great write-up! When on Sawtelle, I usually go to Kin-chan’s because it’s less crowded and the atmosphere is nice. I’ll try out this place. Judging from your review, I expect to be a regular. Thanks for the report!

Neal, i like kinchan’s a lot, more than ramenya b/c it is less crowded and the chef is always jolly. Just remember that both are different. Kinchan’s is known for their flavorful shoyu and miso broths and HUGE amount of noodles, while Chabuya has a broth that’s heavier on shallots and oil, with an emphasis on the soup rather than noodles. hope i’m not hyping this up for everyone, just try it once.

Wow, I was actually planning on reviewing this place soon. Looks like I was beaten to the punch. Great review. I’m already anticipating my visit to Chabuya.

No reason we can’t have different reviews by different reviewers Jeff! I plan on visiting as well, I better not be disappointed! (just kidding)

Great write up Dylan! I’ll have to try this ramen place out. You know, one of my all-time favorite food movies is “Tampopo.” If you haven’t seen it yet, Netflix it! It’s so worth it! ;) I think you’ll like it too… in search of the perfect ramen! Sorry, I wasn’t a huge fan of Kin-chan’s. I still like Ramenya. Mac likes Asahi Ramen. Have you gone there? How’s that one? (Man, by my count, that’s already 4 ramen places right around that one street!)

Here are my write ups on Asahi and Ramenya:

Asahi
Ramenya

I give the narrow edge to Ramenya because I like their soups, while Asahi has slightly better noodles.

Great review…I’ve actually been to this place and I found it to be utterly delicious. It compares favorably with my favorite ramen place in Los Angeles which is Daikokuya in Little Tokyo (which as even been written up in GQ I must add). The broth was incredibly tasty and the fresh, quality incredients embue the ramen with an incredibly fragant aroma that only heightens the taste. I strongly urge all ramen lovers to give this place a try…after all it is a branch of one of Tokyo’s most famous ramen chiefs. I do agree though the gyoza was a slight disappointment. As the original reviewer suggested, it did taste a bit as if it was the frozen kind available at the market. The gyoza at Daikokoya is much better. A wonderful addition to the Southern California’s ever-growing list of superlative Japanese restaurants. Japanese food lovers considered yourself blessed…go to this joint

Excuse the misspelled words above I wrote the review in haste! Perhaps I was too busy thinking about the ramen :)

Peter, i actually went over to Daikokuya last Wednesday. Although i did love the broth, i gave the place a B-. I will have to try the gyozas because they did look tasty. Again, both Chabuya and Daikokuya are different styles of ramen. So don’t compare them to the Sawtelle Trio (Asahi, Ramen and Kinchan’s) and try it out.

here’s a review by Daily Gluttony on Daikokuya for those interested in it:

http://dailygluttony.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_dailygluttony_archive.html
Scroll down to Saturday, October 8th.

Haven’t tried Chabuya or Shin Sen Gumi, but I love Daikokuya - best broth I’ve had so far (and I never eat anything other than ramen there). I’ll have to try the other two sometime soon.

Been to Asahi and Ramenya, both were good but not spectacular.

not happy with this place at all.
the ramen had a “bleach” smell as though the noodles weren’t thoroughly rinsed. the broth was too salty and was overpowered by sauteed scallions. the broth also had too much msg. i went home feeling exhausted with an upset stomach. the pork was overcooked and tasted as though it was cooked separately from the pork. the serving was very small for the price; note the conical-shaped bowls.
as noted in the review, the gyoza is disappointing for the reasons listed.
i was mostly disappointed that the “classic” (for $6.75) contained little-to-no pork. the upgrade (for $8.50) supposedly contains more pork; I won’t return to find out.

I liked it because it is totally different from my other favorites on Sawtelle. I liked that the broth was thicker and had a realy pork bone taste to it. It was extremely salty, but the MSG didn’t affect me as much as my wife, whose tongue was tingly all night afterward.

My pork was actually on the soft side, and I did go for the upgrade. There were probsbly 6-7 decent sized chunks in there.

It is expensive for ramen, I think that the goal is to offer higher end ingredients. I did like trying a different style of noodle, the thins ones they serve are totally different from Asahi and Ramenya.

Chabuya is still getting started, I’m willing to give them another shot in a few months to see how things are settling out.

I was underwhelmed by my experience at Chabuya. In addition to an OVERwhelming bleach smell coming from the ramen noodles, the high price and the salty broth, one thing I have add is that the built-in row of seats along the wall are lower than the chairs on the other side of the table. This made for the unappealing ambience of feeling like I was two feet shorter than my dinner companion! So unfortunately, I had a completely different impression of Chabuya than the one in the review. I’m sticking with the other restaurants in “the Sawtelle trio.”

I also tried Chabuya just recently and also have to agree that the broth was too salty and it also upset my stomach a bit afterward. The noodles also seemed salty and they were a little less firm than how I like them to be.

Honestly, the best ramen I’ve had so far has been Santoka in the Southbay. Worth the drive.

Where is Santoka?

Although i like the ramen here, it’s interesting to note the amount of dislikes i’ve heard in general. i wonder how long Chabuya will last? haha.

