Kanpai — Restaurant in Fairbanks

This was my first time going to Kanpai as I don't generally have a reason to venture south of Airport Way and I was...disappointed. It breaks my heart to write that because sushi and ramen are two of my favorite foods.

Firstly, the sushi. I had a North Pole Roll and it was great. I have no complaints about the sushi. If other people wanted to go to Kanpai, I would return for the sushi.

The ramen though. I hesitate to cast aspersions because I know that this is a touchy subject, but I'm fairly certain that the ramen served here is the noodle block from a package of Top Ramen or Maruchan steeped in a slightly spruced up broth. I've eaten a lot of Maruchan instant ramen in my time and that taste and texture, and that slightly wheaty smell. It's almost like muscle memory for my senses. I don't think they were wrong here.

And here's the thing: it might very well be possible that other places in town use Maruchan blocks as well...but they dress it up better. I ordered the plain ramen, so I wasn't expecting meat (obviously), but other than the noodles and broth there was maybe three small broccoli florets, a single piece of sliced onion, a handful of tiny chopped carrot pieces and a handful of pieces of thinly sliced...plum, I think. It was spartan, especially for the price.

For atmosphere, the auto-playing piano is kinda cool (though I maybe wish I hadn't decided to come when it was playing Christmas music). It's pretty low key compared to some other places, which is good.

And finally, the service was good. The waitresses were very nice (and patient with another customer, heh) and...

We had a female server and I went to order a bento box, but asked to sub the tuna for an extra Cali roll as I’m pregnant and can’t have tuna. She then laughs in my face and says “well maybe you should get something else” I was jaw dropped. Just asked to swap one ingredient… was so rude. Then seen another lady have to leave in a rush due to her grandma having a seizure and they ripped them off and just didn’t care for anyone or anything. Just money. Granted it’s a business but holy cow I have never received this service here at all until today. The server was then pointing at us then gossiping with her coworker and being so unprofessional. When all we did was ask for a swap of fish. Crazy. Food...

I had fried gyoza and combo Yakisoba noodles. The beef was shredded thin and very dry, i had maybe 3 teeny tiny shrimp(underscore teeny tiny) in the entire dish and they were dry, the chicken was okay some were dry but most were good and over all the flavor was very bland. My meal i give 2 stars. My husband got two rolls which were very good but we had to ask for wasabi and ginger. I thought that was weird. The gyoza was mostly veggies with hardly any pork at all which was very different than I’m used to for this appetizer. The atmosphere is very nice and service was good. It wasn’t busy at all when we went on a Monday...