Mogu Mogu in Costa Mesa

Just wow! Incredible ramen, and I love the different ways to eat it. All three different ways has their own unique flavor profiles, and I simply loved all of them.Be aware the place is small, and you’ll need to go early unless you want a decent wait. Regardless, the food is well worth it.

Never tried this style of ramen. It was surprisingly tasty. Very flavorful. They recommend eating half of you bowl and adding their special vinegar sauce halfway through. They give you a small bowl of rice to finish any sauce remnants. Will be coming back if Im in the area.

This was such a great experience, my friend who lives in SoCal had been raving about it for months so it was a top priority to try when I arrived. Did not disappoint the delux was delicious and I loved the layers and changing flavors of the dish. It’s huge portions so come with an empty stomach. Adding the vinegar at stage 2 totally changed the flavor profile to a more light and fresh taste and the rice at the end was so comforting soaking up all the umami. AND GET THE KARRAGE CHICKEN it’s so fresh. Will def come back, one of my favorites in SoCal

This was only the 2nd time weve eaten mazemen and first time here. Decided to brave this location for dinner at 615pm, on a Sunday during last weekend of our daughters spring break. Waited for over 1hr. Many guests were lingering and socializing for quite some time after completing their meals, knowing that there has been a long waitlist. Staff were trying to hint but were unsuccessful. The best time with little wait was at 800pm.We got 3 deluxe, assari tonkotsu, LA style takoyaki 3.5*, and mogu chicken 3.5*.The bowl presentations were great. Were the noodles fresh made? 🤔 cuz it almost seemed like fresh...or perhaps I was just too hungry after a long wait. Sauce was tasty but I couldnt finish it with the finale of rice scope as the tradition dictates. Perhaps too much sake and appetizers. Overall, 4*. I would have preferred the chashu be at least a little charred or flamed. Unclear whether well return next time and brave the wait.

Visited after many recommendations from people. Deluxe bowl is $17 which I thought was pretty expensive for what it is. Karrage bowl $11 nothing special about it just white rice underneath.

Food: 3.5/5Service and Setting: 3/5Value: 2/5Mogu Mogu is one of those hyped restaurants that I am skeptical of. The plaza that it is in gets busy and it might get hard to find parking. Come early as you can because they seem to be always busy! Going in, the servers are all very nice and attentive but something shocking to me was how dirty the restaurant was. The sesame seed grinders were covered in gunk and the rays of sunlight showed dust in the hard to reach places on the barstools. My food came out pretty slowly and the servers knew when to bring out the last bite of rice. Overall, the hype is not here.Mogu Chicken: 3/5The waitress helping me out hyped up this chicken and I will say that it is meh or at least not my style. The chicken had a coating similar to karaage but a bit crispier. The sauce on the chicken is very similar to a Korean gochujang sauce and eh, it was just a bit boring. Even when I eat Korean fried chicken, I prefer plain or soy glazes over the more traditional gochujang and Mogu’s take on it was uninspiring. The side of spicy mayo they serve was good and had a good bit of tartness to help brighten the dish. I would skip.Deluxe Mazemen: 3.5/5I was so hyped to try this and I was wondering how it could be bad. While it was not bad, it was not that good really. I can see how average Americans would really enjoy this as it looks very “authentic” yet tastes very mild. The thick ramen noodles had a texture similar to udon but with that sort of sulfurous bite you get from typical ramen noodles. The flavor of everything after it has been mixed up is generally savory, but the strongest note is fish powder. If you ever had tsukemen, dipping ramen, you will recognize the smokey oceany flavor immediately. The vinegar also is very mild and does admittedly have a slight umami taste, but nothing to write home about. It does help add another dimension to the mazemen but overall everything is just sort of bland. There is depth of flavor but what does depth do if it doesn’t taste like anything? I wanted to taste something so bad but just ended up eating thick noodles in a thick sauce. I will admit that the boiled egg they serve was cooked to perfection, the main star of the meal. The rice they give is literally 1 bite. I am not sure if the rice is supposed to be really overcooked but I did enjoy it; it gave me congee vibes. I am not an expert on Japanese food let alone mazemen, but I was definitely hoping for a concentrated noodle adventure seeing how strongly flavored tsukemen is. Pretty, approachable, but falls flat.

The Mazeman is still excellent. All the staff are friendly. The mogu chicken is not as good as before because it is prepared in advanced, even though it is still worth trying on during happy hours.

Okay wait times, Service was great, the rice at the end was probably the highlight of the meal. Its worth the try for mazemen if you havent had a chance to eat this style of ramen.Ended up getting the deluxe with added cheese and extra hot sauce.Karaage chicken - hot & juicy, crispy & saucyi think for whatever reason the kitchen may have messed up the order and forgotten some key components maybe soy sauce, the mazmen ended up feeling kinda bland for me.with that said I would go back to try it again.

For vegetarian families:My family and I dined in, and the wait was about 30 mins, and food came around in 30 mins after the order. I would say, for a warm Saturday afternoon, this is reasonable wait. The vegan ramen and mazemen were delicious. The sake went well with the food. The matcha chessecake is kid approved, though i am not a fan of bittersweet desserts:)

This was so good! Im not a vegetarian but surprisingly, I did like the vegetarian mazemen over their deluxe mazemen. I needed more vegetables which the deluxe mazemen lacked a little, though both were good in their own rights. I did a to-go order which took roughly 15 minutes. By 6:45, there were already so many people waiting in line for dinner so I suggest getting there by 5:30 at the latest to avoid the wait. The servers were nice and there is a clipboard to put your name down on the waiting list. The place is a quaint little joint which felt like a small Japanese shop inside. I cant wait to try the rest of the menu. This was such a niche and cool find during my yoga trip down the strip!