Kohryu

RIP Kohryu. In all the world never did I find ramen so delicious and satisfying. Life is forever changed.
Devastating.

I used to frequest Kohryu every week during my work week. It was perfect. Near the office and consistent. I would always order the miso ramen with a side of gyoza and fried rice. From what I remember used to cost me $ 9 and I was straight for the WHOLE day. Parking may be a bit tight during the lunch rush hour. It’s very difficult for me to give this place a 4 or 5 star cause there are some others around the block that just merk Kohryu. But I have to be fair and say this is a decent deal for Costa Mexico. I’m nowhere near now and don’t see myself returning anytime soon. But you never know. Give a try if you are around the area.
NOTE: whoa just saw after I posted this that Kohryu is now closed. I guess Santouka just PWNED.

My Faaaavorite ramen restaurant/​japanese/​chinese! I usually get the wonton ramen (an easy order to love), miso ramen-​fantastic! Also, i usually order the seaweed salad,& THE BEST shu mai!
Hands down, best prices & THE tastiest broth EVERRRRR!!!

Worst bowl of ramen I’ve ever had. The broth basically tasted like hot water with salt and a tad bit of pork flavor. In fact, it was so bad that I only ate a few bites even though I don’t like to waste food.
Customer service was decent though.

Haven’t been here in a long time and was craving some ramen. Timed our arrival perfectly and were seated immediately. Minutes later there were guests waiting.
Chicken karaage — really good fried chicken. Light and crunchy on the outside, marinated and juicy on the inside. Just hand me a bowl of rice and I’ll be happy with this one.
Kohryu ramen — solid ramen. Nicely prepared egg. Soft charsiu still has texture as you chew it. Hate when it just falls apart. If it wasn’t for me watching my sodium intake, I would have drank that delicious broth.
Katsudon — this was the strange beautiful discovery. Katsu with gravy, not just some ordinary brown gravy like loco moco style, this is a light Chinese veggie stir fry poured on top of your cutlet. Poured over the whole place of rice and cutlet like a soupy mess. I liked it, wife didn’t. More for me!
Edit: guess my review was based on a trip before they closed? Hope the new owners can keep it together…

Don’t come here expecting ramen from Shin Sen Gumi… in fact, why would anyone expect all ramen houses to be just like Gumi? I love them, don’t get me wrong, but there’s so much variety in the world of ramen, and Kohryu is one of them.
I’m so happy that I finally got around to taking one of my besties here because Yamadaya was a huge letdown for him recently, and I’ve been telling him about this place for about six months. The noodles are thicker, perfect for tsukemen if you’re into that, which they also offer. You’re not limited to just shoyu ramen as they offer a nice selection of soup bases from mile to hella spicy. Last night I wanted to stick with a simple shoyu broth and added a flavored egg because why not? The BFF ordered one of their spicier special ramen bowls… the name escapes me, but it was good and spicy. He also ordered a side of crispy chicken and kim chi. We both agreed the chicken was delicious but we could have totally skipped the kim chi as it was kinda sweet.
He’s a Gumi and Daikokuya fan (as am I), and he liked this place, which is good because I love this place and don’t come here often enough. Great service, nice atmosphere, and yummy ramen. Yay for variety!

Nice to walk in with no wait. Hungry for some good food and not Happy hour stuff! Sitting at the Counter end was a little like being in solitary, but I chose that spot haha. At that point I wanted «soupy stuff» on top of my «Happy Hour stuff», since my head was in my screen anyway!
The Menu was pictorially laid out so no problems with beer vision. Picked my Meso hungry-​Miso Ramen and addons of Shrimp,
Butter, and Nori (why I ordered I have no clue). Didn’t feel eggy, but would’ve added some roast pork or pork belly if I saw it.
What a pleasant surprise my style of noodles!. Long story, short! Noodles were great «on the tooth», shrimp was outstanding, translucent, and heaven biting through. Can you tell I liked it? Maybe it was luck? Broth– I found it just right at the moment, not too salty, thank you, not milky white like YO! But nevertheless good. I did hit it with chili oil, togarashi, and vinegar once I became one with the liquid. Lol.
[Add 7 of the best undercooked but firm all the way thru Shrimp, $ 2! My best deal all day. Zoom in on Shrimp!]
[The brown bits are deep fried green onions (standard), regular green onions are on Addon menu also. You might be able to swap I didnt ask.]
The Ownership will change in a Month, look for opening specials.
2−10−14

