The Dan Dan noodles are good, but I wouldn't bother with the student noodles or ginger scallion noodles. The sauce on the 2 noodle dishes are not good. IMO, one honestly just tastes like Black Vinegar and the other, a thicker kinda creamy ginger sauce. Since the move, haven't been impressed with anything read more

NOTHING gets between me and Crocodile Palace. The #1 place to eat in TC. I would DIE for Crocodile Palace. The Dan Dan Noodles, Potstickers, Szechuan Chicken, all of it is so unbelievably good. You NEED to eat here. My family and I eat here at least 6 times a month. It's fantastic. If they ever close I'll kms. read more

What a find! Two dudes that clearly live to create! Small establishment pushing out a fun take on Szechuan cuisine. For those who have complained about the spice, it's SZECHUAN, so mind the pepper scale on the menu. :) I also read another subjective critique that argues his dish was not hot enough. Yall... Try. This. Place! It's fun, a new experience, and the food is awesome. By far one of the best meals I've had in Michigan, and the best meal I've had in northern Michigan; hands down. read more

We were intrigued by Crocodile Palace, lauded as a great place for Sichuan cuisine in Traverse City and recommended highly by Eater. This is the second location, opened in May inside The Little Fleet, a small collection of food trucks near downtown. Instead of being a food truck, Crocodile Palace is a permanent stand inside of The Little Fleet building. Ordering is in typical food truck park style - counter service. Garlic & Scallion Noodles ($14) - This was the special of the day. We thought it would be a nice fusion version of 葱油拌面, but this Garlic & Scallion Noodles turned out to be a sad and messy dish. They firstly use commercial ramen noodles, which are somewhat bouncy but a bit underdone - they bounce back a bit at the first bite, but then snap instead of continuing to bounce. The noodles are tossed in what I can only describe as a ginger salad dressing. It's heavily gingery, with the taste of the ginger completely covering up any semblance of garlic or scallion flavor. I will fully admit that I'm not an expert on all types of Chinese cuisine, but most of the time, I find that the ginger is used as a mild complementary flavor, not one that punches you straight in the face like this dish. I feel like this ginger forwardness is mostly a Western invention. At any rate, the ginger noodles are topped with Chinese sausage, not browned or caramelized, but rather cooked plainly, sliced thin and plopped on top. There's fried chicken, with a thin but crisp breading that is way overly salted, but with skin that's rendered down well. There's a ton of cilantro added on top for herbal freshness, and a bit of scallion and sesame on top as well. I honestly felt like this dish came from a "build-your-own-bowl" type of place where you add ingredients together and hope that it all works together. Or maybe a place where the owners have a bunch of "Asian" ingredients and feel like they should just mash everything up together. The worst part is the ginger that overshadowed every aspect of the dish. Very discordant flavors, and a very disappointing dish. (2/5) Cheddar Mochi Bread ($6) - This dish, on the other hand, was pretty good. Think of this as essentially a giant pao de queijo. It's chewy and exceptionally cheesy. The exterior has a somewhat crisp shell, with the bottom having a harder caramelized cheese crust. The order comes with two pieces and they are served with sour cream drizzled on top and a sprinkling of paprika - mostly to add to the aesthetics than to actually add much flavor. It's also topped with scallions for freshness. These must be amazing when coming fresh out of the oven, but unfortunately they are premade and served cold. (4/5) Complimentary sparkling and still water are available at the bar. Before visiting Crocodile Palace, we were pretty excited with trying it out and even debating trying the original location the next night. After eating, we found ourselves questioning why we chose this place. The side we got was pretty good, but the main entree was mishmashed and discordant. Bathrooms - Inside The Little Fleet, two larger restrooms for each gender. Overall rating of the food this visit: 3/5 read more

See all

Totally open kitchen. No wondering (if you are so inclined) about food handling. I had the cold chicken. It's different from the "authentic" version in that it's a chicken breast not a chicken chopped with a cleaver. I greatly prefer this type of presentation. The chili sauce was right on target spicy but not in an "I challenge you sort of way". The whole experience just makes me happy. read more

I have been visiting TC since Monday night and have eaten here twice. That doesn't count the other location which I'll review separately. Cucumbers. How has a bowl of cucumbers taken over my brain? If I'm sitting in silence, I'm probably trying to recreate these in my head to make when I return home. We have had the cucumbers twice, my son had the hot dog and enjoyed it. I had the fish sandwich and it was good but pretty wet. Then we got the mochi bread for our soon to be one year old to eat and she seemed to really enjoy it. But the cucumbers......man, I'll miss you. read more

I ordered Dan Dan noodles and absolutely selected the tofu option instead of Pork as I don't eat meat. I've not eaten meat for 30 years. They just didn't want to refund the item or remake it which was completely bizarre. When I got home they were filled with pork crumbles. I called Crocodile Palace that night and they assured me they would refund me the $16 Dan Dan noodles. Several days went by and I called back as there was never a refund so I asked if they would at least remake them how I ordered them without pork. The second time I called I was told that I didn't select tofu and that they would not refund me nor remake the noodles. Crocodile Palace was willing to loose me and everyone I know as a customer at the expense of $16. Food was interesting but now I refuse to order again due to saying they will refund me, then going back on their word and didn't contact me again, and wouldn't even remake the dish. I was mistreated and wouldn't want the same to happen to you. I spent over $100 dollars as well. Crocodile Palace does not deserve your hard earned money when they do not care about their customers. 2 Stir-fried gai lan $24.00 Smashed cucumber salad 1 $10.00 Hot & sour soup 1 $16.00 Dan Dan noodles 1 $16.00 Laziji chicken 1 $16.00 Side Rice 1 $2.00 Sichuan Mouth Watering chicken 1 $14.00 Subtotal $98.00 Tax (Sales Tax) $5.88 Total $105.88 read more

I love asian noodles but not their asian noodles. Something was off in flavor and the 5 skimpy pieces of chicken were not there to impress. We lived in China and have developed a taste for many different foods but this was not good. Spend your money elsewhere. read more