The best ramen in Los Angeles

One of Tokyo's best ramenyas now has two Westfield-anchored locations in Century City and Arcadia. Day and night, crowds line up for bowls of chef Satoshi Ikuta’s flavorful, dense tonkotsu broth—also available with spice, black garlic and basil. Unlike Tsujita, the soup here manages to feel lightweight despite the richness, and Nagi's vegetarian broth means that those who don't eat can get in on the fun as well. No matter what, be sure to save room for at least one of Nagi's appetizers, particularly the unlisted pan-fried snack gyoza; when available, the latter arrives in an irresistible crispy dumpling skirt.

Much ink has been spilled over Tsujita’s tsukemen, the traditional dipping ramen where the broth arrives separately from the noodles. Tsujita stans wax poetic about how kurobuta pork bones are simmered for no less than 60 hours to create the dipping broth, how the noodles are thick, chewy and dense, and how the wait for a seat can fluctuate between tolerable and formidable (unless you’re dining solo, in which case you’ll usually be seated at the counter in no more than 15 minutes). Suffice to say, in a rare instance of hype living up to reality, all that ink bleeds true: This is the best tsukemen in the city, whether you’re dining at the original Sawtelle location or indulging in the fattier, maximalist version offered across the street at Tsujita Annex. These days, you’ll also find outposts in the Arts District, Pasadena and San Gabriel. The dipping-style broth here is the one to which you’ll forever compare all others, much to your chagrin. Put your name down and wait. It’ll be worth it.

This famous tonkotsu chain from Tokyo has landed in a sleek ground-floor space of a Larchmont apartment building. Here, the ramen noodles are made fresh in-house everyday. First-timers should order the signature Tokyo tonkotsu, where the long-simmered, velvety pork broth offers a surprisingly complex flavor profile, as well at least a couple of the appetizers: Of the many we've tried, none seem like afterthoughts, from the crab-rich potato salad to the build-your-own spicy maguro wraps. An excellent, well-balanced tsukemen uses springy, alkaline thick-cut noodles courtesy of Keizo Shimamoto (inventor of the ramen burger). Variations in smoked dashi, mazemen, and spicy tan tan offer just as much flavor as the original, though they can't upstage the tonkotsu—Tonchin's very-much-worthy claim to fame. And save room for dessert: There's kakigori and a delightful Tokyo banana-inspired sundae on the menu.

Creamy, rich and utterly delicious, the spicy tonkotsu broth at this pint-sized Thai-owned noodle shop located a few doors down from Sapp Coffee Shop is one of the best ramen bowls in the city. Beneath subtle flickers of heat, you’ll find a complex blend of spices and a silky texture that’s supercharged with flavor. Susuru also serves a lighter chicken-based shoyu, a killer vegan ramen broth that integrates two different kinds of miso and a khao soi ramen that reimagines the traditional Thai curry dish into a luxurious coconut milk broth topped with chicken, soft-boiled egg, pickled mustard greens, red onions, chili oil and a nest of crispy fried noodles. If you’re feeling particularly hungry, add one of the rice bowls, sushi items or appetizers to round out your meal.

This bourgeois Beverly Hills ramen spot comes via Ryu Isobe, the founder of Tatsu Ramen, who started Kazan after selling off his original concept (and watching its quality promptly go somewhat downhill). Though the menu prices are steep, the quality of broth and housemade noodles stand out, and there’s even a first-rate vegan option. Befitting its luxury area code, Kazan’s most popular soba ramen comes topped with truffle oil—an unnecessary act of gilding the lily in our book. Nevertheless, this brick-lined, chicly decorated ramenya by Isobe is worth a visit, both for its more traditional broths as well as its vegan and creamy fusion offerings.

