Umaya Ramen — Restaurant in Cerritos

Ooooh... Okay. It's been a while since I have done a negative review. But it has also been a while since I have had mediocre service and blah food. And to have it at a ramen joint... Man.. that just grinds my gears! Umaya Ramen in Cerritos. Oh boy. When I first walked in I was half way greeted by a young man in faded jeans, a denim jacket and a ball cap. I couldn't really hear him so I just nodded. It took me a few seconds, but this guy was my greeter! I thought this guy was just another customer. I asked for a table and he basically pointed to any of the open tables. I sat down at a booth that was empty and narrowly missed the edamame beans all over the floor. I asked for a coke and a menu, when the denim clad host pointed to the QR code stand. Ohhhh.. it's one of those ... I have only scanned a qr code once before at a restaurant, but ok. Go with the flow. I felt a little attitude as my host walked off to get my beverage. I eventually ordered the 'Umaya Ramen', which was a tonkotsu ramen. As I waited, I took notice of my surroundings .. supplies... Supplies...and more supplies. Napkins, sauces, order pads, boxes of spoons, all sorts of clutter. Then I noticed the staff. There were five. Three of them were on their phones. Well when it's 12:30 and only 4 other people are in the joint, there is not much to do, like sweep the floor free of fallen food or clean the clutter. My bowl came and the first thing I notice is that I have no chili sauce or pepper . I'll try the soup . Plastic rinky dinky ice cream cup spoon. Where is the ramen!? I see egg, I see a half burnt piece of pork, ginger, naruto and mushrooms. I dig and oh... Chow mein noodles were in my bowl. Not ramen . Definitely not made in house. The broth was decent. It already had some chili oil in it so it had a slight kick. But... What... Wait.. why is there ground beef at the bottom of the bowl? Another waiter pulled himself away from his cellphone asked if I was okay, I lied and just nodded and waved him off. Mr. Faded Jeans came by with my bill before I could even ask for it. Yea... Not coming back. Pics speak for themselves. None of the staff could have been over 30 and it shows. An old school ramen joint master chef would be ashamed....

Umaya, Umaya, gonna set this place on Fi-ya!

Umaya Ramen opened up not too long ago & I have been telling myself to stop by. Weather's overcast? Kinda cool? Sounds like ramen weather to me!

Umaya Ramen is located in Cerritos' Landmark Square, next to Ajito & The Hair Whisperer. Quite convenient for me since I live within walking distance. The only other restaurant serving ramen in the area, that I know of, is Geko Tei across the street. Umaya fills a lacking niche for myself & fellow gastronomes.

Dooncha, dooncha, dooncha....

Music is on blast, with modern decor welcoming diners. I sat at the bar on a wooden stool. I thought my arse would've been uncomfortable, but turns out, my derriere has enough padding already ;p

Speaking of music, there was an eclectic mix playing today. The usual high-tempo, dance pop music was heard, but followed by Michael Buble/Henry Connick Jr. Totally rad!

The waitstaff were friendly, informative and helped me decide what to order.

My choice, miso ramen w/ regular noodles- Pretty good! Your choice of noodles - thin or regular. My regular noodles were al dente, with definite bite to them. The broth was flavorful, but not thick. Portion size was agreeable, too.

Protip - Why spend an extra dollar for spicy miso, when you can add a boatload of chili powder & oil? I added a lot to make my ramen just the way I wanted it. Chili is good for you. It's anti-inflammatory & it makes me a better lover. Even when I'm by myself :(

Besides my boyish charm & my rugged good looks, I'm also quite the spendthrift. So, lo and behold, when I was told Umaya Ramen is having a 10% off lunch promo for the month of June, I almost screamed like a schoolgirl at a One Direction concert. Saving money w/o even trying, oh yeah baby!

Bottom line-I'll be back!

I highly recommend stopping by Umaya Ramen the next time you're jonesing for some ramen surrounded by a...

One of the worst Japanese Bar/Restaurants I have been in. Service is the only reason I gave them 1 star. Ordered Spicy Garlic Edamame as an appetizer. The edamame arrived smelling like burned, is because was burned, on top they added this mix of garlic/chili pepper powder to the already dry and burned edamame. I should have taken a picture. Just tried 1 and it was so bad tasted like frozen/burned. just told the guy you can take that away. He probably didn't understand me, because he left it there. Ordered their famous Umaya Ramen there was no texture or any presentation which really should have looked like the pictures from the menu, they placed a thin plastic spoon on top, I guess they thought (white guy, alone looks kind a distracted, let's give him our left overs). The noodles were fine even though the amount was not even half of the bowl, the broth tasted alright, I think the best part was the boiled egg, but when I looked for the pork tonkotsu I was impressed. If you have seen Gordon Ramsey from one of his episodes where he stands his meal a pork chop in the table it was almost the same, this tonkotsu was frozen and I am sure they just defrost it in the microwave and dumped it in the ramen. If I have eaten that I am sure could be sick in less than 1 hour. Now I remember the reason why I prefer to cook at my place. I hope they get fine for risking people health. Total lost $25 ($7 edamame and $15.50 ramen + Tax). First and last time coming to this...