KOTOYA JAPANESE RAMEN — Restaurant in Los Angeles

This review is solely based on the level of customer service provided at the restaurant by the chef and staff, food quality no issue! I been to this Ramen place at least 3 or 4 times in the past, with the same group of friends, ate their ramen and walked satisfied and happy!

Unfortunate this was not the case this one night (11/30/18), the same group of friends decided to dine-in at Kotoya due to their very delicious ramen. Upon arrival and being sat at the bar, one the servers a young Japanese lady, definitely with language barrier in between had difficult time understanding our requests on each order.

I ordered the spicy Raman with green onions added, my friend had the regular ramen, and my other friend also ordered a regular ramen with NO egg and NO GREEN ONIONS! (RAW), green tea was ordered and a coke. several minutes after we ordered, our drinks arrived, NO COKE, the night was going well, up until our food arrived. One of my friend has a food allergen with RAW GREEN ONIONS, OF WHICH HE MADE IT VERY VERY CLEAR NO GREEN ONIONS! I understand that language barrier can be problematic, however NO means NO in many languages!

After the plates were served we indicated to the server that a mistake was done by the chef, my Bowl of ramen should had gotten the green onions and my other friends bowl should had excluded the onions! after we asked the lady/server that a mistake was done, since he can not have any green onions! the chef immediately budded in and started talking to the server in Japanese, which then led that his bowl of ramen was removed and they refused to serve him ANY FOOD!

The chef was ignited you can tell by how he was then handling the food afterwards, he was upset that something was returned, instead of solving the issue and providing a level of service, he did the total opposite and gave the worst awful service. the chef was being obnoxious, disrespectful, irrational and a total douche! the chef/owner should have better training and ethical standards as an owner, in addition hire or train his staff in English lessons to break that barrier instead he was a racist (MOFO), vulgar and unsympathetically, he should not be in this field of service if he can't handle and mange any problems.

It was a simple request, NO GREEN ONIONS (raw), but It was obviously clear they did not understand what RAW meant, a simple request that could had been handled with professionalism, instead it was taken out of control and content! Instead of the chef handling the issue with respect and decorum and admitting he had made a mistake by ADDING green onions to his bowl and fulfilling his request, instead he took it on the defensive side!

NOT SURE IF I WOULD EVER DINE HERE AGAIN IN THE NEAR FUTURE!!! THERE IS NO NEED FOR UNPROFESSIONALISM AND PISS POOR MANAGEMENT FROM A BUSINESS! TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE AT...

TL:DR - Top Tonkotsu Ramen Shop in LA, that looks, feels, and tastes like a proper no frills ramen-ya. It's a must try if you like thick and rich tonkotsu broth. 🐖 🍜

I've been up and down Sawtelle, around Little Tokyo, and through the Westside, and I can confidently say it's one of the top ramen spots for tonkotsu ramen in Los Angeles.

Broth temperature was spot on. Perfect for slurping; not too hot to burn you, but not cool enough to go cold before you finish the bowl. The mouth feel of the broth was very good and coated the noodles, and your mouth, with a viscosity somewhere around 5-7% brix.

Soy tare was well seasoned and slightly sweet which nicely balanced out the broth.

The tender charshu was cut at about 1/4" thickness, and had a balanced smoky flavor.

Noodles were medium well, slightly softer than al dente, with the classic wavy texture, but also thicker than what is usually served with tonkotsu broth. Noodle color was lighter in color compared to the classic alkaline wavy noodle with a cleaner "fresh noodle" taste.

We had lunch on a Thursday around 3pm, and the restaurant was empty. Service was sparse with one person, possibly the owner, but considerate and to the point. Perfect for what I'm wanting out of a quick bowl of ramen during lunch.

Overall, the entire bowl with all its ingredients was well balanced. The food came out quick and hot, which sadly to say, doesn't seem to happen very often at all the other "ramen"...

I had an amazing first experience at Kotoya. After a nice long day my roommate and I decided to longboard up the street to check out this ramen spot that’s being raved about locally, and they didn’t not disappoint. We went there at 9pm and didn’t have to wait for more than 5 minutes to get a seat at the bar. There isn’t much seating at all, if you go anytime earlier for dinner you might have a slight wait, but it’s worth it — no doubt.

I ordered the spicy ramen (3-stars spicy) with an egg and my roommate ordered the same thing. The food came out quick and looked unbelievable. 3-stars spicy on the ramen was perfect for me but it definitely is on the spicy side, so beware! They do try to warn you with cute little cards at your table showing the levels of spice with cartoons (they’re hilarious).

Customer service was great and sitting at the bar was really fun, a lot of amazing smells and it’s cool being able to see the chef work his ramen magic.

I highly recommend this spot to ramen lovers! The flavors and noodles are delicious, along with a very tasty broth. I’ll definitey be...