Ramen Yamadaya

I came here since the first day it opened and the quality of the meat decreased a lot ever since. I usually get the Kakuni style ramen, which j think everyone should get, and it comes with a big slab of pork belly. Back then the pork belly would literally melt in your mouth and would require no chewing. It was so tender and delicious. Now, it is more on the tougher side and requires chewing. Don’t get me wrong it’s not terrible, but compared to how it was the first time makes my taste buds sad.
Even though the meat quality went down I would still come here to eat some ramen. Keep in mind the fried chicken is pretty bomb too. Hope this review helps y’all :)

It’s a solid 3 ½ stars, if I had that option. That’s because there’s so many other places around the area that serve a better bowl of ramen. I come here mainly out of convenience as it’s the closest place to my abode.
They offer 3 types of broth: tonkotsu, shio and shoyu. The tonkotsu also has a black garlic oil (kotteri) and a spicy variation. I personally love fatty and rich broths, so I always opt for the tonkotsu kotteri. The bowl comes with a couple of slices of cha shu pork, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, half a soft boiled Japanese egg and some green onions. You can also get a variety of extra toppings, including but not limited to: meats, seaweed, corn, eggs, tofu, or spinach. Make sure you ask them to give you fresh garlic. They’ll peel several garlic cloves for you and bring them out on a small plate with a manual garlic press. It looks like a medieval torture device and I love it. Just pretend that the cloves are the heads of your most hated enemies when you’re crushing them through the press, and it’ll make the experience so much more enjoyable.
Where I disagree with them is on the use of thin noodles. A lot of places offer thin noodles, but I feel like ramen is best enjoyed with thick noodles so you can soak up as much of the broth as possible. Granted, Shin Sen Gumi also uses thin noodles exclusively, but they give you a much better bowl and flavor profile overall, so I can overlook the thin noodles with them. However, at Yamadaya, it’s a sticking point. The only redeeming quality is that they’ll give you a large portion of noodles if you have a student ID card on you.
The broth itself is decently flavored, the portions are generous, and the sides that come standard are a bit lacking. I always have to get extra meat or else I’m left with nothing but noodles 5 minutes into the bowl. I wish they would provide more broth with the larger serving of noodles as well. All in all, it’s a worthy place to satisfy a ramen craving if it’s close to you. I’d recommend you go to Santouka if you get here and there’s more than a 10 minute wait.

Dude seriously I thought I wrote a review for this place. This is by far my favorite ramen spot and I have tried them all in OC. I feel like nothing has satisfied me the way Yamadaya has. I always get Tonkotsu spicy ramen level 2. No pork, extra noodles and corn w fresh garlic. Their fried rice is da booommbbb. My husband is the pickiest of eaters (how ironic he married a Unilocaler) I coerced him to try some… Considering He likes maruchan… Yeah I know SMH. Anyway he loved it! So now we come to my lovely little ramen spot more often. Nothing like having a runny nose as you’re slurping down piping hot noodles and yummy yummy broth. Dammit Unilocal y you make so my hangryyyy!!! Anyway check this place out of you haven’t. It does not disappoint.

This was my usual to go ramen joint but the reviews are true there is definitely something wrong. The food has increased In price and taste also declined. And by far the worst service I have ever experienced.
We came here at 7pm on a Friday and I thought we hit the jackpot because it was empty but I think word got around that this place is terrible. I ordered the regular tonkotsu and it was watered down. The karrage was undercooked and still pink on the inside. When we were done eating it took 30 minutes for us to flag down someone to give us our check. I almost wonder if I walked out without paying if they would have noticed. I don’t expect world class service but please do NOT grab my empty bowl of ramen from underneath my arm while I’m putting my leftover rice in the to go box!!! I nearly dropped the plate while the server was reaching underneath me. I hope he catches trichinosis for being such a block head and getting in my personal space. I will never come back here and I’m going to tell everyone I know.

Wow. What happened to Yamadaya? The Gardena one and this location (specially this location) are just terrible.
I’m Japanese and am very familiar with how ramen supposed to taste.
This place is terrible. First the service is non existent.
Half empty place and no one is seating us or a party of two ahead of us. Mgmt is way over their heads.
There was not one Japanese either running it or the kitchen.
Flavor is completely off and frankly not worth spending your money on.
Never coming back to this place.

Don’t hate me… but I usually don’t like ramen. I think ive been scared since every time I went to vegas back in my younger days, my friends would always force me to eat it. thus getting sick of it.
sometime tho, I do crave it. especially if it’s a cold day.
if you know me personally, you know I’m a confetti whore, and this is why this ramen shop is one of my favorite places to go it, cuz right after I can get my sweet tooth on.
anyways, as for the food. I typically get the dipping ramen (tsukemen) with a pork chashu and salad combo.
I am grateful that yamadaya serves a smaller bowl of the tsukemen… this allows me to order the combo without getting extremely full.
the smaller bowl of the tsukemen, will set you back 8 bucks, and then the combo will add another 4 bucks.
not too back for a 15 dollar meal. A protip: dump some of the dipping sauce onto the rice. So bomb!
The seating situation is kinda interesting. They have 2 huge tables in the middle of the dining area, and you might get seated with strangers if you get that table. All good tho, make friends and enjoy the company!
like most ramen places, this place WILL get packed during raining or cold days, so be prepared to wait.

