Tanpopo Ramen — Restaurant in Newport News

I absolutely love Ramen and have very high standards. This is the first Ramen spot in Virginia that I would say is actually good! We had Katherine as our server and she was amazing, very polite and attentive.

We started off with an order of karage. The chicken came in small bite sized pieces and was moist and tasty. I would have preferred a little thicker coating as it got a little soggy and lost the crispness as it cooled. It also came with an interesting dipping sauce that tasted like it might have been Catalina or thousand island salad dressing with a squirt of Sriracha, I was not a fan. It was also disappointing that it didn't come with lemon wedges to squeeze on top.

Now for the Ramen... I ordered the shoyu ramen and added an extra egg and my lovely date ordered the chicken katsu ramen. The broth of mine was very good and the noodles had the perfect doneness. It came with quite a few thick slices of cashu pork which had good flavor and was very tender, but a little on the dry side. The eggs were absolutely perfect, and had not been marinated too long so they had a nice light soy flavor and a lovely gooey yolk. My date said her's was delicious and the chicken katsu was nice and crispy.

All in all, I will definitely be coming back to try more of the menu. I would have given 5 stars overall if it wasn't for the lack of lemon and the odd dipping sauce for the karage.

Food - 4 stars Service - 5 stars (more if I...

Authentic ramen!

I have a military buddy who I served with in Afghanistan who swears by this place. He is half white and half Vietnamese, so his family cooks meals like this at home on a regular basis. He travels to the Eastern region often to visit family and explore. He said this is as authentic as he has ever had in the States and that it's pretty much the same authentic ramen you'd find in the Eastern world.

Before I was introduced to Tanpopo Ramen, I couldn't even stand the smell of what us Americans consiser ramen. It's all we ate growing up, and I refuse to eat it; the one time recently I did try, it didn't end well. This stuff, Tanpopo Ramen, I crave it! There was a point where we were coming here multiple times a week with a group of 6+ people at a time.

Not only is the food amazing, the staff is friendly and the decoration/ambiance is perfect for enjoying this sort of meal. Oriental themed lights, flags, and other decorations are everywhere. When you come through the door, all you can smell is delicious goodness.

I highly suggest the spring rolls and Katsu Ramen with extra eggs. Was not a fan of the eggs initially because they were hard boiled exterior with a soft gooey inside, not something I was used to. Now I love the eggs and always get extra, and if my kids don't eat theirs, I steal thiers too.

Thank you all for the great...

Our experience at Tanpopo was great! My daughter loves it and chose to eat here for her birthday dinner. We shared Pork Gyoza (steamed pork dumplings) served with sauce and spring rolls with homemade sauce. We all enjoyed Ramen, and my husband had donburi. The Chicken teriyaki Donburi was served with jasmine rice. The chicken katsu is served with eggs, scallion, bean sprouts, and snow peas in a chicken broth with a chicken cutlet on the side. The Tonkotsu Ramen is served with two perfectly soft boiled egg halves and pork chashu in a delicious pork broth with scallion, ginger, fish cake, and wood ear mushroom. The service was impeccable. The meal was served hot and very fast. There's plenty of seating. The exterior is nothing special sitting nestled in a shopping center. The interior of the restaurant is open with a chill vibe. Our server, Mei, was very helpful and answered all the questions from the table. She was attentive and, most of all, kind. We all look forward to our next visit. The restaurant closes mid day and reopens at 4pm. Update: Another birthday was spent at Tanpopo. It was even better than last year. We had an array of appetizers and entrees. Nobody was disappointed. There was a great selection of Ramune as well. The restaurant was busy, and the service...