After a sip of the clear, flavorful namesake broth at Ramen Josui, you’ll quickly understand why this Torrance ramen shop is typically packed at regular mealtimes. Made with pork and chicken and finished with a touch of fish, the mellow, well-balanced soup serves as the perfect base for Hakata-style thin noodles, melt-in-your-mouth chashu pork, bamboo shoots, dried seaweed and green onions. While I also enjoyed their straightforward miso and nutty tantanmen options, my go-to order here is still the house signature—it’s the kind of lighter, nuanced bowl of ramen you’d be hard-pressed to find outside of the South Bay. Josui also caters to plant-based eaters with a veganized shoyu topped with mapo tofu and a creamy soy-based miso option.

One of Japan’s most popular ramen chains has landed in a South Bay strip mall after opening several locations in the OC. Unlike most of L.A.’s tonkotsu joints, Kitakata’s specialty is a clear, flavorful pork-based shoyu broth paired with shina soba—a wavy, softer Chinese-style noodle—and tender slices of chashu. For a spice kick, order the green chili shio ramen, which swaps the soy base out for salt and adds a pile of scallions on top. The tiny strip mall joint also serves excellent gyoza and other sides, plus plain and spicy miso, tan tan and vegan broth options. In our eyes, however, what makes Kitakata a countywide destination is the signature shoyu bowl, as well as the unique tsukemen, which uses a sesame-inflected dashi shoyu in place of a usually fatty dipping broth. On weekends, add yourself to the Yelp waitlist ahead of time to cut down on your wait.

Right next to Studio City's always-crowded Easy Street Burgers, chef Shanshan Liu Estacio is serving some of L.A.’s most flavorful, affordable vegan sushi and ramen. Aside from optional egg add-on, everything at Gokuku is 100% plant-based. Creations like the Salmon Lover (made with a tapioca-based fish substitute), Dynamite Shrimp and Gokoku’s take on a classic California roll would fool even the biggest sushi roll fan, and the rich, sunflower seed-based broth here is one of the best bowls of ramen in the city, vegan or not. Estacio rounds out her menu with rice plates, a killer take on garlic noodles and plenty of appetizers—and while the dizzyingly large menu might offer dozens of options for your meal, no need to worry: Everything’s pretty great.

If you’ve never tried chicken baitang, this newer Mid-Wilshire strip mall joint is a worthy introduction to this lighter, still quite flavorful ramen broth. Run by a chef who trained at Menya Takeichi (one of Japan’s most famous chicken ramen chains), Laki Ramen offers both spicy and regular versions of chicken baitang, along with tsukemen and a delicious vegan ramen option made with soymilk and mushrooms. The chicken baitang has a slightly thicker consistency than the more ubiquitous pork tonkotsu, but the springy noodles and excellent toppings balance out each bowl. As of now, we’ve yet to find better predominantly chicken ramen in Los Angeles. (Note: The broth here still uses pork bones, so it’s not completely chicken-based.)

This minimalist, nouveau ramen den has us wondering where it’s been all our lives. Combining a reverence for broth with creativity for toppings, Iki Ramen has fast become our destination for a unique bowl. This mini-chain in Koreatown and Hollywood offers traditional ramen—shio, shoyu, tonkatsu—but even those manage to deviate from the norm with light, bright and nuanced broths. When you really want to mix it up (and we suggest you do), go for options like the yuzu shio, which gets a zing from citrus; the A5 Wagyu variety, which is laced with richness from the umami-packed beef fat; and the brothless mazemen, which can be ordered with uni. And we know you’re here for the ramen, but you might as well opt for seafood-studded donburi rice bowls and a hand roll or two—because at Iki, it’s hard to go wrong with anything.

