Sawtelle is a popular place in west LA that is like Little Tokyo where there are a slew of Japanese dining and goods establishments. For lunch, I went to this random place called Tatsu Ramen. Since I rarely go to Sawtelle, I figured it’d be good to at record what I’ve eaten.
Note for 2022 migration: this is an old post from my other defunct blog. Sawtelle is an area in the westside with a plethora of Japanese restaurants primarily in the middle/low budget tier. It’s real easy to find dinner around here, but parking is kind of a pain in that you have to park on the streets and be wary of the signs.
Food
Soul ramen. “Inspired by everything that is good in us. The harmony of 3 elements: Our homemade Tonkotsu broth, black garlic oil and sweet umami sauce. Served with ground beef and a choice of pork chashu, chicken or tofu.”
It was surprisingly good. The broth despite having the oil slick on top was actually very light. The noodles are not what I preferred, but they were thankfully not soft and slightly harder (closer to spaghetti al dente). I did add an egg to my order, and the egg was warm and had the yolky consistency you would expect from it.
Final Verdict
I don’t think this is the best ramen place I’ve been to nor is it the worse.
What is also interesting about this place is they have tablets mounted on the wall. You use those to place your orders and swipe your card underneath the reader. It was surprisingly efficient given their menu was also small too.
If parking wasn’t such a pain in Sawtelle, I would opt for this over Ramen Yamadaya in the Culver City location.
My current choices for LA ramen in no particular order:
- Ramen Yamadaya (Torrance location)
- Robata JINYA (Los Angeles, W 3rd Street)
Other LA ramen places I’ve been to:
- Ajisen Ramen (Century City)
- Asa Ramen (Torrance)
- Daikokuya (Little Tokyo)
- Eboshi Noodle Bar (Lomita/Torrance)
- Happy Cup Ramen Truck (food truck)
- Mama Ramen (Torrance)
- Men Bei (Torrance)
- Ramen Hayatemaru (Torrance)
- Ramen Jinya (Mid-Wilshire)
- Ramen Yamadaya (Culver City)
- Santouka (Mitsuwa in West LA, Torrance, Orange County)
- Shinsengumi (Gardena)
- Tatsu Ramen (Sawtelle)
Revisions
- Nov 13, 2022 - Migrated post from other blog.
- Mar 13, 2014 - Initial revision.