I thought I was all ramen’d out until my friend brought me here last Friday. Parking was a little tricky since they share the lot with many other businesses.
I’m usually not a fan of the thick eggy noodles but this place made it so awesome that I actually liked it since it was cooked al dente. The broth was full of flavor and the egg was cooked perfectly. Although I ordered the spicy miso ramen, I didn’t feel the broth was spicy enough. One other thing I had a problem was the dryness of the pork. It was not melt-​in-​your-​mouth like other places I’ve had ramen.
Our server was very nice, but the cashier was not very attentive. We were already out the door when they finally said bye.

Do yourself a favor and SKIP this place. Yes the egg is cooked perfect and the noodles are al dente like how it’s supposed to be, but the broth is not flavorful and the pork is CHEWY. Fail fail fail

Super hidden ramen place, nestled in a small plaza.
It wasn’t too busy on a Wednesday night, we got seated right away. I tried their karamiso ramen (#5 spicy miso) and takoyaki. The ramen was surprisingly spicy, usually when I get the spicy miso, the level of spiciness is pretty low but there was definitely a kick to their broth. They also use the curly ramen noodles here, which I’m not a fan of. I was surprised to see there was only two pieces of pork in my ramen! My friend only got one.
Their takoyaki though, was AMAZING. The best I’ve had. EVER. I would come back just for their takoyaki. They served it on one of those cast iron grill plates (usually used at korean places for serving kalbi, etc) so the bottom of the takoyaki was crispy and with the sauce they used, it created the perfect combination for an amazing dish.
Overall, ramen was meh but I would definitely come back for their takoyaki!

This is a good ramen place to go to if you are ever in the area. If you decide that you don’t like this place, there are a few other restaurants in the plaza (i.e. pizzeria, a yakitori place, etc.). Seems kinda small when you walk in, but the staff is very welcoming and nice (they even greet you in Japanese!). I’ve tried a variety of their ramen and honestly, nothing really stands out to me because they are all decent. If I had to pick, I would recommend trying the Shoryu ramen because it is cheap, tasty, and it doesn’t have a lot of funky things to get in the way of the ramen taste you are craving. They have a lunch combo where you pay $ 2 more to add a side dish of either fried rice, gyoza, and some other stuff.
Worth looking into if you are a ramen fan!

Quick Review: Man I love this wildly flavorful, averagely priced ramen! Spicy Miso Kohryu Ramen is a flavor heaven.
Pros: Spicy miso is the favorite, and they offer those little $ 2 add-​ons like fried rice or dumplings for variety
Cons: Hmm, none really. It’s a nice place!
I’ve been happy with every bowl of Kohryu spicy miso ramen I’ve ever ordered. That’s probably about 10 times but that’s pretty good stats! Every favorite ramen place has their purpose and for Kohryu, its the spicy miso and no one else makes it like Kohryu. I don’t even have anything else to review really, because I would just tell you to go here and get this.
So I can’t comment on the other ramens, I’ve tried bites of my friends and they’re all fine. Could probably be had of the same quality at your favorite spot so if someone is dragging you along, you should be fine with the other ramens.
Other details about Kohryu is that it is a pretty quaint set up, similar to many ramen places. The staff is friendly but parking in this plaza can be a pain!

