Wa Kitchen Kuu

Lovely place for dinner. Once you step foot inside it feels like you're in Japan - they even have bathroom bidets! Street parking might be a little tricky because if you miss your chance to park, you might end up driving across the bridge before you can U-turn back to the area lol.The Mentaiko Kama-tama Udon is a fan favorite and must-get. The different flavors and textures of the seaweed, seasoning, and tempura puffs combined blended so well together and it was definitely the better dish of the two we ordered. The Curry Noodle Udon was good, though I will probably try curry without noodles next time and order Katsu curry instead since that seemed like another popular item. The staff is very nice. There was a sign up front stating that the restaurant was unexpectedly understaffed that day, but I felt like we were still taken care of!

I stopped into Wa Kitchen Kuu briefly for a small bite (tofu and poké salad). Their menu is actually quite extensive, from noodles to rice to sushi to curry to tempura, not to mention sake and cocktails. So I did not get the full picture of what they offer and would be happy to come back to try more. But I enjoyed the little bit that I saw and tasted! They're located off MLK Jr Blvd so parking may be tricky, but they are a good option post-event at the Convention Center. The decor is traditional Japanese. They have counter seats, high tops, and low tops. Service was polite.

I ordered the firecracker roll, a seasonal special, and it was delicious! Fresh and tasty! The portion and price felt good. We came after lunch time on a Saturday and pretty much had the back area all to ourselves. Staff greeted us and took our order promptly. The area was cute with Japanese style decorations and wood.

Brief Summary:- Busy during lunch- Felt quieter during dinner time- Rotating lunch has good portionsThis review contains two visits: one during dinner time, when the restaurant just opened, and the other time during peak lunch hours. The first visit was in the early evening after some hours of shopping and burning under the sun for the most part. The restaurant is spacious with tables, chairs, bar area, and also the Japanese styled room. We chose one of the tables near the Japanese styled room.We ordered a couple of dishes for dinner: kama-age udon, mentaiko udon, a roll of spicy tuna sushi, and the kama meshi (vegetable). The sushi arrived first and then the other dishes arrived at once. The udon was a soft chew and thinner in the kama-age udon. For the cold mentaiko udon, these noodles are flat. I liked how I got to mix the contents inside. The taste reminds me of home cooked meals, so it was a pleasant meal experience.The second part of the meal was during lunch time. We arrived probably exactly at 12pm. There were a few guests waiting at the entrance. There also appeared to be a convention event nearby, so guests with lanyards were lining up with us too. However, some of them trickled away due to the wait time, so we were closer to getting a table. All of the tables were filled that day, so we managed to get seats by the bar table. We viewed the menu ahead of time, so we chose the rotating lunch.I've grown to acknowledge that waiting times in Portland restaurants are long, so I didn't take most of the places into consideration. However, there was a significantly longer wait time during lunch than dinner. It could be that there was only one to two staff members spread wide and thin to accommodate for the guests, but the pacing of the food influx felt slower as well. After some waiting, the lunch arrived at the same time for us.Upon skimming over the servings, it is a mystery to me on what would have caused the food to take a while to arrive. The light assumption I could think of was the rice. Maybe a new back needed to be cooked.This lunch dish was delicious too. The portions were just right, and the rice to meal ratio was balanced too, so nothing was left over near the end of the meal. The only negative I had was the miso soup; the miso content was strong.Based on the two experiences, I liked the dinnertime food experience mostly because of the timing and the food choices we chose. Possible additional bias that we chose udon noodles for dinner, which is my favorite dish.

One of our best meals in Portland! The pork katsu rivals the curries in Japan. From the crispy katsu coating to the juicy pork and fragrant curry, this dish was SO comforting. Kids loved the fat o-musubi rice and nori. Sushi was fresh. Don't forget the taiyaki & mochi ice cream for dessert! Fast and friendly service and warm, inviting ambiance. Only downside is the busy street location but I will cross a few roads for solid Japanese cuisine!!

