LOVE RAMEN — Restaurant in Lancaster

I'm so used to having tons of ramen shops to choose from in Los Angeles / SGV area, but here it is very limited to a couple of shops. If you compare the ones down there to the ones up here, this shop would be decent; however, up here in the AV this place is pretty much one of best ramen shops in town.

This ramen shop has really cute interior designs, and offers both indoor and outdoor seating. We opted for indoor seating with AC.

We were immediately greeted and provided the menu. You could see that the menu prices have increased due to inflation because ramen were $1-2 cheaper a few months ago.

We got a couple of appetizers-- the takoyaki, okonomiyaki, and the chicken kaarage. The okonomiyaki is a hard pass for me; it didn't taste right and was especially doughy. The takoyaki and chicken kaarage weren't too bad though. They were both crispy, and have the flavoring just about right.

I got the tan tan ramen and the noodle texture was pretty solid. The broth and portions were good sizes. The only thing to note for folks is that tan tan ramen tends to be more saltier, so I do not recommend for folks who likes clearly broth. My sister tried a bit of it and she didn't like how heavy the broth was.

Overall, this place is pretty decent for your ramen craving. I would definitely come again to try...

Not for vegans/vegetarians as kitchen is sloppy with detail. Ordered 2 of their spicy cream vegan ramen, a savory pancake, and a "vegan fried rice" (quotations because thats how it is titled in the menu). Order was for pick up. Girl on phone was kind and assured me that she noted down to exclude the fish flake garnish from the pancake and no egg or fish sauce anywhere. Not only did the pancake have fish flakes on top, but the "vegan" fried rice had egg in it too. Fortunately the pancake was caught while I was still there and asked to be replaced, but I saw that their chef sneakily just scraped off the fish flakes and redressed with sauce on top. Clear disregard for allergies/religion-based customers. I had them cancel that item. As I was walking out I see the chef come out and have a shouting match with the other lady at the counter. At home I find the rice with egg and call. The other lady at the counter offers her apologies and I have to go pick up the replacement. (Took back the orig for proof). Front staff is polite and courteous, but the guy in the kitchen is clearly someone who cuts corners or lacks attention to detail for their own vegan items on the menu. All that for flatly mediocre vegan ramen compared to other Ramen...

Ramen here is okay. When they first opened, the meat was cooked very well, rendering all of the fat. Now the meat is not cooked the way it used to be, with big hunks of chewy unrendered fat on it. The broth flavor is also not as good as it used to be when they first opened, though it's still decent. Most of their non-ramen dishes are either okay or pretty bad, so definitely stick to just their ramen.

The pictures on the menu are NOT what you get. The picture will show things like nori and menma, but those items are not there when you get your dish. Instead, you need to order them as extras and get charged for it. Maybe they should use actual pictures of the dish OR write better descriptions of the picture, like "tonkatsu shoyu ramen with nori and menma add-on." It just feels dishonest otherwise. Almost like a bait and switch.

Despite these shortcomings, it still hits the spot when I'm craving ramen and I don't want to drive into Los Angeles. It's just a shame that they aren't as good now as they used to be when they first opened. I've been going here about once or twice a month since they first opened. First few months were awesome, and then from that point on, it has just been me hoping for them to return to how...