Journey Ramen — Restaurant in Louisiana

I used to go to this place regularly when it was in Mandeville. Service was great, food was great. Mandeville closed and now there’s this one. I have no idea if it the same or different owners now.

I made a journey to Covington as I was craving ramen and now I wish I hadn’t.

Service was a disaster. I come for lunch on a Monday and the place is dead. One customer waiting for a to-go order and one customer dining. When I enter the waitress approaches me, but doesn’t say anything. I tell her it’s just me and I want to dine in, but she still doesn’t say anything. Now I’m starting to think that maybe this isn’t a waitress and I’ve just been unnecessarily bothering some lady, but she is a waitress, just not a very good one.

I sit down at an empty table and get handed a menu by a young man. Nobody asks me if I want anything to drink. The waitress comes back a few minutes later. I order honey shrimp and spicyTonkatsu ramen. Still nobody asks me if I want anything to drink. The shrimp arrives and 20 seconds later the ramen. I ask for a glass of water. If asked I would have ordered a real drink, maybe a tea or something, but I was never asked for that. The request for water has them confused. The male waiter says there’s a soda fountain at the back of the room. I say I don’t want a soda, just a glass of water. He says that’s how they do it here. Then he wanders off. I thought he was going to get me some water, but instead he sits down at the back of the room and the lady sits down at the counter. No water.

Food was good, but I had to tell her I was finished, when it was obvious I was finished. She clears the empty ramen bowl, but leaves the empty shrimp plate. A few minutes later the guy clears the shrimp plate. Then they both go back and sit down at their respective seats. So I sit there and I wait, and I wait. Nobody asks me if I want anything else, no one brings the check. I have to call her over and ask for the check. She says “You want the bill now?” When else would I want it? She summons the guy over who has a handheld device with a total on the screen, and many tipping options, but no actual check to see if it was correct. I ask to see an itemised bill and then I see that they added on a credit card service fee. Don’t remember seeing that on the menu, but I may have missed it. It’s still sneaky.

In summary, food was good, service was a disaster. If you do crave ramen, get it to go and check your bill...

20 out of 5 stars. I would nominate this place for the Michelin guide.

I guess I'm kind of biased because this place reminds my favorite restaurants from my home state. But the atmosphere is incredibly chill, relaxed, very welcoming.

I always love to see owners at work in their establishments. It always makes me feel like they're serious about the guest experience and i can say these owners are definitely highly invested. Every single plate that came out of the kitchen, they inspected and every single plate looked like it belonged in a magazine. The presentation the color, the attention to detail, was something I rarely see out this way even in "fancy" restaurants. These guys just blew it out of the park.

Every single dish was delicious. We got the pork Boa, the Pork flaky dumplings, bulgogi and shrimp baco and the soup dumplings. I've eaten every single one of these foods numerous times in my life and have to say these all of dishes were easily top 3 in my life. I've even had the soup dumplings from Din Tai Fung, which are widely recognized as top tier and Journey Ramens are better, by far. The flaky pork dumpling, I could have eaten 10 more. I was actually hesitant to get that dish because I've had similar other places but was never really impressed but these ones! These ones at Journey. Omg just freaking amazing, perfectly crispy and succulent all in 1 bite with perfectly balanced sweet, savory and a little kick of spice. The shrimp... these shrimp were not shrimp, they were prawns, big, juicy, perfectly cooked prawns. I haven't had shrimp that fantastic since I left the west coast. Every single dish was bursting with perfectly balanced flavor.

This place is absolutely hands down a hidden gem. My husband is already saying, "we have to go back" "that's our Saturday spot now!" Definitely will be back. Thank you so much Journey Ramen for the fantastic...

While passing through Mandeville on a roadtrip we looked up Asian restaurants and Journey East was highly recommended. With the cold weather, we were looking forward to a nice bowl of soup. When we arrived, there was a special menu outside which listed one of my favorite food, chicken wings (korean style - interesting). Who doesn't like chicken wings other than a vegetarian or vegan?

I have taken many roadtrips around America just to eat chicken wings. I will have to say that the wings at Journey East are one of the favorites; top 3. The wings were fried perfectly and seasoned and sauced very well; plus they were not greasy. When I got to the last wing after savoring each bite, the explosion was just like the first bite; that's how you know you're having great wings. If I live near by, I would definitely return just for the wings.

As much as I was very satisfied with the wings, we did come for the soups. My rule of thumb when trying any new restaurant is to always order the signature item, it is usually the first item listed in the main course. Thank God I am not allergic to any food and have no restrictions; I live to eat! I had the Tonkotsu Ramen, a pork based soup. All I need to say is that I live in New York City, food capital of the world, where there is at least 1 ramen shop in every neighborhood. Journey East ramen can certainly compete with NYC ramen.

The icing on the cake was the bubble (boba) tea. I have never heard of an adult bubble tea; an alcohol infuse boba tea. In my opinion, this is genius! I had to try; I had the Rose Green Tea.

I am so glad we stopped into Journey East on our road trip. The next time I am near, I will certainly stop by again. It is also very important to know if Journey East is...