Noriya Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Decatur

Decatur, Alabama. Noriya. You walk in right when the doors swing open—smart. That’s how you avoid the noise, the amateurs, and the inevitable drop-off in focus that comes once the line cooks have a few hundred covers under their belt. Immediate seating, a friendly floor guy, helpful? That's not the usual chaos I expect, but I'll take it. A good start is a rare and beautiful thing. We kicked things off with the Crab Rangoons. Fried pockets of pure, decadent, vaguely trashy genius. They were good—crispy, piping hot. We all love them. Now, the important stuff. The Tonkotsu ramen. You want that broth to taste like a long, slow-motion, beautiful accident. Days of work, years of refinement. You want it rich, you want it deep, a creamy, unctuous hit of swine and bone that sticks to your ribs and your soul. This one, you say, was amazing. That's the baseline, the holy grail. Get the ramen right, and the kitchen has my attention. The wife, she goes for the Orange Chicken Bento Box with a California Roll. Safe ground, to be sure, the old-school comfort of American-Japanese fast-casual. But it has to be right. The chicken crispy, the sauce balanced, not some sickly-sweet, pre-fab sludge. It was a "big hit." Okay. They nailed the fundamentals, the stuff that keeps the lights on and the steam pouring out of the ramen bowls. And to finish, a Passion Fruit Green Tea Boba. Sweet, cold, a little chew, a little caffeine to clear the brain after all that pork fat. It's a nice period on the sentence. Look, this isn't a three-Michelin-star bender in Tokyo, but it doesn't have to be. This is a clean, honest hit of something well-made, served by a staff who actually give a damn. In Decatur, Alabama? That, my friends, is a score. Go to Noriya. Order the Tonkotsu....

Got food poisoning from their food. Had to wait 30 minutes to be seated which I’m not bothered by because it did open. It’s was busy and packed so it took 10-15 minutes for my groups orders to be taken which is no fault to anyone the place was packed and busy… my only complaint was the food. Two of my friends got the bento boxes, one with sesame chicken and the other with teriyaki chicken. The steamed vegetables were okay, not the best but could be better. The sesame chicken was good but the teriyaki was bland to taste, the California rolls were pretty good imo but my friends that ordered it didn’t like it at all. The salads were good. Everything else they had in their bentos were bad. The rice was dry and didn’t stick at all. Another friend in my group got the tri color sushi and it was room temperature and nasty. I got the dancing eel roll and it was the only thing beside the Takoyaki, that tasted good. Severely disappointed in the food only to be charge 100$ in total for the food. I’m giving the service 5 stars because the guy was doing his best. Everything else was horrible. Give the place at least a month before trying, I will add that we did come in late so everything we got at the end was old, room temperature and bland. I hope the improve soon, I’d love to come back and not get food...

I was excited for this place since most of the time my husband and I have to travel to Huntsville for some good ramen (or any Japanese cuisine). I don't know how to explain, but the service was fast and slow at the same time. It took a while for our waiter to come take the order, but the food came out fast. Although we ordered an appetizer, it came out after the main course. And it seemed like our food was coming out one by one rather than all at once. Food wise, it was okay. We ordered the bang bang shrimp which was on top of a bed of greens. The batter nor the shrimp was seasoned, the seasoning came from the sauce that was very little spread on one side of the shrimp. We also ordered the shrimp tempura roll, the only thing I thought was weird was the lettuce in it. I've never had a roll with lettuce like that in a sushi roll. My husband had the tonkatsu ramen, which he said was okay. I, myself, had the tonkatsu curry. Very little curry, lots of pork. But again, the tempura batter was not seasoned and had to rely on the curry for flavor. The atmosphere is good, cute...