Nanban — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

I saw this business shared on a food IG page and knew I wanted to make a trip to try it. We went 1.5 hours out of our way to try this meal and made a trip of it of course, but overall we’re pleased with the food and our experience.

There was a large menu of food options with daily specials. The seating is limited but the food doesn’t take that long to get so I imagine the wait isn’t super long when busy.

I took my 4 kids here with me and we wanted to try a variety of menu items so we got 7 things to taste test. My kids like udon and noodle dishes so they were very excited. We ordered the chicken and biscuits w/ gravy, miso ramen, shiyo udon, garlic chili oil noodles, beef empanada, waffle fries with nori powder, and the hot chicken bao bun. The lady taking our order was awesome. She gave us suggestions on things to order, told us if things were spicy and asked if we wanted sauces on the side so that my kids could try them in the chance they were too spicy.

Our food came out rather quickly but was fresh and plated nicely. I’ll share what we liked and didn’t like with specifics, as our dislikes might be others likes and vice versa. The miso and ramen were hits, good broth. My kids didn’t like the mushrooms as they were very chewy. The chili oil noodles were great, but very spicy so the kids just had a few bites. The empanada was good (had a quail egg in it which was a fun surprise as well as olives - my hubby would have died if he ordered it). The chimichurri sauce served with it was phenomenal and I wanted to dip everything in it. The bao bun was good and I would recommend. It was small so if you order that, it’s just a side item. The chicken in the chicken and biscuits was cooked so well with a nice light crunch and flavorful. I didn’t enjoy the flavor of the biscuit, even with gravy on it. I would order other friend chicken menu items but probably not that same one again. I’m not sure what I didn’t like, but there was a peculiar flavor in the biscuit that I didn’t enjoy. The waffle fries had such a nice flavor and were ate up quickly by my gang.

Overall the food was good, the portions were nice, but the food was pricey. We spent ~$90 on everything. If we were in the area, we would probably return but I love trying new places so this wouldn’t be one I would go out...

I have been coming to this place for 2 years now. I have been a diehard customer and have recommended so many of my friends to this place. However for the first time I had quite an unpleasant experience. My friend and I went to Nanban on Friday 1/5 around 8/9pm. As a vegetarian, and someone who doesn’t eat meat for religious reasons, I ordered the Spicy Miso Ramen, which has a V symbol on the menu indicating it’s vegetarian. While eating the cauliflower in my ramen, I was horrified when I bit into what was supposed to be cauliflower- was actually a piece of meat. Not sure what kind of meat it was because I spit it out immediately. On top of the meat being in my supposedly vegetarian ramen- I felt too uncomfortable to bring it up to the cashier running the register. She had an unpleasant attitude the whole time we were there, and frankly her demeanor was so off-putting I was afraid I’d be yelled at if I brought up the issue lol so here I am writing a review. Additionally there were two people in fur coats eating at the restaurant- who were also going in and out of the kitchen? I assume they worked there but it gives off an uncleanly vibe knowing that other people are grabbing items and coming in and out of the kitchen while we were waiting for our food. This place has always been amazing and this is the first time I’ve had an issue. Not sure if I’ll be...

We went later in the day so we were amongst the two last tables. 1. We wanted a specific table but after waiting like 15 minutes the lady never cleaned it so we decided on a different table. 2. Ordering our food was fine; it was our first time going so we had questions about some dishes. 3. After sitting down we waited for our food for ~40 minutes even thought at this point we were the last ones there and nobody else was in front of us waiting for food. 4. The food came out and it was literally inedible 😭. The chili oil noodles had literally no seasoning, I ate 1 bite and literally could not eat the rest. We also got a 4 piece fried chicken to share which was decent but only because of the sauces. After eating one bite, I asked very reasonably and nicely for a refund for the food i waited almost and hour for and didn’t eat and she then said she would check with her manager. After checking with the manager she comes back and says if there’s nothing wrong with it then I cannot refund you. So, I simply asked to speak with the manager directly and he said he would refund me without a problem. So, i’m not sure what the point of her telling me no first was especially for food I literally couldn’t even eat. Anyway, wouldn’t recommend. Just pick from the other amazing restaurants in...