 4 per person entrance fee and $ 8 per bowl (we tried 3 different kinds). We left unsatisfied and poor.

Let me start off by saying that I gave this event 2.5 stars.
This is only because it didn’t live up to the hype but for some ODD reason, if they held this event again, you might find me back here… LOL
I got there a little late around 3:30 pm. Lucky we didn’t have to pay for parking and we were able to park right in front of the entrance. Entrance was still $ 5.00, each bowl of ramen was $ 8.00 and drinks were $ 2.00.
Thanks to the ticket system, no one handling food was touching any money. (smart idea)
People were leaving early so I was able to purchase their tickets at a cheaper price since their were no refunds. Another plus for me… :)
I first went to a short line where the guy stated there was love in each bowl of ramen. I was SOLD~ I can honestly say that the soup was good but the noodles were white, soft and soggy. Didn’t seem like ramen noodles.
I went to a few other lines where they had RUN OUT of food. They have 3 more hours to go and NO FOOD at a ramen festival? REALLY??? What a disappointment…
Ended up at another line for ramen. Their noodles were more like ramen noodles. This time the soup was a little salty for my taste. It wasn’t bad but I wouldn’t go back to pay an additional $ 8.00 for a bowl.
Finally, the ramen burger that was initially sold out started selling again. Wished the ramen bun was a little crispier. It looked better than it tasted and once again, the hype got the best of me…
PS i will go back to fill in the names of the stores at a later time

I usually hate these festivals because 1) super crowded and 2) overpriced. This ramen festival was just another reminder why I stay away from these events. I thought it would be something fun to do on a Saturday but I regret attending. I would rather get fast food than wait hours for some gourmet ramen.
The lines were soooooo long. I wanted to try ramen from Japan since the other places (LA, LV, SJ) are all attainable. Ramen Tatsunoya from Japan had a wait of a little over 2 hours. And did it taste like gold? No. It tasted ok and the ice water I had after was the best part of my day. You know something is wrong when water is the best part of your day.
Stay away!

Ignore the haters… a lot of one stars from people who didn’t even eat ramen?
The ramen fest was MUCH improved from last year — the parking and venue fee is worth it for all the open space. Last year, there were so many ramen fans we were shoulder-​to-​shoulder in most areas. Never Forget.
The fact is that many ramen shops had little to NO wait, even local shops had new ramen recipes unique to the festival, and there were FREE ramen crackers.
Here’s how to have a good time (next year): Go with a group and show up early. Grab a quick bowl from a place with a short line and eat while you wait for a popular place (usually the places from Tokyo). Divide and conquer with your friends (we waited with two people in the two longest lines, and shared our spoils).
The best bowls were Mattou Chinese-​fusion ramen, which was a cross of hot and sour soup with ramen (my favorite from last year), and tatsunoya, which was a classic but oh-​so-​good bowl of ramen. The Satsuma ramen was also good from Shin-​Sen-​Gumi, but I was ready to explode at that point. Tsujita Tokyo tasted like Tsujita Annex, that is to say, soup so thick it’s like they just melted a whole pig in a pot.
Very happy with the event, and would definitely go again next year.

It was super disappointing. i even want to give them minus 5stars. Parking $ 4, admission $ 5 each, ramen ticket$ 8, drink$ 2. However, it was not worth it.
I was happy as i entered the Santa Anita Park parking lot, expecting lots of fun. The website said they was gonna open it 10am, but they opened 1030am. As soon as i got in, there was ticket sail booth. it told $ 8 for ramen, and $ 2 drink. So i thought I must buy ticket if i enjoy the fair and i bought 4 ramen tickets and 2 drink ticket. And there was no refund.
After i got a ticket, i stayed in line. To get a ramen i should wait 30mins first. But the ramen i ordered (sinsenggumi) was small portion, raw noodles and very salty. i was really disappointed and i looked around. The line already formed 2hours waiting line. I finally gave up giving another a try, And then, i saw many people had kyoja. i asked the person who ate kyoja where did he get. He said this is different line and i needed cash. What the heck it was. The other side they sold kyoja, japanese pancake, skewers, etc but they wanted me the cash.
So i wanted refund tickets. But, there s no refund. I sold the tickets i have 2 ramen ticket and 1drink ticket for $ 11 on the street. And then i bought japanese pancake for$ 5 cash. i lost my $ 7. $ 7 was not a big deal but i was very frustrated.
i spent $ 31 for the ramen, drink, pancake.($ 4parking, $ 5 admission, $ 8 ramen, $ 2drink $ 5 pancake $ 7 lost.)

Delicious ramen and short lines if you come just 30 minutes before it opens, at 1030. Ramen Yokocho 2014 spotlighted 14 ramen houses from Japan, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and Las Vegas
$ 4 for parking, $ 5 admission to Santa Anita Park, $ 8 for a bowl of ramen, $ 2 for a drink, and $ 6 for a beer.
If you come towards the afternoon expect to wait in horrid lines, 30 minutes to a few hours for Fujin (ramen burger), Tsujita Tokyo (number 1 ramen), and Tatsunoya (my personal fave).
I think the average person can eat between 2 – 4 ramen. I did 5 and can barely breath, finishing at about 1230.
Happy grubbing!
*All the negative reviews are from people who probably came after 12.