My wife and I ate here last night. I thought it was good but nothing amazing. The soup was a little too strong and greasy to eat/drink all of it. My wife who is native Japanese just called it “regular ramen” as was unimpressed, especially for the price. The classic really only has one slice of pork, pretty cheap.

Had Shumai too. Only 3 tiny guys. Just okay.
And what’s with the tap for beer but they don’t have any? Beer out of a bottle??!? Come on!

their service is sucks!!!!!
i was so disapponted w/ my experience in chabuya.
i came at 9 pm, i stood in front of their waiting list table,wrote my namein waiting list. i waited for 5 minutes, nobody said hello. There were lots of waitress but nobody seem care to greet customer. Suddenly there were two new guest came, and they sat them in front of me, still without saying anything to me as like i am a ghost….
so, my suggestion is, don’t ever come to chabuya, you’ll lost your appetite by furious……

Love the review … going to check out this spot on Wednesday … My favorite in LA is Daikokuya in Little Tokyo, maybe this will be my west side spot! :)

Daikokuya is good and i think it’s better than Chabuya.

Daikokuya is overrated, relative to the ramen houses you can find today. YEARS AGO, however, I can understand why it could be thought of as “the best”. But c’mon, Daikokuya serves out-of-the-box noodles and can not come close to the quality of what you’d find at Shinsengumi, for example. I’ve been searching out ramen for almost two decades now, and honestly, Daikokuya is just living off their past fame.

Hey Dylan et al. Obviously there are some divergent opinions re: the best ramen but the discussion is broad and informative. Although I like Chabuya after doing research and comparing it to the the original Chabuya in Japan I’m a little disappointed that they don’t actually serve the signature “Kogashi Negi Ramen” (Fried Onion Ramen) they serve at their Tokyo locations…still though I liked the ramen they served…althought it appears hit and miss from what I’ve read.

Great review of Chabuya.

My recommendation to all of American Raman lovers. Try visit “Orochon Ramen” located 3F Wella Court in Little Tokyo. #3 spice level of Miso Ramen with Cha Shu is my favorate, if you can handle spicy. There are options to choose the spice level as per your preference do not worry.

Just a tip of the Ramen review. There are basically two general styles of ramen, (1)ASSARI-KEI (term applies to all Shoyu, Miso, and Shio ramen, it is more clear broth based on chicken born,vegitables, dry fish, etc) (2) KOTTERI-KEI (term applies to all Shoyu, Miso and Shio, Tonkotsu ramen, it is more greasy broth based on chicken born, pork back fat, vegitables, etc). When we talk about Ramen, we often refer to this two general description to catagolize the Ramen, then followed by more detail review. Most of ramen at Asahi,Kinchan, Yokohama, Ramenya are more so with Assari-kei ramen style and Shin-Sen- Gumi, Chabuya, Santoka are more likely to fit under the Kotteri-kei ramen style. Hope this helped to add more technics to your wonderful ramen review.

I tried out Chabuya a few weeks ago (April/May 2006) and I will have to recommend people to stay away from this restaurant as the other choices on Sawtelle are much MUCH better. Ordered the standard chashu ramen. I noticed that they start their soup from powdered chicken bouillon, a huge no-no for those who are lactose intolerant as those usually contain lactose as the main ingredient. As for taste, it was very thin and not flavorful as you would think with the amount of chicken bouillon they used. However the noodles were good, but the poor quality soup they rested in didn’t pull the rating of the ramen up. A good ramen restaurant in Los Angeles area is Orochon Ramen in Weller Court of Little Tokyo. The bell peppers in their soup is a little different, but the soup base is delicous (and doesn’t cause problems to those who are lactose intolerant). One drawback about Orochon Ramen is that chashu is not automatically included in their ramen, but probably because their chashu is one of the best I’ve ever had.

Its nice to have a place that serves good tonkotsu stlye ramen in LA. I used to like shinsengumi but the service was terrible 3 times in a row. Once, I ordered a kaedama (noodle refill) and got it 20 mins later. When I told the waiter that my soup was already ice cold and I didn’t want the kaedama anymore, he gave me a dirty look. I’ve yet to have bad service at chabuya and hopefully my stroke of luck with the place will continue since its close to where I live and i’m not too keen on miso and shoyu style ramen.
Though Chabuya isn’t as good as japans Ippudo or Aoba chains for tonkotsu imo, it certainly satisfies the urge for me while im on this side of the planet. :)

GREAT! IT”S A GREATPLACE! i like how neat and tidy their food and restuarant is.

I went back to Chabuya a couple weeks ago. The first time I went was with EDBM shortly after it opened. I think that it has gotten better, the broth is a bit more mellow and there were some delicious carmelized bits on top (onion, garlic?). Also, we started with one of their salads which was really good, a nice mix of different lettuce with soy ginger dressing.

What’s up w/ the ramen joints on Sawtelle? You love salt–go party at Chabuya. It’s SALT CENTRAL. You love boiling salt? Go have a blast at this place. Geez…is it so hard to be mildly imaginative w/ the food and modestly trustful of the customer’s good taste? Why the INSANE RELIANCE ON SALT?