Yotaro Ramen

Good looking ramen in a very small DEEP bowl. I had the Tonkotsu Shoyu Ramen.
*noodle to broth ratio = thumbs DOWN
*texture of noodle = too al Dente… CHEWY
*flavor of broth = good. Nothing exceptional
*service = excellent
*ambiance = excellent
*presentation =excellent
*price = expensive in relation to value of what you get.
Overall…I won’t be seeking out this place for my Ramen addiction. Nope.

I’ve been here a few times over the past year. It’s definitely a hidden gem. I don’t really get all of the negative review here but to each his own.
It’s always pretty clean and the service is always on point. The staff here is really nice and very helpful.
Enough of the boring stuff though and on to the food! I was told that the tonkotsu ramen is their most popular dish, but I’m partial to the Yotaro Miso (it helps that it’s a little bit cheaper too!). You can order the ramen by itself or in a combination (always get the combo) or you can come in for happy hour for buy one get one 50% off apps.
The takoyaki and dumplings are delicious as well as most of the other apps.
If you don’t feel like noodles, I’d try the Yotaro Fried Rice. The sausage and the french fries were surprisingly good as well!

I been coming here ever since they opened and its been my only go to spot for ramen. I have had Shin-​Sen-​Gumi, Ebisu, and Santouka, which I feel are more of an americanized ramen taste obviously to cater to us Americans. I have traveled many times to Japan and this ramen joint definitely taste the closest to the ramen over there. I am surprised why the negative reviews but I realized that it is probably because people are interested in americanized dishes with a hint of traditional and not used to full traditional ramen. This is definitely your place to try a traditional ramen.
My Recommendations:
Tonkotsu Ramen– for those who like a more rich pork flavor broth served with chachu with a bit of a smoky taste
Miso Ramen– (my personal favorite) Soybean broth, which is not to much on the heavy side paired with corn.yum. Oh can’t forget to recommend it spicy.
Also the Cheese Wontons are a tasty snack, as well as the popular takoyaki.
Staff are always friendly, attentive, and make the dining experience great especially during a good sports game.

I’m giving two stars for friendly staff. Food itself really can’t get any more than one star…
although they have a great happy hour price, quality just wasn’t there…
Yataro miso ramen — soup was hot but noodles were not fresh. It felt like noodles were cooked way before, left out, got dried out and got put in a bowl with hot soup. Without good noodles and soup, one cannot possibly have a decent ramen! Toppings were not exciting either — chashu lacked flavor and there were other little things like corn, seaweed, and bean sprouts. All in all, not impressed at all.
Takoyaki — i think they were rushing when they made it because outside was done but inside was still too gooey. I was so surprised because anybody who makes takoyaki would know this.
Gyoza — good! But it’s one of those things that it’s hard to fail.
Deep fried tofu — this one was actually really good! We were served this by error but definitely pleasantly surprised! I don’t think I’d go back to this place but if i ever do, I’d get this appetizer. If you come during happy hour, 2^nd appetizer order is 50% off!

For this area, I give it 4 stars. But comparing to other ramen joints in little Tokyo, Alhambra, and J-​town, I give it 3 stars.
Plenty parking in same lot as Lakeshore and Stonefire Grill.
Came for a very late lunch so there were few customers. Service was great!
Has WiFi, but for some reason couldn’t connect to it with the password provided to me.
Food: In general, the ramen broths were less salty than other ramen places. Plus they state they use NO MSG in all their dishes. However, I felt they skimped on toppings as the ramen was priced similar to Daikokouya, but they only give you 1 slice of chasu pork.
1. Tonkotsu Ramen (creamy broth) — Not as flavorful as others I’ve had, but still good. I wish I received the thicker noodles as they gave me thin noodles.
2. Miso Ramen (+ Combo with salad and Chasu bowl) — I like the thicker noodles in this one and you can really taste the miso in the broth. The salad had a unique wasabi-​yuzu dressing. The chasu bowl was good.
I would come back for the Happy Hour M-​F 5:30 — 6:30 for ramen under $ 6 and appetizers buy 1 get 1 50% off.

