Rose's Noodles, Dumplings and Sweets — Restaurant in Durham

I pass by this place on my way to work everyday, and have always been curious about it. I love asian food and dumplings, so I finally decided to stop by and give it a try. I will not be returning! I ate inside the restaurant and was served with a carafe-style pitcher of water, but the water was room temperature and served with no ice. That's not very refreshing when its 90+ degrees outside in the middle of summer, and you're in small, crowded restaurant that doesn't appear to have AC. At first, I thought maybe because the restaurant is so small they simply don't have the space or means to keep the pitchers cool or serve ice with the water. But then, I saw that they make ice cream sandwiches. Also, outside the restaurant, they had a large dispenser of ice water. So it seems odd not to serve cold water to guests who dine in the restaurant.

I ordered a simple appetizer of fried dumplings, and it took over 30 minutes before they were served. I thought they may had forgotten my order, and just before I got up to leave, they brought them out to me. The dumplings were very small with little meat inside them. They were fried together and served almost as one single dumpling--certainly not worth the $12 I was charged. They were served with a ginger vinegar sauce that was so nasty and bitter I had to stop eating it. I also had to stop eating the sauce because it made my tongue tingle very severely and feel numb. It also felt like my tongue was swelling in my mouth. I thought I was having an allergic reaction. Drinking the room temp water didn't help either. Once the sensation in my mouth started to calm down, I decided to just eat the dumplings by themselves, and I thought they tasted great. But I immediately started to get that same tingling, numbing, swelling sensation in my tongue again. Whatever was in the sauce was in the dumplings also. It was so bad, I could not appreciate the taste of the food.

I asked the server if there was something in the sauce or the food that causes your tongue to feel numb. To which she happily replied, "Yes! It's szechuan peppercorn!" She went on to explain that it can make your tongue feel tingly and numb and sometimes people think they are having an allergic reaction. Why would you put something like that in food? Who finds that enjoyable? I have been to many asian restaurants in my lifetime, and I have had dumplings countless times. I've never been served anything made with szechuan peppercorn and probably for good reason. Who wants their tongue to feel numb while eating??

I was planning to order one of the ice cream sandwiches for dessert, but needless to say, after my experience with the dumplings, I didn't want to take any chances. It was a complete waste of my money and part of my Saturday afternoon. I certainly won't be back to try anything else on the menu. However, I did get some of the ice cold water they were serving outdoors on my way out--that was the best part of...

Rose's Noodles is a cute place on the outskirts of downtown Durham that offers its own twist on a ramen shop. When visiting around 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. The restaurant had a couple people sitting outside with a few tables full and an open counter on the inside. The atmosphere is very cute. Having a open kitchen with areas dedicated to making their own homemade sweets. It seemed promising but outside initial expectations things deviated.

My partner and I both ordered one of the steamed buns which looked just as they do in any of the other photos that you find, but while tasteful, did not feel fresh made and was actually not hot at all. All. The insides were warmed but it's hard for me to confirm if these were "freshly steamed".

I ordered the tonkotsu ramen and my partner ordered the The pork option belt noodles. The tonkotsu ramen was delicious and had savory flavors with tender meat, and well cooked noodles. For my partner, her belt noodles were good but it was hard to acknowledge and enjoy The taste of the ingredients due to them being doused and chili sauce. To the point where it was inedible. This is a shame because the noodles were definitely homemade and quite delicious but could not be enjoyed.

This would have not been as bad if our service would have made up for it and provided adequate water for us to accompany the burn of the noodles. After being sat and given the initial bottle of water to share at the table, the only way I was able to get service from there on was to flag down our server. At one point another table got up and went outside with their water bottle to refill it at the water tank that is provided for the people that are sitting outside.

The food was delivered by one of the chefs, at no point did our waiter check on us to see how we were doing and we also had to flag them down when you were ready for the check after having not eaten a bite of food for over 5 to 10 minutes. The server seemed more occupied with folding menus and stamping takeout boxes than tending to their tables.

The last thing to comment on was that even though it was a very cute restaurant, it looks like that wiping down surface area is not a priority. As The ledge that the flowers were sitting on had not been wiped for a couple days the dust that had accumulated around it was not a pleasant sight. Please see image.

In summary, it could have just been an off day + maybe our expectations of the food were not correctly aligned, but I accomplished two trips in one visit being my first and my last. If tempted to go back it may be due to trying the sweets as I have heard good things but this will be a takeout experience rather...

My family and I had been to Rose's once before, but only to buy bakery items to take out. The baked goods were great so we kept it in mind for the future. It was one of the first colder days in the area and we got the idea that Ramen sounded really good for lunch. We looked up places and bam. Rose's came up. Their baked goods were great the first time, so we thought the sit down restaurant for Ramen was a no brainer. We walked in and everything was going fine. We got seated within a minute and were looking over the menu. The staff was milling around and one of the staff smiled at my two year old a few times, but no one took our order or brought over water. It was a little weird, but we kept waiting for about 15 minutes. The table next to us opened up and it got cleared by the same person that had smiled at my son a few times. She got new silverware, water glasses, and a couple was seated shortly after. Immediately they got water, put in their drink orders. Still nothing for us. Another couple walked in just after that and water was brought over immediately. It looked like they placed a drink order as well. It was weird...I almost felt like they were ignoring us, but I am not sure why. That's when we decided it was time to leave.

Now I will point out that my wife is, if appropriate, really pregnant. This should not, at all, factor into the level of service that one gets at a restaurant. I will say, however, that is does factor in to how the rest of my afternoon went. It wasn't great. As we were standing in the parking lot arguing about whether I needed to go back in and say something, I will say one of the staff came out to apologize, but his excuse was that "it was early in the day". The more I thought about that, the more it made me mad. If you staff isn't up to working at open (mind you opening is 10 am, not exactly early risers), perhaps you should add that as a warning before coming in. Open at 10 am, but garbage service until noon.

Even with this review, I am sure Rose's will be just fine from a business standpoint. We don't eat out much, we aren't incredibly rich or have a lot of influence on where people eat. I'd be surprised if I even got a response from them. I would point out, however, that I don't plan on coming back to this place ever and that's disappointing because the food smelled and looked great. If for some reason you don't like kids or families, just let me know and I'll find somewhere else to eat. Anyways, if you were there around 11 am and saw my pregnant wife yelling...sorry....but also maybe just bring some water next time. You'd be doing me...