Tampopo Ramen — Restaurant in Tempe

I was very excited to try this place out when I saw all the great reviews, as Ramen is one of my favorite soup dishes and finding a place that does it right can be tricky in Arizona. I’ve given this place a chance twice with a couple of friends who are also Ramen-lovers, and both times we’ve left a bit disappointed. The unanimous opinion on both of our visits in regards to the taste of the overall bowl can be narrowed down to one word: Bland. This makes me question all the great reviews here. I wonder if most of the high ratings come from people who have had little exposure to other Ramen or maybe people who are just looking for a trendy place to eat. Either way, let me get to it…

My favorite style is Tonkotsu Ramen. I got this both times I was here but I tried my friends’ Ramen as well – one ordered the Spicy Miso Ramen and the other ordered the Curry Ramen. Both visits the experience was pretty much the same across all bowls: The overall taste is just bland. The Chashu pork is done well and it’s tender. They do a good job with the hard boiled eggs which have the semi-cooked yolk in the middle which is usually hard to achieve. But other than this the overall taste of the broth is missing, and that’s kind of a big deal to get wrong. Without a tasty broth the rest of the elements lose the appeal and the overall “package” just falls apart.

That being said, my rating is based mainly on the taste of the food. The service was good both times. The establishment seemed clean, although a bit small (which makes it a tight squeeze when there are a lot of people). The price is reasonable considering the portions are well served – and this last part is the only reason I can justify giving it 3 starts instead of 2… but personally, I would much rather pay a couple more dollars for a delicious, tasty Ramen any day of the week.

If you’re on a budget and you’re not a die-hard fan of Ramen like I am, this place will satisfy you. Otherwise, there are a few places around Phoenix I much more...

Delicious ramen; HORRIBLE customer service practices. The server told me they do not ever allow substitutions, only "taking items off" and then adding new "extra" items on (for an additional charge, of course). I was wanting to make my toppings vegetarian by removing the seafood and swapping for vegetables/tofu. They had no regular menu option without meat or seafood in it already. When I confusedly pointed out the fact that their no substitutions/additions only policy made no sense at all, our server just repeated "we don't do substitutions" several times in response. I gave in because I didn't want to start an argument.

I was charged about $6 MORE than the normal seafood bowl, for a meal ordered with NO seafood that cost them less to make/had less toppings.

And on top of it all, they still served it to me with shrimp inside, staring right back at me eyeballs and all. I was so angry I swore I'd never go back on principle, even though it's definitely the best quality ramen in Phx. (If you were a server and had an entire conversation with a customer about them being vegetarian/removing all seafood, and it came out with multiple whole shrimp in it still, staring back at you, wouldn't you at least notice and try to remove them before serving!?)

0/10 recommend Tampopo, solely because of their customer service practices. Who makes decisions like these? I barely enjoyed my food at all after getting screwed by this policy and and overpaying for a veggie meal only to still be served shrimp anyways. I only give it 2 stars instead of 1 because the food is truly quite good, when not being tainted by the rest of the experience. I figure 2/5 is still a...

Ok so usually I rate based on food alone. However my party of 5 waited 30+ minutes to be seated. Yes the place was busy however two times they chose to seat two parties of two people that arrived after us in spots they could have seated us. They did this right in front of us -1 one star. The gyoza i ordered was way undercooked still doughy basically got flat top fried but not steamed after. The flavor was pretty bland on top of that. -1 one star. However the ramen was awesome! If you like spicy don't shy away the ultra spicy, ultra is hardly the word for it maybe extra spicy would be more accurate. The portion of pork in my bowl was less than generous but the noodles and other toppings were tastey so the ramen its self was the saving grace here. If I was the type to rate on service they would be losing another star but the ramen was good enough for me to give them a break. Our server basically had no clue about anything on the menu and no knowledge of the saki. He also had a sever listing problem and I was made to repeat myself ever time I asked him for something. When it came time to pay we explained to him twice how we wanted the saki divided among 3 of us and he still screwed that up. Long story short if I had come alone and ordered just ramen they would have gotten 4-5 star review but they failed us as a group and they need to get that gyoza right. Not sure if the meat is pre cooked but if not they could make a person with a weaker stomach not used to raw food like me VERY sick with that...