Kohryu ramen is your average ramen shop. It’s definitely not the best ramen around, but it’s not bad either. I came here for lunch on a Thursday and the place was fairly crowded. They had a couple open tables so we were seated without having to wait at all.
===Service===
The service here was not that great. The waiter only came by three times… Once to take our order, another to drop off our food and finally to bring us the bill. I needed a refill after the first couple minutes, but not until he gives me the check does he ask if I want more water. Oh well…
===Food===
Lunch set: Gyoza (6 pieces), bowl of rice, egg drop soup and a small bowl of salad. The lunch set is more of an appetizer to me. Not bad for $ 7 though.
Koi ramen: House special soup with a spicy miso flavor. The broth was excellent, but the noodles were not good. They use really thick ramen noodles. I prefer the more traditional, skinny ramen noodles. The ramen came with sliced pork, bamboo shoots and half an egg.
Kohryu is a good place to come if you want a quick lunch or just need something to fill you up. As far as the food goes, it’s decent. Nothing to write home about, but decent.

With so many ramen options in the Costa Mesa area, it’s hard to give Kohryu a very high score. The ramen itself is kind of decent, and they usually recommend me their Koi Ramen, but the food isn’t all that amazing, though not bad either.
You pick a ramen, and then you can flavor it by choosing the soup base (salt, miso, shoyu etc). All in all a place to pass on unless you’re starving and have to eat ramen then and there (which can sometimes happen if Manpuku is particularly full).

Marty and I met Cathy & Dennis S for another ramen dining experience here at Kohryu.
This used to be Cathy’s favorite ramen stop, she is now loyal to Jinya but, she wanted us to experience this place and see if we had a fave of the two since we had dined at Jinya with the two of them a few months back.
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For starters-​Lunch Special #32 shared by the 4 of us:
Gyoza Combination-​Dumplings, Small Salad, Rice & Soup-​Very well prepared, full of flavor & spices and not too pasty or al dente; fluffy white rice perfect for dipping into the Miso soup-​$ 7.00.
My order:
#9 Kohryu Ramen-​Soy Sauce Ramen, Noodle Soup w/​fried rice, green onions, flavored boiled egg & 2 slices of BBQ’ed Pork-​No need to spice this delicious dish up for me, the Soy Sauce added just the flavor enhancing I needed to bring everything in this Ramen dish to life, savory, fresh ingredients and very filling yet not bloating; perfect for a simple Special Ramen Dish to satisfy ANY palate-​$ 8.00.
Marty’s order:
#11Chashu Ramen-​Soy Sauce Ramen, Noodle Soup w/​5 slices of BBQ’ed Pork-​Perfectly balanced ingredients including green onions, fried rice made this Ramen Dish a pleasure to savor; perfect Ramen Noodles which made it easy to swirl in those ingredients along with the broth, a definite must try next trip-​$ 8.75.
Cathy & Dennis had Spicy ramen favorites, Shin Ramen & Karamiso Ramen I believe; they sure looked yummy, not very much conversing as Cathy offered up one of her boiled eggs for me (she knows I just love these little delicacies!)
Cathy & Dennis treated us to lunch (here in October) in honor of my one month recovery from my Total Hip Replacement in September of 2012; most thoughtful, sweet, and kind of our two friends, they truly are just that!
Now, again I was not able to decide between this place Jinya, or Santouka Ramen.
Yet, I’m inclined to say Santouka Ramen because they know the importance of putting a Japanese Plum in the center of your ramen, it soaks up all of the flavors and, I save it for my last slurp (learned that in Nerita Japan many years back), truly a ramen dish essential!
So take note Jinya & Kohryu, I like Jinya & you BOTH, now add that Japanese plum in my ramen or, I’ll have this guy come back:

