Ebisu Ramen

I used to eat here years ago and I remember it being good. However I’m not sure if the quality of the food has changed but it is not the same that I remember.
I ordered some vegetable ramen which did not satisfy my ramen craving. It could be that it was vegetable ramen, but it was pretty bland. It had so many vegetables that it was hard to get to the noodles. The vegetables also did not have much seasoning. The broth which is usually my favorite part was not that good.
My boyfriend got chicken katsu which was nothing special. He got a side of tempura which tasted like it was made in a rush. It was Kind of soggy and pieces were stuck together.
Was pretty disappointing and didnt want to go back after eating here when there are other good Japanese restaurants around.

My husband & I have been to this restaurant since we were dating many many years ago. Now I bring my two kids here for ramen. It’s our first choice of ramen. I understand many people complain about the service is slow, but I am sure no one notice every bowl of ramen is made to order. The ramen soup/​broth was cooked by wok one bowl after another, it’s not scooped out from a big pre cooked pot like phở.
So I have no complaints about the wait! Love this place, we give it 5 stars.

Wow, this has got to be the best Ramen anyone has ever tasted yet. It was so delicious and deliciously cheap. My stomach was so happy after devouring a warm bowl of Vegetable Ramen. I’ve had Ramen at a couple of different places so far, but this one ought to be best yet. If you’re a Ramen/​Udon/​Soba Noodle Lover, this is place you must visit for your own sake. Tonight I will be dreaming of myself swimming in Ramen Noodle Soup with lots of chili flakes.

Shin-sen-gumi’s wait was over an hour so a friend of mine and I decided to try Ebisu. After ordering it took nearly half an hour for the food to come out. I work in the restaurant industry so I can understand if meals were to take too long to be made. but when two sets of customers were seated before us and BOTH received their food before us, then I think we have a problem.
The ramen here was ok at best. a little bland and the noodles lacked texture and flavor. My friend got a rice dish which wasn’t too great either.

I would give them 2.5 stars. The ramen is ok. That’s all I had. It wasn’t above average. It wasn’t below average. It was just, ok. The place seemed to be under staffed. Not a bad bowl. But I have had much better.

I used to love this place, but my most recent trip here was super disappointing. Service was SUPER slow, like ridiculously slow. We sat probably 20 minutes without water, and waited a good 30 minutes for everyone’s food to come.
The food is pretty good, but the service definitely ruined it.

This ramen place is good. I have to be honest and say I am not a ramen expert. I am sure the ramen I like is shamed by ramen lovers everywhere.
The broth I got was very rich and buttery. I guess this is how it is should be, but I am strange and enjoy watered down ramen.
The noodles were cooked ok. I wish it wasn’t as mushy. I like it when there is a bite to the tooth on the noodles.
The service was good. Took the order but I did have to wave someone down to process my payment. Other than that, it was good.
This plaza has a lot of restaurants. Easy parking. The inside of the place was brightly lit.
Good place to go.

This was my go-​to ramen place (when I was around 6 – 7 years of age). My dad usually gets the Chanpon (sp?), and to this day, I still get the Mapo [Tofu] Rice (or the Mapo Ramen, whatever I’m in the mood for).
Fast foward 20+ years, and things have changed… BIG time. I ordered the Mapo Tofu Rice (again). The rice itself was okay, but who would want to have a spicy rice dish with a hot and spicy sauce that is watered down? I can’t even taste the meat that’s mixed into [the sauce]!! I mean, seriously??? The sauce itself wasn’t even spicy, so I had to «spice it up» with the extra spicy condiments, and shockingly, «hot-​saucing» it didn’t even work. I’m now not that surprised that there are now less and less people that come to this joint (especially when the whole damn McDonald’s plaza, which this establishment is located at is like a ghost town — It was bad enough that the Ebisu SUPERMARKET closed down a couple of years back.).
Oh, and here’s another thing I wanted to point out: You know how (as an example) you usually get seated first before the people «behind you,» but the people BEHIND YOU get the food served FIRST then you get it next? I don’t know if they were short of servers/​cooks that day (this was on a Sunday, even), or it was just a change of ownership since the last time I went there. And much to my dismay, a friend of mine who I was sitting across from, was waiting for her order (it was a ramen lunch special), and a few minutes after my rice was served to my table, her order STILL didn’t come. I mean, come on, I thought lunch specials were supposed to be easy and quick to make. And yet THERE WEREN’T THAT MANY PEOPLE AT THE RESTAURANT THAT DAY, AND THE PEOPLE WORKING THERE STILL TOOK THEIR SWEET TIME DOING THINGS!!!
*SIGH*
Anyway, end rant. So, in conclusion: WILL NOT RETURN!!!

