MENSHO TOKYO — Restaurant in Culver City

I walked by the location few weeks ago and recognized the same ramen shop chain popular in San Francisco.

I was told this location is corporate owned and operated as opposed to a franchise.

I saw on IG that they will finally open today on May 16. I came around 3 pm thinking they’ll be open, only to find a sign saying 5pm will be the grand opening. I just came back. There was a line forming by the time i came back at 4:30.

There were a bit of shop opening team building rituals. So by the we were let in, it was already 5:13 pm and quickly seated.

There was full staff. The staff were incredibly friendly.

Finally I got my ramen with a short wait. I say they were quite efficient for a 1st day, 1st hour operation.

Now about the ramen.

I had the signature ramen. The highlight was the fact that it has A5 wagyu topping. It was a lot more than that. There were 3 types of toppings, duck , pork and the Wagyu beef. Through and through it was a very premium bowl at a reasonably priced offering at $28. I did enjoy the Wagyu and the pork. The duck, I felt lacked a bit of seasoning, I did enjoy the slight smokey flavor.

The broth had a creamy and yet earthy consistency. I usually associate this earthy texture with niboshi ramen I had in Tokyo, but this wasn’t niboshi based. It was chicken paitan base broth. The best thing I enjoyed about the broth was that strong truffle cream on it.

The noodles was of that bouncier type. It came in the right firmer consistency I usually prefer, albeit, there was slight sense it was undercooked as there was a bit of crumbliness in some bites. This may well just be a rookie 1st day of operation jitters.

The ramen you’ll have here is certainly a unique style. It is chicken paitan based, but it definitely has a more creative take to it over the more traditional chicken paitan.

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I went back today Sunday 1pm for late lunch.

There is a new and more limited lunch menu.

I tried the abura soba (oil ramen).

The good: The pork chasu was very juicy and flavorful. The serving size was substantial. It is $17, the most inexpensive item on the lunch menu.

The bad: It was on the saltier side. The taste was not bad, though it was not special for such an esteemed ramen shop.

I will note to myself that this is not my favorite item.

— Tori Paitan Lunch menu item. The broth is very creamy and thick. There is also a slight sandy’ texture to the broth towards the bottom. Taste wise it was excellent. Probably the richest consistency among Tori paitan I...

I’ve been walking by this spot a lot after the gym or after work, and one evening after grabbing some hand rolls from Yunomi (shoutout to them always solid), I noticed a new ramen place had popped up right next door. MENSHO that really caught my eye, and it looked like it had some Michelin pedigree behind it. A friendly gentleman I believe he was Japanese was outside that day and recommended the lamb ramen. The photos looked fire, so I made a mental note to come back soon.

Today, I finally did, excited to check it out with a friend. Unfortunately, the experience didn’t match the hype.

We walked in and were greeted by a young woman who said she’d help us get seated. We stood around for about 8 minutes while she floated around the restaurant, seemingly helping other guests. It wasn’t clear if she was a host or a server, but either way, we just kind of waited awkwardly, hoping someone would guide us.

When we finally got seated, we were handed menus but then left to sit for another 15 minutes without anyone checking in or offering to take our order. Same girl kept walking by, taking care of other tables, but no acknowledgment of us. We decided to give it one last minute before leaving, hoping someone would come by. Nobody did.

The moment we stood up to leave, suddenly she noticed us and said, “Thank you guys for coming,” which felt strange considering we had just been sitting there completely ignored. I politely let her know we’d been waiting for a while and that it felt like we were being overlooked. Her only response was, “Oh sorry,” and then, “I can take your order now if you want.”

At that point, it was too late. The vibe had already shifted. We had spent 20–30 minutes either standing around or sitting with no service, and it just felt off. There was no real effort to make things right or acknowledge that our time had been wasted. No sense of, “Hey, we value your business.” Just a Gen Z stare with no intention to make me feel welcomed from the moment we walked in.

So unfortunately, I won’t be trying the lamb ramen after all. I was genuinely excited to give MENSHO a shot, but the service left such a sour taste that I couldn’t justify staying. I’ll just head to Afuri next time their Yuzu Shio ramen hits the spot, and their hazelnut ramen is fire too.

Here’s hoping this was just growing pains for a new spot, but for now,...

Mensho’s signature ramen at $28 is priced very ambitiously for ramen. Anyone paying $28 for some noodles and broth is going to expect something special. I’m always looking for new ramen places to add to my rotation, and excitedly made my way to Mensho shortly after opening.

The signature ramen fails to impress. It has no identity. It falls in the common trap of slapping fancy ingredients into a dish without considering the balance of the dish, in pursuit of the false idol of ‘fine dining.’

While eating the ramen, I could not tell you what I was biting into. Wagyu, duck, chashu - everything was buried in the broth. Truffle was complementing nothing either. Nothing stood out. Why are the noodles called ‘mochi noodles’? The entire dish was an identity crisis, like an orchestra where everyone is trying to play a solo simultaneously but is drowned out by the tubas.

Everything tasted the same. There was no heterogeneity in texture or flavor. I’m not sure if any of the condiments were seasoned differently. No harmony. The best part of the dish was the menma, and that says a lot.

If you like dishes that look pretty, go ahead I suppose. I’ll stick to Tsujita, Hinodeya, and Kotoya. You know, places that know how to construct a dish that highlights and appreciates good ingredients, rather than mix them into one jumbled mess.

Edit: I see that Shono san has responded. Thank you for your response. Receiving direct feedback from the mind that designed the menu is very interesting. I believe in letting the ingredients of a dish speaking for themselves. Complexity for the sake of complexity seems too abundant in today’s cooking, and the same goes for using small bits of expensive ingredients to drive up the price of dishes. With so much care going into the dish, I would have loved to have an honest dish that let the care the chefs put in speak for itself.

I wish you and Mensho the best of luck, and look forward to Mensho becoming a long standing stable location in Culver City with honest dishes that impress in a...