Tatsu Ramen
| Address: | 2123 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA |
| Phone: | +1 310-684-2889 |
| Site: | tatsuramen.com |
| Rating: | 4.3 |
| Working: | 11AM–2AM 11AM–2AM 11AM–2AM 11AM–3AM 11AM–3AM 11AM–3AM 11AM–2AM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 6
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Karen Wang
What I liked: building my Naked Ramen on the iPad. What I loved: the concept. Its good food fast (but not fast food). What could be better: seating, more of it. Tatsu is good ramen crafted with good broth and quality ingredients. The menu contains enough customization without allowing the consumer to be indecisive (e.g. 3 levels of spiciness, garlic intensity, etc.). Greeted by iPads to take orders is efficient, trendy and smart! Plus, its fun using technology to build a personal bowl of ramen just the way you like it. FOOD Ramen choices: SOUL - homemade tonkotsu broth, black garlic oil and sweet umami sauce BLACK - homemade tonkotsu broth + euphoric black garlic oil RED - homemade tonkotsu broth spiked with our sweet and savory red sauce BOLD - homemade tonkotsu broth with 11 bold ingredients. packed with flavor OLD SKOOL - homemade tonkotsu broth NAKED - broth-less, meatless, vegan-friendly; curry noodles! DIPPING - served alongside a pot of our homemade tonkotsu broth with rich bonito and miso flavor Customize the following: Egg - yes or no Garlic - a little, a lot, a whole lot Spicy - barely, a kick, hot hot hot Green onion - a little, a lot, a whole lot Protein - pork, chicken or tofu Add-ons: Pork, extra broth, extra noodles, seaweed, corn (my rec!), extra egg, etc. I opted for Naked Ramen: "garlic lover" amount of garlic, "barely spicy", "lots of green onion", egg and extra shredded seaweed and sweet corn. The noodles are firmer than some people would prefer, but I didnt mind the extra bite to it. Super peppery and flavorful without being doused in sauce, the Naked Ramen noodles hold a perfect level of chewiness. Lots of green onion, seaweed, sesame seeds and seasoned corn balance out the savoriness and the soft-boiled egg just kind of binds everything together as it oozes yolk. GREAT LOCATION In the Sawtelle strip mall, Tatsu fits right in with its udon and curry neighbors. Seating is cozy but people come and go rather quickly, so either snag a bar seat facing the kitchen, claim a bench at the community table, or a table outside. P.S. Tatsu is a night owl -- open M-W, Sun until 2am, Th-Sat until 3am! PARKING Valet out front or the streets.
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Nei Ng
Tatsu Ramen is pretty good! I ordered the Bold Ramen, and it certainly didnt disappoint. Broth - Bold pork flavor. Its pretty rare to find ramen outside Japan with this much savory pork flavor. Tatsu gets an automatic bonus star for having hot sesame oil at each table. Nothing compliments tonkotsu broth better than a liberal douse of hot sesame oil. I think I slightly prefer Santoukas broth more because its a bit richer, but Tatsus had more pork flavor, and the option of hot sesame oil makes it hard to decide a clear winner. Toppings - Theyre pretty generous with the chashu here as you get 3 decent slices of tender pork belly. The pork was marinated well, and one side was slightly charred to give a more intense flavor. The egg was definitely one of the highlights. It was cooked perfectly with an oozing soft boiled yolk. The sweet marinade was able to get all the way to the eggs center, which made it very flavorful. I could probably just get a bowl of eggs and be happy. Noodles - This was the worst part of the ramen for me. The noodles were slightly overcooked so they werent as firm as I would have liked. On top of that, Im not really a fan of straight noodles. I think the curly, springy ramen noodles are a lot more fun to eat. Overall, I liked Tatsu. I really want to come back to try one of those giant pork buns.
