Mentatsu Ramen

Being a huge fan of Ramen this place doesn’t disappoint. Very small cozy spot with room for maybe 20 people. For lunch: get there early. The wait is sometimes an hour long. But if you’re not in a rush it’s worth the wait.
Sad to hear this place is closing. Not sure why as this place is usually very busy.

I’ve been looking for a good ramen spot in Orange County since Ebisu went bad and this was it!
So bummed that it is closed now and that I missed out on coming one last time…

It is next to my favorite hair salon but I cannot give no more than 3 stars. If possible, I would give 2.5 star. Because menu, foods, service are all average.
Food: I ordered Tenshin Fried rice (s) and Gyoza dumpling. Fried rice was good. Better than Gomen’s, but not the best. Gyoza was frozen chicken flavored kind you can easily buy at the grocery store. Not homemade.
I personally think-​from my experience– when fried rice is good, then rest of the foods at chinese/​ramen place are good. I give 3 stars.
Service: The lady working on Saturday afternoon –note that I always see her on weekends — is kind of intimidating and scary. No welcoming vibe. When I left, no «thank you» coming from her mouth, which is rare at Japanese ramen place. So customer service itself is 2 stars.
Overall: As I stated above, I would rather give 2.5 stars since this place is so average. I wonder why all Japanese Chinese restaurant employees looks so tired and not happy? This applies to the ladies working at Gomen in Stanton.
Bristol and Baker is a Mecca of Japanese ramen restaurants in SoCal. Try Yamadaya or Bannai.

This is sad news! Their last day will be Sat. Oct 24^th.
Had the usual Dan Dan Mein and Fried Rice. Awesome as always.
Sad to hear about their closing.
Need to find another ramen house that has Dan Dan Mein like there’s!

Was in the area looking for a ramen restaurant that was open around 3pm and decided to give them a try since most ramen places were closed at the time. I walked in and the restaurant had a fair amount of people eating and was seated promptly by the waiter. I decided to go with the Shoyu Ramen which came in a soy sauce flavored broth with roast pork and assorted veggies. The broth was okay and did not have too much sodium which was nice. The ramen noodles were fresh and was cooked to the right texture. I noticed that this restaurant was more of a Japanese and Chinese fusion with Chinese food options on the menu. The service here was very quick and they also checked up to make sure everything was going okay.

This is the perfect place to visit after a long day of shopping at South Coast Plaza! Reminiscent of a ramen house in Japan — small, friendly, and delicious — Mentatsu’s soup will put you in a warm and happy place!
Absolute favorites I recommend: Miso Ramen, substitute pork with chicken, and Soy Sauce Ramen (Champon), minus pork or fish cake, add tofu and enjoy this delicious veggie filled soup!
Portions are generous. Plan to share or to take soup home; unless you have an incredibly enormous stomach, I promise you will not finish a bowl.

My go to place for a quick comfort food meal in Costa Mesa. The food is always good here and there is always a line! I am a big fan of the Spicy Negi Ramen (both Shoyu and Miso) and the fried rice here is quite tasty. The Kara-​age has always been hot when I order them with a nice light batter. They recently added a Pork Kakuni Fried rice that I am definitely going to try the next time I’m there.
I personally would stay away from the Shumai and the Gyoza but I’m not coming here for those anyway.
Parking here is a bit of a pain during the lunch rush but well worth it.

My friend and I were craving for Japanese food and met up here for dinner.
ATMOSPHERE: Extremely tiny and cozy place. The restaurant is only meant for small, intimate groups, so don’t come with a clown car filled with 10+ people.
FOOD: Everything on the menu is so cheap! Japanese cuisine can be pretty expensive, but at Mentatsu Ramen, you practically pay bum change for a huge, fulfilling meal. More bang for your buck! I ordered the Mabo Ramen and it was so tasty! Think thick, spicy, umami mabo sauce with soft tofu mixed into a bowl of ramen.
SERVICE: Average. No complaints here.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE: A definite return from me! If you want cheap, delicious, and generously served portions of Japanese food, I highly recommend this place!

