Robata Ramen and Yakitori Bar
| Address: | 2116 Madison Ave, Memphis, TN 38104, USA |
| Phone: | +1 901-410-8290 |
| Site: | robatamemphis.com |
| Rating: | 4.3 |
| Working: | 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–2PM 11AM–12AM 11AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 7
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Alex Wheeler
The ramen here is lackluster to say the least. I really had my hopes up after reading several of the reviews but was disappointed with a sickening bowl of ramen. When I walked in I was seated quickly and immediately brought water, but our server took quite some time to appear and never took our drink order, just gave us our menus and left. The first sign that something was off was the multiple steps for ordering ramen. The noodles are supposed to be balanced with the broth, and should be chosen by the chef not the diner. Upon receiving the dish I was caught of guard by its sheer size. The ramen here is not expensive, and if anything I was expecting it to be a small bowl, but I was greeted by an enormous bowl that would be impossible to eat in the ten minute life of the noodles. The presentation was disappointing a looked like it was just thrown together, the toppings had sunken into the soup. I got the tonkotsu broth which was very plain and lacked any sort of punch. The individual components did not compliment one another and created a very poor experience. The most disappointing part however was the egg. This "marinated boiled egg" was a simple hard boiled egg. For starters ramen is supposed to have a soft boiled egg. The hard center was what really killed this bowl for me along with the eggs lack of an apparent marinade. The one saving grace of this bowl was the noodles, they were nice and crisp, far from the topical soggy noodles you will typically find. I was really looking forward to this and tried my hardest to enjoy it, but I just couldnt finish the bowl. Our waiter never checked in on us other than to ask if we wanted more water after we had been out for a while. Some of the other food may be good, but this is not a restaurant I plan to return to or could feel comfortable recommending.
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LikeO LikeH
The place looks so inviting and warm from the outside, staff were friendly and welcoming. The décor and atmosphere was very hipster and cool. I ordered the miso tonkatsu ramen with mini bbq pork rice. The ramen was average. The broth tasted pretty generic, noodles were actually really pleasant and firm, not over cooked or under cooked. However the pork slices wasnt as fatty as I thought it would be. Usually the porn has lots of fat for plenty of flavor but the meat was very lean and dry. The only twist was that they put pickled ginger in the ramen. I actually really enjoyed it. A very big disappointment was the egg. Typically eggs in ramen are soft boiled. Thats when the yolk in the middle is gooey and creamy. It usually cuts the salt in the ramen. But the egg was just a generic hard boiled egg. Really disappointed in that. The mini bbq pork rice was very strange. It was exactly what it said just a very small bowl of rice with little cubes of pork DRENCHED in a strange bbq sauce. It was very salty which didnt go well with the already salty ramen. But I continued to eat it simply out of confusion cause I couldnt come to a conclusion if it was Japanese inspired or just some random in house mix that they mad. A very average place in regards to ramen. I probably wouldnt go back. But then again Ive eaten ramen in so many different places that my taste has been developed differently. If its your first time trying ramen Robata is the place for you. If youve already experienced many places for ramen then skip Robata.
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Alfred Custer
Good ramen but disappointing service. 4 out of our party of 7 ordered the same ramen dish, but the server brought 3 bowls to the table. When she realized the mistake, she told us the last one would follow shortly. It did not, and our server did not return to fill drinks or bring the last dish for half an hour. Finally, she came back after everyone else was done eating and told us that if we still wanted the last bowl, it would be another 5 minutes at least. We chose not to wait, and the server brought us our checks, which already had an 18% gratuity added. I understand this is the policy for large groups, but in this situation it was in poor taste since one of our group wasnt served at all. The server ended the night by handing back the wrong amount of change to to one of the group who had paid with cash. All in all, I would recommend finding another option if you are looking for a pleasant experience.
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Chris Vanderlip
Eating was a bit awkward, components werent bite-sized and had to ask for a fork (they had chopsticks; I had trouble dismantling the slice of BBQ pork, which would have been extraordinarily difficult with chopsticks). It seemed that the assumption is that the customers knew how to go about eating ramen, as we werent even asked if wed dined there before. The food was fine, but nothing special. My fellow diner asked for a ramen add-in that was advertised as snow crab, but was imitation crab. The location was cold and they kept opening the back door to air out the kitchen, which made the whole dining room quite breezy. The bar attendant was singing along to the music, which might contribute to the atmosphere, but I thought it a bit weird.
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Olive Branch
We sat on the patio, and the weather was wonderful and that was really the only plus. Our server was slow and she made multiple mistakes with our orders. Additionally, the food was very bland. We had the fried oyster, squid and crab rangoon appetizers. Only the rangoons were tasty. For main entree, our table had the salmon flake fried rice, the fried chicken fried rice and several skewers. All were very bland, no seasoning and the fried rice was just steamed white rice in a bowl with the meat thrown on top. Maybe their Ramen is the house favorite? I doubt we will go again, but if we do, I will try the Ramen. Overall, this place was not even close to some of the good reviews we read. I would not recommend.
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Louis Tran
The place is quite expensive for some ramen. I understand that this comes with some fancy veggies and a little bit of meat but I think theyre out of their league with the $10 lunch game. Taste was okay, but it really wasnt much different from the Top Ramen and Maruchan you get at the local super market for a mere fraction of the cost. Also, my homeboys first bite was the pork and little did he know it would be his last bite of pork. They give you HALF an egg and one thinly sliced piece of pork. I dont like doing my people wrong but ya boi is gonna have to give this joint a 2 piece.
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David Stoker
I thought Robata was just ok. The staff is friendly, but a bit slow, as was the kitchen. The ramen was pretty average in my opinion. The broth was bland and it is somewhat sparse on ingredients. The ramen is pretty inexpensive, but climbs quickly if you add extras. I prefer a noodle heavy ramen and thats what I got here, so that saved it for me a bit. One of my tablemates had a dish with fried chicken over rice that was excellent. If you eat here in the winter time, dress warm, the building is really drafty on a cold night. I kept my jacket on throughout my meal.