We actually went to Shin-​Sen-​Gumi first, however the line was ridiculous as always, therefore we hopped on Unilocal,and Yotaro came up and it was right across the way!
Yotaro’s restaurant is open, decorated nicely, with plenty of seating. The menu is easy to read, and straight to the point. We can avoid the annoyingly overwhelming menus with 1,000+ menu items.
We ordered the miso ramen, gyoza (duh), and tonkatsu shoyu ramen. The service was insanely quick! I think we had our food in less than 5 minutes after ordering. We both added the marinated boiled egg to our ramens. It was perfectly cooked, and added the best creamy texture to the soups.
Each ramen was priced around $ 8.50 — but their skimpy on their portions of meat and toppings. Each ramen had a single slice of meat, and not enough toppings. On a brighter note the noodles were cooked well, and the broth was full of flavor and piping hot. Yum yum for the tum tum.
We saw a flyer for their happy hour for $ 5.50 select ramens — definitely coming back for this.

(Sigh) I gave this place two chances and both times were, for lack of a better word, mediocre.
The first time I came in was for happy hour. How can you not answer the call of $ 4 ramen? And while it makes sense now, I didn’t realize at the time that the $ 4 bowl of ramen did not include any chashu (pork). That’s a bummer, but that was awhile ago and I figured I could come back at a later date to try out their regular menu.
Yesterday, my cousin wanted ramen for lunch and since there was another stupid long wait outside of Shin Sen Gumi, we decided that the next best option would be Yotaro. My cousin ordered the Deluxe Ramen bowl with tonkotsu broth, which came with everything (chashu, pork belly, corn, seaweed, bamboo shoots) and I ordered a regular bowl of ramen with tonkotsu broth and added a boiled egg.
The broth is light and creamy, and pretty flavorful. However, I’m a fan of chewier, thicker ramen and this seemed thin and… store bought. Not sure if they make their own ramen here but from my personal experience, nothing beats handmade noodles. My main beef is with the pork. It was dry! The soup itself couldn’t even save it. I was pretty disappointed considering I got screwed out of the pork during my first visit only to find out that it’s jerky this time around.
The good news is they have a TV here so we were able to watch the first part of the Lions v. Cowboys game.

A nice little ramen house I went with a couple buddies.
First off, the service was what caught my attention the most. Our hostess was a nice young lady who took care of us like no other which is the reason I gave this at least a 3 STAR.
Now on to the food. I dont know if its a Japanese style thing but the tonkatsu ramen I got had very little broth. If you lift up all your noodles right when you get it, you can see how much broth they really put. Although the broth was very clean and tasty, had only one slice of chashu pork.
If your looking for a quick mediocre fix of ramen, this place is very nice, but I recommend spending a little more money on shin sen gumi.

Came here because Ebisu was packed and we were hungry. I must say we should’ve just waited for Ebisu.
Shoyu ramen combo with Fried rice-I’ll break down the review.
—Fried rice was delicious. Very tasty!
—Shoyu ramen was disappointing. The noodle was soggy. The broth tasted too soy saucey.
Chicken curry-​while the curry was very flavorful they were very skimpy on the chicken. He seriously only got a few little chunks of chicken.
Bottom line, if your looking for ramen noodle with good texture and great tasting broth then go to Ebisu that’s down the street. If you want good fried rice then come here.

Revised the rating here downward after eating at Gomen, La-​Men, and Kitakata all of which rated 4 Stars. Yotaro’s ramen is not as good as the foregoing places. In addition, their stoopid policy of only allowing two stamps on a frequent customer card, despite how many are in your party, is bad customer service.