A solid place to get good Japanese food.
I have tried the ramen here, and if weren’t for Shin-​Sen-​Gumi a few blocks just north of here, they would be the go to place for ramen in Fountain Valley.
Now if you had a choice go to Shin-​Sen-​Gumi, but if the wait there is too long (which 90% of the time it is) then coming is not a bad concession.
You really get a lot for your money with the lunch specials, averaging $ 10 you select your ramen and an additional dish which also includes a soda.
I went the route of katsu, frankly because my belly was craving for some crunchiness. The katsu combo is really good (now mind you it doesn’t come with curry which is $ 3.95 extra!!!). I really felt the spaghetti salad was the winner on the plate. Fried chicken katsu itself was not memorable, but the cabbage salad and miso soup helped out. Also included was a skewer of fried onion and green pepper.
Ample parking and lots of seating, this place won’t keep you waiting long.
But I’d look elsewhere if ramen was your thing.

Unilocal challenge 2015 ²⁹⁰⁄₃₆₅
Ebisu is a long time resident in this busy Brookhurst Fountain Valley Plaza. Specializing in Japanese Ramen, Curries, ect. Walk in, sign in and wait. Hopefully not very long. But be prepared to wait. There is no hostess. We stood around a good 10 minutes in the lobby before being aknowledged along with s few other parties. Standing room only with only 3 chairs for waiting customers. I think I saw 2 waitresses and an older man I later named Pops who was busting tables. Pops kept on opening the door on the chilly evening everytime we closed it. He finally moved us after we told him we were freezing. I guess the door is broken so they keep it open.
My Udon and Chicken Curry Combo was delicious. The Udon noodles were bathing in a flavorful broth with floating green onions and tempura bits. I never finish my food, but this time I devoured the entire bowl. There is no meat in it, hidden veggies or surprises. Just strictly Udon, onions and the cruncy bits. My curry was a perfect portion to me. A bowl of rice topped with chunks of plain chicken, blanketed with a mild curry and veggies. The curry was stingy and could of used an extra kick, but I still enjoyed it.
Tempura was expensive for what we got. $ 9.00 or so for a plate of about 6 pieces of veggies and 2 shrimps. Batter was light and tastey but not worth the price.
Service is slow, slow, slow. Our food took a long long time. Servers are friendly but not very talkative.
A okay place. I would return.
#766

Food is average, has all your basic Japanese fair.
Service has gone way down, we went in and it was busy, with three servers for the whole place it was understaffed.

Staffs: Everyone is quick on their feet and they can get your food out ASAP.
Ambiance: Very casual and loud because this is a family type restaurant. People with small groups of friends and families (with kids). This is not a place for big parties because most of these tables fit parties of 4.
Menu: A lot of food to choose from, except I always want everything. You have your ramen, udon, rice bowls, appetizers that are big enough to become a meal, and your cold soba dish. I always get their takoyaki here because they make it fresh and they don’t over drench the balls with mayo. I’ve been to some places where they miss an octopus, but never here. The ramen here is always good. The broth has that perfect flavor to it. The broth is not too thick nor too watery. The noodles are chewy and easy to eat. I never get sick of their beef or chicken udon because the flavor is so delicious. The broth is nice and warm every time.
This is a great place for a quick and easy meal. I always come during dinner time and it is always poppin. It’s nto overly packed where you have to wait to be seated, but the restaurant has enough customers to keep the restaurant a little lively.

I love coming to this place! Never super packed. Friendly service. Large portions. Relaxing place to eat with friends (:

Where to begin… I like the customer service here a lot. They were really likable and nice people, so I’m going to bypass that and say they were very patience towards us and always smiling. My type of service. Although, they were a bit slow a lot of time during our time there.
The food… thats another thing, but I have to be fair, I didn’t order ramen. I ordered the Ika Yakisoba and Takoyaki. I love takoyaki! They are my absolute favorite street food when I can get a hand on them. This place did not disappoint when I ordered here. 6 big takoyaki that is piping hot for 6.50, a good tradeoff (although I burned my tongue eating it). The outside was dark brown and although not as crispy had great flavors. The inside was very soft and moist, but I didn’t taste as much octopus as I wanted to taste. Still good, regardless!
The ika yakisoba was a bit difficult to eat as it was immensely salty and lacked a mild sweeter flavor to yakisoba, which disappointed me greatly. Definitely something I would not touch on again. I did have some udon from my friends end and thought that was very refreshing and great in flavors. Their curry is also very good! I would definitely come back here, but will pass on all yakisoba noodles.

