Yamaguchi Ramen Bar — Restaurant in El Paso

This place was AMAZING!! I had been craving some ramen and 10/10 would eat here/WILL eat here again soon. This place is small ten table place that is Top Chef/Vegas good. As good as any Vegas or high end restaurant we’ve been to ever to. The quality of the food was excellent, the service was on point (great work Jazz-thank you!) and the atmosphere was amazing. We went Saturday night, the place wasn’t crowded at all, had the chashu buns, edamame, wife had the Nagasaki Ramen and I had the Spicy Lobster Ramen. The edamame was hot and very well seasoned. It had a really interesting spice profile that I’ve never had before, probably the best I’ve ever had. I feel like most places give you lukewarm at best edamame with sea salt, these were a little bit spicy and excellent. I could have eaten more and would have eaten more but our other app and main course came out so fast I didn’t have time. The chashu buns were another delight. It was pork belly, soft and tender in a sort of soft steamed bun with a sauce and spices that melted in your mouth. Again, another part of our meal that could have been a meal by it self. The ramen. Woah. At first mine was sooo spicy, but after a while it toned down somehow? I don’t know how, probably dark magic idk but I could and did eat it by the spoonful by the end. My portion had probably the biggest lobster tail I’ve ever had and the most delicious spiced brown lobster butter I’ve ever come across. The battered shrimp were excellent as well, and the broth was divine. I tasted my wife’s Nagasaki ramen as well and it was really sweet, excellent broth. She had naked shrimp and mussels and I think both broths were balanced with the pork belly. The table has hot sriracha, soy sauce of course, and a bowl of the hot chili oil my dish was flavored with. Really cool vibe, very cozy relaxed atmosphere, the TVs has anime or manga or whatever that stuff is totally awesome place. Gonna be regulars.

———-UPDATE!!!———

Went back for lunch today as promised, did an order for carry out. This time I had the ramen my wife had last time, the Nagasaki and my wife had the salmon poké bowl, and we did another round of the chashu pork belly buns. Unfortunately, IT WAS STILL SUPER DELICIOUS!!! So we’re gonna have to keep eating...

Edit: A complete 180 turn from the first time I came here. I ordered the same thing I had during the first review. The food tasted soo much better, and it was presented with actual care. The pork was tender and cooked perfectly. The egg was also cooked nicely and had a good color to it. It really was a textbook ramen egg. The broth was rich, flavorful, and the black garlic did not overpower the whole meal. The portion of the soup is very fair, after our meal I could not eat another bite. The waitress was very kind. She always approached us with a good attitude and a smile. I was very happy with our meal and our time spent there. and we will be sure to come more often!

First review: Their decor is very cool. The vibes are fun. We got shrimp tempura and takoyaki. They tasted good. Then we got our black garlic tonkotsu. And this is where the two stars come in. The presentation was very sloppy, like they just threw it in the plate. The egg was hard boiled, and it was literally submerged underneath the noodles. I only found it after eating some of the noodles. To make matters worse, there was a big clump of noodles at the bottom of the bowl. The pork was tough. Also, I’m not sure what was giving the broth that burnt taste. Was it pepper? Was it the pork? Was it the black garlic? But I though the garlic was just supposed be oil? Idk. Whatever it was, it’s seriously all I could taste in the broth and there were black specs all over. I love tonkotsu ramen, but in this dish I couldn’t even taste the tonkotsu broth. I though for the price, the Naruto should be included in the dish and not...

I used to love going to yamaguchi I never had a bad experience until me and my brother went a couple months ago. There was a long wait (which is expected on weekends since the food is amazing) but we knew that, so the girl in the front “wrote” us down on a little white board for the waiting list . Keep in mind It was just me and my brother. Everyone gets called for a table except us , so my brother decided to look on the white board and our name wasn’t even written down !! We had already waited for about an hour ! And everyone got seated before us even party of 5-6 people. Then we tell the manager or whoever he was (gay guy with glasses) and he had such a horrible attitude ! He then walks away and waves us to come , he didn’t even have the decency to come over and tell us a table was ready he just waved at us from a distance ? So my brother tell him he doesn’t appreciate the way we were being treated and this guy has the AUDACITY to say “Well I’m very close with the owner soo yeah”. Ummm What the hell is that supposed to mean ? No apology whatsoever, then my brother says can we at least get a discount or something? And he proceeds to chuckle and say “umm sure we can do 10 %” we just left after that because of that person and that person only. Horrible customer service by that person and the entitlement to say he’s close with the owner as if it were a threat that he could do whatever without repercussions. It’s been months but I finally wrote a review I hope he’s not working...