What is up with all these decent ethnic joints wanting to open up in midtown and surrounding areas? Gu's Bistro, Sweet Hut and now Raku... Ethnic restos belong on Buford Hwy and beyond, that's where the magic happens. But nooo, Raku has beaten them to the punch with opening their 2nd location at a fast n furious pace in the old shitty Burger Joe's spot. Man, that place was awful... I couldn't imagine now gnawing on a bloody medium rare ground meat flapjack and staring at the creastures coming and going at Stilettos next door. It doesn't exactly send out images of unicorns and rainbows, more like Fat Albert and Mushmouth. If you saw some of these scalawags I have seen, you wouldn't be able to speak either.
But anyways, Raku had the balls to come to hood and dreamed the dream of cheekans gone fried, when dopes were high, and wives worth beating, dreamed that Dancers Elite would never die, dreamed that Pouch would be forgiving... So, let's take a few bites and hopefully they aren't as Les Miserables as some would speculate. Ok, that some would be me.
Takoyaki. Octopus balls. They were similar to the ones at their original location... Large. I kinda wanted to string them up with a brass chain and hang them from my truck's hitch ball. They were decent, one piece of octo smushed inside some minced fish filler putty and deep fried. The bonito flakes didn't really do their wavy dance because of all the sweet sauce and kewpie mayo on it cooled it down before it got to the table. I don't get why the really bad iceberg lettuce salad was on the plate.
Yakisoba. WTF is this... Did they find this in the trash? A hobo would think twice about eating this. This was pretty rank. All the veggies were frozen. I mean like Kroger frozen veggies in the bag. You know how frozen broccoli stems taste after you nuke it? Waterlogged and freezer burned. This dish was a total failure.
Tonkotsu Ramen. Pretty much the same thing at the original Duluth location minus the soft boiled egg. The instant broth tastes just too packaged, watery and bland. It just doesn't have the collagen/gelatin or the rich complexity that you find in a real homemade tonkotsu broth. I like that they use the straight noodles vs the curly. It is a contender for the best tonkotsu in this town? Fuck no, but when you are really jonsing for a fix and don't want to drive all over town and it's available all day unlike some places that is only available one day for a couple of hours because it's hip, this will do... If you're really desperate, on meth or oblivious, of course. I got the spicy version but had them put the chili paste on the side. I wanted to do a taste test between the two.
After chili paste. Still not spicy enough. But here's something for the future... There's a combo meal on there, they don't push it or suggest it, but you can get a choice of ramen, a rice dish and a salad. Too, bad I saw it too late because that's basically what I ordered in full portions at full price. I'm sure they're a way smaller portion... But that woulda been fine with me because most of it went to waste.
Spicy Pork Donburi. Big heaping portion of crap in a bowl... Pork bits were ok but not spicy enough. It's not that great but it will definitely fill you up. It lacks character, overall, POWs had better rice bowls. Ok, it's not that bad but it wasn't great either, it's very Panda Express-esque.
The one thing I do miss from the Duluth location is their gianormous tonkatsu... That was their best shit, I really liked their tonkatsu. Sadly, they don't have it down here. The ramen bowls and rice bowls were ok I guess, I mean you really can't complain about this too much (unless you're the pouch) with it being conveniently located in town. If I ever get drunk enough up in this piece, I might be tempted to be triple dog dared into going next door for some bootilicious action.
810 Marietta St
Atlanta, GA 30318
(404) 500-1908
http://www.rakuramen.com/
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