When you’re craving ramen in Mammoth, Ramenya is your spot
Ramenya is a real crowd-pleaser tucked away on a side street in a quaint a-frame building. They serve up delicious ramen 6 days a week, so you’ll have to curb any hankering for their crispy tuna rice on Tuesdays.
Also, you probably want to schedule your visit for when they’re not busy, which is kind of difficult to do. I’ve been here when the staff were completely overwhelmed, with one dude taking orders, bussing, and ringing people up, and if it weren’t for the Asahi, I would have been disgruntled about the time it took to get what should really be simple bowls of ramen on the table.
However, I’ve also sat in the cozy wood booths on a slow night and watched the snow fall outside, munching on the out-of-this-world garlic shishito peppers and had impeccable service. It’s kind of like Mammoth in general, or, frankly, life—timing is everything.
There’s also complaints that Ramenya is pretty pricey for what it offers. Truly, there’s usually only one piece of meat in each serving of soup, which is pretty frustrating for $13, but Mammoth is a captive audience, and there’s no other options for ramen in town, so you pretty much have to suck it up (literally).
Apparently, they recently added a sushi bar to try and capture some of that market, but Yelpers seem to think it’s lackluster, though I can’t speak from experience. When it comes to fish in the mountains, I tend to play it safe, and Sushi Rei and The Westin both have their excellent sushi bars pretty dialed in.
Ramenya is located at 4 Alpine Circle in Mammoth Lakes. Call 760.965.0520.
Sarah Rea is a freelance dirtbag-turned-journalist who has been living in the Sierra on and off for twenty years, with eight spent in Yosemite National Park and five in Mammoth Lakes. She likes dogs, rocks, good food and jumping into cold water.