Hakata Ramen - Shinsengumi
18315 Brookhurst St., #1
Fountain Valley, CA
(714) 962-8971
Cuisine:
Japanese, Noodle Bar, Noodles
August 25, 2006
Ramen at its finest!
This ramen house distinguishes itself through both the noodles and the service. Even though the staff is incredibly busy, they will hold the door open for you as you walk into the restaurant. Then, while you are eating, they always remember to ask if you need anything else or any extra noodles. Finally, when you pay and leave they all shout out their appreciation and hold the door open for you as you walk out. The staff is always friendly and fast and the noodle master is always diligently engrossed in his craft. All of this, which you would never get at a typical ramen place.
Again, at such a busy place, who would think a restaurant has time to care about how much oil, how much soup base, and how soft you want your noodles. Much less keep track of all the toppings you want and all the things you might want left out. Yet at this place, all of that is encouraged through their ordering sheet (for the lack of a better term) that they give you once you sit down to order. And through the dozens of times ive eaten here, each time soft noodles means a precisely soft texture. Each time heavy soup base means the soup will be exactly this salty. Ive never even felt the slightest lapse in precision each time ive been here.
The soup base is flavorful and the noodles taste great regardless of how hard or soft you want it. Now, the only knock one might find at this restaurant is if they prefer their pork slices (that come with every ramen) to come from a fattier and more tender portion. But overall, this ramen house serves up some quality food with great service at reasonable prices.
By the way, extra noodles at this ramen house are under a buck, and you can get extra noodles as many times as you want. So if you are really hungry or have a sudden fondness of carbs and disregard to everything Aktins, this place is the place to go!
Dishes I tried:
Gyoza
Tiny little bite sized dumplings that go perfectly with the garnishes (oil, vinegar, ginger) provided by the restaurant.

RL_Stine
06/04/2007so they used to have a sort of ramen challenge, you had to finish the first bowl and then 6 extra refills and youd get the refills free. so i had only ever heard of shin sen gumi for this reason from a friend, so when i went there i hadnt eaten all day and i kept ordering refills, i was suprised that it was actually good enough to make one want to eat more than 3 bowls. so i somehow ate all 7 bowls and the guy comes up to me and says,
“oh wow, if you had come a month ago you would have beaten this challenge we had, but we don’t do that anymore.”
i was in so much pain and i was so sad. and i had to pay the 6 dollars in refills. thats my story