Ramen Iroha

Food court style ramen, served up in minutes by gai-​jin who don’t know what tonkotsu ramen is. Chicken broth only, so hard to compare. Noodles are chewy, but some were clumped together. Specialty ramen is black shoyu noodles. Chasu style comes with generous serving of chasu– a bit of that over-​boiled taste, but good color and very tender. Broth was good– not overwhelmingly «birdy» as I found Shin Sen Gumi Hakata ramen to taste to me. First egg tasted odd to me. Lots of standard add ins: bamboo, green onions, chopped wood ear mushrooms. Casual communal seating. Better that Asa ramen, but probably not worth a return visit. The market itself is good to check out though.

If you need your blood pressure to skyrocket, come to Ramen Iroha.
Ordered the chicken miso ramen, and the broth was extremely thick and salty.
The meat in the ramen was 50% fat, and only 50% meat.
I will never go to Marukai hungry again… and if I do, I will not be ordering ramen here.

It was terrible.
Any ramen, if the soup can’t hold it’s own flavor, that’s already a sign.
I had the Toyama Black Shoyu Ramen, my date had the Chicken Miso.
The soup does not hold it’s own. It just taste like hot water with miso or soy sauce. Ramen soup takes hours to make, this shit tasted instant. AUTO FAIL.
Others, you cannot add toppings ice cold on ramen. How appealing is it to chow down on hot soup with cold egg or chasiu?
DEFINITELY didn’t feel it was worth $ 10, I’ve had $ 5 miso ramen waaaay better than this. AND ITS MISO, YOU CANT MESS UP MISO.

So this place has the #2 spot on L.A. Weekly’s Top 10 ramen shops in Los Angeles (11÷7÷13 edition).
The shop is inside the Marukai Market. There are a few little restaurants in the food court as well so I’ll try those out the next time I’m in the area.
I ordered the Tayama shoyu ramen, which is their popular item. The wait was nothing, probably a couple of minutes, and voila, I was presented with my dinner: a hot bowl of dark colored ramen. The black dense soup of soy sauce, black beans, mushroom and other wonderful ingredients was absolutely delicious. The noodle was thick and chewy, the way I like it. I’ve always gotten either curry ramen or Tonkotsu ramen so this was a positive change for me. Base on this experience, shall I venture out of my comfort zone more often…

I bookmarked Ramen Iroha after reading an article in LA Weekly. It was rated one of the 10 best ramen shops in Los Angeles and ranked #2 on the list, so of course I went in with high expectations. (
)
Ramen Iroha is located inside of Marukai, which makes it convenient for shoppers. I ordered the Toyama Black Ajitama since that’s what they’re known for. The broth is extremely heavy with thick and chewy noodles. This was definitely nothing to write home about, and a little pricey for a bowl of noodles ($ 11).
*Cash only

I had no expectations going in, but I must say I enjoyed my ramen, and the two ladies working there were super nice. After my horrible experience at Asa (reviewed), I was determined to have a bowl of ramen and Iroha was a logical choice in the neighborhood.
I got the Toyama black shoyu ramen with ajitama and chashu. I usually don’t go with shoyu ramen, but I wanted to try something different, especially since this is Chef Kurihara’s signature ramen. I asked if they had to go bowls when I ordered, and the lady said yes. When my ramen was ready, they served it to me in this beautiful steep sided bowl that was very well plated, a ton of attention to detail, but I told her I needed it to go. I told her to just pour it off into the styrofoam cups, but instead they made it all over, because they wanted it to be perfect, with the broth separate and everything arranged just so. I told them 2 or 3 times to just take what they had, but they said it was ok, and made it fresh. I felt so bad that my mistake in the beginning led to them making a wasted bowl, but they were so polite and insisted it was no big deal.
The chashu was delicious, better than the chashu at Hakata. It was tender and had a good roasted flavor and texture to it, not the boiled texture that I have had at other ramen joints. There was a good bit of fat to the pork for great flavor, without being too much for the amount of meat. I liked the shoyu broth; I wasn’t sure how salty/​soy flavored it would be, but it was great. It still had a lightness and a great taste, and the amount of oil for the broth was perfect. It was rich but not at all thick, like I’ve read from a few other reviews. All of the vegetables were fresh and, as I mentioned before, the plating was very nice and really shows attention to detail.
I wouldn’t hesitate to drive a little out of my way to come back here for good ramen. They are cash only, but do a great job with making it to go, and have a lot of attention to the small things that make it not only taste great, but give you a warm feeling from the great service. They rate a solid four stars for me!

