Ramen Tatsu-Ya — Restaurant in Austin

In my quest for the best of BBQ, Pizza, and Chinese food, I have just recently discovered the joy of true Ramen. I grew up eating the cheapo 50 cent bags of dehydrated noodles from the grocery store with the flavored salt packet. I have had some good "true" ramen here in Colorado where I live, but it really was never the real thing from all my reading and research into the Japanese Ramen Culture, and it might even be a crime to call this place authentic Japanese ramen, but after my visit I am convinced that it's as close as I have come so far in the states.

Oddly enough where I was sitting there was a couple from Japan that was visiting family who confirmed that this was about 90% as good as they have had in any country other than home, and was even better than most of the "quick stall" ramen places in Japan. Knowing that I was pretty excited while waiting for my food.

In total, We ordered the Tonkotsu Original, the Tsukemen w/ extra chashu, Gyoza and the Gotcha Matcha dessert. Where we were sitting I had an upclose view of the kitchen where they were preparing the noodles and broths and I can confirm that the noodles are imported from Japan fresh (according to the box) and then immediately cooked and served within minutes.

The Tonkatsu was pretty amazing with a nice strong pork flavor that easily stuck to the noodles with each bite. The Chashu was also pretty amazing in both bowls being about the size of a softball and sliced fairly thick. They were good flavor and not too salty. In my opinion the Tsukemen noodles were vastly better than the ones that came with the Tonkotsu as they were thicker and stickier making the dipping sauce really cling to the noodles and were half as much chewier. Both bowls were really good with the Tonkotsu broth being my favorite of the pair.

The Gyoza was also really fantastic with a nice strong pork flavor in the meat with a nice gentle dipping sauce that wasn't overpowering in salt or flavor to blackout the meat. Finally the Matcha dessert was a really nice finish to the meal. It was real matcha which was a new thing as I've had matcha flavored things before but it never had the matcha grainules to show it being the real thing. It was paired with some crunchy sugar kukoto balls and a really rich blackberry sauce.

The ambiance of the place is a pretty crowded noodle bar really. With a long community table running through the middle, a small bar to sit at in front of the kitchen and tables surrounding the perimeter. The line outside looks long and we started at the end of the covered length of the building, but we only waited about 20 minutes before being seated on a Saturday night at 7pm. The staff is also really nice and friendly and when our server learned we were visiting from out of town she gave us some collector stickers from the place for our souvenir board.

All in all, I really loved all the ramen here and this easily jumped to the top of my list of ramen I have had, and when I go back to Austin, this will be in the list of required stops. I strongly recommend you stop in for a big bowl of noodles, i don't think you can go wrong with anything...

If you’re in Austin to get Ramen, I don’t recommend this place. Get takeout from Michi Ramen down the street, or drive up to Mueller for Marafuku’s ramen. The food is good, but not better than the aforementioned places.

Ramen broth is pretty greasy, the Chashu included in your bowl is razor thin. Like really thin. It used to be great when they first opened. They try to make up for the lack of toppings with an excessive amount of green onions, I guess that is what shrinkflation looks like for them.

I’ve been to Ramen Tatsuya many times before and usually have a good but not great experience, but unfortunately, my most recent visit was incredibly disappointing. It has made me realize this place has all the ratings already, their quality and service can tank, and people will still go.

My family and I placed my order and ended up waiting over 35 minutes. without acknowledgment, update, or apology from the staff during that time. About 40 minutes in, someone came to say they had to remake and smoke and grill their Chashu. What made this worse is that when the food finally did come, the Chashu was cold! What did they redo?!

When the chicken karaage came, the chicken was incredibly chewy and unevenly marinated. Half the chicken tasted like it was marinated and half the chicken was so tough I couldn’t chew through it.

I understand that things can get busy and mistakes can happen. But as a regular customer, I expected at least some basic communication—someone checking in, offering an update, or simply acknowledging the delay. Instead, I felt like I was invisible. We were also starving.

I came in looking forward to a quick, comforting bowl of ramen like I’ve had in the past, and left feeling frustrated and completely disregarded. For the 45 minutes I was waiting, they didn’t even offer us a small bite or something to hold us over or truly apologize.

I’ve recommended this place to friends in the past, but after this experience, I absolutely will not anymore.

I gave them feedback and their response was lackluster. They didn’t even respond to my response. They are too busy to care about the customer experience now. Maybe a Google Review will get their attention. Who knows. I...

At risk of exposing our dietary habits we will not disclose the ridiculous amount of ramen that we eat, but we will disclose the fact that Ramen Tatsuya is our go to spot. While there are a few locations at this point, the South Lamar locations stands leagues above the other locations we have been to. The ordering was seamless and quick and despite how packed it was we were seated almost immediately. One thing we will say about this location is that the staff is on their absolute A game and the setting is much more intimate than others. We were seated across from the kitchen and watched as the cooks flew around and runners, well, ran. The whole operation was a logistical dream that would make an Amazon exec blush. One thing that could be better is the line management outside as there is very little room in the front of the restaurant which left people packing in to avoid the cold weather outside. Not something the restaurant can necessarily control but it is something that we noticed.

Onto the food, we got two OGs, one with a spice bomb, and a Curry Nu Skool. These were by far the best bowls we’ve had across the different locations. Everything was perfect from the noodles to egg to broth. The Tonkotsu broth of the OG is just perfectly salty and has a deep umami flavor from the pork bone. The Curry Nu Skool tastes complex with hearty flavors in sync. The chasu was cooked perfectly, the fat being delicious and not too thick and the lean part being flavorful but moist. We really cannot give enough praise to the dishes (even though we basically just did).

We like to hold 5 stars close to our chest and really like to objectively look at experiences without the bias of our endless hunger. Unfortunately for us (but not for them), Ramen Tatsuya South Lamar has stolen all 5 stars. With unreal food, an intimate atmosphere, and service that just pulled it all together there is not a single negative thing we can say about our experience here. We would recommend that if you want ramen, or this chain more specifically, drive the extra 1, 2, 5 miles if need be and come to...