I thought it was pretty good for a fast-casual place. These noodles are thick and fatter than the others. The beef topping is tasty, pretty much like a good beef bowl if you had a Japanese granny (of course not as good as Grandma). Mix up the egg yolk to give it some body.
The tempura. So it’s cafeteria/buffet like style with the tempura…so basically it comes down to luck when getting fresh items. I was lucky to get the sweet potato. The other pieces of shrimp, and zucchini the fry was meh. The zucchini size is what you get at those _____(insert male name) Burgers Burritos Pastrami Grill aka the So Cal Diner, fried zucchini sticks with ranch to dip (haven’t had that guilty pleasure in years!).
Solid. If you happen to pass down the line and see tempura coming out, grab it, otherwise pass. The beef and egg udon seems to be the signature here.
They rotate taps pretty frequently so I would recommend asking for 1-2 samples. All of the hazy have different combinations of hops so if you know what type of hops you like that will help narrow down your selection.
I got a few growlers of Atomically. This is one of my favorite series they produce along with Bomb Atomically and Beyond Atomically
They had a double can release which I came specifically for. I tried one of the new cans on tap. Water Balloon Street Fighter. Triple dry hopped double IPA. Loved it. Brand new can part of the Water Balloon Fight Club series.
I tried a very small sample of Orange Hop and did not enjoy it whatsoever.
+1 on this. I had the tempura and thought it was gross and then read that the tempura tastes just fine when it’s fresh (I think it was @CiaoBob who mentioned this early on).
Do you feel like there’s a huge difference btw this and the stuff you can buy at the market? I’m normally all for purchasing something that could be done at home at a cafe/restaurant, but paying for udon in a
Pretty much. Undoubtedly the broth at Marugame is more complex (and admittedly the broth we make at home from the mix gets a lot of stuff added to make it taste better)… I just still don’t get udon, I guess.
Bizarra Capital (Whittier)
Met some friends for drinks and snacks. The drinks here are really good…the special this week was a spiced rum mojito (strawberry, pineapple or mango) but I had a pineapple cocktail with mezcal that was amazing! It was a little smoky, a little sweet, a little tart. The guava daiquiri was also delightful.
We had a small selection of snacks…quesadillas, esquites, and mole fries. I love that the quesadillas are fried here…the crispy puffy masa is such a great contrast to the delightful fillings they offer. We got the shrimp and huitlacoche…I loved the huitlacoche way more.
Since they close at 10PM, we walked to another place 4 blocks east to continue our fun.
Kalaveras (Whittier)
This place stays open until 1AM. It’s a restaurant, but at 10:30PM few people were ordering food. Their chips were warm, but way too greasy…you could see the sheen from the oil. Likely over fried since they had taken on additional color…the fry cook probably decided to fry too large of a batch and managed to screw up the entire batch. Salsa was good…nice bright flavors with a hit of heat.
The selection of drinks here are plentiful. I had the house special margarita and the Paloma. I wouldn’t recommend the Paloma…it wasn’t grapefruit-y enough for me.
The old Honda-ya in Fullerton converted to Izakaya Takesai a few years back. Nobody will ever confuse this place for Raku but a very solid izakaya. Each of my kids devour 4 skewers of gizzards, 1 cartilage, 1 pork belly and a chawanmushi. Can’t wait to see what they eat when they are teenagers. We share a bunch of other sides usually geso karate, tempura, soba and more skewers. They seem to have improved their sake selections recently but we usually go for the Kirin on draft. $12 during happy hour.
Thanks for the info. That Sake list isn’t terrible at all. If you’re curious about trying some, Kikusui is very safe (clean, pure taste). Nanbu Bijin (Tokubetsu Junmai version) is also good, and should be nice with some of standard Izakaya items. And it’s great to see them carrying Shichida (the Junmai Daiginjo is another enjoyable offering).
If you plan on repeating, try Yoshinosugi Taru sake, I think aged between four months to one year tops in cedar barrel, made from the cedar tree from the cedar forest (Nara prefecture). Light bodied but very aromatic toward room temperature in a wider taller glass or even drink it from a cedar box (masu). Some cedar “barrel” sake are made the shortcut way of throwing cedar wood chips into the sake while being stored in non cedar barrels, but not this producer. $35 is a great price too.
Kamoizumi Shusen needs to be heated to about 45 to 50 degrees C for its optimal drinking experience which far outperforms room temperature and cold.
HiroNori Craft Ramen (Santa Fe Springs)
This outlet is the closest “legit” ramen in my neighborhood now. I had been put off by my visit to their Irvine location (way too salty), and have been hesitant to try this one since it opened months ago. But it was cool and I had spent much of the weekend burning the candle from both ends so something comforting like this would be ideal.
It’s located in an industrial area and industrial complex. A very odd location indeed. We feared we were being led astray by our GPS. But being in this area, their profit margins must be better because rent is so cheap.
Walking in at 7:30 and the restaurant was full with a short waitlist. We only waited about 5 minutes for a table.
The 15% service charge is automatically included on the tab so no tipping is necessary. They warn you on the menu and then again when the check arrives. I do not mind this at all. Especially since service was pretty good and attentive.
I was looking for comforting sustenance so we went all out and ordered a full gamut of things. Hot tea was super basic green tea in a bag served in a paper coffee cup with a sleeve. Soft drinks are from their Coke fountain. We each ordered their combo which includes your choice of ramen, a side salad, and your choice of a small rice bowl. We also got the fried chicken.