Newly opened in Palms, this Tokyo-based ramen chain will make you forget all about L.A.’s obsession with tsukemen and tonkotsu. The signature offering is a light, dashi-based broth made from dried fish, seaweed, scallop and pork fat, which you can top with a traditional chashu-and-veggie assortment, a pile of sukiyaki-style beef or extra-large portions of chashu. Regardless of which style you order, all bowls here come with thick, slightly wavy noodles made with whole grain flour. Interestingly enough, the most popular item is actually Hinodeya’s spicy miso, a ginger-forward but otherwise unremarkable rendition of the commonplace soup base. While I would still recommend the house ramen for first-timers, seafood lovers shouldn’t ignore the Hamaguri, an excellent, particularly umami-forward dashi broth topped with littleneck clams.

This Japanese chain has several stateside locations, including an L.A. outpost located in a Mitsuwa food court—prompting some to refer to Santouka as the McDonald’s of ramen joints. But the analogy does a disservice to the noodle spot: This certainly is fast-food ramen, but a bowl of Santouka’s shio ramen is far superior to any old box of mechanically separated chicken nuggets. The broth is a blend of pork stock—pork bones simmered for over 20 hours—and seafood, seasoned crucially with a bit of salt to create a mild, almost creamy base. Ultra-chewy noodles and a pickled Japanese plum complete every old-school bowl, and even after all these years (Santouka first opened in 2006), the ramen here still hits the spot.

For a straightforwardly delicious bowl of tonkotsu in Pasadena and Silver Lake (plus another outpost down in Costa Mesa), you can’t go wrong with a visit to Tatsunoya. Originally from Fukuoka, the ancestral home of tonkotsu, the chain’s two L.A. outposts serve a decadent, crowd-pleasing rendition of fatty pork-based broth. You can choose from rich (koku) or light (jun) options, or add some heat with the spicy tonkotsu base. Each bowl comes with the basics: Soft-boiled egg, dried seaweed, green ions and chashu. The menu is straightforward and simple, but high in quality—with an option to try their house-made silky coconut flan for dessert, which is an option always worth going for.

Tucked away in a Marina del Rey strip mall, Venice Ramen’s name is misleading in more ways than one: Chef-owner Hideko Mochizuki actually hails from Tokyo, where he already operates four successful ramen shops. At Venice Ramen, he takes an old-school approach to the art of ramen. The shop makes noodles from scratch in two styles (thin and straight or thick and wavy); serves a more traditional tonkotsu in both shoyu and shio versions that feels light-years away from the fattier broths more easily found around town; and most notably, opts for hard-boiled eggs steeped in soy sauce for several hours over the more commonplace jammy soft-boiled eggs. Beyond tonkotsu, Venice Ramen also serves an equally worthy chuka (clear chicken- and pork-based) broth with the thicker, wavier noodles, plus a straightforward plant-based option topped with bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots and plenty of other veggies.

This ramenya with locations in the Arts District and Culver City originally hails from Tokyo, where Afuri is best known for its signature yuzu shio broth, plus other unique takes on the classics. The tonkotsu-shio blend marries the best of both pork and salt flavors, and the tantanmen crafted with hazelnut brings a nutty, velvety aroma and flavor that's downright praiseworthy. Our tip: Opt for one of the varieties topped with tart yuzu oil, which cuts through some of the broths’ creaminess in a pleasant and balanced fashion. 

Also located in Sawtelle Japantown, the unofficial ramen capital of L.A., Mogumogu specializes in mazemen, a dry ramen that gets its flavor from a chili and garlic soy sauce blend. Though they also offer the tried-and-true tonkotsu ramen, the move here is one of their mazemen bowls, which come to the table (or in your takeout box) showered in finely minced chives and scallions. Paired with a runny egg, you mix all the toppings together with the sauce, producing a concentrated flavor explosion that’s worthy of an occasional divergence from your normal go-to ramen spot.

The only curry ramen specialist in town, this Sawtelle ramenya gives the area’s half-dozen other noodle shops a run for their money with its velvety rich broth whose viscosity straddles the line between soup and a conventional, thicker Japanese curry. Topped with a soft-boiled egg, a few slices of chashu and bean sprouts, their chicken broth-based ramen bowl is a surprisingly welcome addition to the most ramen-saturated block in town. They also offer a curry tsukemen if you’re in a dipping (rather than sipping) mood, as well as a vegan ramen option.