This place is way better than Ajisen Ramen. I would come to this place if you like noodle. The wait here isn’t bad if you come here around weekday. There’s spacious seating and servers were fast to help us order and get our food. I ordered the tonkatsu ramen with pork belly~ $ 12.95. The portion was good and I couldn’t even finish the whole thing. My friend asked for fresh garlic and I didn’t even know that was a thing for ramen.
Over all, prices here seems fair but their combo with the salad isn’t that great. The combo salad doesn’t have much dressing and it’s just corn and a piece of tomato. I would recommend skipping the combo options and go straight to ordering appetizers. The gyoza was a little too dry but I had chicken karage which was pretty good.
+plenty of parking!

Went here a couple of days ago with friends, because what’s better than ramen when it’s raining? The wait at shinsengumi was too long so we decided to try this one out for the first time since the wait was only about five minutes.
All four of us were students so they upgraded our ramen to large when you show your student id. We got takoyaki and spicy gyoza, both were good. Three of us got the spicy tonkotsu which I personally liked. It wasn’t spicy enough but good flavor. Too much noodles. My personal gripe is that they would let you switch pork for chicken but not for tofu… that makes no sense and doesn’t cater to customers very well. Whatever.
Service was not good. Our waiter ignored us for almost the entire meal and no one wanted to bring us the check. When we asked for extra napkins the guy gave us two. There was four of us. Not even one for each person.

Fantastic food and experience! Waiter was accommodating, knowledgable, friendly, and gave us some pointers on the menu. All 3 ramen our group tried were delicious, with a slight preference to the Kotteri and Spicy ramen. If your hungry definitely fork over the extra $ 3.50 for the Yamadaya or Kakuni upgrades.
We also got an order of Takoyaki (4.95). The were good but the BBQ like sauce was a little too sweet for my taste.

Came here with my friend Lord Boyo from UCI and wasn’t hard to find this place. There’s plenty of parking here :3 Walking in, the waiters gave us a table in the corner and we slowly waited for the great ramen of destiny.
**Tip Make sure you use your student ID for free extra noodles/​rice**
I got the tonkotsu ramen, with Yamadaya topping ($ 11.45). It has the basic pork broth ramenm with the egg, extra chashu, green onion, seaweed, and one other thing that I don’t know the name of. I don’t know if that warrants the almost $ 3 difference, but eating at a lot of other ramen places makes me feel like $ 3 is the norm lol.
The food? It was alright/​decent. The broth was not as flavorful as I would have liked it to be. The noodles were pretty good (but they don’t really hit Shin Sen Gumi’s level). I personally like the one over in Torrance better than the one here. The ingredients really add to the whole bowl, and you get more food to eat: D. Make sure you submerge the egg into the soup (:
There’s a good amount of tables here to seat people, but I can’t really tell if there’s usually a long line. Going at 1.30pm on a weekday, there were many tables available.
Felt it was decent ramen, liked the one over at Torrance better, would go hit up Shin Sen or Santouka! :)

What a disappointment. This place has gone down. I loved the Torrance location and was happy this spot nearby opened. But came by last Friday at 11pm. there were only 2 other tables, really slow for a Friday evening. Had the spicy tonkotsu and it just didn’t taste right. The noodles resembled egg noodles. It was soggy and overcooked. No chewy ramen texture at all. And the broth, oh the broth was so bland!!! Such a disappointment.

Too much MSG. I came here four years ago and things tasted fine. But over the years the food has steadily declined along with the service.
Noticeable amounts of increased MSG have been emerging and the quality of the food in general has gone way down. Maybe the added MSG was supposed to mask the failing ingredients. I don’t know. But in any case, I don’t have any interest in going back.
The service has fallen to depressing depths and the overall cleanliness of the dining area, kitchen, and restrooms has reached uncomfortable levels of filth and stickiness.
Sorry Yamadaya. I used to like you but there aren’t enough positives to give you a saving grace. You were once a beacon on the horizon in a sea of mediocre ramen, but now your light has grown dim (and salty) and now I need to search for safer shores with calmer waters and better quality control.

I don’t know what’s up the low average rating, but this place is the
. Everything I’ve tried is good and the ramen is amazing. I LOVE their broth! It’s super milky and fatty, just the way it’s supposed to be. They even charge $ 2 for extra broth because it takes so long for them to make it in the back.
My favorites: Tonkotsu Spicy, Tonkotsu Kotteri, Takoyaki, Kaarage, Yamadaya Bun.
The Yamadaya Bun is expensive, but it’s really good. I’ve also noticed that the price has gone up for some of their items recently. On the bright side, if you show your school ID card they give you extra noodles! And fresh garlic is free with the ramen, you just have to ask for it.
The restaurant is also very clean and their service is quick.
Definitely my #1 ramen place in Orange County!