I was pleasantly surprised by this Ramen Shop. It’s tiny and has bar seating. Reminded me of Japan. Staff appears to be Japanese and are extremely attentive and friendly singing welcome and thank you upon each arrival and departure. We were asked no less than 6x how we were doing and if the food was good. To which I exclaimed Yes. Great service!
I ordered the miso ramen. I guess it doesn’t come with chashu. So I ordered 2 sides which equaled 2 pieces for $ 5. A bit expensive. But the chashu today was very very good. The miso ramen has lots of cabbage, carrots, shitaki, and bean sprouts. This is how I prefer ramen — lots of veggies so I can limit on the noodle. Well I LOVE the noodles here. They are like Santouka. Perfect hakada style egg, wavy and al’dente. The Seasoned egg garnish was perfectly soft with just a touch of runny yolk in the center. No one does it like that outside my kitchen. Lol! Selfishly I hope this place remains a ramen lover secret and doesn’t get mainstream. Mentatsu you are a gem. I love that there are some non– traditional style ramen and very traditional Kawasaki and other Japanese dishes not found in the plethora of sushi/​bento only restaurants in OC. I really wish there were more places like this with dishes like Kakuni like I had in Nagano. I can tell I will be back weekly as I want to try the different types of ramen such as: mabu tofu, egg omelet, and curry ramen. Oh and the tenshin chahan looked amazing at the two tables next to us. Will try that next. Just wanted to try the staples today and they were exceptional.

I really need to come here more often. And you should too. The food portions are crazy big and actually super effing DELICIOUS.
It’s a pretty small restaurant, so you can expect to wait a little for dinner on Friday and weekends. But it is truly well worth the wait.
My favorites: mabo tofu and tenshin chahan (fried rice in a omelette and GET THE GRAVY). Some people say the mabo tofu isn’t as good since they changed management a year or two ago, I honestly can’t tell you the difference but I can tell you that it’s still BOMB. The boyfriend and I pretty much always order these two dishes so we get to have both :). And get the larger portion. I know the small is the actual amount that normal healthy human beings should be eating (what portion control?) but the larger portion is so affordable and will easily turn into leftovers for one or two meals after. Basically the biggest bang for your buck.
They also serve alcohol here, always a plus in my books. A large hot sake is relatively inexpensive as well.
I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I’ve never tried their ramen, but I have such a hard time ordering anything else other than the mabo tofu and tenshin chahan, it’s really that good!

My favorite ramen place in Irvine. Curry ramen and fried rice! We’d come here late night. Its always packed, one of those hole in the wall places, very easily overlooked. They have a nice selection that’s not just limited to the traditional pork ramen.
They have the best chicken curry ramen I have ever tried and the portions are huge too. Even if we come in at the last minute before closing, they’ve always served us without an attitude.
Really close to South Coast Plaza and John Wayne, a must try if you have some time. Good food, good service, all around good in my book.

⁴⁄₅ for the food
⁵⁄₅ for the atmosphere
rounds up to ⁵⁄₅

One of my go-​to-​ramen-​restaurants when I am in Costa Mesa. We usually have to wait about 15 minutes, but it is not that bad.
Although the people I go with usually get ramen (okay, I get it too during the lunch deals), I personally like their curry and gyoza. Some restaurants still cook frozen gyoza, but I got to see firsthand that Mentatsu’s gyoza is made from scratch! Yum.

I came here on a Friday lunch as the first stop for my LaLaLa Ramen Pass. For this location the ramen was the Mabo Ramen. The plaza this place is located was a bit packed when I went.
There was a short wait but the staff was very friendly in getting me seated and eating. I had actually tried the ramen here before, I believe it was the green onion one and I actually did not enjoy it much at all. But since this was part of the Ramen Pass, I decided to give them a second chance.
This time I tried the Mabo Ramen and it was delicious! While I thought that the noodles were just okay, the Mabo Tofu on top was great, and they managed to make it into a soupy form without getting too watered down I feel. It was a pleasant balance of Mabo with a warm soup feel.
Overall a very pleasant surprise on a second visit. I would probably stick to the special ramen items over the traditional ones.

Second stop on my ramen pass tour (OC Edition).
So…I’ve been here a couple of times a few years ago and I remember not loving it. However with the Lalala Ramen Pass I couldn’t pass up the 50% discount… actually no, truthfully I went to Oki Doki for Okinawa Soba and found out they’re closed until mid-​January. So… I ended up here.
I got the Mabo Ramen which is described as «tofu and ground pork cooked in spicy sauce over Shoyu Ramen.» I did not have high expectations for it since I can’t say tofu in ramen really excites me but hey, it was dinner time, it was a cold, rainy night… you get the picture.
The ramen surpassed my (low) expectations though. The noodles were nice and chewy but not too soft, and the broth had good flavor and wasn’t overly salty (menu denotes spiciness but I found it to be just nicely spiced, not overly spicy). The ground pork made it tastier. The portion size was big, more than I could finish.
The restaurant itself is very small and service wasn’t great but acceptable. It can be a little tricky to find the location but basically it’s located between Chaya Japanese Grill (not Jalapeño Grill haha) and Wahoo’s. The easiest way to get into the proper parking lot is through Baker Street.

