Kappo Nara Ramen — Restaurant in Norfolk

On Friday night, my girlfriend and I decided to hit up the Norfolk colonial location, expecting some spicy ramen and a cozy dining experience. Instead, we walked into what felt like a Michelin-star restaurant for invisible friends. Despite the place being about as packed as my gym on New Year’s Day ( Tumbleweed* ) , they wouldn’t let us sit next to each other at one of their bigger tables, because apparently, those are scared spaces, exclusively reserved for groups of four or more (or maybe imaginary VIP friends that they expect to arrive fashionably late). So, like any self-respecting couple denied the chance to awkwardly slurp noodles in unison while in close proximity. We Left! , but felt as disappointed as a wet cat fresh out the bathtub.

The next day, we licked our paws and shook it off. Discouraged and diminished in spirit but not defeated! We decided to hit up the Kempsville location, which is slightly bigger and, I’m guessing, a bit more chill on table politics? To our surprise, this place was much busier! But couples were sitting at the massive (not really) four-person tables like it was no big deal! It was practically a couples' conference on oversized seating. I think we should’ve brought a PowerPoint presentation on “Why Couples Deserve Big Tables” for the Norfolk location.

Anyway, I ordered the spicy miso ramen, and my girlfriend got the fried chicken ramen. My spicy miso ramen was like a party in my bowl! with just the right amount of heat to make me feel alive but not so much that I had to drink a glass of milk. The broth? So good you could drink it solo, but when I mixed in the egg, bamboo shoots, spicy pork, and everything else, it was a full-blown flavor festival. My girlfriend’s fried chicken ramen was equally divine, with a hearty shoyu chicken broth and a chicken cutlet so crispy, it almost convinced me that fried chicken and soup were soulmates destined to be together forever!

The best part? Both bowls were only about 15 bucks, which means we were full, happy, and only mildly traumatized from the previous night’s table fiasco. All in all, a delicious experience.

Pro Tip: just make sure you’re sitting at a table that won’t make you feel like you’re breaking some secret ancient ramen...

My partner and I came tonight around 7 pm and we had a bad experience. First, it took about 15-20 minutes just for us to get our order taken even people who came after us got their order taken before we did. When we got our food it was not what we expected it to be. We expected it to be the same as the Kappo Nara Ramen in VBeach. After a scoop of broth, we did not like it-it was bland, even with chili oil added. We decided to not eat anymore of the ramen because we did not want to pay for it. The waitress said that it was our fault because we were the ones that ordered the food. We kindly asked the waitress if we can just pay for the edemame and not the ramen, however, she said that she could not do anything because there wasn't a way to remove the two Tonkatsu ramens from our bill and expected us to pay even though we each took one scoop of the broth. It was practically untouched. As a restaurant, how are you not prepared for instances like this-let alone blame the customer for ordering instead of helping us resolve the problem. Any restaurant would be able to accommodate that-even fast food restaurants will take things off the bill or provide a refund. We were also willing to pay for the appetizer which we actually ate however the waitress still did not do anything. I asked her if there was a manager that can help us and her response was "No, I just work here." The worst part about it is that she left us at our table and proceeded not to do anything/help us, except stand in the middle of the restaurant. It came to the point where another customer had to pay for our bill which is completely unacceptable and we appreciated them for doing that. A bad experience that made it my first and last time coming to Kappo...

RUDE! Idk if she’s the owner but that was very unpleasant experience. Not kid friendly. This rude waiter stood by our table THE WHOLE TIME and stared at us. Gossiped in Mandarin which unfortunately I understood. I don’t look Asian enough to seem to know Pu Tong Hua. The thing is I have been here before with my boys and friends because we wanted to support a small AAPI Business and never had issues. But those times there was only one server who was meh. She is not the friendliest but she isn’t rude but tonight we went with all my kids and my friends’. The kids are 2 yr olds and 3 yr olds. We tried to ask to seat us in the front corner but the server refused then they seated us by the kitchen, and there was this INCREDIBLY rude woman who gave us the dirty look the whole time then turned the music up so loud and giving us the check in the middle of the meal hinting us to leave. The worst thing was they were speaking Mandarin and I understood 100 percent of their gossiping and judgement. They then added the gratuity for 4 people which I asked and the rude woman gave me an attitude and had to look for herself of the very fine print in the menu to show me. Won’t be going back...