GOSQUARED2

Another Japanese place in the Mitsuwa Market Gosquared2 looked interesting only because they had Ramen Burger in their menu. I pride myself in saying that I was able to try the original from the one and only Chef Keizo Shimamoto. The problem is he is not in the Torrance area. Sandi and I were skeptical though it looked bigger, we thought it might not be too bad.

First of all, the service was very slow. The cashier was the cook. He looked like he was not scheduled to work and was called in the last minute; he was an unhappy person. His helper did nothing but wrap the burgers in slow motion. He was cooking several ramen burgers for a family of 4. Two men were before us. When it came to our turn, he informed us that it would take 15 minutes. While we waited for the burgers, we ordered the Grilled Octopus Balls which looked good. My friend Sandi who hates using chopsticks quickly got the hang of it by just stabbing the ball! They didn't taste as good as it looked. I wasn't even sure there was octopus in there. It was bready; essentially fried bread with some good sauce.

The Ramen Burger was huge compared to the original one. It had an egg (cooked well done), lettuce, cheese and they dipped the cooked burger in a sauce before laying it on the ramen.  The first bite was o.k. but it was downhill from there. First of all, the ramen was too thick and tasteless.
The burger itself was fine only because of the sauce. After our 3rd bite, Sandi suggested we eat it without the other ramen patty. That didn't do much to improve the taste, so we tried it without the ramen. Believe it or not, we both left half on our plates.

If you haven't tried a Ramen Burger and are curious to see what it taste like......do not even think of ordering it from this place. Your curiosity will kill you!

Keizo Shimamoto: Come out, come out wherever you are!  It's time to come back to Torrance.