AFURI — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I've heard about a new ramen spot opening up near Arts District and been wanting to try Afuri for quite some time. Since I was in the neighborhood, I finally decided to give it shot, especially since I was able to find free street parking or else I would've given up.

Upon walking inside, there are ordering kiosks to your right hand side and wooden table numbers to use. The machines remind of me Japan in terms of ordering your food at "vending machines" and you give your ticket to the kitchen; minimal contact and ease of ordering. I read the reviews on how their Yuzu Ramen is their signature dish, however I wanted to experience their Tonkatsu Tantanmen as well as their Soft Shell Crab Bun. Their Yuzu Ramen has chicken broth as their base, which didn't really call my attention since all the ramen I've ever had here or in Japan are always pork based. Once you're done ordering, you take one of those black wooden sticks with a number and grab a seat anywhere you'd like.

Tonkotsu Tantanmen (9/10):

The broth isn't as fatty as most ramen soup bases so I really appreciated the fact it didn't feel and taste like I was downing pork fat with noodles. The noodles had a more firm texture than other ramen restaurants. I'm not certain as to whether or not it's supposed to be firm or the fact the kitchen did not cook them long enough. Either way, I still enjoyed the firm ramen noodles since it was something new for me to try. The few pieces of bok choy was for sure undercooked since it was harder to chew into it. Overall, this dish is pleasant and not too greasy; only wished it contained more of a spicy kick.

Soft Shell Crab (5/10)

Presentation wise, the soft shell crab dish looks appealing but definitely not worth $8 as a bun. Taste wise is okay but it kinda throws off your taste buds because it's salty, savory, and sweet at the same time due to the kimchi and pickled cucumbers. I will most likely not order it the next time I visit and probably stick to their dumplings instead.

Overall the food here is decent and worth a try if you're ever in the area and can find parking. If you do arrive early like right when they open, be prepared for a lot of workers staring at you eating; not awkward at all. Since I visited this place around the time they opened, there was only 1 other person eating indoors so a lot of the employees have nothing to do but to look across the restaurant and possibly watch you eat. You don't realize how many workers there are until you sit down and stare at the kitchen and bar. Despite the staring, the food does come out pretty quickly so you won't be complaining about how delayed everything is when they're coming out.

*Side note but I noticed that "ramen" on their menu is written using Hiragana characters らーめん instead of Katakana ラーメン (I've never seen it written in Hiragana in Japan...

A lovely ramen restaurant in the arts district! Yuzu ramen here changed our minds about yuzu and expanded our palates!

PARKING: Plenty of street parking available when we went on a Thursday evening.

AMBIANCE: Shaded patio area where local residents hang out and sip beautiful cocktails at. We entered the restaurant, which opened up inside with high ceilings and a beautiful bar at the left, and neon signage on the right, with large communal tables with soft lighting in the middle and smaller tables for smaller groups along the sides. Open views into the kitchen too - very welcoming.

ORDERING / SERVICE: We checked in our party of 2 and were immediately shown to a two-seat table and got our waters immediately by our friendly server. The menu was via QR code right on the table and you can order and check out directly via that link - so easy.

Food came promptly and when we had an issue with one of our orders we added on, the server and manager came by to help us out - great service!

Check includes a 13% service charge / auto gratuity.

FOOD / DRINK: We asked our server what he recommended and he mentioned the yuzu ramens are what they're known for and that was perfect. We weren't going to order them as we usually find yuzu on the more "artificial" side of flavors at other restaurants, but we have changed our minds now that we've had Afuri's!

We had a YUZU SHIO and a YUZU RATAN (spicy version). Love the thin, firm ramen noodles. The yuzu flavor lifts the rich chicken broth flavor and keeps the flavor fresh throughout the bowl, citrusy and satisfying. This was our first time with yuzu ramen and now it's catapulted to our top types of ramen. YUZU SHIO is a lighter experience which was perfect for my husband and YUZU RATAN was just right for me, who likes strong flavors.

Both of us drained our bowls dry - the broth was that good. My husband said it was the first time he had done that for ramen. High praise!

We also got the MOMO cocktail which had suntory whiskey and a lovely creamy egg white foam with a dash of bitters; if you are a fan of sake and whiskey they have an impressive Japanese sake and whiskey menu as well.

OVERALL: Wonderful experience with excellent ramen in a hip spot in DTLA arts district. Will recommend friends and family...

Overall, horrible and a huge disappointment if you are a big fan of ramen shops. One star if it wasn't for the ramen style, read on for details. First thing I really hate is the location, very ghetto, no offense, but it certainly gives an atmosphere outside the shop to be very insecure, very uncomfortable, not an ideal place to have a meal for sure. Second, the serving is so small, there has NOT been a ramen shop which served so little that I had to order a bowl of rice for my ramen, never. Third, Covid or not, their way of asking tip is to have 18% tip for the minimum, my friends and I didn't see a custom tip option on the screen when they ask you to pay out front before anything is served, that 18% outrageous tip could have easily gotten us an extra bowl of ramen, completely absurd. Fourth and this is the worst they took close to 10min to serve me my extra bowl of rice only because I reminded them. Many orders or not, a normal shop with a good sense of business should be able to determine what are the easy, simple orders to finish first, waiting so long until my ramen soup went cold for a simple bowl of rice was certainly a huge minus from anybody not just me, super sad quality of service and attitude for sure! The plus about this store is the ramen style, they added fried garlic chunk for extra aroma to the ramen noodle and soup, chasui pork is the thickest kind I have ever seen and I really love my noodle thin, but come on the size of the ramen is just too ridiculously small, never have I needed to order rice with my ramen before,...