Sushi Ramen House
25260 La Paz Road Suite A
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
There was not much good that came out of Katie's last place of employment. She had to deal with an inept division head, her direct supervisor overtly harassed her, and the so-called human resource department sat on their hands while a scathing write-up, which definitely had the tone of being more like a personal attack that had little to do with her job performance, was written and rewritten three times by this bungling management team.
It was time to leave this train wreck of a company behind. The one bright spot that Katie took out of that horrible one and a half year experience was that she made some pretty good friends there. People she has kept in contact with since she left. One of those people was Mazi and his recently wed wife, Marita. We see them frequently with our sporadic walks and dinner afterward. They even introduced us to this restaurant, Sushi Ramen House in Laguna Hills.
Located in the same shopping plaza as Ironwood, Cecilia's, Villa Roma, and Heidelberg Bakery, Sushi Ramen House took over for another Japanese restaurant in early 2019. In those 15 months, they have now garnered a four and a half star rating, with over 200 reviews. Pretty good for a restaurant that is easy to overlook with their much more visible and highly regarded restaurant neighbors.
We decided to forgo our walk with Mazi and Marita on a rather chilly Thursday evening and instead met for dinner at Sushi Ramen House. This small corner restaurant has about 10 to 15 tables, many of which were filled during our visit. The dining room vibe is what I'd call sleek, with its darkly painted ceilings and walls, and sparse decor. The menu predictably offers plenty in the way of ramen and sushi, but there are also 21 appetizers, salads, and bowls to choose from. Let's check out the food.
Katie and I really just ordered this California Roll ($6.50) because we were hungry and knew it was going to come out faster than our entrees. A little something to tide us over. This was your basic California roll that you've had all over with imitation crab, cucumber, and a smidge of avocado wrapped up around rice and seaweed. Nothing special.
In hindsight, we probably could have done without the average California roll above, because the ramen came out pretty quickly. Katie had this Chicken Ramen ($11.95). This is made up of chicken broth with sliced chicken, half an egg, green onion, and noodles. It also usually comes with fungus and bamboo, but she held off on those. She liked this ramen but was not wowed by it. It was very middle of the road and she's had better. It did end up satisfying her ramen craving on this evening.
Mazi and Marita both got the Tonkotsu Ramen, which is a pork-based broth and joined in the bowl by a half an egg, green onion, noodles, and simmered pork. No bamboo or fungus for them either. I had this the one other time we came here and found it to be pretty solid, although I am by no means an expert when it comes to ramen. I liked the thicker broth and found the pork to be pretty tender. Like Katie, I was not too fond of the egg though. As for Mazi and Marita, this is what they get every time they visit Sushi Ramen House. It's right near their house and they find it's perfect on the rather chilly evenings we have been having lately.
I'm not really into ramen, so I decided to go my own route and try one of their bowls. This Spicy Tuna and Shrimp Rice Bowl ($11.95) was larger than I was expecting. Half was spicy tuna and the other half was tempura-like shrimp which had a sweetness to the sauce on top of it, kind of like honey walnut shrimp, but not as sweet. This bowl was fine, but kind of awkward. On one side you have the cold and softened tuna and the other was the warmed and crunchy shrimp. I'm all for contrast in my meals, but this was a little too much. I'd probably just get all shrimp next time.
Katie made a very late decision to order one more thing, the Spicy Tuna with Crispy Rice ($6.50) off of the appetizer portion of the menu. It was probably the best thing I had all evening. I really liked the contrasts of the crispy rice, the smooth sliced avocado, and the soft spicy tuna perched on top. I could have eaten a couple more of these in no time flat.
Rereading what I have written above, it sounds a bit harsher than I intended it to. Sushi Ramen House is fine, but it's not going to blow you away. It's like the restaurant that you go to if you want some ramen or sushi, but don't want to veer too far from home. Not really destination dining, but it will do in a pinch. The few times we have been here the service has been very good and the kitchen gets the food out in a very timely manner. I'm glad Katie's old place of employment is a thing of the past, but I'm also happy that it gave us the opportunity to spend some time with our new friends Mazi and Marita.
Out of five dollars, (because Lagna Hills is where Aloe Blacc the musician grew up, and his first hit was, "I Need a Dollar,") five being best to zero being worst, Sushi Ramen House gets 2.5 dollars.
Sushi Ramen House does not have a website, but you can find info about them on their Yelp page here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sushi-ramen-house-laguna-hills
No comments:
Post a Comment