I came here last night in a party of 4 because the line at Shin-​Sen-​Gumi was extremely long.
Upon arrival, we were immediately seated and placed our orders shortly after. I ordered the Kazan Shoyu Ramen and my friends ordered the special cold ramen, spicy edamame, and green tea mochi.
The edamame and green tea mochi came out in 5 – 10 minutes. It took another 20 minutes Kazan Shoyu Ramen to come out and the cold ramen arrived 5 minutes later.
The Kazan Shoyu Ramen had a nice, spicy broth but, overall, it was mediocre and I did not enjoy it. They loaded the bowl with cabbages, which drastically affected the taste of the ramen. At first I ate some cabbage, but ended up having to avoid picking up the cabbages with my chopsticks because there was so much and I was practically eating some cabbage with every bite. The portion was extremely generous, but I couldn’t finish it because I didn’t really like the taste. I am a bit spoiled because I live in LA and have access to good ramen on Sawtelle and in Little Tokyo so this place couldn’t really compare.

Ebisu restaurant is a hidden restaurant in an old shopping center. The food is good and enough to hit the spot if you’re craving ramen and do not want to deal with long wait at other competitive Ramen restaurants.
I usually order Udon hot soup and it does not disappoint. It is filled with flavor and fills me up for the entire day. My Fiancé has tried numerous dishes and so far, he’s a big fan of the lunch special, which includes soup, salad, rice and your choice of meat for about $ 10.
Service is good, depending how crowded it is. Sometimes you’ll need to flag them down, but a lot of time they will walk around and check up on you.

I’ve been coming here the last 5 – 6 years and all of my recent visits are off. The food IMO has gone down. Perhaps the owner is more focused on their baby «Samurai Burrito» next door or the cook has changed. The food doesn’t taste or look anything like they used to. The service has really gone down. The staff used to be so attentive and friendly. During my recent visits, our waitress kept asking me the same things over 3x of walking back and forth. We can definitely tell that she was not even focused or listening to us. It got to the level of frustration that I had to ask «did you get that!» this time. My comfort FAVE item on their menu is the Kimchi Fried Rice with their soup. The rice had no color trace of the Kimchi color (Reddish Orange) nor did it taste like any Kimchi was in it. No heat whatsoever! The soup lacked the rich flavors it normally has. The Tanin Don Combo was horrible. The Beef on the rice dish was so hard and chewy, definitely over cooked. The Udon and the broth was flavorless. The broth was also lukewarm and not hot. So disappointing as it was a COLD night. The only decent thing that night was the Gyoza.
At every visit, I always order this dish. The last 4x, it’s been getting worst. I don’t really have much motivation to come back when the last several visits are consistent of signs of it going downhill.
FOOD — Not good as it used to be, I’m hearing this from my friends and neighbors that go here too. Even my Japanese friends that grew up coming here have shared the same concerns. I don’t think it’s just a few concerns on the table… there’s quite a few regulars that feel the same way! I can’t say that the quality of their food has gone down, I really don’t know but the taste and presentation of their food is different. I feel like it’s a different group of cooks in the house.
SERVICE — Definitely lack it here. Every single person I’ve had, don’t seem to care what you say. They sure take their time and clearly seem to ignore you when you call for help. We sat next to a family of 4 the evening we came and she kept say «Excuse Me» like 5x, I couldn’t take it so I flagged down their waitress for her, same waitress we had.
HOPE — I sure hope the owner is working on these things becuz lately, the restaurant doesn’t seem to be busy and packed like they used to be. We used to have to wait in line for a table. No lines needed anymore and there’s so many empty tables to choose from.
I used to be in love with this place and it would be my «comfort-​craving» place to run to. Nowadays, it’s not on my mind as much when I crave comfort Japanese food. Please go back to what you were before so I can be excited to come back. It really breaks my heart to write this about one of my «Used-​to-​be» FAVE places. I still have hope Ebisul!!!

I have a tip… Not for patrons, but for the owner…
Hint, hint, hint… When it’s cold outside, you may want to make sure you have more than one waitress for the dinner rush. You serve hot soup. More people eat soup when it’s cold outside.
No charge for this valuable information.
Your friend,
Mickey

Arrived for a quick bit but it took 10 min to get water and its been over 30 min still no food. Waiters never check on us. This place has the worst service ever. Why do i keep coming back here.

This place is a very average ramen place. Not the worst but definitely not the best.
The portion size is humongous which is great if you’re a ravenous monster like me.
My friend and I both ordered the hakata ramen and we used the spices on the table to spice up our ramen. Between the two of us we used the ENTIRE pot of spicy paste and HALF of the chili oil bottle and a decent amount of chili powder to make our ramen even a little bit spicy. It was surprising to me because I have a hard time eating spicy food but my ramen was not spicy at all. The broth was very thick and chunky for some reason.
This place is huge inside so you don’t really have to worry about a wait time