KAITO

One of the best Tonkotsu ramen in Santa Cruz. The broth is so creamy and delicious. 10/10

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Hidden gem! Fantastic little Ramen place in the mall. Great food, great prices. Super nice employees. Eat here!!

What a wonderful little unassuming and modest Ramen restaurant inside a mall. We were passing through on a cold rainy day, having just spent hours at the Santa Cruz children’s museum right around the corner to let our little one get her wiggles out before a long drive back to the Sacramento region. We ordered an original bowl with extra noodles to share with a 4-year-old and she loved the broth, seafood, bamboo, and the pork (as did I). The gentleman at the counter is just so sweet as well. I love supporting what looks like a small family business here.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Phenomenal. Let's just start there. Koji Goto is a mastermind of piecing together an authentic Japanese plate despite a major change of location a number of years ago, covid, and the cumbersome nature of operating out of a mall food court. Don't let any of that keep you away- his food is the reason to order and then keep ordering. The ramen is perfectly balanced, the katsu curry is beyond words (as somebody who just spent a month in Japan with a partner who lived there for two years, trust us), and the takoyaki os delightful even for our littlest (not to mention the kara-age). Don't miss this spot- it will never have the ambience of a ocean front spot BUT if you want authentic superb Japanese food as you explore the Santa Cruz and take a break from the routine pub faire, come here. Plus you can always take it to-go for a local park or ocean front table or bench (right down 41st)!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The two ramen types my husband and I ordered tasted okay, but not good enough to order from in the future. Now we’ve found our meal made us both very sick. We will not be ordering from here again.

Food: 1

i have visited many ramen places as you may can check in my Google map review, and I surely can say here is my top3 ramen place i've tried in the US.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Atmosphere is good, inside capitola mall, next to target and ulta. Best authentic Japanese food, last time I got ramen, this time I got udon it has all the sauce on top once you get it, you mix it all up. Delicious and fills you up. Portions are great! Everything was Super good! Spent less than 20 for everything drink, food and dessert.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I miss thier last location BUT food is still great

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

I love their Ramen! I am from Hawaii and we love our Ramen noodles. This place has the freshest broth and noodles. I am going back today.

Unbelievable value for fresh quality Japanese food. 🍱

The ramen, curry, freshly rolled sushi 🍣 punched above its food court location weight class.

We’ll be back 😃

Don't order online! I don't rate this a 1/5 because every time I've ordered in person the food has been a bit overpriced for the quality but fine, but both my mom and I (two different dishes on separate occasions) have become violently ill after we ate food we ordered well ahead of time. I'm not sure why this disconnect is but figured sharing the experience would be valuable. I haven't recently ordered there (because of the food poisoning) so I'm not 100% certain this isn't just an issue of them going downhill, but nobody I know has complained about in person orders recently so my guess is it's just an online order issue...? Eaten here a few times before but between both our experiences I can't bring myself to go again.

Love the tonkotsu ramen and the noodle texture.

The Tonkotsu Ramen is pretty good, but the matcha boba tea is not. The owner seemed nice, but he didn't understand the problem. They should take it off the menu because it is the worst texture boba I've ever had, and the drink is coyingly sweet. There are too many good boba tea places in the area for that.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 3

Recommended dishes: Tonkotsu Ramen

I can't speak to the non veg options but the veggie ramen was rather bland. Barely any salt in the food. The broth was not creamy at all and the toppings were cold tofu, grated carrots, sprouts and lettuce. Wouldn't recommend for vegetarians.

Vegetarian options: Veggie ramen and vegan ramen

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Love you kaito

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5