Yatagarasu- Lafayette — Restaurant in Lafayette

There's a good variety of ramen - tonkotsu/tori paitan/miso/shoyu/shio/veg, plus the inexplicable tomyum udon - and the tonkotsu broth was good, though still a little on the light side. Each bowl is properly topped with fishcake, garlic oil, chashu, bamboo shoots, pickled ginger, and soft-boiled marinated egg. The chashu is nicely charred, but I think they could use less of the soy glaze, letting the pork and its marinade stand out instead. The two eggs I had were both slightly overcooked. Overall a solid bowl!

I was really eager for the kushiyaki/skewers. They offer chicken meat/heart/skin/wings, beef tongue/tendon, among things. It should be noted that they are not Japanese-style skewers, but Chinese (in particular, similar to Xin Jiang) style - covered with cumin and red chili powder. Japanese-style kushiyaki/yakitori are milder, usually seasoned with just salt or a soy glaze. It was still very tasty, just not what I came here for. Also, these are not grilled over charcoal, which can make a noticeable difference in aroma (better char). It would be amazing if they expanded this list to include stuff like chicken liver, gizzards, and cartilage.

Things I think could be improved: (1) They should allow you to customize the firmness of the noodle, especially since this doesn't take too much extra effort. (2) Stock tables with typical ramen seasoning - white pepper, chili oil, salt, shichimi. (3) The waiting system needs upgrading - the waitress was kind of overwhelmed and was struggling to get the attention of the waiting customers, and a bunch of people were annoyed as they didn't realized they were called (and thus got skipped over). Partly the customers' own fault for not paying attention, but definitely a little on the waitlist system.

Price point on the ramen is just a little bit high considering the city we're in: $13 for a bowl pre-tip/tax, which is just under what you'd pay for some of the US' best bowls over in NYC. Skewers are better-valued: $3 for a TINY negima (leek + chicken thighs) and $7 for gyutan. Luckily, beef tendon, chicken skin and chicken heart are at a very reasonable $2 per skewer.

All-in-all, a good (if not great) new restaurant in town, if only a little more expensive than I had hoped. I am delighted that there is now a legitimate ramen-ya (+semi izakaya) in Lafayette, and I really hope they...

My 4 kids wanted to eat here as our birthday celebration for two of them, one of which was returning to Purdue for school after a weekend at home. Yatagarasu is a small place squeezed into a corner in downtown Lafayette. The accommodations are fairly sparse but comfortable enough. The front table by the door can be a little chilly for a winter's lunch, fortunately they had a table that would accommodate the seven of us, plus a grandbaby. The service was efficient, and our server was helpful and polite. We ordered two appetizers: Fried Calamari for $6 and the Crispy Brussel Sprouts for $5. The Brussels sprouts were fresh, well seasoned, and tasty and the portion was very reasonable. I am not the biggest seafood fan; however, I do enjoy fried calamari and have had quite a bit as an appetizer over the years. I wasn't overly impressed with the flavor or the texture, and I felt the portion size was pretty small. My wife and I had the miso ramen and the chicken paitan ramen, respectively. The proportion sizes were quite adequate. My wife enjoyed all of hers. However she was not a big fan of the pickled ginger. She did not find it too spicy. I thoroughly enjoyed the chicken paitan ramen. The spice level of the dish came in the middle range, just found a be very enjoyable with just a good amount of kick. The pork chashu was a little tough, and was less flavorful than I would have liked. I am not familiar with pork chashu, so I will withhold any judgment on that element. Overall, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our dishes as did the rest of the table. We did finish the meal with Mochi ice cream. We shared the black sesame and the strawberry. There were mixed responses. The flavors were fine but we found the texture of the mochi didn't fit well with some of our American pallets. The texture was akin to a marshmallowy feeling your mouth. Not exactly what I'm looking for in an ice cream. It was very disappointed in the men's room. It was very unkept: smelly and uncleaned. the bathroom experience not with standing, we found Yatagarasu enjoyable and...

I want to start by saying our experience at Yatagarasu was great. The food was fantastic and service was great. It was very clean, nice atmosphere, and reasonable prices. Where it went wrong was paying.

I received an electronic card reader where the screen said the total. It was only the dollar amount, no details. I paid and then it asked if I wanted to leave a tip. I ended up tipping well as we enjoyed our evening and left. I chose to have the receipt emailed to me and we were on our way. Upon reviewing the receipt the next day, it turns out they had included an 18% gratuity (we were a party of 6) on the bill. But the waitress never informed me of this and the device showed me only the total, no breakdown whatsoever. In the end, I ended up tipping about 45%.

We called the restaurant to tell them this was unfair and strange and to ask for a portion of our tip back. The employee told me her manager would call us back. Fast forward a week we still haven't heard anything.

It's a great restaurant just be weary of this. There needs to be greater transparency and communication on these...