Ignore most of the poor reviews. One of my pet peeves is people who leave non-​relevant reviews, like that guy who left a 1-​star review because he got in a car accident. About 4 other people left 1-​star reviews because they paid for admission & parking, and then left after they saw lines. Sweet review, man. In the age of smartphones, a simple search for «Ramen Yokocho» or #RamenYokocho would have yielded you with more than enough information (updated by the MINUTE) to let you know that there will be lines. Also, another guy said all the ramen was just white noodles with different toppings. I’m sorry, but that’s just absurd. My head hurts from the facepalms.
I had a great time at this festival. Plenty of parking, plenty of seating, very helpful staff. Long lines, but it never felt too crowded. The people who were complaining that the bowls were too small, I think they may be exaggerated a bit. I’m a big dude who eats a LOT. And 2 of those bowls already had me decently full. They are meant to be smaller so that you have enough appetite to try out multiple vendors. $ 8 a bowl may be a BIT steep, but dude, these vendors are from Japan. Tsujita Tokyo was ranked #1 Zagat, so I DEFINITELY don’t mind paying $ 8 for ramen from freaking JAPAN.
Make sure you come early! I showed up at around 3:30 and the top 3 ramen booths already announced last call. This made me really sad, hence the minus 1 star. I’m sure they’ll be able to better plan moving forward. The whole ticketing process was a fantastic idea, it makes the vendor lines move MUCH faster without needing to get change for every single customer. My girlfriend and I were able to try out 4 bowls of ramen in just about 2 hrs.
Other than this, all the vendors were working at TOP speed and the ramen was so delicious. I’m glad the vendors chose different types of ramen; I was afraid it was going to end up being a tonkotsu fest. Will be coming back next time!
UPDATE:
As much as I enjoyed my visit to this festival, the coordinators should really think about changing the location next time. I recently learned that the Santa Anita racetracks were a major holding center for the Japanese American internment camps during WWII. This is a festival for celebrating the cuisine and family values of Japan. Out of respect for the Japanese American community, please change the venue.

YAY! I was super excited to go to this because I LOVE RAMEN! I love noodles of all kind, and ramen was definitely somewhere at the top of the list. Hearing about last year, how people had to wait foreeeever in lines, and blah blah blah, AND it was in Torrance — which is 45 minutes away from me… I ended up not going. SO, when I heard this year will be held in Santa Anita Park, 5 minutes away from me, I was definitely gonna be there.
Having been to the 626 night market a few times now, I realize there will ALWAYS be lines to get food at any FOOD-​focused festival. Especially if you want the GOOD food, they will most likely be popular and will have long lines. SO, having mentally prepared myself for this, it made my experience a whole lot less painful.
I went yesterday with my bf, and it was great! I have a strategy with these food festivals… lol. It works for me, and will definitely work if you’re goal-​oriented and have at least a little bit of patience. Goal of the day: to try at least a few ramens from different places that I have not tried yet. So I guess I wasn’t that picky, and me and my bf were able to try ramens from Hiromaru (LV), Men Oh (LA), Tajima (SD), and Hayatemaru (LA). We were there for all of… 45 minutes. YES 45 minutes total and we tried 4 different ramens!
NOTE: we got there around 1:30 PM. If that makes any difference.
Basically, me and my bf stood in two different lines, and whoever is the first one to have a bowl of ramen in their hands, we go to the other one still waiting in line and share that ramen… then wait in another line and repeat. LOL. See, goal-​oriented.
They had a system of using tickets and using those to purchase food and drinks — which I liked, for the most part. Basically they sell food and drink tickets, for $ 8 and $ 2 respectively, and you wait in line for the ramen you desire and spend your tickets. It cuts down time for each booth to count the cash and change, and just focus on serving out dishes quickly. But it is inconvenient if you don’t know what you want, or how much you want, which means you have to get in line again if you didn’t get enough tickets the first time around. And no refunds — so you REALLY need to know what you want beforehand. But not everyone is like me. lol
It was also a hot day. That wasn’t very nice weather to eat ramen in but that was nobody’s fault. lol

As much as I love ramen, I thought this was a big waste of time. If you are 18 and over, you have to pay $ 5 to get in and $ 4 for parking. You then have to get in a long line to purchase tickets so you can get a bowl of ramen, which cost $ 8 a ticket. You then have to pick a line of which ramen you wanted to eat.
The Los Angeles ramen spots were not as long as the ones from Japan. The line was just unbearable to wait especially under the hot sun. It had to be anywhere from 1 — 2 hours wait. If you have the patients, then it might be worth it.
After trying about 5 spots, we noticed that all of the ramen noodle is not even ramen. It was just plain white noodles. Of course their soup base and toppings are different, but that was about it. At $ 8 a bowl and the small portions they serve, I will not be returning. I will probably get my money’s worth by actually going to a ramen restaurant.

Super long lines and the portions were pretty small for $ 8 ramen + $ 5 entrance fee + $ 4 parking. The best out of the 4 we tried was Tsujita Tokyo 1−½ hour wait and by 3pm they had run out. It is very similar to Foo Foo Tei’s Nanchatte Tonkotsu Ramen but not as greasy or thick, so Tsujita’s is better.
Horaiya was a 30 min. line and tasted pretty good but not spectacular. Mattou’s line was 1hour and it tasted like mapo tofu ramen without the tofu, not particularly good. Hayatemaru was only a 5 min. wait because the store is in L.A. The flavor was alright. The beer here (Kirin) was really good, probably because I was so hot and thirsty. Tsujita’s was ramen was pretty spectacular but I don’t know if it was worth standing in the sun for that long. I will probably skip the next Ramen Fest. Flying to Japan almost seems like a better idea.

Got here around 11. 4 $ for Plenty of parking. 5 $ entrance, 8 $ ramen.
Not too hot to stand in line today.
You must buy tickets before you get in line for your ramen.
If you want to try more than one ramen I suggest you and your friends split up into different lines.
I have 3 friends in different lines