Personally reviewed by the Southern California Restaurant Writer’s Association 1994 Maître ‘d of the Year/Former Food & Beverage Director for national hotels/Restaurant Franchisee Consultant. I’ve been coming to the Eastgate Plaza in Torrance for years. Some of you may remember the Hakata Ikkousha location as...Men Bei and then Ichiban Ramen. Well, times have changed and so has the tenant. The ramen craze has hit the Torrance area with Hakata Ikkousha from Japan. Hakata has several stores in Asia including Singapore, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Phillipines and Australia. This creative small ramen restaurant has been a big hit! As you enter, the Hakata Ikkousha staff greets you with a warm Japanese welcome. It becomes apparent that the staff really enjoys what they are doing and it shows in their work! Manager Rie Saito tells me, “One of the companies policies is to make the employee happy. Then, the employee will make the customer happy”. From the dedicated kitchen staff to the servers, Everyone has a smile on their face. That’s a key that most people don’t pick up on. If you go to a restaurant where the staff doesn’t have a smile on their faces, that could mean trouble. But, at Hakata Ikkousha the staff is alive and smiling throughout the evening. Our host this evening was restaurant manager Ms. Rie Saito. She carefully selected a menu for our tasting. Karaage (Special fried chicken)- This is one of Hakata’s signature appetizers. Selected chicken pieces are prepared with a crunchy finish. The consistency is excellent, as well as the flavor. The dipping salt helps add another depth of flavor. The Karaage is a must! Hitokuchi Gyoza- This is a specialty of Hakata. The Gyoza was perfectly cooked, with a golden brown finish. The light dough wrapping of the Gyoza was nice and crunchy. To add a little spice, there is a homemade Sriracha-style sauce. We prefer a Ponsu sauce that would be another great accompaniment. Tonkotsu Ramen (Standard)- Hakata’s #1 best seller. Rie Saito says that the broth actually takes 2 days to prepare! That is evident because the broth is smooth and flavorful. The ramen was cooked perfectly and the Cha-Shu was soft and melted in your mouth. One of the best Tonkatsu ramens we have tasted. Cold Shio Ramen (Limited until 9/30)- This was the surprise dish of the evening! Visually, a very stunning cold lemon ramen. This refreshing ramen is light and flavorful. This is a terrific summer item for those hot days that we have been having. Keep in mind that this item is only available through 9/30. We really enjoyed this cold ramen, a very nice summer item! We were very impressed with the total overall experience at Hakata Ikkousha. In the restaurant industry, they say that at times that service makes the food taste better. Well, at Hakata this may be true! Every food item is carefully prepared and is flavorful. From the karaage to the gyoza to the gold fried rice, these dishes help support the fantastic ramen dishes. Sure the ramen is the star here, but these other accompanying items are outstanding by themselves. Our recommendation is to give Hakata Ikkousha ramen a try, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with your experience. And, their staff will keep you smiling!More

My wife, myself, and a couple of friends from out of town were looking for a good ramen place nearby. Our first choice was a hole-in-the-wall and the wait was an hour! No thanks! Hakata Ikkousha was our next choice. Not a long wait on...a Saturday night! The ramen was pretty good. You can totally customize your fixins! The thing that caught my attention though was the fine selection of music playing on the house speakers. Sounded like authentic retro J-pop. Felt like I was in Japan! (Although I’ve never been to Japan!) 😂 I’d definitely go back there whenever I have a craving for good ramen! 🍜😋👍🏽 Highly recommended! 🤩More

My friend recommended this place and dropped by for dinner. The ramen is really good here and they offer some condiments to add to your soup. It’s a small restaurant with limited seating, so we had to seat at the bar area. The prices are...reasonable and they have good beer prices.More

Hakata Ikkousha Ramen is a very famous ramen chain in Japan and all over the world. It is fairly interesting, as each person is given a form for you to fill in. You select the soup base, the topping, other details about the soup base...and thickness of noodles, as well as side dishes.More

Some go for the ramen, however the other items on the menu are delicious too. Don't miss the goyza and the special sauce on the table and the fried chicken is out of this world. The staff is friendly and efficient. Brought back friends and...all where happy with the food and service.More

I love it! I would say it's the best in Torrance. The soup best is good which is not too salty. Staff is warm and service is quite efficiently.

A surprised finding. Strongly urged by friends to visit Hakata Ikkosha. We came as first customers on this Saturday morning. (Open at 11AM sharp) Welcomed by a classic Japanese greeting (or “yelling”)! As first customers of the Morning, we could enjoy the “flavored eggs” for...free. Ramen could have light taste(less salty) or normal (salty as usual which I don’t favor) and hard noodle texture (my favorite). These “choices” are rarely available in other Ramen restaurants. I love the taste and aroma of Hakata Pork Bones Ramen with flavored hanjuku egg ($7.90). Additional dishes ordered included: Hakata mouthful gyoza (10 pieces for $6.00, each piece was very small, but tasty) and Fried Chicken (3 pieces for $7.00, proper). Their service was responsive and cordial. Its setting: clean, simple and decent. We enjoyed the lunch very much! We’ll be back for more.More