The salad is completely over dressed in their super sweet dressing, but it’s got a mix of pretty substantial greens (baby kale, spinach, baby spring mix) and plenty of corn. The spicy tuna rice bowl is actually pleasantly spicy…I could see jalapeño seeds mixed in so it wasn’t all sriracha, and there was a nice kick of yuzu, too. The rice was a complete afterthought because it was over cooked and mush. The fried chicken looked fantastic but lacked the crispy crust that I love, but the dipping sauce was bright and punchy.
I was more concerned with the actual ramen itself. I do enjoy their house made thick noodles. Nice lovely chew and texture. I had asked for garlic and their house spicy sauce to be added to my ramen, but I’m not sure that happened because my Tonkotsu broth did not taste any different. I am thrilled that it was not a salt lick like the Irvine location, but I think it was still a touch salty because I did not want to drink the broth…it tasted okay and had a lovely milky texture. The egg was perfect…completely soft boiled with a lovely orange-y yolk that was still super runny. It was also perfectly seasoned taking on the marinade it had sit in. The loss here was the chasu…it was seasoned and pan-seared, but completely flabby and fatty. This section should have been sent to the bacon maker instead. I couldn’t eat more than 2 bites because it was like virtually eating fat.
I still don’t understand how this place garnered a Michelin star honor…there are much better ramen options in LA.
Kitakata is leagues better than HiroNori. And while Kitakata’s style of ramen is different, their execution and flavors are so much better than the 2 branches of HiroNori I have tried.
HiroNori is just recommended if I am too lazy to drive to Buena Park…and since it’s just an extra 2 miles, I’m not too lazy for 2 miles.
I think Bizarra Capital’s cocktails are a standout too! But I didn’t notice all that goin’ on with the Quesadilla. Puttin’ it on the list for next time, along with the Chimichangas.
Here’s something that doesn’t happen often…a real (and not generic) response to a Yelp review. I basically copied and pasted my FTC notes to Yelp, and the business actually replied…with corrective actions.
We here at HiroNori always strive to give a 5 star dining experience and unfortunately we have failed in your latest experience with us.
I wanted to address some of the issues you had during your visit. First, for your combo salad I am so sorry there was too much dressing. We have reiterated to our staff to follow the proper recipe and serving size of dressing for all our salads so that it is not over dressed in the future. Second, for your combo rice, I did investigate and I found that they were using too much water for our rice and we have retrained the staff to ensure correct measurement of our rice for the future. I completely agree that the rice was indeed too mushy for this location and we have corrected that issue and I appreciate your review to fix that issue. Third, our Crispy Chicken is not made with Fried Chicken Batter and instead made with a Tempura Batter so it’s only slightly Crispy and much Healthier than traditional Fried Chicken which is why we call it Crispy Chicken. For your next visit, you can always request extra Crispy and we will cook it slightly longer to have the desired crisp to your liking. Fourth, for our Pork Chashu, you can always request a less fatty piece as some of our guests love our fatty pieces and some prefer more meaty pieces and we can always oblige that request for you on your next visit. Lastly, but not least, for the Ramen I would like to suggest to order your Ramen “Less Salty” which is something some of our guests ask for and we will gladly oblige to that request by using less Tare for your Ramen. We always serve our House Spicy Sauce and Garlic on the side so that might have been the reason your Ramen did not taste Spicy or Garlicky. It seems our staff did not give you the 5 Star treatment we expect for all our guests.
In light of all these issues, we here at HiroNori are not a profit driven company and we are driven by our principles of Improving the Life of our Employees and Serving Happy Vibes to all our Guests. We have fallen very short of your expectations for this visit. I would like to offer you a full refund because we never want our guests to pay for something they are not completely satisfied with. If you could provide me with the Date, type of Payment and Total bill, I will refund you immediately. I would also like to offer you a $25 gift card to use on your next visit and try my suggestions for the Crispy Chicken, Pork Chashu and Ramen.
On behalf of our whole team at HiroNori Craft Ramen in Santa Fe Springs, we would like to apologize for wasting your time as well as your money for the evening you spent with us. I hope that you will accept my offer and give us another opportunity to give you the 5 Star Dining experience that you deserve. We take 100% responsibility for our mistakes and I hope you know your review as well as all our guests reviews are always used to retrain and learn from our mistakes. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
General Manager
This is the most detailed response I’ve ever received. The Irvine location had just apologized for their salt lick, but did offer the same refund/gift card benefit. I’m just going to continue declining such offers. That being said…has anyone ever heard of a ramen place that will adjust salt levels? Has anyone ever purposely wanted a chashu slice that was 75% or more fat than actual meat? If you call something crispy, shouldn’t it actually be crispy? Attention to detail goes a long way.
I am only slightly curious to see if any of said changes were actually made, but I feel they’ve already suckered me into 2 sub-standard meals. A third would probably be me wasting more money on something that I’m just not going to enjoy much. Better to take myself to Ramen & Tsukemen TAO or Kitakata in Buena Park. That’s a way safer bet.
Yah it’s nice to get a detailed reply like this. I’m glad it sounds like corrective action might be taken, but it’s only for a couple of the mistakes made on your visit.
As you noted, it seems a bit ridiculous to have the customer know and the responsibility be incumbent on the customer to have to ask for “less salty” ramen?! Or to ask for their Crispy Chicken to be “more crispy”?
Given our experiences at the OG Irvine location, yours at Santa Fe Springs, and a recent experience we had at their Pasadena location, I don’t think the core experience is going to change much; it’s just their “style”. And some people like the end product, others not so much.
That Sake list isn’t terrible at all. If you’re curious about trying some, Kikusui is very safe (clean, pure taste). Nanbu Bijin (Tokubetsu Junmai version) is also good, and should be nice with some of standard Izakaya items. And it’s great to see them carrying Shichida (the Junmai Daiginjo is another enjoyable offering).
Or to ask for their Crispy Chicken to be “more crispy”?