I have come back here a handful of times after my initial visit. Each time, service and quality seems to have gotten worse and worse. Prices seemed to have gone up, yet service has gone downhill. I came here at around 1:15 PM with my boyfriend, which was after the lunch rush, so there were available tables and it wasn’t too busy.
We ordered the Kara-​Age Chicken, 2 bowls of ramen, and 2 iced waters.
The ramen came out quick, but the chicken came out about ~5−10 minutes afterwards. The server had forgotten about our waters, so we had to ask for it halfway through our meal. When we reminded the server about our waters, we got an «Oh yeah!». Had it been during rush hour, that would’ve been understandable. But it was past the lunch rush, and there were only about 6 other parties dining in the restaurant.
As for the Kara-​Age Chicken, it is nothing special at all. It’s just 10 pieces of chopped up chicken thighs served with a side of shredded cabbage or some shredded vegetables. The pieces of chicken seemed like they were just dipped in flour and then deep fried, or at least that’s what it tasted and looked like. The pieces of chicken were extremely fatty, the entire dish was so not worth the $ 6.95.
I have been disappointed with the service and quality over the past couple of visits (spanning 3 – 4 months), and I don’t think I will be coming back here anytime soon.

This place has gone way down hill for me since the last time I was here. The pork tasted way too dry and tough, the bowl had too many noodles and wasn’t super hot. The egg wasn’t as runny as I usually like it and the whole dish just wasn’t as pleasant. It’s sad because the correct ingredients that I like are still there, I just feel that it isn’t prepared as well anymore.

I always get excited when a ramen place has vegan options! This is a decent local option when I’m in need of a ramen fix. This is my third time having it and I still find it odd that they add a tomato, but nonetheless I always eat it. It’s $ 8.95/bowl +tax which isn’t too bad compared to other places. It’s a pretty hearty serving too. The toppings & noodles ratio is balanced too.
This spot is usually crowded so I try to go when it’s not which is tough, haha. It’s a big space inside but when it’s crowded it can feel a bit overwhelming to me. I like sitting outside, it feels less hectic.
I wish this location offered fries like the Culver City location because ramen AND fries is like the ultimate combo to me! Haha
The service is decent. It’s not horrible but it can be a hit or miss when it comes to attentiveness. Some servers are good and some aren’t, but nonetheless we get our orders taken in a timely manner and the food doesn’t take too long to come out.

I’m such a regular here, that the owner knows me by name and is glad to seat me herself if she’s not so swamped.
The food is a solid ramen offering, so if I’m hot, cold, irritated or upbeat, this is my to-​go lunch spot if I’m in the area. Some may say the broth is too salty, but its just right for me. Always busy, but always worth the wait. There isn’t anything on the menu that isn’t good. Not a fan of sake so I can’t comment there.
But if you need your Ramen fix and you’re 20 min of Costa Mesa, head here, here in and get your ramen fix fed!

Recently came back here to find that they changed their menu. I ordered the Tokyo style shoyu ramen which has a nice savory broth flavor. Although the noodles were super soggy, and pretty much fell apart right when you put them in your mouth, the texture just wasn’t there.
Their chicken karage is amazing though! The chicken is perfectly cooked and nice and moist, and it is not drenched in batter which is a good thing. Probably the best chicken karage i’ve ever had, definitely recommend getting an order if you come here.

Costa Mesa is a cluster of ramen houses and I am determined to try each one!
Yamadaya is located in the same plaza as Tastea and Subway. Easy parking. Each time I came here I have been seated in a reasonable amount of time. The location is a good size so the wait times aren’t ridiculous like the smaller ramen spots.
Kaarage Chicken: ⁵⁄₅
The chicken meat was so juicy!!! The pieces were pretty big too. Squeeze a little lemon on these suckers, it goes well. I agree with other Unilocalers, they should consider adding a dipping sauce with them. But even though it was served alone, you can’t go wrong with getting it.
The ramen broth was creamy. Not too salty like other places. The texture of the noodle was different, the thin noodles go well with the creamy broth though. Make sure to ask for the fresh garlic to put in your bowl! You got to squeeze the garlic press extra hard but its worth using your muscles for it. It gave the broth extra flavor.
This place is worth trying if you are in area and would rank 4 stars in my book!

Probably one of my favorite ramen places in the OC. I usually get the tonkatsu shoyu ramen and it’s amazing. I love the broth here. I’ve tried all their flavors and their dip noodles, too. I really like the ramen noodles here because it’s the perfect consistency. The waiters are very attentive. When you bring your student ID, you can get a free upgrade to large noodles! They really cater to students here.
My boyfriend always uses his ID to get large noodles and then orders extra noodles after he’s done with his large noodles. You know it’s good when he orders that much. I like the chicken karage here too.
Love this place!