Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai - Irvine

Reviews

• AL

  andrea lim

  Dec 23, 2025
  2.0
  The workers here are not equipped to handle the lunch crowd rush, so do not do not come here for lunch break if you work. They take forever to clean the tables and forever to serve food.
• CW

  Cory Woods

  Dec 23, 2025
  5.0
  Fire vegan ramen - busy spot but sat at the bar with just me and still felt like I was in the restaurant. They could put my bowl back on the shelf lol
• CC

  Cindy Chen

  Dec 19, 2025
  4.0
  The pros: the textures of the food here is amazing. The cucumber salad has a lovely crunch, the noodles are springy, the chashu is soft, and the karage is soft and juicy. Whoever designed this menu was definitely a texture eater. In addition, the sauces that come with the sides like karage are pretty good. The cons: oh man, where do I start. - the cucumber salad is the worst cucumber salad I have ever had the displeasure of eating. It tastes as if someone sliced up a raw cucumber, sprinkled some chili powder on top of it, poured a bit of sauce over it, and served it up. No marinating, nothing. - the Tonkatsu Ramen broth is extremely, extremely salty. Not very rich, which is nice, but sooooo salty. It was impossible to drink the broth. - You aren't allowed to replace/trade items (e.g. corn, seaweed, egg, green onion, etc) in your Ramen, even if the item you want to replace it with is cheaper than the original item. They only allow you to remove items. If you want something else thats not in the original ramen, you have to add money. No exceptions for allergies or anything. - The karage was incredibly bland. The only way to get any sort of taste was to dipped it in the sauce. The sauce was good, but sometimes, you just want karage on its own, y'know? - While the texture of the ramen was amazing, the fact that the taste was lacking meant I ate a lot slower, which, in turn, meant the noodles got soggy and lost the nice texture. It was a vicious cycle. Overall, this place is great for people that care more about texture than taste, but you gotta eat fast, or you'll lose that too.
• JC

  Jerry Chen

  Dec 19, 2025
  4.0
  Where do I start? This place isn't bad by any means, a lot of people seem to come here and enjoy it, but in my opinion, whoever made the menu is more of a texture eater rather than a flavor eater. The karaage is wonderfully crispy, the ramen noodles are bouncy, and the chashu almost melts in your mouth. However at the same time, the karaage is bland (which is admittedly largely covered by the pretty decent sauce it comes with) and the broth in the ramen lacks a large depth of flavor that I'd expect from ramen and mainly just tastes salty with something behind it. The service is great, staff is friendly and quick. I have nothing to complain about the atmosphete either. I do question the decision to not allow us to change toppings for other toppings of the same price, but otherwise, this place is alright. Not sure I'd come back, but i don't regret coming here.
• KR

  K Rrr

  Dec 1, 2025
  2.0
  Service was a little slow but fine and the restaurant had a pleasantly bright wood atmosphere. The kitakata ramen, however, did not have a very flavourful broth or toppings, the latter of which was also very limited in variety.

Frequently Asked Questions About Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai - Irvine