Maybe all you need for ramen to be extra delicious and satisfying is a cold winter’s day. I don’t know why the ramen here gets such bad reviews but I found it to be very tasty and satisfying.
I had the black ajitama ramen which is their award winning specialty back in Japan. The broth features soy sauce, black soy beans and is chicken based vs pork based. It wasn’t as creamy as most pork based broth but the accompaniments of wood ear mushrooms and bamboo help beef it up. If you are a ramen lover I’d recommend a visit here for something a bit different in this pork filled ramen world.

Nothing warms me up to a wild weekend ahead like a piping hot bowl of the yummiest ramen in OC! I’m typically such a Nazi about any cuisine that comes straight from a food court but some of the city’s best noodle joints are situated smack dab in popular Japanese markets like Mitsuwa and Marukai. Santouka on Paularino (located in Mitsuwa Market) usually has a line wrapping around the perimeter by lunchtime but the lesser known (albeit MUCH tastier) Ramen Iroha located in Marukai market on Harbor is my favored of the two.
Here’s why:
First prize at Japan Tokyo Ramen Show 3 years in a row! These accolades are usually left for unassuming foodies like myself who really has NO friggin’ clue of the legitimacy of the award, but one heaping mouthful of Chef Iroha’s miso broth will have you awarding him 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th prizes as well honey! The white chicken ajitama ramen in miso is prepared just as I like it: clean, fragrant, and loaded with a luscious balance of sweet and savory spices. I hate when a spoonful of soup leaves that greasy residue on my lips (ahem, Santouka!) so it’s refreshing to sample layers of flavor that have melded together from hours simmering in the broth. The perfectly boiled ajitama eggs are amongst the best I’ve ever tasted, almost reckoning them to an alternate protein matched up with the slightly fatty char siu when 2 slices may not nearly be enough.
If you’re looking for something with a bit more kick the red spicy ramen is the way to go. Le bf likes his ordered with extra bamboo shoots to temper the spice as the veggies soak it all in. My only one gripe would be that the soup bowls are missing some crunchy corn niblets but other than that, simple yet wholly satisfying.
Bön appétit mes amis!

Ramen Iroha is located in the Gardena Marukai Market. It’s had a lot of hype ove rthe last several months /​years, claiming to be one of the top ramen stops. The Chef and creator was a ramen expert from Japan.
We got two ramen bowls:
Black Sesame Ramen: This ramen was made with black sesame oil and a tonkatsu broth. Served with a slice of char siu, seaweed, and a nice generous serving of bamboo shoots. The broth was a bit thick. The noodles was soft and spongy. The char siu was very well made, and the bamboo shoots were delicious. I only had wished that the noodles were more firm and chewy. Grade: C–
Tonkatsu Ramen: Pork broth was the base for this ramen. Again, served with char siu, seaweed and a generous portion of bamboo shoots. The flavors weren’t distinct from the first ramen bowl. The broth was also thick with little dimension. The noodles were also very spongy and soft. Not a fan. Grade: C–
** Note: Cash only.
Food Grade: C–
Service Grade: C
Worth the Money Grade: C
Overall Impression: C

I really like the concept of this ramen stand, with three flavors of broth — white chicken broth, black soy broth, and red spicy miso broth. Simple and easy to order. I found the noodles, broth (I got the red), and egg to all be quite good.
The biggest point of contention was the chashu. I went with 5 family members, and almost everyone complained that the chashu was way too salty to the point of being inedible. I gleefully asked them to pass me their uneaten chashu since I have robust kidneys (or at least I hope I do…)
However, I must admit that they were right about the saltiness. The chashu actually kind of reminded me of porchetta. If Ramen Iroha teamed up with an Italian bakery and sold their chashu stuffed in a ciabatta roll, I’d be first in line to buy it. But alas, oversalted chashu doesn’t work quite as well sitting in a pool of dense, already sodium-​rich ramen broth.

