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Ramen Tatsu-Ya on South Lamar

4.7 982 votes

1234 S. Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX

(512) 893-5561

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Ramen Tatsu-Ya on South Lamar # 33 Austin Restaurant
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Ivan Collins Last updated on Dec 07, 2021 by

I met a client at Ramen Tatsu-Ya for lunch last week. I had heard a lot about this relative newcomer to the Austin dining scene and wanted to try the premium ramen experience. I was not disappointed. My friend had dined there before and helped guide me through the menu. The experience was a unique combination of what seemed like ancient culinary secrets mixed with modern technology. We booked through Resy and ordered from our phones using a QR code that actually processed the entire check vs. the just the typical viewing of a menu. 


From the Menu

For lunch, we shared Sweet and Sour Yodas, which are fried Brussel sprouts seasoned with apricot vinegar and curry spice. I’ve seen fried sprouts on a lot of menus lately. These were seasoned well with a tangy crunch and probably the best version I’ve ordered in recent memory. We also split the Karaaga appetizer, a Japanese-style chicken, twice-fried and served with a side of garlic aioli. I didn’t think anything could rival the crunch of those sprouts, but the Karaaga, in fact, surpassed them. The Karaaga dish shared well and the aioli was a nice touch. We each ordered a ramen bowl as our entree. I ordered the Ol Skool (because it sounded like a classic) and threw “Spicy bomb” on the side which looked like some type of spicy curry paste. The only thing I can compare it to is a pho noodle soup which uses a smaller noodle and what I would call comparatively boring ingredients. Tatsu-ya does it up properly with a half an egg perfectly cooked so the yolk is slightly gooey but still edible with chopsticks. The dish includes chicken shoyu broth, chashu, ajitama, menma, scallion, white onion, nori, and pepper.  Honestly, I don’t know what several of those ingredients are, but you can see in the image below they look fantastic and I can vouch that they taste even better. My friend ordered the Veggie bowl featuring soy and mushroom broth, tofu, brussels sprouts, corn, menma, woodear mushroom, and greens.

You can see those in action below

Ok Skool on the left, Karaaga in the middle and Veggie on the right

The Vibe at Ramen Tatsu-ya on South Lamar
The ambiance definitely adds to the personality of the Tatsu-ya dining experience. The place is hip, fun, social and very energetic. There’s cool music pumping at the hostess stand, a large communal table that goes through the center of the restaurant, a few somewhat private seats in the corners, and a row of what sort of looks like bar seating in front of the open kitchen The outdoors is less glamorous and looks mostly like overflow. I imagine at night with the heat lamps it’s still pretty cool. All in all it was a great dining experience full of energy and intrigue. These guys are landing in the upper half of our top 25 list because the experience is exceptional and the price is right. The total check was only $52 after tip. Sure, that’s more than we paid for ramen in college, but hey it’s the new era of inflation and Ramen Tatsu-ya was definitely worth it.  I can't vouch for the other locations yet, but have heard they're equally compelling.

Interior of Ramen Tatsu-ya on South Lamar after the lunch rush

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