I usually don’t venture to Newport News, but since a dear friend moved there I found myself in unfamiliar territory when I visited her a few months ago. Using my trust UrbanSpoon phone app, we found a sushi restaurant, Kappo Nara Seafood & Sushi, that had a 89% approval rating….
Staff – Our waitress was really sweet and very attentive.
Food - Oh dear. I think the menu pictures should have been a tip off. I love dumplings of all variations and the picture of their shu-mai did not look appetizing to me.
My sushi dinner (see above pic) was sub-par — and that’s being kind. The California rolls were kin to the kind you would get at a grocery store. It was a little skimpy rice and misshaped. As you can see in the picture above, the rice was not distributed evenly at all. Sadly, this was probably the better part of this dinner. The other sushi pieces were cut very thick and a little hard to chew. This cost about $16-17, which at that price I would expect a little more.
My friend ordered the tempura dinner:
While the portion was generous, the meal was average. The varieties of tempura included fish, shrimp, broccoli, and sweet potatoes.
We also ordered hijiki, which is a side dish with seaweed, carrots and tofu. My friend Brandi enjoyed it. I didn’t. BUT maybe that’s just a matter of taste? Neither of us had this dish before so we can’t really say if it’s really great or not.
Atmosphere- I wasn’t crazy about the decor at this restaurant. It seemed a bit…cluttered to me. Kind of like a collection of things that just don’t really go together. Example 1: the “smoker’s lungs plates we we’re given to use:
One of the things we found very amusing was the bidet in the women’s restroom. That’s right. A BIDET. However we were both very disappointed because we couldn’t figure out how to make it work. (Yes, I took my phone to the bathroom to take pictures)
- The first and only bidet I’ve ever seen in all 28 years of my life.
- The rear and front buttons has us cracking up! (Get it? “Cracking?” LOL!)
Overall – I probably wouldn’t go back there. To be quite honest, I have had sushi from the grocery store that was better in my opinion. However considering this has a high rating on UrbanSpoon, maybe I just went on an off night?
Directions to Kappo Nara
Tags: restaurant, review