There are 3 things that go into a good bowl of ramen. Ramen Iroha went 0-​for-​3 … like Charlie Sheen & marriages. Just like that crazy actor, the ramen at Iroha was a mess. The noodles, broth, and chashu left Ramen Iroha a Dwight-​Howard-​esque 0-​for-​3 from the line when it comes to serving quality Japanese ramen.
Two different ramens meant twice the failure as the Red Ramen (Spicy) and White Ramen (Chicken) both left me despondent. How could a ramen place in a Japanese store (Marukai) fall so far off the mark from what major-​league ramen is like in Japan?
Let’s start with the noodles… The thickness, texture, and taste of the noodles at Ramen Iroha was closer to spaghetti than anything. They were thick round straight chewy pasta. Both Olivia Z. or I could only guess that it indeed wasn’t ramen or the noodles seriously expanded by being cooked twice as long as normal. Whatever the reason, the noodles made me feel like I was eating Ramen at a cheap Olive Garden.
Poor noodles can be saved by an exceptional broth, however, the spicy (with extra spice) Red and the chicken White were both about as entertaining as an episode of Pink Lady and Jeff. The soup base was like dumping salt and. or chili paste in hot water. After one sip, of both bowls, I moved on to the toppings.
Sadly, the Chashu Pork was thin, dry slices that tasted closer to jerky than chashu. Seriously, WTH. Instead of singing the praises of Iroha, I was screaming «Eeeeee …oooooh… aaahhhh» at this lazy attempt at chashu.
We had driven to Marukai specifically to try Ramen Iroha which is why I am so despondent about writing such a negative review, but the ramen was absolutely terrible. At $ 23 for two bowls and the cold, small food court atmosphere, I can’t recommend Ramen Iroha. I’ve lived in Japan and just north of Tokyo. This is NOT what ramen there is like at all.
Rarely does a place truly deserve a 1-​star review, but the Ramen Iroha food stall at Marukai earns that distinction the old fashioned way … with lame «ramen» and high prices in an uncomfortable setting.

I’m so sad they ran out of the chasu bun when I was there :(
I heard it gets crowded during lunch time so I showed up after 2pm. There was a line but it wasn’t that bad.
The black soy ramen was so good! Don’t drink the soup and enjoy the noodles because the soup is super salty. The spicy ramen wasn’t that spicy (I LOVE spicy food).
My sister liked the lighter ramen.

Ramen Iroha is located inside the food court that shares space with Marukai. I finally had the opportunity to stop by Ramen Iroha after shopping at Marukai. I ordered the black ramen for about $ 8. There was a loaded version for $ 11+, but I wasn’t that hungry.
The food came out really fast. I appreciated that.
The broth was thick and heavy. I liked the chewy/​firm texture of the noodles. As for the flavor, I didn’t think it was anything special.
CASH ONLY

