Ramen Yamadaya

I’ve eaten here about 40 times.
Ramen – lighter chicken is excellent. 5 stars
Pork ramen is heavy.
Tonkatsu is heavy so just use a little.
Karachi chicken is solid. 4.5 stars.
Other stuff is average.
Spicy tuna – you can get better at a sushi restaurant but for price it’s not bad. I’ve gotten it about 20 times and I’m usually satisfied.
Staff is sometimes overwelmed when its busy but they always try. Besides this isn’t Katsuya or sugar fish so you shouldn’t expect 4 star service. I think some raters have incorrect expectations. Service is more than adequate for what you are paying. This isn’t a first date kind of place. It’s a 10^th date type of place.
One of my few complaints is that they don’t use AC. Not even during the summers when temperature exceed 100 degrees sometimes. It’s unbearable to dine in when it’s so hot. I really hope they fix their AC soon.

Delicious!
Since I moved to the Los Angeles area I have become a regular customer of this place.
Quick service and good food.

I’d say the ramen here is pretty good, it’s not bad by any means. It’s wholesome tasting, I wish I can give this place 3.5 stars. This place serves your typical tonkotsu ramen, and I usually get the one with black garlic oil and extra side of chili. The staff of this place seems to change a lot and well, they do have «off» days. 1 off for inconsistency, and 1 off for being good, but not «as good as it gets»

Not worth it.
The parking lot was hell. No parking spaces in the lot, nor in the streets. When I finally got into the store, it was pretty empty. They’re probably losing a lot of business just from the parking alone.
Food.
I order the Tonkatsu Totteri. The noodles were really thin. As thin or thinner than top ramen. The meat was real tough and didn’t look appealing. I would had needed a steak knife to cut through it. The broth was not thick. Took them 2 mins to bring it out.
Service.
The gentleman was nice and laid back. He forgot to ask or bring out water until he brought the group next to me water and when I was half way done with my food. I saw an «ah shit, I forgot» on his face. Haha, he brought it right after, though. I forgot about the water too.
Kinda bummed. I had this a long time ago, and remembering it being a lot better than this. Most likely won’t be coming back.

This place is sagging. Each time it seems to slip a bit further. The worst part? Frozen pork in the ramen. Giggling kitchen staff. Good service though. Good bamboo and tree fungus. Onion cut on a previous day. Egg cooked on a previous day. Tonkotsu not fresh but does the job well enough. I would say that since business has slacked that they’re not going through enough product therefore the owner freezes food to save on costs. I’m sure some don’t notice. Others, well… It’s lunch time in a busy packed neighborhood. Oh well. Msg wafts through my palate. Not very pleasant. Sigh…

The one is Torrance is really good :)
This one is not…
Super hot mess, the waitstaff… bless their heart…
Given up on life…
I think they aren’t owned by the same people anymore…

Came here on a Friday night to eat ramen with bf. But the rude customer service and then crappy food made me just leave all together.
Sat down and ordered the chicken katsu bento box with extra side of potato salad and fries.
The waitress sets the food on the table. The katsu was so saturated with sauce that you couldn’t see the chicken anymore. Fries were also done but came out with black bits on top (black bits were burnt left over from the fryer)
Suffice to say, I wasn’t happy. Explained to the waitress who had terrible English that I wanted it to made again this time with sauce on the side. She rolled her eyes at me! The nerve!
I just got up and told her I’m leaving.
Never looked back.
Absolutely hate this place! Will never come back

