Ramen Head — Restaurant in Rockwall

As a single mom and a new Instacart driver after a recent job loss. On Friday, September 20, 2024 around 7:25pm I had an incident with an employee named TAMARA of Ramen Head. On 09/20/24 I went above and beyond at Fiesta Mart for their large order of over 20LBS of pork feet, over 20LBS of chicken feet, 20 lemons, and 3 carts of blackberry’s. Due to deli not having enough meat and also adding new items and keeping Ramen Head updated on every single event. After checking out and loading all the groceries into my back driver seat. I put up the cart and messaged the customer I’m on my way! As I started getting closer I messaged the customer again I was 2 minutes away, so if someone was going to be coming to receive the order they could or inform me where it needed to be left. Like every other restaurant I have ever delivered to does. But no response... When I arrive to the shopping center I see Ramen House, and see a car pulling out of a parking spot close to the front of all the stores. After I parked, I then message Tamara for the final time and inform them I arrived and ask if there is a specific place that I should bring the order to? I also asked if any employees that could maybe come help since it was an order over 50LBS? Again, nobody ever responded after a couple of minutes. As I waited for a response, I called Tamara. Of course no answer. Then, I googled the restaurant for a store number and tried to call, and no answer, only a voice mail with a full mail box. So at that point I was just going to go and hopefully find out! So I got out of my car, and I grabbed every single bag which was extremely heavy (over 50LBS), and shut my car door with my side and headed towards the restaurants front door. I had to walk up a few steps. Once I came to the front door I used my pinky and foot to open the door. As I walk inside the restaurant, I noticed it was kind of loud with a fair amount of people. To my left there was a check-out counter with a register and it half was covered, with a young girl working behind the register. I say “Should I place this Instacart order here?” then place the bags down behind the counter on the floor (out of anyone’s way). As, I unbend over / stand up to start to leave. (after bending over to put the bags / order on the ground). I make direct eye contact with the young girl employee who was working there behind the register. She is looking at me very shocked. Thrown off by her expression I asked in a confused voice “Ramen Head? Tamara placed an Instacart order for this restaurant, should I just leave it right here?” As I’m finishing my sentence another woman worker much older and heavier comes up to me. Clearly she is either very angry or annoyed. She says “Don’t be lazy. You need to go take it to the back!” I then proceeded to try and tell her “I’m so sorry for the confusion. I wasn’t trying to be lazy….” She cuts me off again… (I was trying to explain to her that I did send MULTIPLE messages and call MULTIPLE times to find the correct location to place the order.) She says “No, I don’t care. You need to take them to the back, like all the other Instacart drivers do. Go ahead and pick it up and go.” I then said to her “ I wasn’t aware! Well, is there any way someone would be able to help take them back there since there are at least about 50 Pound or heavier?” She looks at me and says “No, they cannot but guess what you can.” In an angry and annoyed tone. THE VERY NEXT DAY. I received notification that Tamara LIED to Instacart and stated she did not receive the 20 lemons and 3 cartons of blackberries in the order. Then reported me as a driver. WITCH AGAIN IS A HUGE LIE. I’m really disappointed in Tamara, and ramen head as a whole. Definitely seeming to be a small business. I am a single mom, who lost her job due to inflation just recently and this is my ONLY way to pay bills. I’m trying my BEST. For this business to lie and try to make me lose my only source of income is awful. I did try and reach out to the owner / store manager and I have still not received any...

So I finally got to try the new Ramen Head in downtown Rockwall! I knew this place was popping when there was 5 people waiting for a seat, outside, at 1pm on a Thursday. lol

Inside there was a host stand, it’s hard to even remember this place was a women’s boutique just a few months ago. The space is totally transformed, cool hand painted murals, stained floors, Edison bulbs etc. Modern dance music playing kept a casual, fun and energetic vibe to the place.

There was a 15 minute wait, but ended up getting sat at the bar pretty quickly.

I was surprised that they didn’t have iced tea as an options, though they did have plenty of sodas including imported Japanese sodas, which seemed fun, but I just went with water to play safe.

I’m not a ramen expert by any means, for me ramen was a simple cheap food I lived on back in college, but if you’re expecting cheap ramen you’re in the wrong place. The top menu item is a $18.00, which is 81 times the 0.22c cost of a serving of the ramen you’re thinking of. This ain’t that. This is real, serious, passionate, Japanese ramen.

The ramen comes in several variants, and ranges from $10 to $18 a bowl. The “heat level” is required when ordering, mild, medium or “face melting”. I went with medium and found the heat to be perfect, but my friend got “mild” and was surprised at the heat levels. I suppose that depends on personal preferences.

We tried both the Deviled Eggs and the Gyoza, and both were awesome. Rich, flavorful, hot. Bold flavors. Very fun. I could come here and just eat appetizers.

The ramen took a minute to come out, and was way larger than I anticipated. I got the $12 “Tonkotsu Ramen Light” ($12) and immediately realized I was in a new dimension of ramen. This massive bowl could probably be split, was full of stuff like pork, eggs, onions and more. The “broth” (soup) was really flavorful, rich, filling. Perfect for a winter day. The noodles were never ending, it seemed. I struggled to handle them properly with the nice polished chop sticks provided. They do offer forks, for quitters. lol

Service was great, atmosphere was fun, and I’m excited to have a new, different eatery to choose from in Rockwall. I think it adds some culture to a pretty “quiet” area, and will be welcomed by locals.

I had to step out of my comfort zone a little to eat here, but I leave with no regrets. I...

Pretty bummed to have to leave a negative review because this is the type of place you want to do well. First of all, the wait. My party spent almost an hour at the top spot on the wait list with no notification of when we might get a table while there were at least 4 open tables and a plethora of servers standing around. When we asked the nice employee at the front kiosk, she said it would only be a bit longer. A "bit" translated to 30+ minutes. There were also the 7+ other potential customers(we stopped counting after 7) who walked in and immediately left after being told the absurd wait time with only 3 parties on the list. Keep in mind, this was with a more than adequate staff and plenty of other available tables. After finally being seated, the food took almost another hour to be made for just the 3 of us with only 4 other tables in the restaurant. The food itself was mediocre at best. We each got separate ramen dishes that came out separately. There was 15 minute gap between the first bowl getting to our table and the third one. How are we supposed to enjoy a lunch together when only one person gets their meal at a time? There was no sense of urgency anywhere and the wait staff were literally standing around doing absolutely nothing. We would try to wave someone down to get a refill on drinks, but nobody seemed to care and it took forever. By the time we finished our bland dishes, we were just ready to leave and never come back. No point in complaining to the manager because we won't be returning. Take my $60 and begone--which was cash-only, by the way, because the credit system was down. I'll give 1 star for the nice lady at the front kiosk and the sweet wall art. If you want good ramen, go to Maru Ramen in Richardson where they know how to run a restaurant, make good food, and actually care about...