Tired of the typical pastas served at the cafeteria, the sandwiches from Ike’s, the barbeque from J&J’s and itching to try something new? Let your taste buds explore some fine Japanese cuisine from Mitasu.
The Japanese restaurant just opened on Feb. 25 at 21265 Steven’s Creek Blvd, right across the street from campus, between the Quickly milk teashop and the Premier Off-Campus Bookstore.
Although the location is small, it has a fair number of tables and has great lighting with windows surrounding the restaurant.
The booths are a bright blue color and don’t seem to match the rest of the color scheme of the restaurant. The cutest chalk drawings on the wall give the place some character.
The staff is welcoming and friendly. If you have a party of five or larger, they leave water pitchers at your table.
There are three types of ramen to choose from: Tonkotsu Ramen, Tonkotsu Shoyu, and Spicy Tonkotsu.
For those who aren’t familiar with ramen, tonkotsu broth is a thick and cloudy white bones for a long time to give the soup base a   hearty pork flavor with a creamy consistency similar to milk or gravy.
Shoyu ramen broth is clear and
brown. It’s based on a chicken or vegetable stock with plenty of soy sauce added for a  tangy, salty, yet still fairly light taste.
All the ramen choices are reasonably priced, ranging from $10-12,  tax included.
The ramen broths are filling and do not have an overwhelmingly salty or artificial taste to them. The pork slices are soft and not too thickly sliced, the spicy tonkotsu broth is indeed spicy and all soups come with a beautiful soft-boiled egg.
If the toppings on the ramen aren’t enough, there is a wide selection of add-ons to choose from like kimchi, bamboo shoots, sweet corn, shrimp tempura and much more.
Mitasu offers a variety of cheap appetizers like gyoza, pork tonkatsu (breaded and deep-fried pork cutlet), takoyaki (deep-fried wheat-flour with diced octopus, pickled ginger, and green onion shaped into little balls) and garlic edamame beans.
If ramen is not your cup of tea, there are different types of salad and rice plates to pick from as well. Steamed rice, a salmon and ikura (Japanese salmon roe) bowl, a beef bowl, and a Japanese curry bowl complete the menu.
If you are interested in an affordable yet filling Japanese ramen meal and don’t want to stray too far away from campus, check Mitasu out.