So after my friends Pablo and Noël suggested that we get some ramen in the valley, we decided to go here. We had been to the original Ramen Yamadaya in Torrance back when it was just that one store there and since then, its spawned off into various locations across California. I don’t remember much from back then except it wasn’t anything worth Unilocaling about.
Though judging by that, it wasn’t a very remarkable ramen back then and in my mind, it didn’t seem like it would be again.
Located in a strip mall on Ventura Blvd. between Nobel and Kester, it’s pretty easy to find, though the parking lot was pretty small. Still we were able to find a spot near the entrance. The restaurant, like the lot, is pretty small as well, but there weren’t many customers on our visit, so we got a decent seat by the window quickly. The first thing I remember though was that there were no Japanese or even Asian employees here, which made me kind of worry about how the service and the quality of food would be.
My friends and I ordered ramen with the chashu and small salad add-​on.
Salad — Basically shredded cabbage salad with tomato and corn in a sauce that was similar to a non mayo based cole slaw. It was simple and a nice way to start off our meal here.
Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen (Level 3) — The main reason we came here. I actually liked it, though I have to admit the flavor was a little odd to me, like it had a slightly sour citrus taste to it. The ratio of noodles to soup was pretty balanced. The spiciness was good, though I’ve had spicier ramen in the past. The chashu wasn’t too bad and the egg was pretty good too. It was a pretty decent bowl of ramen overall, but I’ve definitely had better.
Chashu bowl — For some reason, they put mayonnaise on top of the pork, which I’ve never seen at any other ramen shop serving chashu bowl. If there was a picture or description on their menu, I would have ordered something else. Pablo was nice enough to ask our server if they could change it for me since I don’t like mayo at all. The server came back about 5 minutes later and all they did was literally wipe off the mayo and send the original bowl back to me, with the pork now covered in a sheen of smeared mayo with some globs of it still hanging off the edge. I mean WTF?! Would it be so hard to literally make a new bowl for me and just withhold the mayo? I work as a cook and if someone didn’t want something that is in their bowl, we’d make a new bowl from scratch to meet that request, simple as that. Wiping it off and then reserving it to the customer is just poor quality service.
I also agree with Eiji M’s and Pamela H’s review that there were no Japanese employees here during my visit, so that should have been a warning sign, especially when I remember the original Yamadaya’s in Torrance was fully staffed with Japanese employees and didn’t taste like what I had here. Plus the service there was quicker and more efficient there versus what we got here, especially when our server nonchalantly bring back a bowl with smeared mayo on it. I also remember that the Torrance location had garlic that you could crush and add into your ramen to enhance the flavor. This place just had the standard fair of soy sauce and shichimi togarashi. If a chain is supposed to have consistency among its branches, then this place fails.
Overall, its a decent bowl of ramen, but considering it doesn’t follow the standard that the original restaurant set, its staff doesn’t understand how to deal with customers or handle food properly and that there’s no Japanese employees here to ensure the quality is consistent, I suggest going to another ramen shop in the SFV like Kyushu Ramen, Jinya or Nippon Ramen. Better yet, just venture on down to Torrance/​Gardena, where there many more options that are a lot better than this place. Just skip this place unless you’re stuck in the area and are in absolute dire need for a ramen fix.

Absolutely awful in every way.
We were greeted by a dour waitress who clearly didn’t want to be there. She rolled her eyes when we requested water after sitting for several minutes without being served.
The restaurant itself is cramped and dirty. They were out of curry on a Saturday night, something which is pretty unacceptable for an allegedly Japanese venue.
The ramen is cooked in huge industrial vats visible from the table. The waitress squirted Purell hand sanitizer onto her palms before dumping broth into our bowls like water from a cooler. There was absolutely no effort put into the presentation of the ramen. A lukewarm egg completed the picture.
Worst culinary experience I’ve ever had.

Ramen and food were ok, no complaints — 3.5 stars.
Sides of tables, chairs and especially the high chair for my child were so filthy that I was disgusted while trying to finish my meal with a child on my lap. Take a glance to your left at the high chair when walking in, so gross. Not sure how they have an «A» rating with the filthy dining conditions. Not that difficult to clean them on occasion/​monthly basis. Don’t see myself returning.

Rainy days = ramen!
I was feeling too lazy to drive to my favorite spot on the Westside so I tried this place with my best friend and was definitely disappointed.
Weak broth. Average service. The place feels borderline fast-​food which is no way that ramen should be served.
They’re cheap but some things are worth paying to have it the right way.

