Closing Time – Santouka (West LA)

Mitsuwa Marketplace/Santouka
3760 Centinela Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90066
TEL: (310) 398-2113

Normally when you’re eating in a food court, you’ve found yourself in a situation where your options, although numerous, makes you feel like you’re just settling for what’s there. Rarely there is any eatery which would make me want to venture into a marketplace/plaza/mall to just eat at a food court. Well Santouka is one of those rare occasions.

Santouka is located inside of Mitsuwa Plaza. If you’re not familiar with Mitsuwa, it’s a Japanese marketplace that specializes in Japanese wares and such. You can walk out of there with groceries, books, air freshener for your fast and furious import car, and rent some videos if you feel the need. However, if you leave there without having Santouka ramen, then it just might be a wasted trip.

On the list of all things ramen, Santouka is firmly in the #2 FTP ramen spot, not that far behind Daikokuya. Yes, we know that they both serve different kinds of ramen, but as a food experience, there’s no difference in types for us.

For the numerous times we’ve eaten there we’ve been greeted with consistent service and consistent quality food. My personal favorite is their salt ramen. The broth is flavorful, the noodles are a good firmness and the pork is near perfect. And very much like other ramen places, you can also opt to get a rice bowl on the side filled with options such as pork or salmon roe. Fortunately, the ramen bowl is of good size to where you’re not going to struggle too much to finish both.

Santouka operates the same as the other restaurants there at Mitsuwa: Monday to Friday from 11:00AM until 7:30PM. However, there is a caveat for this because just like with any other restaurant, food is subject to availability. But you may be asking yourself, “Don’t they have a grocery there they can get food from?” To which I can answer, “Dude, I don’t know.”

*Pocky is not included in the meal, but it should be. You can get it at the grocery store next door. Pocky FTW!!!