Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai - Irvine

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.