«Soup is cuisine’s kindest course. It breathes reassurance; it steams consolation; after a weary day it promotes sociability… there is nothing like a bowl of hot soup, its wisp of aromatic steam making the nostrils quiver with anticipation.» –Louis P. De Gouy, The Soup Book, 1949
The Shoyu ramen here has a «Grandmother Made» quality about it that will make you crave it when you have a bad or stressful day. There is a home-​cooked meal quality about all their food that will instantly make Mentatsu one of your comfort-​food spots.
The service is friendly and welcoming.
The flavors of the broth are deep and complex, and noodles are cooked perfectly. Succulent slices of pork are so tender that you can almost cut it with your chopsticks.
Shoyu Ramen:
Chashu Ramen:
Their small plates and appetizers are also quite tasty! The Orange chicken was too sweet for my liking, but my hubby was quite pleased with the flavor.
Orange Chicken small plate:
Kimuchi:
Another huge thank you to «Ramen Master» Cathy S. for introducing me to another wonderful ramen shop!

First-​timer. Came here for a late lunch on a weekday. Not too busy. I ordered the Shoyu Ramen & Curry rice half/​half combination. I shared the mabu tofu. Both dishes were delicious. The portions were decent, but next time I will just order ramen. The curry rice was decent, but not as good as Curry House. My friend ordered the spicy miso ramen which was really flavorful. Definitely order your ramen with an egg :) Service is prompt and friendly. Parking is limited.

Okay, so if you are on Bristol heading south, do not make a U-​turn to get into the plaza. You’ll end up in the Wahoo’s parking lot and technically should not be able to park there and walk to the restaurant (as I saw many people doing this). Instead, make a left on Bear, then bust a U and make a right into the plaza before you get to the Wahoo’s lot.
So now that you’re park, it’s time to order. I got the spicy green onion ramen. It was definitely unique from what I have had before– in fact, they have other neat ramen flavor combinations I didn’t know exist (mabo ramen). While the dish was good, I can’t say off this one experience alone, that I would be compelled to try it again. I also was bothered the pieces of pork in my ramen were cut into small squares. The rice dishes I ordered to get started with were also both decent.
So many ramen choices, but this isn’t at the top of my list.

I hesitated coming after reading reviews about this place being change of management, but I am glad that I made a visit.
I love hot broth when it come to ramen and I used to love santouka and fell out of love with it. So I decided to look for sth new to satisfy my ramen craving. I order the mentatsu pai tenmen and the braised pork fried rice. They are suprisingly good. The broth is rich and has enough but not too much oil to keep the soup hot until the ramen is finished. The chashu is alright, had better that will dissolved in your mouth, but this isnt one. And the half boil egg is slightly over cook, but at least the yolk is still semi raw. The fried rice is also very yummy. Its very hard to describe the rice, just really good. I probably will come back to try out their tantan men. I am still not convinced by their mapo ramen although its one of their popular dish. Its feels too thick and sticky as a soup base.
I went on a friday night around 7pm. And its not super crowded. plenty of parking.

This ramen place has Chinese influences, the bowl of Spicy Miso Ramen I got was covered in green onion shreds and the side order of Tofu had persevered vegetable, Zha cai or Sichuan vegetable. Also Mabo Tofu is a dish that originates from the Sichuan province, this place is Chinese-​Japanese fusion which is cool.
The Spicy Miso Ramen isn’t as spicy as expected you have to add more chilli on your own, the broth was salty and had a lot of miso flavor. The Mabo Tofu wasn’t spicy as well, but was large and was covered in tofu. After trying the Chanpon, I wish I had ordered it. The Chanpon arrived at the tabled heaped with vegetables and bean sprouts we were joking that that was the Phở version. The broth is light but not on the bland side, the flavor is what you needed and nothing more just the opposite of my Spicy Miso Ramen.
Go for happy hour! They have small dishes for about $ 3. I recommend the Karaage Chicken side. It has large chunks of chicken and tasted good with some lemon, but I think would go better with a soy-​ginger dipping sauce.