Ramen Saikou — Restaurant in Longview

tl;dr, the best of the East Texas ramen shops (1. Ramen Saikou in Longview; 2. Ichiban Ramen in Tyler; 3. Mikoto in Tyler).

I tried chicken (aka tori chintan with shoyu [soy sauce] tare), pork (tonkotsu with shio [salt] tare) and brisket (also tonkotsu with shio tare but brisket instead of char siu meat...it's not a beef-based broth).

Chicken - The broth is very flavorful. You can taste a distinct chicken flavor with charred and fresh aromatics. The shoyu tare doesn't overpower the broth and it's very well balanced and you can taste the different components. Wavy noodles were firm (the way I like it) with kikurage (wood ear fungus), bean sprouts, green onions, nori (seaweed sheet) and half a seasoned soft boiled egg. It comes with two slices of sous vide chicken breast. The chicken being cooked sous vide makes it super tender and moist. It absorbs the broth flavor well.

Pork - Basically the same comment as above. Very flavorful and balanced because you can taste the different aromatics along with the pork. I typically prefer a stronger/richer pork flavor with thick milky broth. My favorite versions are either the super rich liquified pig kind with heavy garlic and a layer of fat on top (this is the kind I usually get when I'm in Torrance, CA aka lil' Japan, visiting family) or rich with strong katsuoboshi (smoked fish) flavor like the kind that you can get at Wabi House in Dallas. Ramen Saikou's is a less rich variation but I really like it alot because there are more dimensions to the flavor. I couldn't stop drinking the broth, even though I'm normally not a broth drinker since it takes up stomach space that could otherwise be occupied by more food. Their broth is actually better than some of the shops I've had in Torrance, which says a lot since there's no shortage of authentic Japanese food there. The two slices of charsiu had the right amount of torch char, acceptable thickness, and good ratio of meat to fat. The brisket was tender but I definitely prefered the pork. The noodles were the straight kind and were also firm.

Instead of driving two hours to Dallas from Tyler, I can just drive an hour to Longview for excellent ramen. Still worth it even though there are two shops within 15 minutes of me. I'll definitely be back more regularly. If you've never had real ramen and you're closer to Longview than Dallas, check...

The place: Ramen Saikou is a pleasant little restaurant right off of Mcann in Longview. The seating area is a dark, earthen mix of colors, complemented with backless wood stools and wooden tables. It's a very homey experience, a reprieve from all the modernization going on in fast food restaurants and other "high-speed" eateries. The food: The ramen is out of this world. So far my wife and daughter and I have had three different bowls. We will try them all. The broth is warming and flavorful, but there is an option to spice your bowl up for a dollar, and we will be doing that next. The noodles are a big deal for us, because we are a keto family, so it was wonderful news to discover that you can order shirataki noodles - otherwise we wouldn't have been able to enjoy the amazing ramen! The vegetables in the ramen are fresh and delightful, and the meat and eggs are always tender and flavorful. The beers and wines are also fun to try. The service: Amazing. Every time. Simply amazing. The price: for the ramen bowls, the price varies from 9 to 14 dollars a bowl. Listen ladies and gentlemen; it's a huge bowl of ramen, so don't fear the price. You won't regret spending the cash. Overall: this little eatery has become one of my favorite places to eat after hitting the gym or on the weekend, and I can feel good that I'm not breaking the budget and not cheating on my diet. I can get full and satisfied on some of the tastiest ramen I've ever had outside of Japan, while relaxing and enjoying the momentary break from everything going on outside this comfy little slice of ramen goodness.

Take your family, and enjoy. Try the edamame as...

I came here for dinner last night with 2 friends. To start off, the waitress was very good and helpful. Also, it was uncomfortably hot in the restaurant. We started off with the pork gyoza, bao buns and spring rolls. The gyoza was decent, but needed to be pan fried more. It was basically just steamed. The bao buns' prok belly was on the verge of being raw, was too flabby. The spring rolls weren't bad, nothing really great about the apps. I ordered the gyudon fried rice which came out a lot different than normal gyudon. There also was a strange aroma and taste about the dish that was off-putting and almost made me sick. I was barely able to eat any of it. My friends got the tonkatsu ramen and the shoyu ramen. They said their dishes tasted really bad as well. Their noodles were over cooked a lot and were just all stuck together and the broth tasted bad. We should have known not to go there when on the door when you go inside it said they were hiring a cook. Food was extremely disappointing. Definitely won't...