3.5 stars.
I came here twice using my Lalala Ramen Pass for 50% off ramen and I’m glad I did. I’m always up for trying new (to me) places.
Basically the choices of ramen are shoyu (soy sauce), miso (fermented soybean paste), tonkotsu (pork bone), shio (salt), and tonkotsu shoyu (pork bone and soy sauce).
Both times I opted for the tonkotsu shoyu ramen because it’s their house special (it’s called Yotaro Shoyu Ramen). I like the creaminess of the tonkotsu broth with the additional flavor kick from the shoyu. Their broth is on the lighter side, not too oily or too salty. The ramen noodles are thin but firm and chewy. The one piece of grilled pork is thin but tasty. I added a marinated boiled egg, which didn’t look pretty but the texture of the whipped (for lack of a better adjective) yolk matched perfectly with the broth. The portion is perfect for me but may be small for others.
They currently have a Monday-​Friday happy hour special for $ 3.50 ramen plus free ice cream from 5 – 6:30pm. It’s just basic ramen, noodles and broth, but you can choose between shoyu, miso, tonkotsu, or shio and pay extra for add-​ons and have a decently customized creation for ~$ 8 – 10. Some of the add-​ons include $ 3.75 chashu (3 pieces), $ 1.50 soy sauce marinated boiled egg, and $ 1.25 corn.
The location is clean and bright but somewhat sparse, which gives it more of a fast food dining feel. It’s small (seats ~36 people) and has a tiny waiting area, and a communal square bar in the center. It’s the kind of place you go to for convenience and the food is pretty good if the prices are low. Otherwise, I would choose a different place if I wanted to hang out more in a comfortable setting with friends.

Came here because I purchased the ramen pass and yotaro was on the list. Ramen pass allows people to have selected ramen half off.
As much as I wanted to like this place, I can’t seem to do so. We tried the tonkotsu shoyu ramen and the tonkotsu ramen. The tonkotsu shoyu was light and had a tad of spiciness. Personally, I found the broth to be flavorful and was perfect for my tastebuds, For some reason the bamboos were sweet and I didn’t enjoy that at all. It kind of ruined my meal because I don’t like mixing savory with sweet. That’s just my personal preference but others may enjoy it thoroughly.
The manfriend enjoy his tonkotsu ramen. He said the tonkotsu shoyu was more tasty! The tonkotsu ramen has a creamy pork broth which I thought it’d be heavy and rich, but yotaro makes it pretty light! Manfriend also got an egg on the side and it was about $ 1.45. The egg was delicious and complemented the tonkotsu ramen very well!
Both ramen noodles were firm, which I liked a lot! It has that chewy texture and you’re biting into something rather than eating soggy noodles. These noodles has some umph to it!
Biggest gripe: one piece of chasu pork in each bowl! Just freaking one?! Seriously? Portions are pretty small for the average person. so I’m pretty sure people would appreciate more than one piece of pork. They do give a lot of noodles but im pretty sure most people come out of yotaro slightly hungry. For me, these portions were golden! I was able to finish nearly all of my bowl which never happens to me at most ramen places!
Glad we only had to shed about 4 bucks a bowl! I’m not sure if I would pay full price for the amount of food given. :/​
Staff was very very friendly and helpful!
Enjoy! :)

Yotaro Is great place to hang out for an ice cold Asahi draft beer and appetizers.
Our group ordered gyoza, organic chicken kara-​age, garlic and soy sauce marinated edamame as appetizers.
Gyoza was home made and savory. Chicken kara-​age was crispy on the outside and moist inside the way I like it.
We finished our meal with the speciality of the house — a bowl of tonkotsu ramen.
I also liked the music that was playing in the background too. Yotaro is a great place to hang out and shoot the breeze while enjoying tasty treats with your favorite drinks.

