Dragon Warrior Ramen Shop — Restaurant in McAllen

To start off, I was a bit wary since this is a recently opened and new location so I was keeping my expectations tempered. Once we sat down at their longer benches, we noticed that the table was sticky, I don't know if it was the cleaner or maybe accumulated food, but I had worked at their old location and management was pretty strict about cleaning the tables so I hope it was just the cleaner they are using. Our waitress was a bit out of it, way too casual and slurring her words to where we had to ask for clarification. We ordered waters and one soda but were given a hibiscus tea instead because we had asked about their tea selection. The restaurant was also out of ice so we had to drink warm soda and water with our hot ramen. It is common for Dragon Warrior to be out of stock but if they are running out of ice, then that's not a good sign. We got our food pretty quickly and exactly what we ordered. I had ordered the Tonkatsu Miso and when I bit into the chashu roll, I had a whole piece of twine in my mouth that was left over from when they prepared the chashu by rolling the pork belly and tying it down. I left it on the side dish and did not make a big fuss since it was just string and not something like metal or hair. In the restroom, the trash can was overflowing with toilet paper and paper towels and there was a used glove discarded on the counter where the sink was. As a former employee, I was shocked to see that rules were not enforced about keeping things clean and tidy. The Main location had a clean restroom even at the most busy times. Then the issue of the check came. We split the bill three ways, there were four in our party. My friend and his girlfriend had one check which included two bowls and steamed buns, my cousin had his bowl, I ordered my bowl, two orders of gyoza for the table and an order to go along with the soda. We handed the waitress our cards and she took them to pay at the POS at the front desk. We then see her walking back and forth, another woman comes in and they start talking about something that involves the checks. This made me think she did not know how to split the bill or that she messed something up. We then got our checks back, signed and left. The next day the friend that payed for his girlfriends meal told me that he was charged for my tab along with his tab, so he ended up paying 65 dollars, and I had to pay him back for my food. I want this place to succeed and if Jason cannot put his foot down, grow up and enforce his policies instead of stretching himself so thin, then it is the end of a unique experience in the Valley. It is a real damn shame because the food is fantastic and everything is made fresh but it won't be worth it if they continue like this with poor service...

You can tell they do most everything from scratch and that’s extremely hard to do. I appreciate what they’re doing here. Making ramen is a multi-day endeavor and if you more or less know what the different parts are to making a bowl of ramen from scratch, it’s relatively easy to make at home with time. Making it at scale at a consistent level is very difficult, so I have extra appreciation for restaurants that try to do everything themselves.

-Tonkotsu bowl was the one I finished. Broth had good/balanced flavor, but wasn’t a fan of the huge piece of wood ear mushroom. I feel like it would be more palatable chopped up. Noodles are actually pretty decent and taste homemade, but felt a little too thick for this type of broth.

-Dragon Warrior bowl (chicken chintan shoyu) was a miss. Had just a straight chicken, soy sauce flavor that I wasnt a fan of. It legitimately reminded me of my absolute first bowl of “ramen” that tasted more like a Chinese chicken noodle soup. Wasnt a fan of the menma. It tasted like canned menma where it’s marinated in a soy sauce marinade. I’ve tried it like this myself and it comes out over-salty every time. Eggs had good flavor, but it tasted like they were over marinated (I’m guessing ~4-5 days?). I couldn’t finish the bowl. -spicy tonkotsu broth had a good spice level, but flavor profile was overpowering and felt like it needed to be toned down a tad seasoning-wise. Almost tasted like a tsukemen-type broth. Also, the bowls don’t come with nori by default which I found a bit strange. -all appetizers we tried were absolutely fantastic.

Overall, all the bowls had this “made in a home kitchen” taste which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it felt like they just need to go through more refinement and iterations. I really want ramen to succeed in the Rio Grande Valley and this place, to me, has the most potential to do it well out of the places I’ve tried here so far. Other places are pretty much just a caldo with noodles...

Last couple Of times I've eaten here have been disappointing. But this last visit was the most disappointing. I went in for a miso vegan spicy ramen.. they did not have a lot of ingredients. Didn't have the right broth(no miso), not the right mushrooms, didn't have any spice, nor lemon. What bothered me the most was that you get a nice view of the kitchen and workers. It disgusted me how the prep guy kept touching and adjusting his mask, and scratching his face, and w those gloveless hands, he was garnishing the seaweed on my bowl. Also snacking, which being a manager at a previous job, I know that goes against sanitary guidelines. Kitchen staff are forbidden from snacking in the prep area, and that's exactly what was going on. I had also ordered a side of fried Brussel sprouts, which was just super greasy crumbs. (Like when u fry them, and all the leaves fall off) that's what I got. Crispy leaves. No actual real Brussels in there. The bowl was low on broth, just sad to even look at. What bothered me too was when the server checked in on me, I told him it was not good atall. He then said He would talk to a manager to Maybe do a little discount ir something from my meal. Which he didn't and shortly came back with a tab for $16. For a sad bowl of ramen with low broth, crispy leaves the broth was flavorless there was not many noodles in there. Just everything has gone downhill since they moved from the last location on Main Street. I can't say I'll ever be back. It's one thing for a server to tell a customer that they will talk to the management to Maybe comp part of it. But to offer that and not do anything about it is the lowest of the low . Definitely over priced for a sad vegan bowl , there is potential, cause it was really good at one point, but idk.. maybe management changed. Just not what it used to be. I've heard from others too that it's not what...