Fellow Unilocaler Antho L. organized an impromptu ramen event so it was nice to meet up to have dinner with a group that included Antho, Fia R, Glen F, Jenn G, and Mary Ann V. Relatively new, this award winning ramen stand is located in the small food court of the Mitsuwa Market. They serve three types of ramen: Black, Red, and White – named after their soup base and has a chashu bowl available for those looking for a combination dinner.
I ordered the Black Ramen ($ 7.95) that included soft-​boiled egg, bamboo, seaweed, chashu, and egg noodles. The broth was thick, rich, heavy, and very creamy. It was essentially their version of kakuni ramen with flavors that reminded Fia of adobo. Several people sampled my ramen and said that it was the best option out of the three. I thought the other toppings were fresh, came with good textures, and contributed to the flavors rather well. The noodles were chewy, the eggs well executed, and the chashu was thick cut, fatty, and very flavorful. I agree with reviewers that portions may be small, but more ramen could be added for $ 2 more – not bad considering all the ultra expensive ramen I’ve tried recently.
I also sampled Antho’s Chashu Bowl and the pork may appear dry at first but it was tender, complex, and rich with flavors. There was a nice convergence of street sensibility and refinement. It’s something I’d like to have again.
The fast food service protocol was fast and friendly. It was not the best ramen I have experienced, there was still plenty to like to warrant a 3.5 stars rating. I’d be interested in returning to try the Red and White Ramen.

After some serious shopping with Mom at Daiso I had to feed my need for ramen!
Where to go?
Mitsuwa in Gardena of course as Iroha
is located in the food court!
It was a hot, humid day in the city and I am just miserable…
As ramen is a cure all I ordered the large Red spicy soup
Oh my gosh!
Bamboo — firm and crunchy
Nori (seaweed) and kelp — looking lovely in my bowl and very flavorful
Chashu — perfect, cooked just right and with the right amount of fat!
Soft boiled egg — perfectly cooked and really added to the presentation.
Noodles — white thicker and curly ones that make my my mouth extremely happy!
Spicy? — not so much. But, the broth was delicious with the chicken based broth.
Prices differ with what you want in your ramen.
Small — two slices of chashu
Medium — soft boiled egg
Large — 5 pieces of chashu plus more noodles!
Can’t they just offer kaedama
?
signs
menu
Dude… I like your ramen!
Get here quick as they are only here until September 16^th. It is a trial run of the award-​winning ramenya from Tokyo. They are famous for their black (shoyu) flavored ramen!
Ramen — 5 Stars! Loved every drop of the broth and the goodies! Noodles were perfection!
Ambiance — 4 Stars as it is in a food court. I understand that it may only be temporary, but it is what it is.
4.5 stars and I will be back!
Oh yeah… ***** CASH ONLY *****

Over-​hyped, I fell for the the hype and thought I’d better make a trip to the South Bay to try this while they were still around…
These guys are on a limited engagement until September 16, 2012 — after that who knows if they’re even going to be around? They’re supposed to be all the rage in Japan being ranked #1 in sales in 2009, 2010, and 2011 at the «Tokyo Ramen Show» if that really means anything here; if it’s unobtainable then what does it matter right…
I was excited at first for the opportunity to try a different kind of ramen. I’ve read that this ramen is an offshoot of the Toyama Black Ramen from the Toyama prefecture in Japan; it’s supposed to have a very salty, very intense shoyu flavor. The black broth is a two-​element broth base which consists of whole chicken and a Niboshi component of dried baby sardines, simmered and reduced to give the final broth a thicker, almost syrup-​like consistency. The taste was a little too salty for my preference, especially since I’ve weaned myself off of the excess sodium from my diet over the years, the analogy is like tasting Campbell’s again once you switched to Progresso. The white broth was much more tame and less salty, but still flavorful on its own, more like a robust chicken soup. I didn’t get to try the red, but I usually shy away from spiciness anyway…
Of course I had to try the Black Ajitama Chashu ramen, their signature stuff
. Their ramen comes out in a rather fashionable, sort of French white bowl with the familiar hanging soup spoons, but I thought the portion was just a smidgen on the miserly side, and that’s even when I ordered the full complement of 5 chashu pork slices to go with it. I thought the sloping bowls, while visually appealing, makes the portion size look ever more slight, but I concede that it could be an optical effect
. The ramen’s accoutrement’s included the usual negi, menma, and kikurage, none of which particularly stood out. The aji tamago was nearly perfect for an egg split in half more for looks with the yolk just starting to set, although I prefer a runny yolk where the egg is unsliced obviously. A single small 2“x4″ sheet of nori was nice and particularly noteworthy in that the broth was almost as salty as it was. Looks like they finished it with a dusting of cracked black pepper…
After one bowl, I realized I could have finished a bigger bowl for $ 2 more, but opportunist that I was I used that as an excuse to order the White Ajitama Chashu ramen to try it
. The real gluttony was that I could have simply ordered the White Ajitama Ramen with only two chashu slices instead of the full five (oink-​oink). The white ramen had the same dressing as the black and as I had pointed out earlier, the broth was not as intense…
The ramen noodles were thick, slightly wavy, and chewy, but not in the way that I like them, rather like they were past al dente in doneness. For some reason, they reminded me of Chinese chow-​mein egg noodles, and not even the «tong-​mein» soup noodle kind. I was surprised by this…
I’m down to try something different, but I still prefer my same ol’ tonkotsu pork based ramen, at least there wasn’t anything that I had here that would make me a convert…
Cash only… 3 stars… Not coming back, and I’m talking about me, not the business…