My sister brought me here to try the happy hour ramen. A bowl of ramen for $ 5?! Yes, please! However, our dreams were crushed when we learned they changed the happy hour menu. Now it’s $ 3.50 for a bowl of ramen. Before you think that’s an even better deal, let me tell you what’s in it. This new $ 3.50 ramen is just noodles and broth. That’s it. No meat, no veggies, nada~ Oh, it does come with a green tea ice cream at the end. You can dress it up with extras, but with the extra cost of adding «extra» meat & veggies, you might as well just get a regular bowl of ramen.
My cousin and I ended up sharing the deluxe yotaro ramen for $ 15.50. The portion size was generous enough (esp with the meat) to feed two people. It was packed full of meat. I don’t even think we finished the meat. The meat was cut too thick for my preference and not tender enough. The broth was a white color and light in taste (maybe a little too light), not greasy or oily like most places. The overall taste, however, was nothing I would need to come back for.
So sad, my sister was so excited to take me here too. I think they did change the recipe for the broth though. Looking at her picture of ramen (back during the old happy hour menu times) and the recent picture I took, mine definitely looks more bland. Maybe that’s why it was so empty there on a Friday evening.

I arrived with a few of my friends during happy hour! (Happy hour is M-​F from 3 – 6:30pm.)
We walked in and were immediately greeted and seated. The servers are really great! Really friendly, easy to talk to. Had stellar service from them. They would come over, ask if everything was going alright and refill our drinks often.
I ordered the Tonkatsu ramen from the happy hour menu. It was only $ 3.50! Afterwards, I got a small bowl of ice cream. It was vanilla and really good!
Definitely would come back.

I’m deducting a star because they turned me away when it was Ramen week. (the turned us away around 820 when they close at 9pm)
This time I still came at the same time but I wasnt turned away! Yay! Ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen and additional Chashu.
The ramen was very good! Only came with one chashu. that’s why I had to order more to share. The additional chashu came with 3 pieces. Like other reviews had said, towards the end of the meal I still had a lot of ramen left with little broth, I made it work though plus I like the noodles anyways so it didnt bother me.
The servers were quick and helpful.
They have Happy Hour during the weekday from M-​Fri from 3:00 — 6:30pm!
$ 5 ramen (Shoyu, Miso, Shio, Tonkotsu Ramen and Sara Udon)
Also Draft beer from $ 1.99℠ to $ 2.50 (lg)
House Wine for $ 3.50
House Sake for $ 2.99
All appertizers buy 1 get the next 50% off equal or lesser
If only I didn’t work during those times.

Came for ramen week. You would think for a ramen place that’s fairly big compared to those other ramen hole-​in-​the-​walls, they’d hire more staff… But only two girls worked. And what sucked was how our server would check on tables around us and failed to check on us. Except once, when we were done. The other girl had to come help us out. I understand it’s busy, but knowing that it’s ramen week should clue the place in to have more servers.
We came during happy hour. So we’re thinking yay! Cheap beer! For a small, it’s only $ 1.99. But boy were we wrong. Someone needs to teach em how to pour beers in the cups cause literally a third of my glass was foam on top…
Takoyaki was good, nice crunch and there was a good amount of octopus pieces inside
Gyoza was alright, too salty for me. Like your regular store bought or frozen gyoza, buy since it was happy hour, it was buy one, get one 50% off.
We had gotten the ramen they offered for ramen week, the tonkatsu miro? And honestly, I wouldn’t even pay $ 1 for that bowl. The broth was nothing like tonkotsu that I’ve ever tasted. And trust me, I’ve had plenty, lacked flavor… Noodles were alright. I ordered extra spiciness on the side $ 0.50 and corn for $ 1.25. Seriously had no spice even when I put all of it in and for how much they charged for corn, it was literally a spoonful. And the meat had a charred exterior, kinda burnt like taste.
Sadly disappointing and won’t be coming back.

