Tatsunoya

Ahhhh, I now understand why Tatsunoya only has 4 reviews on Unilocal — they don’t have an actual restaurant here!!! They’re only here for the Ramen Festival and I got to try it when they came to SF today!!! Such an honor!
It was delicious!!! The meat was a little well-​done but still good. The ramen noodles were yummy but it was still lumped together from being dumped from boiling water to bowl so quickly, I think. But for $ 8, you HAVE to slurp up the last of the soup, even with the layer of oil over it to make it worth it.
I promise the 4-​hour wait at the Ramen Festival didn’t take away from the rating at all.

3.5 to 4 overall
Managed to catch Tatsunoya’s 2012 visit since I needed some groceries from Mitsuwa. No line, so I lucked out. The broth was rich, creamy, and porky (without being off-​putting) and had a great mouth-​feel. It wasn’t too watery nor saucy and had the right level of saltiness. The noodles were the thinnest and crunchiest I’ve had from any ramen shop before, and the ratio of noodles to pork was maybe 15:1. Not sure I loved that (texture nor quantity) so much. That was a major bummer since the pork was so tender and was basically lost in the web of noodles. The 2 measly slices were so thin and had a lot of fat in them, so the soft slices against the crunchy mound of noodles (and crunchy bean sprouts — meh) — no chance. I want to dock another star because of the unfair ratio of noodles to meat, but it just tasted really good though. I’ll let them slide this time. The broth had a lot of tiny, translucent bits of minced onion which added a nice contrast. I wish they had more or different toppings though, since I’m not a fan of bean sprouts in my ramen. They just had chopped scallions, bean sprouts, 1 sheet of seaweed, and 2 skinny pieces of pork.
I guess after thinking back:
4 stars broth & texture/​flavor of the pork
3 stars toppings — too many bean sprouts!
2 stars ratio of noodles to pork
One of the best tasting tonkotsu broths I’ve had so I have mixed feelings about Tatsunoya.

Harry, I’ll tell you where we should go, this little place that the beautiful women instinctively flock to like the salmon of Capistrano, but I’m not talking about Aspen Colorado my friend, oh no. I’m talking about the one weekend a year when this little ramen shop opens up to pour out bowl after bowl of hot delicious shoyu ramen. There are two versions that are basically the same exact thing one bowl being around $ 9 and the other around $ 11. The difference, the $ 11 bowl has 6 instead of 3 slices of pork.
I really picked the right day to do a little grocery shopping, I’m so glad that Grandma was in town and really needed to get her Japanese fix. I was really excited for the Santouka Ramen when I first got there I thought about it the entire drive there. It’s in the same food court but the line, oh that line was calling my name. Nearly 30 people deep when we first got there but it had died down a bit when we were done shopping.
It’s salty and porky and savory and just goooood to the last bite ramen. I’ll be perfectly honest. I’m going to be in the area again tomorrow and if you’re there don’t be surprised if I stop in for another bowl. I’m not really sure I want to have to wait another year or two.
They are only there until the 18^th of September. So don’t wait around because I was told this was the first time in two years that they had been back.
Ok well I told you on day one, you have the rest of the weekend to make the right decision.
Ps. It’s cash only so stop by the bank, or empty that little piggy to go buy some piggy flavored soup. Who am I to judge, just do what you do to get cash.

Comes for one week of a year, please come more :’(
I can’t get over the melt in your mouth cha siu and rich pork bone broth with firm noodles and a hint of spicy miso on top of the bean sprouts; the way it was supposed to be. But I guess, Shinsengumi fills the fantasy for the time being. That reminds me, I should go again tomorrow.

Ramen flavored with pork and win.
Only in town for one week out of the year, Tatsunoya is easily one of the highlights of Mitsuwa’s kyushu and okinawa festival. A simple, yet rich tonkotsu style broth that strikes a nearly perfect balance of salty, porky, savory, and porky (yes, i know i said it twice). This place easily is at/​near the top of my lists of great ramen.