I got to check out Ramen Iroha on a fun spontaneous PYE with my Unilocal friends Antho L., Fia R., Daniel L., Glen F. and Mary Ann V.
Ramen Iroha is located inside Marukai. They have three types of ramen: black soy soup, white chicken soup and red spicy soup. From these three types you can then choose to get it as black/​white/​red ramen (two pieces of chashu), black/​white/​red ajitama ramen (two pieces of chashu with egg) or black/​white/​red ajitama chashu ramen (five pieces of chashu with egg). The prices are $ 7.95, $ 8.95 and $ 11 respectively.
I chose to get the white ajitama ramen. The white ajitama ramen has white chicken broth. The broth was very flavorful and the whole bowl reminded me in of homemade chicken noodle soup except that it had pieces of chashu, hard boiled egg and seaweed.
My friends got the other types of ramen. Antho and Fia got the red while Daniel got the black. I got to try the broth from their ramen. The red definitely has a spicy kick to it. As for the black, I liked Fia’s description of the black ramen broth best. She said it «tastes like adobo.» I agree with Fia. For the black, you can definitely taste the shoyu/​soy sauce flavor.
We all wanted to try the chashu buns that was listed on their menu. This looked interesting but unfortunately they were out this day. Instead of this chashu bun, Antho ordered a mini chashu don which we all shared. It was a small rice bowl with shredded pieces of chashu. It was OK but it was a bit on the salty side. It was nice to try but on a future visit, I would stick to with getting just the ramen here. The ramen after all is their specialty :).
All in all a nice little ramen shop that offers good ramen in cute bowls. It was nice to hang out here with Antho L, Fia R., Daniel L., Glen F. and Mary Ann V. Yay to heartwarming food and heartwarming moments with Unilocal friends!

