Comments on: Chabuya Ramen, West LA - Sawtelle

By: Poketo

Poketo — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:12:01 +0000

We went there last night for the first time…. it was great, I had the Kara Kara, spicy ramen and we all split the agadaje Tofu… all very tasty.

By: The Truth

The Truth — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 03:52:34 +0000

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?

By: Jonah

Jonah — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 17:00:45 +0000

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.

By: HATAKE KAKASHI

HATAKE KAKASHI — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 16:09:14 +0000

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

By: l.a. akira

l.a. akira — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 23:23:09 +0000

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. :)

By: Erika

Erika — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 21:33:42 +0000

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.

By: Noodleman

Noodleman — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 16:36:19 +0000

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.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 22:37:00 +0000

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.

By: Joel Parkinson

Joel Parkinson — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 00:39:58 +0000

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.

By: eatdrinknbmerry

eatdrinknbmerry — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 06:48:22 +0000

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