Asahi Ramen was the first ramen house that I have been to. After watching Naruto eat ramen religiously I knew I had to try it out and I wasn’t disappointed.

Upon entering the restaurant, the waitresses will all (yes all of them) greet you and promptly seat you unless all the tables are full. They will bring you water with lemon and some pickled vegetables (usually cucumber) to start off with while browsing their menu.

The menu has a small variety of different dishes, but I always go for the ramen which generally includes noodles, sliced pork meats, half a boiled egg, sweetened bamboo, ground pork, lots of green onions and bean sprouts. I usually order the Miso Ramen, which includes all of the above in a miso flavor broth. The size of the bowls are huge and I can barely finish it even though I can eat a lot. Most of the bowl will be broth and noodles with a small amount of additional toppings unless you order a meaty ramen. Overall, the broths tend to be a little bit on the salty side so drinking lots of water will be a must. Just keep in mind that most people won’t be able to finish the entire bowl including all the broth.

Price of ramen bowls range from $6.50 to $8 and most other dishes will also fall in that price range. Definitely a great place to order to go as well because the quantity of the ramen bowls is enough for two meals.

As for parking, beware that parking along Sawtelle, especially during lunch and dinner hours, can be quite a pain. There is metered parking along the streets but it may be hard to find parking because there are several restaurant and food shops along that stretch of road. Metered parking is $0.25 per hour.

4 Stars for great service.

Its been a while since I have been there. I ordered Chasu ramen. You get a small plate of tsukemono. We got cucumbers in a kim chee like sauce. Its not hot or as strong real kim chee. The first thing that strikes me when my order arrives is that it is so visually appealing. The slices of pork are neatly arranged along the sides of the bowl. The pork was very lean. The bean sprouts,boiled half egg and the other condiment which I forgot the name but it is usually found in ramen are again neatly place in the own spot and green onions covers the bowl. The broth is good, not salty or too oily and the noodles are tasty. If you do not like a lot of pork, order the shoyu ramen. Its the same thing with less pork.

When choosing a ramen place it’s always good to choose one that’s really crowded and Asahi definitely gets crowded. Luckily we went a bit early to beat the dinner crowd and got a table pretty quickly.

It’s got the standard ramen selections and you can add extra noodles if you’re hungry, but the sizes was already pretty adequate. The ramen is pretty good – up there with some of the better ones, but probably not the best.

Parking can be a bit annoying around here, but doable if you circle the street a few times. Also it’s cash only so make sure you drop by the ATM (there’s a tomato bank about a block down) before coming here.