I read a few reviews about this place and had wanted to try it out being that I was on a ramen kick these days. Coincidentally, when Daniel L. and Fia R. and I were planning to get together for a dinner, this place was brought up as an option.
I jumped at the chance to try it since I had actually bookmarked it a few weeks earlier and had read that they are only here from June 26 to September 16^th as they were doing a trial run of this award-​winning ramen joint from Tokyo. They are famous for their black (shoyu) flavored ramen.
Fellow Unilocalers Jenn G., Mary Ann V. and Glen F. also agreed to join in the adventure as well so it was going to be a partay!
We all met at the Gardena Marukai market where the eatery is located and ordered from the limited menu. It seems they only served a few items with of course, ramen being the main item offered. It seems, the ramen came with a choice of three different types of broth: a white ramen, a black ramen and a red ramen.
I decided on the red ramen because it was red due to a special spicy secret recipe concoction that is added to the broth, as I was informed by the chef preparing everything. Each of the different ramen broths also came with three different sizes ranging between $ 7.95 and $ 12.00. Pricing differences were dependent on the amount of ingredients contained in each. The smallest bowl came with two slices of chasu pork, the middle bowl also had a bowled egg thrown in and the higher-​priced bowl had 5 pieces of chasu slices. All bowls came with the bamboo shoots and seaweed and other ingredients as well.
In addition to my ramen bowl, I also ordered a chasu pork bowl. I initially wanted to try the chasu bao which was marinated pork pieces folded between a flat bun but alas, they were out of it.
The dining area is the common area shared by the various eateries located in this food court and we seated ourselves and waited as they brought out our respective orders to us.
The server was the chef preparing the bowls and it was funny because he had a similar stern disposition as the character of the ramen chef I saw on the movie «Ramen Girl» starring Brittany Murphy (may she rest in peace).
Having received all our bowls, we all sampled each other’s broth. I didn’t really think my bowl was all that spicy even after mixing the red pepper concoction in my bowl. We all agreed that the black broth reminded us of «adobo» since it was probably a soy sauce based broth. The white broth was pretty decent actually and had a pleasing flavor to it as it is made with a chicken-​based broth.
I thought there was too much oil in mine and now I realize why they offer extra noodles because the broth can’t really be eaten on it’s own as a soup being that it’s so thick and oily so it is best eaten accompanied by ramen noodles. Also, the noodles were the curly egg noodles and I’ve decided that I actually prefer the «hakata» or straight noodles that’s found in hakata ramen joints.
We all sampled the chasu bowl and the pork pieces had a flavorful yet slightly salty taste to it and went well with the white rice. I thought it was pretty good.
Would I go back, yeah, I probably would if other folks wanted to try this place out as I would like to try the other two broths sometime. It’s a decent place to get your ramen fix so I would recommend trying it if you are inclined to do so. But hurry up, you only have until this September 16^th so get it while it’s hot! :)

I’ve completed the trifecta.
Got to try the White Ajitama and the Red Ajitama this time around. I gotta say, I’m a huge fan of the White Ajitama Chasu. For the ramen peeps that like their pork broth, the white broth is actually a white chicken broth. Similar, but it’s light and not as oily as other ramen and there’s a ton of flavor to it. It’s also less salty than the others. My friends all like this one since it’s much more mellow, but complex.
As for the Red Ajitama, it has the same numbing spices from a Szechuan noodle, so you get that slight tingling sensation. It looks like the white chicken broth, but they add this ball of red miso paste with spices to it. It’s not super spicy, but got enough of a kick. Really heavy flavor and this one was definitely saltier than the others, or maybe my tongue’s just playing tricks on me.
Same great toppings on all 3 types of ramen, with the spicy one costing an extra dollar.
They also have this chili oil on the side to add some kick to your ramen.
Out of the three though, I think I still prefer the black soy just because I love that peppery note and nuttiness.

I saw this advertisement from Mitsuwa mailer about a new ramen place from Japan and I had to check it out since it’s here only for about 3 months.
There was only one person in front of me and I ordered both white ajitama chasu ramen and black ajitama chasu ramen.
White ajitama chasu ramen (white chicken soup series) for $ 11: The broth is so complex, flavorful and tastes like this chicken noodle I like. I am not a fan of curly yellow noodle but it doesn’t bother me this time. Maybe because the yellow noodle here is not too yellow and hard.
Black ajitama chasu ramen (black soy soup series) for $ 11: nothing special at all. A little too black peppery for my taste.
The ramen comes with two halves hanjuku tamago, 4 slices char siu, seaweed, black mushroom and bamboo shoot. The char siu is delicious even though it is a little fatty. I hate eating fat but I don’t even cut the fat out this time.
The broth is a little bit too salty but not crazy salty like Santouka. I get super thirsty after I finish my noodle. They also have the red ramen from red spicy soup series.
I went back for the second time and got both white (again) and red this time. The white wasn’t as good as the first time.
Cash only!
3.5 stars!
Ramen Iroha’s white ramen is yummylicious!!!