Domoishi — Restaurant in Hampton

First time with myself and my teen kiddos. I was directed to order at a kiosk and was not entirely sure how it was supposed to work. It was clear we were struggling, we were never offered any kind of assistance and when I would ask questions, it was met with low-key irritation. Actually only one young lady would even bother responding to me at all. I had ordered three boba Teas ( with a lot of food, Poké bowls, fries, octopus, etc) but, for reasons I don't really understand, only two went through the order kiosk and when I said politely "Oh, I'm sorry, I ordered three, " the other lady was just very rude and cold and says "Nope, you ordered two." She basically toss the receipt at me and shoved the tray at me, trying to get me the hell out of the way. I could understand if boba was all I bought and it was my mistake. But it was a large order. It was a lot of food. A little kindness and sympathy, just the tiniest bit of humanity, could have gone a long way into making us repeat customers. We spent a lot of money and it was underwhelming. They were pretty stingy with the protein. We agreed the Poké bowls at Publix were more tasty and generous. At least there they don't shove receipts and food at me. If those things matter to you then I would suggest...

When I want food from a particular culture, I often choose 1 or 2 staple dishes that a specific culture is famous for, especially if it's my first time a that particular restaurant. I use those 2 staples to sort of gauge the all around quality of the place. When I think ramen, I think miso and tonkatsu, hands down the two most famous. Domoishi is a bit of an anomaly. On the one hand, you have a very traditional selection of ramen with all the fixin's. But on the other, you have a very modern made to order, to-go style eatery. Think Mod Pizza meets classic ramen shop. I got the tonkatsu ramen with chashu pork. You can choose your broth and protein, with the option of adding or taking away the other included toppings (included are edamame, corn, fish cake, green onion, and a boiled egg). The ramen bowl was good, and the tonkatsu broth offered the umami and complexity I was expecting. I washed it down afterwards with a taro boba tea (a variety of flavors are available). I would have it again, particularly if I have a hankerin for ramen and I need a fix fast. Staff were friendly, food was fast, and you can jam to Japanese pop and rock...

I have NEVER been more disappointed to spend $62 on a meal for 2 people in my LIFE. I am not one to leave negative reviews, but this was such a COLOSSAL letdown, I cannot ignore it. We checked reviews before we went, everything seemed to indicate this meal would be magical - we ordered at the computer, and the prices seemed VERY high but still, it would have been justified if the food had been super good— but NOPE! It was the most tasteless, ridiculously overpriced hogwash meal I’ve ever consumed, and if we hadn’t been starving, we would have asked for a refund and left. The miso ramen base was flavorless, and everything inside the bowl was fake, or cheap, and not worth it. Their idea of “seafood ramen” was surimi crabmeat and four shrimp… at $15, this is RIDICULOUS. I could go on all day, but I’m going to choose to put my energy into something else that doesn’t enrage me quite this much. And FYI- Boba Tea should NOT EVER cost $6 and some change. EVER. I can get decent, authentic boba many other places, for MUCH cheaper. Literally robbing people- save your money and...