Tatsu Ramen House Elgin — Restaurant in Dundee Township

My partner and I have been to Tatsu Ramen twice now, once on opening day for dinner around 7 and again for lunch on Tuesday around 12 pm. Thus far, this is what we've tried (at this point, basically 2/3rds of the menu).

APPETIZERS Karaage - Crunchy and flaky, these are on the larger size for Karaage and very worth it because they'll do a pretty good job of filling you up before the real entree even hits. The chicken is juicy and tender and they do an amazing job of avoiding dry-chicken syndrome. The best part: it tastes so fresh. But that's definitely a common theme here. The sauce they give with it is also delicious. Gyoza - Yummy and closer to the top of the gyoza tier-list than many places between the suburbs and Chicago. The actual dumpling itself is light, thin, and - again- fresh. Takoyaki - I have yet to find any good takoyaki in the suburbs, until now. This is good takoyaki. The octopus is well done and though they could definitely add more, it's fairly priced for how much they put in, so it's actually a win-win for people who don't know how they feel about octopus and for people who love it. Because this is the perfect in-between, I'd say it's a positive. Unlike other takoyaki in the Northwest suburbs, they have a beautiful balance of flavors going on while staying true to the octopus. Nothing is overwhelming and everything works well together.

RAMEN Shoyu - The broth Shio - The Broth. Taiwan - THE BROTH Tonkatsu - OH MY GOD, THE BROTH.

On opening day they ran out of pork belly, so we had the Taiwan and Tonkatsu with Taiwan meat, which is a flavorful ground pork that packs a punch (they don't skimp you on this, it actually ends up making up like a third of your bowl). We then had the Shoyu and Shio a few days later when the pork belly was available. The broths are -obviously- the biggest highlight here, and they each manage to hold their own in their respective categories.

Shoyu and Taiwan have darker broths, Shio has a light and refreshing broth, and Tonkatsu has an extremely rich broth. The flavors are huge without being overbearing, and your tastebuds will be extremely pleased, if not pleasantly surprised (if you haven't had real ramen with genuine broth before). The pork belly absorbs the flavor while remaining juicy and the fat is almost at the point where it melts in your mouth. Nothing is hard or difficult to chew, and every ramen delivers a harmonic experience with their respective broths hitting the different -- but necessary -- notes to accompany a very simple but effective formula. You're not going to get something elaborate because it's so straightforward and to the point; Tatsu Ramen has a job to do and it does it well. No need for frills or flair: it's true to the traditional ramen standard and, in turn, proves its authenticity.

DESSERT Matcha Green Tea Tiramisu - This combination is a beauty in and of itself. If you like tiramisu, matcha, green tea, or chocolate, there's a pretty good chance this will make you happy.

DRINKS Ramune - It's ramune lol For those of you who have never tried it, I think the best way to describe it is like a lighter Sprite plus whatever flavor you end up getting.

Overall, this is such a fantastic addition to the selection in the area, and even in the slightly further west Northwest suburbs. The service is quite quick -- even for opening day it was surprisingly fast. I almost feel like we don't deserve it. By the time you're done, the ramen has left you with that feeling of comfort that you only find in a perfect, homemade...

As a benchmark to preface this review, we eat ramen often. I typically reference Misoya ramen in mount prospect as the best overall taste and variety of ramen selection in chicagoland, Torizen in Schaumburg may well have the best spicy ramen, the food court in Mitsuwa in Arlington heights has a good bowl, shinchan in palatine has a great curry ramen, and the list goes on.

As ramen choices go, Tatsu Ramen has one of the largest selections of ramen bowl options. Different styles, like Nagoya, Tonkotsu, Shoyu, Taiwan, and several more. The broths were not too overly savory or salty, nor the converse in lightness like some places, and the styles of broth and noodles were appropriate for each ramen type. These were all very good bowls of ramen. Chuck full of bean sprouts, chasu (braised pork cutlets), half boiled eggs, and other ingredients significant to each type. The only appetizer we had was the bun. They were honestly my favorite part of the meal. The place was very busy for a Friday afternoon, but the two employees did very well to keep up with the amount of patrons and had a smile on always. This is a legit good Japanese ramen restaurant in the unlikely edge of Elgin. If you like this type of food, you won't be disappointed. I will refrain from ranking this one until I've eaten here several times, but i definitely plan to. It's certainly a contender in top ramen places for...

Ordered carryout as they were about to close. Nagoya Ramen, Bao bun. The amount of bean sprouts and Napa cabbage they gave me was outrageous! The soup, spicy. The noodles just a little soft from the hot veg and the transport time (