Down here on vacation from Portland OR for the Holidays, and it was a cloudy/​drizzly day. Perfect time to hit up a Ramen place for some hot soup.
Found Ramen Yamadaya a couple miles from where we were staying and hopped in. NOTE: the parking lot has about two spaces per business, and it became apparent that parking in the lot was going to be hopeless. Parked a block down Ventura and hoofed it.
Son N decided upon the Tonkotsu Ramen, while i went with the Tonkotsu Spicy Level 1. Wife N. opted for turf over surf, and went with the Chicken Katsu plate.
The meals came. The Ramen bowls were perfectly great, flavorful broth, decent noodles, and slices of pork, scallions, bamboo and a half a soy-​pickled egg were in the bowl. My level 1 was plenty spicy, even for my hopped up palette. Wife N’s Chicken Katsu was — oddly — grilled. Every Chicken Katsu I’ve ever seen was breaded and fried cutlets, but here it was grilled and teriyaki sauced. Misnomer aside, it was pretty decent teriyaki chicken with rice and would have made any bento-​worshiper happy. They also included a fine-​shredded cabbage salad with an excellent ginger dressing.
In all, decent ramen, A-​OK.

Food was quite tasty… although my sister said that the tomato on her cabbage side salad was frozen.
Level 2 spicy is not spicy at all. They use chili powder which turns the broth bright red. Not the biggest fan of this. The food was quite good though.
This poor girl was the only person in charge of the whole place although I do blame her… because she moves SO slow. I watched her work for a good 15 – 20 minutes before getting seated and thus is what I saw
2 empty tables that can obviously sit us. All she needed to do was clear up the dirty dishes, wipe it, and seat us. But I guess she was busy with the to go orders because she just stood at a counter top writing stuff down on receipts. … she kept on saying give me one minute… but we knew it was more than a minute because the table was still cluttered and she had not moved at all. And when she did, it was in a very slow fashion. Eventually my friend went up to her and asked if we could sit at the empty table… and she was like «yeah!»…and started cleaning up the table… WHAT???
Then she starts walking back and forth for utensils instead of grabbing them all at once beforehand. My friend decided to help her out by grabbing water for ourselves… and she thanked us for helping her out. At least she was nice… At this point she was back to where she was standing and writing things on receipts.
We finally ordered and it was a hot mess. We were so confused when she read our order back to us. We corrected her but when she read it back again I couldn’t really understand her. At this point I was willing to pay for anything she brings out
Heard this chain was phenomenal, but the service at this location is awful. Poor girl.

I don’t know why I did not write a review for this place sooner. I’ve been to this place so many times.
The broth here used to be very good but it has gotten a bit too salty for me over the years.
I always go with the broth with the extra fatty oil (black). I can’t remember what it was called on the menu. You can ask for fresh garlic on the side. The best thing for me about this place is the spicy tuna bowl. It’s my favorite. Not too spicy, not bland.
Parking in the lot can get filled up pretty quickly. If you show your student ID, you can get extra noodles.

Pros:
+ Delicious broth
+ Super tasty egg in the broth
Cons:
— Service could be quicker
Very tasty broth! I had the Tonkotsu Kotteri broth and it was amazing! There was also an egg in there that was delicious. Not sure that came from a chicken, tasted too good. Will definitely be returning soon specially since the weather just got colder. If you want to be filled with joy and warm soup belly this is the place to be! I also had an egg in my soup which was delicious. Don’t miss out on this spot if you are nearby!

I ain’t gonna lie. I’m giving 5 stars for the one bowl I always hanker for a craving and that’s the Tonkotsu Kotteri ramen with that addictive black garlic oil. And nope I haven’t tried anything else on the menu.
Sure it’s a very casual resto in a strip mall. And I’ve tried other tonkotsu ramen before, namely in ramen haven Little Osaka (Japantown Sawtelle) where they have Daikokuya and Tatsu. I’ve even tried Tamashii in Sherman Oaks. But none of those places (except for the untouchable Tsujita LA) has come close to giving me an umami ramen experience like their Tonkotsu Kotteri ramen. It’s slurp-​ishly delicious!
I order mine with an extra egg and spinach. I also put some sesame oil and their orange-​y chili? seasoning.
Try it. Service is quick and they have ample parking in the plaza. Make sure to veer left as soon as you get to the parking driveway.

