Robata Maplewood Dine-in/take out — Restaurant in Maplewood

Today I recommended Robata as I always do to friends and family because the food is usually correct and tasty. I just spent 40 dollars there yesterday. However when my sister went today she was on the phone with me as she placed my order. She repeated verbatim what I said which was Tonkatsu Ramen and steamed pork dumplings. When she brought my food to my office I noticed it was not what I ordered. I took it back to Robata and told the heffa at the window, ( I was nice originally until she snatched the receipt out of my hand) Anyway I said this isn't Tonkatsu Ramen and the dumplings are fried. Ironically she must have remembered my sister because she immediately said that's Katsu Ramen and Gyoza. I said it's not what I ordered that's what I just said. She said this is what she ordered. I said no it's not I was on the phone when she was placing the order and she repeated exactly what I said, Tonkatsu Ramen and steamed pork dumplings. The lady said I pointed at this and this on the menu and asked her if that was what she wanted and she said yes. What she, the employee pointed to was Katsu Ramen and Gyoza. I asked her why would she point to anything when she clearly told you what she wanted? Her only dispute was " I pointed at this and this and asked her did she want that and she said yes. I again asked, why would you point to ur menu when she verbally told you what she wanted? I called my sister and asked her and she confirmed after she said what I wanted the lady was trying to point at things in the menu but she never said yes to anything, she had already ordered the Tonkatsu and pork dumplings. At this point the employee said I'll remake it this time and she walked away aggressively rolling her eyes. Then she returned to the window and asked for the receipt, as I passed it to her she snatched it out of my hand which is when my attitude changed. She disappeared for 10 minutes and then came back with the food. As she held the bag out of the window I said thank you and she slammed the drive thru window in my face. I have literally sent numerous people there. My daughter is a regular and my son is too. I work nearby so I often grab my lunch from there when I'm in the mood for ramen. Again, I spent $40 yesterday at Robata for lunch. The employee disposition and attitude along with not taking accountability for messing up the order has resulted in me no longer going to their business and I'm going to spread the word to all of the people I've sent there to not patronize Robata anymore. We'll give yummi yummi our business from now on. And as I sit here doing this review I'm going to throw the food in the trash because my mom taught me a long time ago, when you return something and they have a attitude about it, get ur money back don't accept replacement food because you don't know what they'll do to it or put in it. And yes, her attitude was that bad over a $20 order. Now you'll lose much more money from me and my people going somewhere else for ramen and good...

When we initially sat down I was really impressed by the menu and variety. The waitress was friendly and was quick to check on us in case we needed anything. Another waiter was quick to refill our water whenever it was low. As far as the waiting staff was the seem like they knew what they were doing. Once we got our food though that's when I became disappointed.

I had order Vegetable Gyoza which was to be pan-seared, but instead it was deep fried or they were over seared. On top of that the Gyoza was not made in house it is actually a brand I've bought before and made, which made me disappointed in the cooking staff. Then I bought the Vegetable Ramen on the menu.

I have had Vegetable Ramen numerous times at other restaurants, and I have made it myself before. When I got my Vegetable Ramen with Extra Noodles (which costs two extra dollars mind you) they were overcooked, clumped together, and were sitting lazily on top of my bowl not soaking up the broth at all.

After I was able to take apart the noodles and put them in the broth I noticed uncut spinach that was hard to chew and didn't fit with the dish. Along with spinach there was corn, some type of mushroom that was also hard to chew, and raw onion. With the odd vegetable choice, which were suppose to be "steamed vegetables," but sadly it's just me who is steamed.

The dish was bland and I could not finish it because it got cold due to where we were seated. We were seated in the direction of the air vent, and the positioning of the seats seemed in the way of the workflow.

I won't be returning to the restaurant due to how little of care was put into my dishes. The servers were great and on beat with everything, but I cannot forgive the way the food was prepared and how...

I was really excited to try this place as I was looking to get the best ramen in St. Louis and my friend had recommended Robato. When called in to place a carry-out order, was impressed to find that they had a drive-thru! Off I went in my pjs to pick up the miso corn and pork ramen I had ordered.

When I pulled up at the drive thru, the service was slow. I finally got a giant paper bag and it smelled so yummy, I debated whether I wanted to pull up in the parking lot to eat it, or go straight home (an entire 7 minute drive away). Drove home hoping the experience and wait would be well worth it.

It wasn't. The broth was in a separate container and I had to dump it into a separate container with the rest of the ingredients, which included a big block of uncooked ramen (obviously). I had to heat up the broth in the microwave and spend the next 5 minutes swishing the block around in it, until it finally softened up and separated. When I had my first spoonful of the broth, it was as good as having hot water. ZERO flavor. I added some salt, and still nothing. I rarely add salt to my food, and for this dish I literally had to dump what I felt like was two teaspoons of salt just for it to even be edible. I even whipped out my Sriracha hoping it would add a zing, but it barely improved it. I couldn't make it through more than a few spoons of the ramen before I decided I would probably have to try to make something else with it for a later meal.

The whole experience was anticlimactic, and I ended up going to Chipotle right after. Will probably not be recommending to my friends.

PS- this post was just about the ramen, but I ordered their Johnny Walker sushi roll as well, which was a huge...