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| - I came here all by my lonesome after a workout. I decided that a Double-Double + milkshake just wasn't gonna cut it after running five miles. I settled for this ramen shop. Mistake!
Keep in mind I'm from Southern California and if there's one category of food I know, it's surely ramen. This was my second time here, I wasn't impressed the first time, but given the stellar reviews, I decided to give it another shot.
This shop specializes in miso ramen. There's no shio, shoyu, nor tonkotsu to be found. The three miso styles range from heavy to light. Each bowl comes with bean sprouts, green onions, corn, sea weed, and bamboo shoots. Add an egg for $1.50. The decor was simple: tables were cheap wooden foldouts that wouldn't pass the Ikea test.
+1 star for the nice waitress lady.
As any good ramen lover knows, what separates the men from the boys is the broth. Yeah, we can talk about the toppings or the chashu or the noodles, but without a great broth, you might as well microwave a pack of Cup O' Noodles.
I ordered the Kome, which was the lightest of the broths. Here's the breakdown:
1) Broth: way too heavy, way too salty. The soybean paste was overpowering and the miso was barely present. I didn't finish my broth. This coming from someone who has been known to consume unfinished broth from friends at the table.
2) Another important measure is the noodle:broth ratio. This one leaned heavily in favor of too much broth and not enough noodles. I'm not exaggerating when I say I finished all of my noodles in about 5 bites. The noodles themselves were acceptable -- they were prepared al dente, thick-cut and the consistency and texture did not offend.
3) The chashu. Oh, how did they get this so wrong? They provided plenty (3 hefty pieces), but plenty of garbage is still garbage. It was dry and cut much too thickly. Why did they dump a pork chop in my bowl? Also, there was no "mouth-melting", another quality I use to evaluate my ramen.
4) The toppings were fine. Bamboo was crunchy. Corn was corny. Though for some reason in place of my sprouts, there was cabbage. Not a good trade, which means the toppings actually weren't that fine.
5) They had jars of smashed garlic, but there was no fresh garlic to be found. Strike five.
Vegas, why is your ramen terrible? My friends have a theory that, compared to Cali, Vegas has a Yelp handicap. Unless it's a buffet or Goodwich, subtract about 1.5 stars to get a good representation of the actual caliber of the food. This place is no exception.
Even the most severe of ramen cravings would not be enough to entice me to return.
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