I almost didn't want to leave a review because the service was great but I do kind of have to share…read moremy experience because it was pretty unacceptable.
Firstly, I do want to thank the staff here, they were incredibly courteous, polite, professional, kind and communicative with us. This kind of service is rare these days and while my experience was made a lot better because of their empathetic response, I still think the quality of food needs attention.
To start, this spot is at a convenient location - right next to Regal theaters, plenty of parking nearby and none of that street parking metered crap. Definitely a plus.
Prices are not cheap, rolls run you about $18 and the size was pretty small. We got a protein roll and a dragon roll as the menu indicates you buy one get one half off. Dragon roll was the skinniest, tiniest, most petite roll I've ever seen in my life and just felt like they cheaped out on it, which is kind of crazy since it's basically just a California roll... imitation crab is insanely cheap, it's not even real crab. Anyway...
I ordered a Tonkotsu Ramen, plain - only egg & protein and when it was served to us, all I saw was a puddle of grease on top. For those who are unaware, Tonkotsu literally translates to pork bones, so while it is definitely a hearty/fatty broth, it shouldn't have a visibly separated layer of grease on top. You know when you reheat fettuccini alfredo and the oil separates in the microwave? It looked like that.
I've tried various tonkotsu ramens - some better than others btw feel free to DM me for suggestions although the locations are not in close range - but none have had that visible grease layer. To be honest, I'm not really one to send things back, although I have picked up on the habit of not accepting crap food lately, so I didn't really mention anything to the waiter regarding the ramen. I slurped my noodles, ate my egg and chashu - both were OK. The chashu was seared and hard to eat, not the usual melt-in-your-mouth deal, and left the bland, greasy broth behind. Sucks because my favorite part of ramen is, of course, the broth. That's really the whole point. Moving on...
I noticed my friend stopped eating her protein roll so I was like what's up? She looked at me a little worried and said she thought the salmon was off. I scrunched my face and was like dammit now I have to try this to make sure. Smell was not off, but took a bite of the salmon and that thing was bitter. We told the waiter and he was apologetic and said he'd talk to the kitchen. They said the fish came in yesterday and while I believe them, and could easily blame the heat we've been dealing with recently, we still felt unsafe finishing the food.
I appreciate them showing concern for the issue with the food and no reports of food poisoning so far - been like two days now so I'm sure we're fine. Brings me to our total of about $50. Damn. I know sushi and ramen aren't typically cheap items but the quality was nowhere near standard and unfortunately this experience was enough to dissuade me from coming back.
I don't want to nitpick, but I just like giving peeps details on certain things so their experience may not come as a surprise, but the general atmosphere of this spot was also a bit... different. They were playing loud music, I recall hearing 500 Miles by the Proclaimers super loud and I was kind of like dang man it feels like I'm right in the heart of Tokyo... /s
There are much, much, much better spots for ramen and for sushi, there is literally an actual Japanese restaurant right across the street from Kopan and I'd bet money you'd get way better food for more or less the same price there. Also Burger Bun is in the same plaza, place is also fire, I'll drop that review separately.
TL;DR: food bad, expensive, fish off, service good, decent parking, convenient location