1 “The Craziest Thing”
Noka Ramen recently opened in the East Bay with a visual splash: On Fridays, the restaurant’s staff dress as the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, those colorful ’90s kids-show heroes, as a tie-in with range of Power Rangers-themed cocktails. Around 8 p.m. last Friday, fantasy and reality collided. “The craziest thing just happened at dinner,” tweeted Ploi Pirapokin, who was dining at the restaurant. “I’m at a ramen shop owned by Thai people in Oakland dressed as power rangers, when a woman comes rushing in saying she wasn’t safe—and a man came running in after her and puts her in a chokehold.”
2 Power Rangers React
It was then that the restaurant staff sprang into action. “Once the woman had expressed she wasn’t safe, and she didn’t want to go home with this man who was choke holding her, the black power ranger (the manager with a … bob) and the yellow ranger, told the man to leave,” Pirapokin tweeted. “He swung at them. This is when all rangers yelled, ‘Huey!’”
3 Attacker Detained
“All of the servers, slash Power Rangers were moving towards the scene to help one another out,” Pirapokin told ABC7. The costumed staff piled onto the man, while “the patrons started getting involved in a way that was supporting and making sure everyone was safe.” Oakland Police arrived on the scene and detained the man, transporting him for medical attention. He was apparently undergoing a mental health crisis, a spokesperson told ABC7.
4 “Real-Life Heroes”
The restaurant posted a statement on its Instagram, along with a photo of its staff in their costumes, assuring the public this was an isolated incident.
“Our NōKA Rangers were real-life heroes last night when an incident occurred 💛,” the restaurant wrote. “Like our heroic namesakes, it’s not just the powers and costumes that give us strength. It’s who and what we are inside that empowers us.” “While we’re proud of our team for going above and beyond in our time of need, we would like to assure our guests that this event is an anomaly at our restaurant,” they continued. “The safety of our guests and employees is of utmost importance to us. We are fully cooperating with the police in identifying the individual involved.”
5 “No Plan For This Kind of Thing” ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb
The restaurant’s manager, who declined to give her name, told Eater, “We had to ensure the safety of our customers, and our staff and the whole restaurant. The staff didn’t want harm to come to anyone and were thankful there was no weapon involved.”
She added: “We didn’t talk to each other, we just thought, ‘What is the first step?’ There’s no plan for this kind of thing.”
