Yatai Ramen — Restaurant in Tempe

This review is complicated...

I decided to try Yatai Ramen on a whim when I was picking up dog food at a neighboring business. I'm a huge fan of noodles, especially ramen, so it seemed like good and quick meal I could get before going back to work. The ambiance also felt like what one would expect from a ramen shop in a newer building in Japan, which was especially inviting. It was a simple small ramen shop with a calm atmosphere and straightforward menu.

This is where things go wrong...

They were not busy, so I chose to dine in and ordered the tonkotsu (Yatai) ramen, which was to be made spicy at the recommendation of the gentleman taking my order. I also ordered gyoza.

After 46 minutes, my dine-in order showed up in to-go packaging, which was good since my entire lunch had been exhausted. Seven minutes later, I opened the packaging to discover cold and burned (actually burned black, not just seared) gyoza. I cannot tell you if the gyoza is any good because mine were burned enough to ruin the flavor. The broth was also not spicy.

Here is where it gets weird and why you should eat here...

I grabbed a large soup bowl, chop sticks, and a spoon, and assembled my ramen. The egg was perfectly cooked, the noodles, after separating them were great, but the broth was absolutely incredible. It was creamy, smooth, richly flavorful, and the ginger in it hit just right. The other individual flavors are incredibly well incorporated. There were only two other occasions when I had tonkotsu broth in the ballpark of the broth I got from Yatai Ramen: The first requires a 14 hour transpacific flight, and the second took me 18 hours to make from scratch at home. This is obviously small-batch, homemade bone broth and it is unbelievably good.

So why is this a five star review when the food took forever, the gyoza were cold and burned, and the dine-in meal was packed to go? Well, despite everything that went wrong, the ramen completely changed how I felt about the situation. Any restaurant that cares enough to put the effort and 16-20 hours of time into making a tonkotsu broth this good clearly cares about their food. People make mistakes, and if they are going to keep making tonkotsu broth like this, I may just find an infinite supply of patience so I can get...

Food 4/5 Restaurant 1/5

The food is really good. The tonkotsu broth of the yatai ramen looks watery but has a ton of flavor and is much better than most of the ramen places around Tempe. Sizes are smaller, so the price is ok. Like I like that it’s cheaper but it’s only because you get less food. (Origami is the absolute best, in Ahwatukee) We got the yatai ramen, with tonkatsu mini bowl (should say katsu-don because they put the egg on top, not my favorite but it was actually good, I was surprised), katsu curry mini bowl (also good, curry is packaged of course so it tastes like you expect from a grocery bento in Tokyo), and the tonkatsu with rice plate. The pork cutlet was a bit dry but other than that all of the food was good. Ramen was not overcooked or soggy.

The shop itself is tiny, furniture is all wobbly, and it’s dirty. Like, I’m a drop something on the floor and 5-second rule type of person 😂 but I would not eat anything I ever “oops”ed here. It has like a 20 year grunge and oil film mixed with our nice az dust of never being actually cleaned. Someone buy these people a steam cleaner! Soda syrup boxes and hoses just sitting around on the stainless kitchen stand they’re using for the soda dispenser, windows not clean, trash in the mop water drain on the floor. They don’t have public restrooms even for customers, but if they did I wouldn’t use it.

I guess all of that really just tells me it’s not really Japanese, because your average Japanese person would take one look and run away. I’m actually surprised my...

“Yatai” means something like “small shop/stall” in Japanese, and that name fits this ramen shop perfectly. It’s a small space, with fewer than 20 seats inside, plus a few tables out front, and it creates a cozy and welcoming experience which (intentionally) transports you to Japan.

Walking in you’re immediately greeted by the Japanese chef with an enthusiastic “irasshaimase” and a wave of intense aromatics. The menu is neat and concise, perfect for the uninitiated.

My daughters and I ordered one of each of the main three ramen types: yatai, miso, and shoyu. Each was distinct and delicious, with a colorful and tasty assortment of garnishes.

The chef came out to say hello and dropped off a small plate of his curry, insisting that we try it. It was excellent, and frankly, I was blown away by this small yet meaningful gesture. I’ve never experienced anything like that anywhere else, and in that moment, he won me over. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

I will absolutely be returning to Yatai Ramen. I wish they were open past 7:30pm because this would be a fantastic late night spot, but I understand, it’s a lot of work running a ramen shop.

10/10 I highly...