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| - Ramen expert here... aka probably more in depth about ramen than you want to know. I came here during grand opening and waited an hour for food. I'm not going knock them on service since it was a special occasion. But I will grade them based on pure flavor, noodles, aesthetics and price!
FLAVOR: I ordered the Tonkatsu Ramen #1. For tonkatsu, the best is when the broth is boiled for hours and hours creating a deep complex consistency and flavor. This broth was quite watery, but it had flavor. I think the butter they added in there helped along with the fatty pork strips that were in the bowl. So it gets a pass for at least meeting the flavor criteria. It wasn't bland. It met the minimum.
NOODLES: There's different kinds of ramen noodles. I'm glad it doesn't have the 7 cent store bought package type of noodles in my bowl. For this particular bowl, they used thin noodles. One of my other Yelpers confused it for Angel Hair Pasta. I thought it was real ramen noodles although it may have been Chinese egg noodles. But I decided that it was actually ramen noodles.
AESTHETICS: This part could really be improved. Why? Because my meal came in a cheap plastic bowl with a cheap plastic spoon with the cheapest lightest and thinnest chopsticks. It gave me the feel of fast food in a food court feel.
PRICE: Although we got half price for Grand Opening day special, the amount doesn't seem worth the price. For that price, you can get a bowl of pho that is twice as big. Heck, you can get ramen at other places that are twice as big for that price. So I am saying that the serving size is small. Some people liked it because they could finally finish a bowl of ramen for once, but I think you just overpaid for mediocre ramen.
SUMMARY: If I were to compare it to ramen I had in Japan or even California, this place can't even compete. But since we are in AZ with basically 3 to 4 other places that serve ramen, then Otakumen suffices if you are in the area. I'm actually glad it's here because downtown Phoenix doesn't have a ramen place. The other places are in Tempe, Scottsdale, etc. And Otakumen serves decent ramen.
So come try this place out. I see it improving over time. :)
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