Upon entering this Hakata-based chain, you’ll be met with a chorus of “Irashaimase.” You’ll then look over the order sheet, where you can customize your bowl to your exact specifications—choose the intensity (i.e. saltiness) of your broth, the doneness of your noodles and toppings (egg, wontons, spare ribs, garlic ships, even cod roe)—and combine chicken rice balls, deep fried cheese egg rolls and gyoza additions. Half the fun is ordering too many toppings on your first visit, which will arrive one after another in a parade of bowls, and thankfully it’s easy to join this parade: Shin-Sen-Gumi has a few locations spread across the city, including Little Tokyo, West L.A., Downtown, Alhambra and Gardena.

Before “plant-based” became a meaningless buzzword, this Tokyo-based vegan noodle chain had already begun making kombu-based broth in 2011. With three locations in L.A. (Little Tokyo, Redondo Beach and Long Beach), Rakkan Ramen offers an array of light, flavorful soups with whimsical gem-based names like Garnet (miso-flavored), Pearl (shio-based) and Amber (soy-based). Yes, there are vegan options, but even if you’re primarily a meat-eater, you can come away from Rakkan feeling satisfied, particularly with the Spicy Garnet topped with egg and chashu pork.

Despite all of the city’s ramen shops, one of the earliest, chain-based tonkotsu specialists is still one of the best: Jinya offers a full slate of pork-based ramen, all of which smack strong with not only pork, but also what someone might tell you is an “industrial” amount of dashi and dried fish; purists can order the Tonkotsu Black for a garlicky and straightforward approach to this soup; for the adventurous, there’s the Tonkotsu Spicy, which stays true to its name. Of course, if you’re not into tonkotsu at all, Jinya also offers one of our favorite meatless bowls in the city: the spicy creamy vegan, made garlicky and studded with tofu, greens and sesame. Locations include Downtown, Studio City, Burbank, Santa Monica and an express location at Hollywood and Highland.

This Valley ramen standout makes some of the most delicious, crowd-pleasing noodles in town, from the spicy Reddo flavored with chili oil and sesame paste to the vegan-friendly, plant-based Burraku and Gurin bowls. Hand rolls and carpaccio round out the starter menu, which offers tried-and-true favorites like garlic edamame and spicy tuna with crispy rice.

Arguably the most popular locally owned ramen spot in L.A.—with locations in Silver Lake, K-town, Highland Park (née Ramen of York), Downtown, Santa Monica and Long Beach, with more on the way—Silverlake Ramen consistently draws lines for its craveable tonkotsu. Start, though, with a light bite—try the cucumber salad with slivers of crab, sprouts, sesame seed and house vinaigrette—before moving onto heartier Japanese staples. Yes, there are options like a California roll on the menu, but stick with the house specialty: spicy tonkotsu ramen boasting thick cuts of pork belly, green onions, spinach, bean sprouts, dried seaweed, garlic sauce and chewy noodles, all bathed in a rich pork broth cooked for 16 hours.

Consistency at this beloved spot with four locations in Los Angeles—and a ravenous, devoted following—isn’t what it used to be, but Daikokuya still deserves a spot in your ramen line-up. Regardless of which locale you pick, a wraparound counter usually faces the open kitchen and provides a social atmosphere to dig into piping hot bowls of flavorful, porky broth and chewy noodles. Chijire-style egg noodles—served in varying firmness—sit in a rich tonkotsu soup and come topped with slices of kurobuta pork belly. Fans of accoutrements can amp it up with kotteri-style: boiled egg, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts and green onions, or go big with a ramen combo adding rice bowls topped with eel, pork cutlets or tuna. Add an order of pan-fried pork gyoza to make the wait on weekends even more worthwhile.