Ramen Yamadaya may just be the best ramen I’ve had outside of Japan, and that’s no small compliment coming from me. Is it fancy? No. Are there a ton of options? No. It’s just a simple no-​nonsense kind of place you’d find in Tokyo, minus the ticket machine.
They have some non-​ramen options on the menu, and of them the tonkatsu is the standout, with a perfectly cooked pork cutlet on a bed of rice.
But you’re not there for a rice dish, you’re there for the ramen, and the ramen is fantastic. They crow about their broth being cooked for 20 hours and it shows. The broth is opaque with collagen and fat that is simply brimming with flavor. The noodles are cooked very well, and the various accompaniments are pretty standard: egg, pork, nori, mushroom, and the like. All very understated, all blending well.
Service is quick and friendly, and the prices are right. If I only had one complaint its that for the amount of broth they give you, there aren’t quite enough noodles. I’d recommend getting the large order of noodles.
Unless you’re willing to take the 11 hour flight from LA to Japan, you’d be hard pressed to find better ramen.

I had high hopes for Ramen Yamadaya as it’s near my office and has vegan ramen. Unfortunately it’s not very good, on a number of levels.
The vegan ramen bowl ($ 7.95) is made with a soy milk broth, which is a weird choice that doesn’t work. It lent a heaviness to the broth that doesn’t jive with normal ramen broth. Other places in LA offer sublime miso broths, such as Shojin (downtown LA), Chibiscus, Tatsu and Silverlake Ramen. In the case of Shojin and Chibiscus, you also get a variety of vegan ramen options, instead of just one type.
The bowl also skimped on the vegetables and tofu. Also, they didn’t fry the tofu, so it basically was just cubed and tossed into the bowl, not adding much flavor or texture.
The ramen just didn’t taste good. It was heavy, too salty and strange.
The service was friendly but slow, with tables not getting cleared fast enough and people forced to mill around the front door.
There isn’t much ambiance either, with the loudspeakers blaring Katy Perry and other Top 40 noise.
If you’re looking for vegan ramen, go to Shojin, Chibiscus or Tatsu.

To be honest I thought the ramen was just ok. I had heard that this was one of the best in the Valley if not the city and I can’t say that I agree. I got the straight tonkutsu with pork. The noodles were not house made and tasted ‘packaged’. The broth was alright but fell a little flat for me. The winner was the pork belly bun which was awesome and the fried chicken pieces. With so many options and places I have yet to go to I will not be rushing back but I can’t say that I will not return.
Service is fine in terms of getting the food promptly and correctly and the atmosphere is standard for a ramen joint. No frills just some tables and a counter.
I don’t think that resetting a table during the lunch rush is high on their list of priorities because they never wiped down the table from the last group.

Stick to the ramen.
The tonkotsu ramen was decent. I ordered the extra large and it was served with half an egg, bamboo shoots and mushrooms. The broth was somewhat watery and has very little flavor… unless you order the kotteri, which did taste a bit meatier. Mmm. The thin noodles were nothing out of the ordinary though and the chasu in the ramen was a huge slice of thick meat that had a frozen taste to it. Definitely not fresh.
The small spicy tuna bowl as part of the combo was so bland. There was so much more rice than tuna and the smidgin of mashed up spicy tuna was flavorless. The shredded seaweed helped, but you’re just so underwhelmed by the dwarfish portion and the lack of taste. It also wasn’t the freshest but definitely better than the gyozas, which had the weirdest taste to them. I think it was the residue from the cooking oil that made them taste like a mix of metal and sesame. Avoid them at all cost. I’m a fan of gyozas, but after these, my desire to continue eating was nearly crushed.
The place was rather busy, but we were quickly seated for our party of two. Service is hit or miss, but if you’re here after the rush, it’s great… and there’s little to no wait. Otherwise, it could’ve been better. We had to continuously find our waiter, flag him down, and wait each time for a set up, more water, napkins, and our check.
I’d still come back for that convenient ramen fix, but for the true taste in the valley, head down to Jinya in Studio City.