Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Best Ramen in Atlanta at Yakitori Jinbei

The Noodles

Yakitori Jinbei has the best Tonkotsu ramen in Atlanta. Heck, I'll even say they have the best ramen in Atlanta period, not Umaido, not Shoya Izakaya, not Taka Sushi, nor any other places. They have consistently made their ramen to the highest quality for dinner. 

I have to specifically mention dinner. I have been to Yakitori Jinbei for lunch and tried their ramen. It didn't have the same type of quality the dinner ramen had. I don't know why. I wonder if they have a different chef preparing the lunch ramen. Or I wonder if they use leftover ingredients from the day before. Nevertheless, I recommend you guys to go in for dinner and eat the ramen. 

Recently, they've added carrots and cabbage in their ramen. At first, I was like, WTF? I hate carrots in Asian noodle soups. Carrots always reminded me of the terrible noodles I had at Doc Chey's. Luckily, I didn't have to worry one bit with Yakitori Jinbei. Even with carrots, it still tasted perfect.

Best ramen in Atlanta

They also have other noodle dishes such as udon and soba. Their curry udon tastes like soupy, Japanese curry rice. I liked it, but it felt too heavy for me. In terms of noodles, their tonkotsu ramen reigns supreme. They do have solid shoyu ramen though. But if you can get their vastly superior tonkotsu ramen, why would you get any other type of ramen? 

Curry udon, it tastes like good Japanese curry rice, except without the rice and add the noodles. 
Protein Does a Body Good

Their other claim to fame seems to be the yakinikus. They use fresh young chicken from the local farm, they make their sauces in house, and they use some special coal imported from Japan to grill them. They grill the yakitoris (grilled chicken) perfectly. They even include a bit of char for texture and taste. It also falls off the bone and the homemade sauce adds a lot to the tender, chicken taste. I love eating these birds.

Grilled chicken and peppers. Mmmmm
They have other stuff on their yakiniku menu such as squid.  The squid tastes delicious. It has great smoky, squidy flavor.  It also looks pretty. 

Grilled squid. So yummy and pretty.
Other Stuff To Eat

They also have several appetizers such as edamame, dumplings, and onigiri. They taste good, but I would just skip those and get more yakinikus.

Onigiri. It's just a rice ball. They still make it as fancy as possible. 
They also offer donburis. I love their donburis such as the oyakodon, minced chicken don and so on. It also tastes authentic and good. The chicken they use seems to be the same chicken they use for their yakitori.

Yakitori Jinbei makes things hard for me. I love their donburis. But I love their ramen more. Even though I feel like I might want a donburi, I just get the ramen anyway. I should come to Yakitori Jinbei every day so I can get a chance to eat the other good stuff.

Even Their Atmosphere is Authentic, it's Cramped Inside

Their spaces feels small, and they only have 1 server for the whole restaurant. Even with a few costumers, the server gets busy; and the service tends to slow down. When they suddenly have a packed house, it gets even slower.



Lately, they look like they're hurting business wise. They stopped giving complimentary edamame (perhaps she forgot to give it to us) and their prices have risen. Also, I heard the owners had an unfortunate tragedy. I'm surprised they have the willpower to stay open.

But I suggest to all of you to make a trek down to Cobb county and support this place. Yakitori Jinbei seems like one of the most authentic and best Japanese, non-sushi restaurants in Atlanta. Mr. Kitty gives this place 5 paws up.

Yakitori Jinbei
2421 Cobb Pkwy SE
Smyrna, GA 30080
(770) 818-9215
Yakitori Jinbei on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

  1. Delicious dishes. If I ever find myself in the neiborhood I will pass from that restaurant to catch a bite...

    ReplyDelete