Little Shop of Ramen — Restaurant in Oakhurst

We're locals - though we DO live about an hour's RT outside town. We FINALLY dropped in a few days ago and what idiots we've been to never have done so until now! This is an amazing local treasure, and we now have a great reason to head to town more often. The setting itself is quite special: the historic Gold Coin building, complete with restored century(+)-old murals and bar, as well as updated and appropriate contemporary design and furnishings.

We were cheerfully greeted not only by our server but also by the co-owner, with whom we later had an extended conversation. We were seated immediately. The service was relaxed with our server attentive and completely knowledgeable. The menu has many options including excellent bar choices and vegan and gluten-free offerings.

My vegan wife ordered the day's curry special with grilled tofu; I had the shoyu ramen broth topped with an extraordinary chashu. The amazing thing is that our finicky tastes were instantly rewarded - both bowls had the house-made toasted rye noodles; my wife's vegan curry stock and my stock made of pork, chicken and dashi were, in a word: fantastic. And - as I queried my wife near the end of our meal, YES, the bowls and especially our stocks remained just as delicious in the final bites as they had from the first. Which is a test of a truly great meal - and ours passed with flying colors. The in-house-made stocks and noodles were fantastic and the bowls - which also included eggs (I had mine soft-boiled and it was perfect) menma, green onions and nori - were an artistically-delicious whole right down to the last component.

There are a great many sides and ramen extras which we can't wait to explore during future meals (which I GUARANTEE will be frequent!) including one of my favorite sides: wasabi peas and even a "pet bowl...for your fur-baby" consisting of poached pork or chicken. Now how great a touch is THAT?! You can have Chashu, marinated eggs, shiitake mushrooms, micro-greens, pea tendrils, menma, etc etc etc - making the possibilities captivating.

It was a hot mid-day and to finish things off, we had to try their mochi from Mochidoki; you receive two mix-and-match pieces per order and were they ever terrific! My wife ordered one each of the Habanero Chocolate and Passionfruit and I also had the Passionfruit and a Lychee companion as well - and what a magnificent finale to our two great meals! Just sensational - and we can't wait to try some of the other choices including Mango, Purple Sweet Potato, Strawberry, Black Sesame - to name only a few. As well as their baked goods, when available.

Though I've raved about this place like a paid shill, nope - I have nothing to do with any aspect of Little Shop of Ramen. I just believe in giving a place the credit it merits and advising others of the same when I've had a remarkable, surprisingly excellent experience. And that - our meal and all elements of this restaurant - certainly were. Get in there soon and you'll see...

The service was okay, other than the fact that I had to wait 40+ minutes for a bowl of ramen. Better ramen places in Japan can serve their bowls in a fifth of that time, and bear in mind those ramen chefs also handle the payments and clean-up.

I had the miso ramen. Absolutely zero flavour. There was a faint hint of ginger (sure, not a problem) but it barely works if there's no miso umami to support it. The broth lacks "strength" -- the instant miso packets you get at convenience stores offer more miso flavour than this.

The noodles are touted as being fresh, and I've no comments about that. But you would usually get an option to pick how well you'd like your noodles done. No such option here, you only get hard, buckwheat-esque noodles that are really reminiscent of yellow noodles for those familiar. Not a great pairing for the miso broth. I've definitely had better, springier ramen noodles for much less.

Perhaps the final nail in the coffin was the bout of food poisoning I experienced after eating here. I don't claim this to be the ramen's fault, but eating at this substandard place definitely made my stomach feel horrible. The weird pairing of gingery, dilute miso with some alkaline, ramen noodles was not the best. If you're wondering: no, vomitting right before hiking up Yosemite is not a good idea!

This store single-handedly made me swear off all Asian...

I was debating between 4 and 5 stars. It's not the best food ever but it is an unexpected delight.

I live in a foodie town (where you can find a lot of cuisines top tier at acceptable prices) that I was intrigued and reluctant to try this place. But im glad i tried it. Their menu is small but some of the good ramen places do have small menu. Get extra meat/toppings. Im used to bigger meat toppings. I like the pork chashu - i wished i ordered 2 extra orders. It's not the best (again i do have the really good food options around me at home) - but it's good enough to make me happy. Their cheesecake is a delight (id go back for it if they served that back home). Glad the server recommended it.

Great ambiance. This is where they shine.

Food did take longer to get to us but we walked in almost closing time where they apologized and admitted to being short-staffed in the kitchen.

I gave it 5-stars so i do recommend the place. Better than what I expect in this remote and small town.

I already took a few bites before taking a pic. But it did look nice when it was first served. We went mid - there is a parking area behind the restaurant. We found the parkibg easy for a...