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Natalie Kusonruksa
Tatsu Ramen has some seriously legit ramen. I honestly think that this place isnt more popular only because of its proximity to Tsujita Ramen the next block over. Aside from the fact that the wait here isnt as bad as Tsujita, another huge plus is that they are opened till 3am on weekends and 2am on other days. There are 3 iPads on the wall for you to input your order and pay. There is a separate iPad right next to the door so that you can add tip. Once your order is in, take your receipt and find a seat. Someone will come check your order and eventually bring out your food. The place is small. They have mostly bar seats and one big table that you can share with others. I had the "Soul Ramen", which is a combination of their broths. I absolutely loved it. The ramen had the perfect texture and the broth was so flavorful. They have these raw garlic and garlic mincer. I would probably suggest about 3 cloves at most. Im a little crazy and had 6 cloves. I liked it but most normal people would find my broth disgusting. Parking is valet only. You can drive around the neighborhood looking for parking. You may find one if youre lucky. If you go late enough though, the valet guys are gone and you can park in the lot for free.
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STEVEN VONG
Tatsu ramen is a decent but overpriced ramen joint that is pretty much only good when you have nowhere else to go to on Sawtelle from 11 PM -2 AM. It has a great location near the Sawtelle shopping center, and is frequently surrounded by hip Asians. The store itself is small, resembling a ramen bar with a counter overlooking the non-Japanese chefs pouring broths into bowls and dipping the noodles upon receiving orders. Its a cool experience but the ramen is just okay and definitely not worth the price. I like the idea of ordering off the iPad, but my cousin and I forgot to add the actual ramen bowl itself so its a little confusing to order. I ordered the bold tonkotsu ramen without seaweed, which after tax and tip came out to about $12. My food came out pretty quickly, but my server was curt and come off pretty rude. The flavor of the broth was not very memorable, the noodles were just okay, and the bowl was pretty small with not very much meat. I wish I ordered extra garlic and corn, those were free add-ons. I prefer santouka ramen on the Westside, but I still need to try Tsujita at lunch when the line isnt insane. Only come here if its past 11 or midnight and theres nowhere else to go for ramen.
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Ann Hua
tatsu ramen had a long line even at 3pm on a weekday but i loved how efficient their ipad ordering system was. you choose your ramen and sides if you want them, make any modifications necessary, and swipe your credit card. a receipt prints out and you wait for your number to be called so you can be seated. the only annoying part was that the kitchen and staff seemed to be the bottleneck, not the # of seats. after we ordered, there were always open tables, but we still had to wait outside. if you have time constraints, you can check the wait time by the front door before you order. once we were seated, about 20 minutes after ordering, our food came out within 5 minutes. the (soul) ramen was just ok. not too heavy or salty, and pretty flavorful, but i wasnt a huge fan of whatever spices they used. the noodles were also on the thinner side, which made for an interesting texture. its hard to put my finger on what makes good ramen good, but all i know is that this wasnt terrible but also wasnt very memorable, especially for $14 a bowl. also note that parking was difficult to find, even in the afternoon, so if you plan to go during peak dining hours, keep this in mind!
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Andy Cheng
I have been on a ramen tasting tour in West LA area, so I have to try this place. This place is always crowded and not a lot of seating. You get to place your order on iPads that are placed just right outside the store. And, you can pay for your bill & tip at the same time before you even step a foot inside the store. My wife and I were seated at the counter and we get a clear view of their kitchen (nothing special). Once we were seated, it didnt take long to get our food. I appreciate the store has garlic and seaweed right on the counter. The soup base is very tasty, but a bit on the oily side for my preference. Chashu (pork slice) are very thinly sliced and because the chef put torch on them before they were served, they lost all of their juiciness. We also ordered extra noodle and the chef was nice enough to prepare the noodle when we are ready for it. Unfortunately, the extra noodle was undercooked. Overall, this is a solid noodle place and you should give this place a shot. My only issue is that with so many ramen options in West LA, this place doesnt really stand out for me.
