Kosuke ramen — Restaurant in Ontario

I was excited to see Kosuke Ramen opening up in Ontario, right by the 10 Freeway close to Ontario Mills, but then I read my review for the Alhambra location and remembered feeling a little disappointed after my second visit. It's been several years since that last visit, and seeing all the positive feedback from the Inland Empire area (and the never ending lines at the Alhambra location), I decided to give them another try.

They're still in their soft opening - although the banner states "grand opening soft opening". I suppose they're working out the kinks. This location's menu is a lot smaller and they don't serve curry or cold noodles; it's primarily ramen with some appetizers.

Service was not the best. Possibly the workers are fairly new, but it took awhile before we were seated after several workers saw that we were waiting in the doorway. We also had to flag someone to help us take our order after sitting at the table for quite some time. I'm also not a fan of their credit card check-out system. They use a portable credit card machine where the worker stands next to you to process the card - you have to complete the tip option with someone looking over your shoulder, which obviously provides a little bit of pressure. Tip option starts at 15% and if you want to input your own amount, it's a bit of a hassle. I wanted to calculate the amount myself, but wasn't given the option.

Popcorn chicken appetizer - it wasn't bad, and the price is very affordable for $4.95. They offer popcorn chicken as a meat option to ramen, which is different but if you're going to go with the chicken, I'd suggest getting it on the side so it doesn't get soggy. We went with a mild spiciness to the chicken, which was pretty spicy. Chicken pieces actually are whole bits of chicken with not too much batter, but the chicken was a little dry in my opinion. My friend enjoyed this though, so I think it's a matter of preference.

I went with their Kuro Ramen for $9.95. Didn't want to order the same ramen as my friend and wasn't sure if my stomach could handle the fish flavor soup of the tonkotsu shoyu, so this was the best choice. I've had black sesame oil ramen broth before, and this one was on the lighter side. Came with half an egg, black mushrooms, green onion, ginger, and chashu. Noodles were the yellow ramen, which I don't usually prefer but they were chewy tasted alright. Broth was a miss though. After mixing in the black sesame, felt like the flavor was just so salty. There wasn't any sweetness from the tonkotsu that I craved. Chashu was alright - sliced thinly and didn't taste as great as other more authentic ramen shops. I also got a side of the spicy bamboo for $0.75 - it wasn't spicy at all and added a different flavor to the ramen, which I enjoyed. I do think that the bamboo came from a can though.

My friend ordered the Tonkotsu ramen for $9.25 - pretty much the same ingredients as the Kuro except there's no black sesame oil. We both really liked the broth - it was really sweet and flavorful, definitely one of the better parts of the meal that night; however, my friend was not impressed with the chashu - he said there wasn't a "clean" flavoring to the meat and needed to be cooked a little more. The meat wasn't as rich and tender as other ramen places we enjoy, and seemed to taste more like the Chinese BBQ pork meats - dry and without flavor. Unfortunately he had a hard time downing the bowl of ramen.

tl;dr - I hope they expand to offer curry dishes. The ramen was just okay for me (and a miss for my friend). Pricewise though, the dishes are very affordable and you can also add specific items to your ramen for a cheaper price, which I think is pretty great. Don't think I'll be returning...

Summary: this rating is predominantly based on the kuro ramen with chashu. I would only recommend ramen at this time but am curious to see them improve on other items.

Long version: This is a new place and I came during the soft opening with my sister. We ordered a ramen bowl each, as well as croquettes and popcorn chicken as an appetizer. Starting with the appetizer, it tasted fresh and came hot but after the ramen came in. Moreover, while it tasted fresh, I felt it lacked a bit of flavor... Perhaps some spices. Otherwise I think the amount you receive and the freshness would make this an excellent appetizer. It simply needs a bit more flavor. Having said that, when dipped in broth it is pretty flavorful. Moving onto the croquettes, they tasted fine although seemed a bit generic. Not bad if you like potatoes but they also tasted much better when dipped in broth.

Now for the main courses: the ramen! I got the kuro ramen and my sister got the miso ramen. I tried the broth from her ramen and it was a bit too strong for my palette... Perhaps it was red miso? I personally prefer white miso and this did not taste like white miso... But she seemed to enjoy it, so that's just an unverified observation on my end.

HOWEVER! As far as the kuro ramen goes... It was DELICIOUS. The noodles were soft, as was the chashu. The vegetables were bountiful and tasted good. And most importantly, the broth was just amazing. I'm not sure what kind of magic they do with black sesame oil but the rating on this review is purely based on how much I loved this ramen. I would come here again just for the ramen (and indeed, until they manage to work on a few of their other items, I would only get the ramen...). I'm actually very interested in trying their other ramen options, like the tonkotsu and spicy ramen.

As a small addition, I also did have a milk tea to try it out and thought it tasted quite good. But the ramen is the star here for sure. Come here if you want good ramen in a location close to a mall and theater in the...

It was good ramen. The broth was solid, but not too rich. Noodles, themselves, were not the straight variety (which I prefer) and were cooked more than I like (again, my personal preference). Toppings were all the usual, but the egg wasn't anywhere near as flavorful as I've come to expect. I can't evaluate the chasu because I'm not a fan of chasu, in general. The portions were good, however. I had mine with popcorn chicken on the side. I'm not a big fan of the Asian-style popcorn chicken at all, but this was done appropriately in that style.

They don't provide any condiments at the tables, which I found odd. You can ask them for what you like, but it felt like that shouldn't be something I have to do at a ramen spot.

The gyoza is VERY inexpensive when you add it onto a ramen bowl. Like, 3 for $1. They were also very good. I'm unsure about whether or not they're homemade, but that may not matter to many people.

Service was fast and friendly and I was the only non-Asian in the place. I felt right at home, which is good.

For traditional style ramen in the area, I think this is the best place to go. If you want someone more elevated, try Noods Bar, up the street. Shin sen Gumi is CLEARLY better than either place, but Rosemead isn't exactly right...