3−½ stars.
Due to all the holiday parties and eating heavy food in general (and this was all before Christmas), I was craving for something simple and came here with family and friends. It was Sunday evening, and pretty empty around 7:00p (maybe because of the holidays?). The 6 of us were able to sit down right away — always a good thing when you’ve got kids in tow.
I debated between the brothy ramen and my usual ramen joint favorite, the fried noodles with a thick sauce on top (it sounds heavy but it’s not as heavy compared to other foods like Mexican and Italian food IMO). Well, my greedy mind went to work — I knew that the kiddies were going to share a brothy ramen, so I ordered the Age Soba and planned to eat some of theirs. Go me.
There are actually two dishes here that have fried noodles with thick sauce. The Sara Udon is shio (salt) based, and the Age Soba is shoyu (soy sauce) based. The ingredients in the sauce are slightly different too (for example, Sara Udon has fish cake and napa cabbage, Age Soba has bell peppers and bok choy). They both come with (Japanese) hot mustard on the side of the plate that some people like to eat the dish with, but I don’t care for it.
The Age Soba was pretty good. The noodles are really thin so they do get soft towards the end, but I didn’t care. Hubby got the Spicy Shio Ramen, which sensitive me thought was spicy, but immune hubby thought not. The kiddies ended up sharing the basic Shio AND Shoyu Ramen (there were 3 kids total), which IMO, felt like something was missing.
So I wouldn’t say everything was good here, but I wouldn’t mind coming back here to try the Sara Udon.

The ramen here is decent. Not the best in Costa Mesa, but it’s safe to get a decent bowl here. Try not to come here when the weather is warm, because their air conditioner either sucks or they don’t use it. I usually eat solo here so I sit at the counter. When I first started coming here, the cooks were Japanese. But I haven’t seen a Japanese cook here in a long time. They have trained some Hispanic cooks that are more than adequate in preparing a nice bowl of ramen. But personally it’s kind of strange to eat Japanese ramen that’s cooked by non-​Japanese cooks.
I like their Kohryu shio ramen and their geso. The broth is okay, definitely not on the greasy side. The noodles were the wavy kind and firm. I would skip their fried rice, because it’s only okay at best. I would get their gyoza instead. Parking here can be a problem especially during regular meal times.

My extensive training in gourmet Ramen continues. Sensei Cathy S. met me at Kohryu for the next part of my ramen training. Today’s lesson: Where to find DAMN GOOD MISO RAMEN.
Since I seem to have mastered the Tonkotsu bowl at Jinya and Yamadaya, it was time to learn about Miso. And Kohryu serves up one badass black-​belt caliber Miso bowl!
Oh so smooth and luxurious, their version of Miso Ramen warms the tummy and the soul. With strong noodles that hold up well in soup and never get mushy, and tender pork, and toothy bamboo, this whole bowl is perfect!
As usual, Cathy S. never backs down from a spicy challenge! This is her SPICY MISO Ramen:
Complimenting my bowl, I had a lovely side of Seaweed Salad.
The soup is 5-​Star! The service was very friendly! The company was excellent! Just –1 Star for not having A/​C or even a fan running. I was sweating all lunch-​long. It was hotter than Satan’s Sauna in there.

It’s more like 3.5 stars since I had some pretty decent ramen but not so decent gyoza and fried rice.
Maybe I should have just stopped with the ramen. I ordered the #9, koyryu ramen with the spicy miso broth. Within 3 minutes of ordering the ramen, it came right in front front of me, nice and almost boiling hot. Very soothing, and very good.
The broth to ramen ratio was right on. I had enough noodles at the end with very little broth leftover. So the ratio was the perfect amount. The ramen was so good that I decided that I wanted to try some more food.
So I went with the fried rice and gyoza as well. It’s usually a hit or miss with some ramen joints. Some ramen joints have better fried rice than ramen, some joints have equally good fried rice and ramen and some, like this one had a not so decent fried rice in their menu. Well at least I got to taste the main course of the restaurant so now I know what not to order next time I come here.
Same goes for the gyoza. For just 6 pieces at $ 5 a plate, at least I got to try this relatively expensive and no so decent gyoza. It’s always good to at least try it and move on.
Bottom line: Ramen good, gyoza and fried rice ok.

Kohryu serves ramen in those big bowls! Only about half the ramen spots i’ve been to serve ramen in big bowls… most place have those small 8inch in diameter bowls. So not worth $ 10 haha.
I only give this place 3 stars because the noodles are harder/​denser than my liking. I like noodles that are chewy, but not too soft. The pork slices also were overcooked and pretty tough. I was still able to enjoy it, but it didnt have that «melt in your mouth and fatty» taste that im so used to. The broth was good, i loved that it wasn’t overly greasy!