Sumo Ramen & Bar — Restaurant in McAllen

Service is truly appalling on 8/1/25. We were sat right away and waited a total of 30 minutes before I had to personally stand up and ask the hostess if she could please get our waiter. This was after I had asked another waitress (straight brown hair with long pony tail) if she could please let our waiter know, which she completely ignored. While asking the hostess, she seemed confused as to why I was asking her about our waiter to which I responded "we've been waiting for 30 minutes". The waiter finally shows up 10 min later, an older man, and says "listo"?? Me and my friend looked at each other confused because we didn't even have drink orders yet. The waiter AGAIN repeats "estas listo???" It was our first time here and we knew nothing about the menu. After waiting patiently for 30 minutes for service and the only thing that comes out of the waiters mouth is "listo?" Is rude and offensive. The waiter comes back and slams our drinks down without saying a word but for the table in front of us he states the names of the drinks he's serving. Indicating that he is not happy serving us for whatever reason which made us extremely uncomfortable. I should have left after that but shrugged it off. The same waitress with the pony tail came by and dropped off our food in a rush without asking us if we needed anything and I had to quickly grab her attention to please bring me and my son a fork. She nodded and never returned with forks or even asked our waiter to grab them, again, completely ignoring our request. I know we are not her table but at least have some common decency. The forks were literally right there on the counter, I found out because I had to (again) get up and ask someone for them. After I sat back down the hostess got in my face and asked if I needed anything. I said well since you're here, could we have a plastic fork because my son is 4 years old and the huge forks they gave us, he can't eat comfortably with. "WE DONT HAVE THOSE, IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU NEED". A restaurant that serves food and to go orders doesn't have plastic forks? I wonder if they could have walked next door to their sister restaurant, Kumori, and grabbed some because I have been given a plastic forks from them. I ask our waiter again for a plastic fork and I don't even have to explain what the response was because it's so obvious what it would be.At this point I'm just over the experience and know that I will never be returning and wanted to warn anyone thinking of trying this place because I have never experienced this level of horrific service in any establishment that I have been to. I'm not sure who the manager is but the attitudes from the hostess and waiters are unacceptable. The waiter never once asked if we needed anything the whole time we ate. It's as if we were a bother and inconvenience to this restaurant. The soup was decent. Side of chicken was cold and tasteless. Fried rice was cold, salty, and had spots drenched with sauce which means they didn't mix the rice while cooking to spread the sauce evenly in the rice. Unfortunately, we had to painfully endure this horrible dining experience and I am glad it's over so i can know next time when choosing a restaurant with family or friends to avoid it...

My overall dining experience was good but not great. The ramen was delicious.

I came in a little before five on a Saturday. I was immediately greeted by a hostess in a Kimono (interesting touch) and seated at the bar within seconds. Although most of the tops were full, the bar had only a few seated for context in this review.

The service started and ended great, but lacked for the better part of the meal. I was quickly greeted by a server after seating. After learning it was my first time dining there, He enthusiastically explained the menu and popular options. He then offered to give me a few to decide. It didn't take long to make my selection but my server didn't return for some time as he chatted with other staff. Luckily, the manager came by and after finding I no one had yet taken my order, she sent over the server.

I ordered pork & shrimp gyoza and the Sumo Wrestler ramen along with a Dos Equis. The server returned quickly with my drinks. It was a hot day and I was thirsty.

The appetizer was brought by a runner without eye contact or interaction. She just set down the food and walked away. The gyoza was room temperature at best and was likely sitting for awhile. Otherwise, it was delicious. The server did stop by shortly after it came out to check on me. This would be our last interaction until I was ready to pay.

By the time I finished my app, I had also finished my beer and water. When the runner brought out my ramen, it was the same. Just set my plate without a word.

The ramen was great. It was flavorful and balanced. It had a decent bite. I devoured the whole bowl. However, the entire time I was eating, no one checked on me (I was at the bar where tons of staff were in the kitchen area). My drinks sat empty.

At one point the server chatted with friends that dropped in for several minutes right next to me at the bar. Afterward, he walked right passed me to another customer at the other end of the bar, spoke to them briefly and disappeared again.

Only several minutes after finishing my meal did he come by. After indicating I was ready to pay. He suddenly got all friendly again after bringing the mobile payment with tip prompt 😂. He wven offered a drink to go.

There was a nearby Jazz Fest this day and they may have been a bit busier than expected but they didn't appear swamped. There were several opportunities where this could have been a better...

The following is my honest, critical feedback about the food having had many bowls of ramen in Japan and other places in the US + having cooked my own bowls of ramen from scratch.

Shoyu bowl fell short. It was a very one-note chicken soup + soy sauce soup that really wasnt doing it with everything else going on toppings-wise. Noodles were overcooked. I did not like the straight noodles in this soup. Thin, wavy would’ve been more the move for what this bowl is going for. The soup could REALLY use some umami elements in the tare. Some dried sardines/ katsoubushi would do it well, along with other aromatics to really enhance the overall balance.

Tonkotsu bowl was... weird. The noodles DO NOT work in this bowl. They used a wavy noodle and i think the straight ones would do way better here. Unfortunately they were also overcooked. Toppings were ok, and soup was a little off too. Not much depth of flavor here either and again, it feels like the tare needs further refinement. The soup itself could actually stand for being a little more rich than it was. Would recommend Sumo to play around more with the soup/tare combo in this bowl. I would personally scrap the thick wavy noodles for soups altogether and only use them for a mazemen dish.

The "Sumo Wrestler" bowl. This was the bowl i finished. I actually didnt mind this one. Again, the wavy noodles were used here but I really think the thin/straight ones are the way to go here. The spicy bomb added to this bowl added that extra depth of flavor that really helped out the near flavorless tonkotsu soup. Would eat this one again with correctly cooked thin noodles.

Overall, this is the place in the Rio Grande Valley that most closely resembles ramen. They’re still in soft opening and i'm sure they’re hearing feedback about the food. But man, if only they allocated some of the massive marketing/decor budget and reinvested it into making the food have umami, using carefully picked/sourced ingredients for the soup, and hardcore focusing on quality, they could be a great place for ramen here. I’m rooting for Sumo because the Rio Grande Valley really needs a good solid place for ramen.

Side note, appetizers were GREAT. No complaints there. We...