My husband and I came here on evening of 5÷9÷2014 — there was no wait; we were seated immediately. Granted it was almost closing time when we arrived, haha. We ordered:
(1) Yotaro Shoyu Ramen — I had this ramen; tasted pretty legitimate. I was happy and hungry. :)
(2) Chashu Ramen, $ 0.50 for spicy sauce, $ 1.50 for extra egg — my husband had this ramen and said it was pretty good too. He ordered an extra egg, thinking it would be the kind w/​the soft yolk inside but it wasn’t, so he was disappointed. the ramen & flavors were good though.
(3) Kabuki Braised pork $ 6.50 appetizer — i wanted some braised pork belly so ordered this and it was seasoned nicely and the meat was juicy/​not dry. glad i ordered it as an appetizer.
(4) Spicy tuna roll — my husband ordered this and thought it was just OK. I think it was more of a filler than anything.
We’re glad we checked out this new ramen place in FV instead of always going to shen shin gumi down the street. :) This restaurant is a legitimate competitor!

Loved my dining experience here!
Upon arrival, I was expecting more of a dark, drinking type place but it was rather bright in here– kinda food court like bright if you know what I mean. Eventually, it looked like the head honcho caught on to this and used the dimmer which was met by approval from my table. The chairs were cool and they have this cool large table in the middle of the restaurant for sharing, no one was seated here though.
To order, I had the tonkatsu ramen– this was like the menu said, creamy but oh so delicious. I loved the little char on the piece of pork in my dish, I was afraid it wouldn’t be enough pork but in the grand scheme of things, this forced me to savor every piece, which melted in my mouth. The ramen was cooked perfectly too. My friend ordered the zaru ramen which is basically soba but using ramen (served cold). There are three dipping sauces and I could see myself eating all three. For those of you who like the peanut sauce at California Shabu, they have something comparable to it here. Definitely perfect for a hot summer day.
To share, we split the appetizers of fried chicken, cream cheese wontons, and takoyaki (octopus pancake balls). I would definitely get the takoyaki again, the cream cheese wontons weren’t special, and the chicken I would get if I get beer again. The beer is served in these cool looking cups– which is dangerous because you don’t even feel like you are drinking beer.
Our server (s) were both great– very attentive and quick. Someone else came by our table and offered us water. I think it was a great balance between attentive but without being too overbearing.
The only con I see to this place is that it closes at 9pm. That seems on the early end for me, especially since I have no problem coming here for some Japanese dishes with eer instead of a JBBQ or yakitori place. They have sushi here as well but wasn’t compelled to try it out.
Loved my experience here, I’ll be back to try some other menu items soon! Yay for no wait at around 7:30pm on a Friday night (it wasn’t empty though).

Found this place in the «hot and new» list when browsing for somewhere to eat in the OC. I can never say no to ramen!
It was a Friday evening and this place was empty when we arrived around 4:30 pm. I had called earlier to inquire about their happy hour and we arrived just in time, since happy hour is 4:30−6 pm.
There’s a lot to choose from on their menu. There’s ramen, sushi, and even ramen burger! Not going to lie, I was most excited about the ramen burger. Been hearing a lot about it and haven’t been lucky enough to find a place that serves it.
DON’T be dumb like me and order a ramen combination when there’s happy hour going on. A lot of the ramens were half off. For some reason I wasn’t thinking straight and did just that. I feel that the waiter should have said something, but whatever. I’ll let that slide.
+ Ramen & Chashu Bowl Combo ($ 11.50): You get a choice of four broths — Shoyu, Miso, Tonkotsu, or Shio. I went with the creamy tonkotsu and it was delicious. Got a side of their spicy sauce ($ 0.50), which went well with everything. I even used it for my Chashu Bowl. The ramen portion might be a little small for some people, so it’s a good idea to order something else with it.
+ Spicy Salmon Roll ($ 7.75): This sounded way better on the menu. The smoky flavor of the salmon was too overpowering, so I didn’t taste any of the spicy mayonnaise and avocado.
+ Kitakata Burger Ramen (Originally $ 6.75, but $ 3.38 with happy hour): Score! It wasn’t anything spectacular. Wasn’t what I expected neither. I thought it was a burger made with hard ramen as buns, but instead it was a regular burger with flavored ramen noodles inside. Messy, messy, messy.
This is a cute little place. It got busier around 5:30 pm when we were finishing up. Service was good. Parking is plentiful. I would definitely be returning because of their amazing happy hour deals!