Nanlangka | Teppanyaki & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Porterville

Husband called and placed a to-go order last night for two Poki Bowls. We picked our base, protein, sauce and toppings. We were under every impression we could pick and choose between toppings - not get everything - which we thought would be a great option because I'm allergic to shellfish. Lo and behold, I go to collect, and I'm seeing the containers with the imitation crab. I asked the Hostess if I could get a remake on those please, I can't eat shellfish. I was embarrassed, I felt terrible because they were so busy (almost 9pm), but I was happy to wait. She was all "oh, you can just pick it off." and I was taken aback, I said "no, actually we can't, I'm allergic to shellfish and we were planning to share these." Another hostess comes over (lovely woman, SO nice, I wish I knew her name) and they were speaking quietly amongst themselves, and the first hostess piped up again, "well you know it's just imitation crab, so it should be fine." I was further taken aback. I said quietly "actually, almost all brands of imitation crab have a small percentage of real crab in them, so I really do need a remake." She took the packages, and the other hostess apologized profusely, she had also appeared to be under the impression that customers could pick and choose between toppings and not have them all. I told her it's no problem at all for me, things happen, and we likely ought to have clarified over the phone that there is a shellfish allergy to consider but didn't expect to have issues if we were ordering a dish without the (supposedly) optional shellfish topping, even if it was imitation shellfish. No more than 5 minutes later, the original hostess came back with the bag. I was a bit surprised (and a tiny bit suspicious) that they came back so quickly with a remade dish given how packed they were, BUT I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe they rushed it because I'd already waited 25 minutes for the order. We got home, ate, and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Whichever reviewer said that it was Gozen pricing on Tokyo Bowl quality was pretty much spot on. It was not bad, and we did order an inexpensive option, but it sounded great, and like a nice quick option for a take out dinner after a ridiculously long day. BUT, the rice was a bit dry, and a bit bland. My husband had a reasonable amount of salmon but my seared tuna was a bit skimpy. Now, I understand you're not going to get a huge amount of fish for a $13 bowl but I had thought that the fish would have been at least a little more generous. But then too, I would have thought that a medium serving would have been a little larger, fish portions aside I was expecting a bit more rice. Taste and quality wise, it was okay, but not sure we ever would have gotten that option again... UNTIL. Until I ended up puking my guts up. And we looked at our containers, thinking what the heck...until we see trace amounts of imitation crab in one of the crevices of the plastic. When I wasn't puking, I was LIVID. We checked when we opened, and it looked good. I really, really wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt with the very speedy "remake" but clearly there was no remake, just really good hiding of the fact that someone had just picked off the imitation crab. But clearly, we'll be sticking with Gozen's in Visalia and especially Habi Sushi here in town because they at the least take food allergies seriously, and in 9 years of dining on sushi in Visalia and 1 in porterville, I've never had an allergic reaction to any real or imitation crab (which, again, usually contains a small percentage of real crab) and they have always, ALWAYS remade when asked rather than "oh you can just pick it off". Very irritated with our experience there, especially as my stomach continues to cramp. NOT a place to go if you have food allergies, they do NOT take...

Came here several times and certain seasons it’s a hit or miss & I’ll explain why! First of all, Love the services that they offer when it comes to taking care of their customers & the Teppanyaki chefs along with the other cooks are absolutely wonderful. The only downfall to this place is that when it reaches to a certain point in the weather (over 90 degrees in Fahrenheit) it gets super hot inside to where all of my family members and their children are literally sweating from the heat inside. It’s like a Sauna at a gym & its unbearable! For a high end restaurant I would expect this famous Sushi and Teppanyaki place to have proper circulation for all the customers along with it’s workers. No one should ever go through what we went through, no matter if this place is the go to spot for good food and experience with your friends or family. All of us came out soaking wet or drenched in sweat. I can only imagine how the workers feel working in there for them long hours. This is why I gave the atmosphere only 1 star at the Teppanyaki side. The service is definitely a five only because the workers go through so much to make their customers happy. The food I’m sure is great when it’s properly set to the right conditions inside, but please do something about the ventilation systems and the temperature so we can at least enjoy...

This place is an absolute gem. It beautifully blends traditional and modern aesthetics, offers an excellent range of sushi, sashimi, and nigiri, and when it comes to the nigiri? Fish doesn't get much better than this. The atmosphere is perfectly dark and quiet, while still being a friendly and easy place to be. The workers are helpful and nice, the restaurant is spotless, the fish is fresh, and the rice is cooked and seasoned to perfection--as someone who's had low quality sushi rice, this really stands out as anything but. The only negative part of the wonderful experience that was dining here was the menus were sort of. Built into the table? It was a little weird, I'm not sure if it was a lunch time thing or what, but my mother had to squint at it with the flashlight on her phone.

Despite that, the food was delicious, and the entire trip was worth it on every level. I feel pretty confident declaring this the best sushi restaurant in Porterville--and pretty dang high up there overall.

Price wise, since I know we all gotta watch our wallets, it's very much typical pricing of a sort of middle road sushi place, by the standards of a much bigger city than this one. If you're not familiar, think pricing like Red Lobster or similar. Not cheap but 100% worth it and not too quick to...