Back in August, I noticed that several businesses were opening in the strip mall off of Convoy that houses Target and Costco Business (which BTW, has closed their "food court"). One of the places opening was Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai part of a huge chain which tracks its history to Kitakata in Fukushima and has several very popular shops in Orange County. The style of Kitakata Ramen is quite distinct; lighter, flat – curly noodles in a soy sauce based broth. Most "Rameniacs" that I know tend to use the word "lighter" when describing this style of ramen. I was quite interested to check them out and visited on the Monday after the restaurant's soft opening arriving right at the 5pm opening time.
Based on how busy I'd heard the Irvine and Costa Mesa locations are, I was surprised to see the place only half full. And the counter, where I was seated was totally empty.
Looking over the menu I decided to just try the "Kitakata Ramen" (regular – $14.75). Note, tamago here is extra, a $1.90 upcharge. I also ordered the Chicken Karaage – noted as "Juicy Fried Chicken" ($9.25) on the menu.
There was a bit of a wait for my food, which I'll write off as part of the soft opening process.
Ramen was the first to arrive. The broth is indeed lighter, though there were some nice globules of fat in it. I thought it was on the overly salty side and pretty one-dimensional in flavor, though that might be written off to the sodium overload. The chashu; which had a nice "fat cap", was thinly sliced, with a wonderful soy-porkiness to it and very tender. The tamago was also nicely cooked and marinated but was ice cold, a pet peeve of mine.
As for the noodles, they were indeed curly and quite "light" and bouncy, though these were over-cooked for my taste and were on the mushy side.
My karaage arrived after I had finished my ramen….I figure it's soft opening timing and hopefully will be resolved in the future.
I was not a fan of what I believe is the sesame-based sauce provided. The karaage was unevenly coated and quite mild in flavor. There were three crisp pieces and two very dry and tough pieces. When I turned those pieces over, I figured out why.
The pieces had been cut several times to check for doneness! Another pet peeve of mine.
So, this was almost twenty-six bucks for ramen and karaage: sheesh! The place was nicely staffed and the folks working were very nice. The place had filled up by the time I left.
I decided to return a few days later right at 11am for lunch. Like my previous visit, the place was very mellow when I arrived and seated at the counter. This time, I decided to try the Shio ramen.
I got the Mixed Vegetable Shio Ramen ($16.75) with an egg (again – $1.90). This time it seemed like my wait was even longer, but my bowl finally arrived.
This version came with a small "pile" of veggies – mostly bean sprouts, some carrots and spinach, etc…..for what seems to be a two dollar upcharge that's not really worth the price. The shio broth seemed even lighter than the shoyu version, less rich, but not as salty. For some reason, there was a pungency like that of white pepper that resonated with me. I preferred this broth to the shoyu version.
As before the chashu was tender, flavorful, and quite good.
The light, almost airy, noodles were cooked nicely this time. It seemed like the noodles were wider and even more curly on this visit.
And then I came across a "blob" at the bottom of the bowl.
Apparently some noodles were stuck together during the cooking process and melded into a hard, inedible ball of gluten madness. Oh man, what a bummer. I showed this to the young man working who was speechless and told me "sorry" and then walked away. Soon someone else brought me my check! So, perhaps I was in an alternate universe at that moment having lunch at Kita-"katai" Ramen?
In spite of some shortcomings, some of what I had was quite good. And I believe that Ban Nai is way ahead of what I call the "typical level B" ramen shops in San Diego, providing a good change of pace from all the Tonkotsu and Hakata style ramen in the area. And heck, my first visit to Santouka when they opened in San Diego was not very impressive either. Hopefully, they will keep getting better. We'll see in a couple of months.
Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai
7951 Othello Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon – Fri 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 10pm
Saturday 11am – 10pm
Sunday 11am – 9pm