Well, 32 GB with 2-3 VMs should be quite alright, in any kind of use, which can be considered normal.

Sorry, I forgot your config - Windows Host and Linux guests. That opens up a new thing to consider and perhaps test ... I hope this hasn't been brought up before ...

... in the old days, Linux computers couldn't always get the ip-address from regular (cheap, home) routers. Maybe that particular Linux, with its particular VMware Tools, cannot get DHCP-address from the Host. 

The cure is easy, use a fixed ip-address on the Linux. Since you have many guests running at the same time, perhaps you would like to have static addresses between them anyway (if they interact with each other). Obviously, your fixed ip needs to be outside the range of DHCP server (on the Windows Host, in VMware).

Why Restart works then, still no idea, but I don't know the internals that well.