Gom Ramen — Restaurant in El Paso

This restaurant is not truly a Korean restaurant but merely mimics the taste of gomtang. Gomtang originates from Korea, and the soup is traditionally made by boiling beef bones and brisket for many hours to develop a rich, savory flavor. However, what they serve here doesn’t come close to that standard.

There is no such thing as “gom ramen” in Korea. The only thing remotely similar is an instant cup noodle called gomtang ramen. The ramen they served lacked flavor, and the gomtang with rice was so excessively salty that I had to stop eating. I have no idea how this restaurant received such high ratings when it completely fails to deliver anything close to the authentic taste that Korean food offers.

Furthermore, the spicy level of their gom ramen seems to be determined by how much Shin instant ramen powder is being added. Honestly, Shin Ramen prepared at home with a good set of eggs would provide a far more satisfying experience.

On top of that, they explicitly state that tipping is optional—which, of course, is true since tipping is never mandatory. However, their kiosk includes a tipping screen, and when it appears, the server deliberately turns her head away, creating an uncomfortable pressure to tip. If tipping is truly optional, they shouldn’t use a kiosk that prompts for tips. Instead, they should provide a tip jar, which would genuinely allow customers to decide freely.

Overall, I was very disappointed. This was one of the most regretful and wasteful dining experiences I’ve had. If you’re looking for an authentic Korean dining experience, this is not the place.

However, if you don’t mind a Korean restaurant run by someone without expertise in Korean cuisine, this might...

!!!!WARNING!!!!

THIS IS NOT RAMEN.

This is Janchi-Guksu, which is a light noodle soup similar to Pho.

So there are two parts to this, and I'll start with the good. The soup is light and flavorful. The meat is thinly sliced, high quality beef, and the noodles are deliciously home made with a delightful flavor. You can add spice, additional meat, veggies, etc. Knowing absolutely nothing about and going in expecting nothing, it was fresh, yummy, and light. The spring rolls were also light, crispy, fluffy, flavorful. It's also pretty cheap.

Now for the other side.

The problem is that this isn't ramen. This isn't even close to what you think about when you think ramen, other than being noodles in broth. The ramen I expect is bone broth, cloudy, and dense with flavor. The toppings are traditionally soft boiled egg, bamboo shoot, garlic, chashu, etc. It's normally hearty and satisfyingly thick with flavor. So being intimately familiar with ramen, and going to a ramen place near us that has actual korean ramen with bulgogi, this is a straight miss, and quite literally the entirety of my party was angry because we felt we'd been lied to. I can roll with anything and I'm a foodie, so I judged it based on what I'd been presented with, knowing immediately that it was not ramen.

The service was good and the restaurant was clean. I gave it 2 stars because while it was good, 4/5 people were unhappy that it wasn't actually ramen and felt lied to. If the sign said pho, and they'd expected pho, it would've been fine because it's pretty close. But if the sign had said Korean Pho, we wouldn't've eaten dinner here...

I've eaten a LOT of ramen in my days, and all I can say is Gom has got something very special here that I have never experienced anywhere else.

I was afraid that the very thin korean noodles would ruin the ability of the noodle to soak up the broth, but I was completely wrong. It's like the angel hair pasta version of Ramen, and when angel hair pasta is done right it's an experience.

This bowl was an experience, I got level 2 spiciness which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone who can handle the heat from siracha, spicy chik-fil-a sandwich, dry rubs, etc. Those are exactly this level of heat and it is a beautiful masterpiece.

I have to give praise to how much additional stuff they place even when you don't order extras. There was plenty of beef, plenty of boiled egg, plenty of veggies, and it was very nicely platted. Honestly one of the prettiest bowls of ramen I've seen.

Their lemon tea is a must try. I'm not big on sugary drinks, but this was something else and was perfect with a spicy bowl of broth.

I finished absolutely everything.

Shout out to the waiter who was absolutely great. Always attended to me, extremely polite, and introduced me to one of the best lemon teas of my life when I wasn't planning to order one.

The one little gripe I have was when I asked for desert the waiter described a chocolate type pastry, and then gave me what looked basically like a moon pie. I love moon pies, but I was expecting something home-made. Still everything else was so good this doesn't take away 5 stars.

You absolutely must...