So we just got home from Little Tokyo and had ramen at Daikokuya. The ramen there was really good for the most part. Before we go into details, we’ll give you some info of the local area just in case you want to check this place out.

Little Tokyo is located in the L.A. district, off of the 101 freeway, off of Alameda St. Once you exit, you head south, then make a right on E. 1st St. That whole section is Little Tokyo. Daikokuya is located on the right side. You can park in the parking structure on the left, where there is a very steep and very narrow driveway. Rates can vary from $4 to $10 depending on time and day that you park there.

If you want to do a little shopping, there’s a plaza area called Japanese Village. There are many restaurants and cute shops like Sanrio there. There is also a really cool mochi ice cream shop and a deli/sushi market. And just to warn you, the wait time at Daikokuya can get pretty long, so if you’re starving, you may want to get a little snack before then.

Japanese Village

So let’s head back to Daikokuya. When we got there, there were a lot of people waiting outside. Just to give you an idea, we had to sign in before being seated. We probably waited for about an hour and fifteen minutes. That’s how happenin’ this place can get. But we have always heard the ramen was awesome here, so we waited.

After waiting for more than an hour, we were seated and made our order. We ordered a few appetizers, such as gyoza, tuna rolls and some assorted pickles my brother ordered. The gyoza and tuna rolls were really good. Don’t care too much about the pickles. We also ordered some green tea which tasted great. And of course, we all ordered the Daikoku Ramen.

The picture doesn’t look as good as it tastes, but trust us, it was really good. First thing we did was taste the pork broth and it was slightly on the salty side, but still good. The broth had a full flavor and it had just enough oil. The egg noodles were on the firm side, but had a good taste and texture, and definitely absorbed the broth flavor. The pork chasu was tender, but it had more fat than meat than we expected. As you can see, there was a lot of green onions, which is not always a bad thing. There was also a flavored egg, which we were not too crazy about. It was a little soggy and the first bite into it, you’ll notice it to be cold, like they just pulled it out of the fridge and threw it in the soup. No one finished the egg. There were also bean sprouts and bamboo shoots. We didn’t care for the bamboo.

Overall, the service was good. They were attentive as possible despite being a full house. The service was prompt, we did not have to wait for our orders to get to our table for a long time. After waiting for more than an hour outside, I’m sure they do what they can to bring our food out quickly. So if you plan to dine here, we recommend just a party of two, if you want to get in right away. But if you bring some friends, the maximum size of the party should be four. We had a party of four so we had to wait for more than an hour.

For more info of Little Tokyo’s Daikokuya or other locations, check out their site:

http://www.dkramen.com/dkltmp.html

The ramen definitely hit the spot tonight. Tanya is suffering from food coma and I, Joan, have fully recovered from my hangover. The fun has just begun and we look forward to eating more ramen. Please join us on our next ramen run! Thanks for reading!

-Joan and Tanya