These were nearly my exact thoughts after leaving the NYC location. Make it a bun and beer place because the ramen was ehh.
I enjoyed the Shoyu, thanks to that bonito. That hard boiled egg was a bummer, though.
I don’t understand why everyone was so excited about this place opening, its never really been anything special. Anyone who knows about Japan’s ramen scene knows this place is probably on par or worse than Ichiran but as far as chains go that boast 100+ locations.
Is it because its coming from NYC finally? Maybe it was a good ramen back in the day like how Daikoku-Ya was when it was the only game in town but I’d give Tatsunoya more street cred than Ippudo based on my experiences in Japan.
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Your tsujita ramen was way more milky and dense looking in flavoring than mine at the tsujita fairfax location.
You can win if you cheat and re-program it…
True, but then the metaphor falls apart. Thank you, Paranoid Tiberius Garlic-Lover.
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That’s what I’m here for! ::tap dancing on the way out::
I stopped by Ippudo the other day to see how they measure up. Arrived around noon, no wait and the restaurant half full.
I asked the waiter for hot tea and he replied, green tea or genmaicha…interesting. 
My Japanese side of the family has always referred to genmaicha as green tea so I was a bit befuddled by his inquiry. I ordered the genmaicha and it was fine. I wonder what the green tea was?
One thing to note, my ramen arrived before the appetizer buns.
Bonito Shoyu Ramen - side green onions, side bamboo
The broth is pretty tasty, a slight smokiness with a depth of complexity. The bonito is apparent and flavors are clean and distinct. I ordered the noodles firm. The noodles are not very good, nor a good choice for this less viscous broth. I would prefer a thicker noodle so the lighter broth can grab onto the noodles better. I also didn’t care for the noodles either, they were just meh, or maybe ordering them firm was a mistake as they didn’t have any chew, but rather a dense bite akin to undercooked pasta. The egg had nice flavor and although I prefer it less cooked, I didn’t mind it being hard cooked as it had nice texture. The chashu was paper thin, cooked well but hardly any flavor because of the stingy slices. I would probably need about 20 slices as they were about 1mm in thickness, and that is not hyperbole.
And check out my side of green onions, it is laughable how stingy they are. Is APL giving them portion control advice? I don’t even know if my side of bamboo ever showed up, if they added it into my bowl, and I didn’t check if they charged me for it. Oh well.
After my ramen arrived, our buns arrived soon after.
Pork Belly - Yakiniku - Shrimp Katsu Buns
This was a disaster. First, the actual buns arrived damn near ice cold. The pork belly had so much sauce that the entire exterior and interior was covered in the sauce, making every bite uncomfortable to hold and cloying sweet. The yakiniku was the least offensive, providing good balanced flavor but ruined by the ice cold bun. The shrimp katsu was nicely fried, however it was heavy handed on the spicy mayo which made it super rich. The lettuce did nothing for me.
They also charged us for 3 individual buns instead of 3 for $12 like the menu stated. No big deal, an extra $1 but it just shows the lack of detail once again. The service was a bit obtrusive, perhaps they are drilling working out the kinks, are they still soft opening or are they officially open now?
All in all, I doubt I would go back here. I would much prefer heading to Kitakata to get my ramen fix. Seams like a tourist trap given the location and atmosphere.
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If you thought a plate of greens at any Chinese restaurant for $10 plus was a huge markup…
Lol at ramen places charging $1 for green onions and even worse some corn
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yeah I love corn in my miso ramen but I’m not paying $1.50 for some fucking corn unless it’s got some wok hei in there.
it’s ridiculous that a side of corn costs just as much as a refill portion of noodles.
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Preach! I feel strongly that corn is just the frozen stuff from the bag.
Paging all pho restaurants owners! Your broth takes just as long, labor just as intensive, skill level just as refined. Maybe charge green onions and cilantro as sides 
considering how much more meat are in your bowls.
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how well do you think that would go over in the vietnamese community?
Gotta target the hipsters, not the old folk.
OTOH real-rich VN people might go for it because I don’t think anyone is doing super high quality pho in LS.
I’m being facetious of course— to call out the apparent similarities but yet the differences in how ramen and pho are priced (typically pho significantly lower) and come loaded with stuff and plate of bean sprouts, basil, Chile, lime—for free!!
Of course no one in the community will like that—and it won’t be any time soon that pho restaurants will change. but the cost of the free items and low cost of a bowl of pho’s gotta come from somewhere. And it’s usually at the expense of the restaurant workers.
Personally, I wouldn’t complain if pho restaurants started to price their pho on par with ramen—perhaps the owners won’t have to work god long hours and be able to pay staff better, but I’m probably in the minority.
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You have to salivate on IG and check out @miss_hailan from nyc who uses all pat lafrieda bones and meats for her pho. She’s being doing some amazing looking pop ups. I’ve been trying to get her to pop up here in LA.
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Yes. My tab for Pho and Bánh xèo from Madam Vo in NYC yesterday. $43 
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My Vietnamese friend told me his family would disown him if he ordered $20 pho.
Genmaicha is green tea with popped brown rice.
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