This place is a great find! We went out of our way to visit this place and it was absolutely worth the thirty min of traffic we were stuck in to get there! First off, cute place - well designed and has a good vibe. Really friendly staff too. At first, we got the veggie gyoza, veggie roll and rotating lunch special which had the salmon. Everything was perfectly prepared and there's not a bad thing to say about any of it. The veggie gyoza was crispy and not greasy and just little bites of deliciousness. The veggie roll was fresh and I loved the addition of herbs on top of the avocado and cucumber. We were still a little peckish after that, so we got the spicy salmon roll and the yodare tofu. The husband pronounced the spicy salmon roll as perfection but the real winner of the entire meal was the tofu eggplant dish. Beautifully seared and yet soft alternating slices of eggplant and tofu immersed in the best sauce on the planet and topped with fresh herbs and green onions. This is a dish that I will continue to dreamabout and hopelessly try to recreate. Every bite of that dish was worth sitting in thirty min of traffic for and that's the highest praise I can think of! I love that this place has so many vegetarian options (there is a veggie option almost in each category) and those options include something as epic as the yodare tofu. A lot of places do not put effort into their vegetarian options, so hats off to the insanely talented chef who created this! 11/10 would visit again and order two plates of that eggplant tofu.

I'm an udon soup lover, I would choose udon soup over ramen any day! I was so glad I found this place on our last day in Portland. I was overwhelmed by all the options mainly because I wanted to try them all!Ended up choosing ebiten shio. I was expecting a noodle soup, but it came out as a brothless udon where you mix it with a little sauce at the bottom, which was disappointing because I'm a soup person, HOWEVER.... the flavor was sooo good, I was a little less disappointed and ate it all! Would definitely come back and order it again but with a side soup.Paid street parking is on a busy street, just FYI.

One of my favorite places to eat in Portland, which is unsurprising because I LOVE udon. I was in town to attend a conference and ended up eating here for dinner 2 of the 3 nights I was in town since it was across the street from my hotel. This place surpassed my expectations serving up a hot delicious bowl of udon for both visits. They have a sushi bar area as well as tables and a traditional seating area for larger groups. Although it was busy both nights, I was quickly sat at the sushi bar. Service can be slow since it was busy but I didn't really mind since I was excited to eat. They have a mix of hot and cold udon on their menu along with a variety of appetizers to choose from. I ordered the tempura and hokkai-miso udon. The traditional broth here that they used for most of their udon is a dark soy and it was definitely super tasty without being too salty. I definitely am obsessed and will eat here any time I'm in Portland. I highly recommend this place, it was delicious and on par with the udon shops I frequented in Gardenia/Torrance in LA when I lived there with my family.

What a delightful surprise this was on a chilly December day. The interior including the open kitchen is so welcoming and cozy, it's a beautiful aesthetic. Prompt, polite and accurate service as well.The broth for both the salmon belly stew and kama age udon were both so deliciously flavorful, deep and wholly unique. The Kama age is savory and light while the salmon belly is not surprisingly rich and fatty, while the cuts of salmon were so perfectly cooked. Moist, delicious and of so rich, it just seemed to melt in my mouth. I also had a omusubi with men-taiko, which is a spiced tarako caviar and it was one of the best I've had and I am a fiend for a good omusubi. Lastly the unagi roll was excellent, with buttery and boneless unagi that I wish I could have in a unagi don. I like that it was a more simple, traditional roll, not an overly sweet, Americanized version. It really let the ingredients shine. I also appreciated that they serve good tea and give you several varieties to choose from. This really is a gem of a place that I'll definitely be returning to so I can get some authentic Japanese udon and comfort foods.

OMG a Japanese restaurant that isn't a ramen or sushi restaurant! (They have some sushi but I wouldn't call them a sushi spot). After a brief look at the menu we decided kitchen over sushi was the way to go. The style here seems to be kind of home-style cooking, Japanese comfort food focusing on udon & steamed donburis.We tried the Kama-Age udon special w/ Hokkai miso broth which was like a hearty seafood broth. The noodles and toppings are served on the side so you can garnish as you go. We got the Kama-tama egg option (soy soft-boiled egg) as well which made it even more savory. We also got the Kama-meshi specialty rice w/ seafood but be warned this one does take longer to prepare. The dessert was fun too, it was those puffy fish-shaped bread stuffed w/ red bean paste & served w/ green tea ice cream. We really enjoyed both, there wasn't anything that new or wild flavor wise, just mild and comforting and tasty.The inside is pretty cool, kind of modern clean old-style wood decor.