Ramen Yokocho Festival

Why I hated the Ramen Yokocho Festival?
Let me count thee ways
#1 The ridiculously long lines. The main line to get tickets took average over 1.5 hours. The food lines were just as long.
#2. The lack of organization. Each ramen shop had its own line. But in the mad choas, it was very hard to tell which line for which ramen shop.
#3. The tickets are non-​refundable.
#4. Portions are tiny. They used small white Styrofoam bowl. Barely enough for both the soup/​broth and noodles.
#5. They ran out of food. Some shops ran out of food/​ingredients.
#6. Another line to get food. OMG!!!
#7. A line to buy water. Well, by now you are used to standing in a line.
So, you got a ticket. Great. Now what?
Stand in another line. Find out you are in the wrong line. Get in correct line.
Send someone to stand in the water line.
They need more room to eat. They had indoor seating but people were sitting down anywhere and eating. Poor people being famished from waiting.
So what did we do, we did what most sane people did. We left.
There are tons of great ramen places in Torrance/​Gardena.
Well…
seems like a lot of other people had the same idea.
Another review forthcoming of our ramen experience.
If you got here early, you avoided lines and got to try some ramen. Maybe even two.
Overall, if you love lines, paying too much for little food, then this is perfect for you.
Otherwise, I would not recommend this.

Omg. The line is outrageous.

Great food! Great staff! Please do this event next year as well!!!

The event was not suitable for a number of people. The line is too long. I arrived at 12:45 on Saturday but didn’t have a chance to try any ramen because the line is too long. It would take me 3 hours to get my first ramen, so we decided to go other places

Sadly disappointed… I was soo excited about this event. After attending the event on both days since some friends wanted to go because they missed Saturday.
The food:
Kitakata (from Japan): the broth was good, heavy in pork flavor but not too heavy. The chashu was yummy but after the first two pieces it was too salty for me. The chashu was also very fatty, some pieces were okay. The noodles were my favorite. Normally I enough thinner noodles, but since these fatter noodles were nice and chewy this was my favorite part.
Hayatemaru: this was one of the saltiest ramens I had at the event. Again the first few bites were good but after awhile the soup was too heavy, salty and too strong with dried shrimp flavor. The ground meat in the ramen also taste like dried shrimp that it ruined the ramen. Not my favorite.
Gomaichi: I was disappointed they didn’t serve the ramen described in the flyer but it was refreshing having ramen without broth and not super hot. This ramen had fresh greens with a lot if sesame.
Jidaiya: I think I tried this because I was simply curious. To my surprise it wasn’t bad! It came with a side of soup, I had the ramen burger without the soup and it was good. The chashu helped with flavor but I enjoyed it most with the broth. There was more flavor this way.
The experience: (everything was fun minus the wait, but I did meet some really fun and amazing people in line!)
Saturday:
Arrived at 9:45am already a line wrapped around the building, BUT after they opened the doors at 10:10am we were in by 10:25am… not bad until I realized we had to line up again for TICKETS -.-” Then after lining up for tickets we has to wait again at each booth. Of course everyone waited for the booth from Japan, we were literally 20feet from the booth and it took us an HOUR just to get our bowl. After that every booth had long lines even the booth for water -.-” The lines were so long that we didn’t even get to use all our tickets and saved them for Sunday.
Sunday:
We came back hoping they got more efficient. Arrived 9:30am, line was double the length as Saturday when we arrived 9:45am… Doors didn’t open on time, but apparently there was a line just for people with tickets from Saturday (yay us! But not our friends). So we went to the other line significantly shorter (50ppl??). After getting in we realized their efficiently did not change, it was pretty much the same thing. So we went back to our friends and handed them the tickets. Simply put… It is not worth the wait. Never again will I wait hours for hot ramen on a hot day… What was I thinking, silly me –_–

I will not even review the various Ra-​menya and their proprietary Ra-​men since there are & will be so many reviews concerning the flavours, service or lack there of, venue, managerial faux pas, etc. I would like to suggest a way to relieve the overcrowding & overselling of tickets when much of the food ran out.
Why not pre-​sell on line with the choice of the two days (Saturday or Sunday) & possibly a 2 hour time slot with the proviso that you can order the number of Ra-​men from the various Ra-​menya as well as pre-​ordering the choice & number of drinks, Japanese Shaved Ice, etc. In this way, the different Ramenya can figure out how much they need to prepare for that day as well as having the sponsors know how much sodas, ice, etc. they need to stock.
With modern day technology, you can scan the ticket with each subcategory corresponding to a specific order by a having a bar code or that square with black & white coding on it. And once the order is completed, the bar code or square can not be used again. Of course, the number of people should be limited to the number of guests that can be served comfortably by the various Ra-​menya for that time period. If you come too late, then you forfeit the use of the ticket, or if there is a later time with less guests, then the possiblity of being transferred to that time slot.
The trouble with most food festivals is that it is impossible to anticipate the number of customers who will or will not appear. I remember one of first Food Truck Festivals in downtown LA where I waited over 2 hours in line to a Ludobites Fried Chicken Truck and then told that when I got to order, there would be another 45 minute wait to get the fried chicken. Perhaps the kind of system that I have proposed to control the numbers & to be able to accurately know how much to stock would make it easier on the customers as well as the organizers & chefs. Perhaps, gate crashers can come in at the conclusion of the festival if there is any food left over and take their chances to see what is available.
LALALA, if you are going to sponsor another food festival. You will have to do more homework to ensure that the same mistakes and possible new mistakes because of implementing new policy are kept to a minimum. Ask & investigate other food festivals & their sponsors to see what they have done to mitigate the problems encountered & how it was solved orl minimized.