Ichiro Ramen House — Restaurant in West Bountiful

Support local businesses! I have been keeping an eye on this place for a while, waiting for it to open. Luckily, I was able to come during their "soft open week" and I was not disappointed.

The food: it was complex and nourishing! I got the black garlic tonkotsu ramen. It was garnished with scallions, marinated bamboo shoots, marinated soft boiled egg, corn, seaweed, shitake mushrooms and tender grilled meats. I was accidentally given an add-on that someone else had ordered and I didn't notice until I had already begun mixing the ramen toppings into the soup. What I assume was the owner rushed out to tell me that the mix up resulted in my ramen having beef in it and she asked if that was okay or if I needed the food re-made. It was fine and I told her how glad I was that she asked and she told me she knows people have allergies to meats and wanted to be sure. I appreciated that awareness very much! The beef added to my food was so tender it was falling apart and it was well seasoned. The rest of the ramen was in the same league as my surprise beef. My plus one and I shared gyoza and she liked the sauce so much that she asked for more to use on her katsu pork which was also flavorful and crunchy.

Service: the servers were very kind. It was pretty obvious they either had little experience serving or they were overwhelmed but they never made us feel like we weren't welcome to ask questions, which is extremely good. We waited a while for our food, which wasn't the servers fault and we didn't get refills on our water as much as I would have liked, but it wasn't a bad experience by any means. If I had to advise the servers on a few things it would be 1. Make sure you keep communication open with your tables, updating them on what you know about wait times and refilling their drinks. However, you don't have to ask them how they're doing more than a time or two through the meal. 2. One thing at a time. If it takes less than 10 seconds to do, like get napkins or answer a question, do it before moving onto something else. 3. Breathe. Even when you have more tables than you would like and you feel rushed or overwhelmed, there's always time to breathe.

I'd like to stress that besides the drinks, these servers did a good job and didn't need this advice. It's nice to have it in writing though. If the restaurant hadn't just opened, I would probably have removed a star but considering the circumstances it was a very nice experience and deserves the 5 stars I've given.

Location/building: not much to say that hasn't been said! The locations is great with ample parking and accessibility. The building is spacious and well kept, it looks very organized and calm. The bathrooms...

This may or may not be the best ramen I've had so far and that's considering I've been to places outside of Utah where good ramen is the norm. I had the black garlic tonkatsu with curvy noodles. The broth has a very distinct and strong meat flavor, owing to the fact that they slow cook the bone broth for hours and hours. It's also the first ramen place I've been to where I didn't have to add hot water to offset the extra salty. It was perfect. A good mix of savory and a little bit of sweet with an almost truffle oil kind of taste. The portion size was quite large and hearty while being lightweight on the spices. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I tried the fried rice too and it was very good as well. Again, that strong complex hearty meat flavor from the char siu. Each rice grain was an individual but also perfectly cooked, a bit chewy but not hard.

On this particular occasion, my first visit, they got the order slightly wrong where they got the soup and everything right. But the noodles were incorrect so I brought up to them and they just immediately remade the same order and allowed me to keep eating the first one that was incorrect which is very kind of them. Much appreciated and I was apologetic but they said it was no problem because well it was their mess up. What I'm trying to say is that's their service is very good and warm and friendly.

Definitely coming back and recommending this...

I travel. A lot. Dining alone is never fun, so comfort food always makes it better. And what more enjoyable comfort food on a cold, snow flurrying evening than ramen?

Ichiro is a new restaurant that I just discovered. Several types of broth are available, as well as a selection of different noodle 🍜 styles. (Including gluten-free kale noodles. My server said any ramen could be made gluten-free, but I would double check).

I had the chef's special. Mega pork char siu (which I'd never seen or had before) is just a thick cut of char siu. While not horrible, I'll take the thin cut char siu any day. Fortunately, the chef's special includes that as well 😀.

Getting back to the gluten-free options for just a moment, I always thought char siu and chashu we're the same thing. I just learned (after I left the restaurant) I was wrong! Char siu is Chinese. Chashu is the Japanese variant. Char siu is made with soy sauce, so not gluten-free. Chashu is not, so possibly gluten-free, depending on the broth.

Speaking of broth, the Tonkotsu broth is very good. Smooth and creamy with just enough oil in it to give a great mouth feel. They offer different broth choices in other ramen bowls. I will definitely be back next time I'm in town to try another offering. Even if it's not...