Stopped by Lan Ramen while spending the day in Princeton and it ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. The cucumber starter was super refreshing, the dumplings were perfectly cooked, and the ramen had deep, flavorful broth that tasted like it had been simmering all day. Everything we ordered was packed with flavor and came out fresh. The ambiance is cozy and relaxed, service was friendly and attentive, and even with the crowd the wait was minimal. Definitely a must-stop if you're visiting Princeton and looking for great ramen and comfort food. -- Jeffrey Umaña IG: @jeffrey.umana read more

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Lan Ramen is excellent, especially the Nomad Mongolian Beef and Spicy Sizzling Seafood Griddle. My son loves the ramen. I've been here several times and it's always top-notch. read more

3.5. Strolling down the streets of Princeton on an early Monday evening, we were looking for a place to eat. Most restaurants we passed were empty but this hole in the wall, below ground level restaurant had people and lots of energy. In fact, when we finished our dinner and left, there were people waiting for tables. The food was good and yes it's authentic but it's pricey for what it is. I ordered the Lanzhou noodles. It's good but the broth could have been more flavorful. It was a little watered down. The beef in the broth was delicious though. It's sliced beef but it tasted like short ribs. It's tender and meaty. read more

Lan Ramen - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

One of my friends told me about this restaurant so I decided to give it a try. The restaurant is located on the lower level of the entire building. The restaurant looked very clean with no garbage or debris on the floors or on the tables. The staff: The staff here are friendly, and they greet you and thank you with a welcoming smile. Prices: The prices here are pretty much similar to other ramen/noodle shops anywhere you go. Basically, it is a decent price for what you get now a days. Taiwanese popcorn chicken: This was cooked thoroughly and was delicious when you bite into it. This was definitely worth ordering if you decide to come here. Ultimate Lanzhou beef noodles: My brother said this noodle soup was not spicy at all. In fact it had too much of the black vinegar taste instead. The beef was cooked thoroughly, and the noodles were just all right with nothing special. Lanzhou beef noodles: The soup base for this noodle soup was very bland as if it was just soaking in water. The beef did not have flavor but was cooked thoroughly. The noodles would have tasted a bit better if the soup base had a little flavor to it. Overall: I might give this place a try again if I ever come back down to the Princeton area. Otherwise, I probably would not take the 1-hour drive down here just to dine at this noodle shop. A suggestion would be that they should try to perfect the soup base as the noodles are already good. read more

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After several years, I recently revisited Lan Ramen during Princeton Reunions. The quality of the food (in particular the noodles) unfortunately seems to have gone down a bit, especially the noodles. The interior is still as beautiful as in the past, and it's still one of the better options in Downtown Princeton, in my opinion. In my past experience, many of the dishes here tasted fresh and clean; next time I would stick to their non-noodle dishes. On my most recent visit, I tried the following dishes (roughly in order of most to least enjoyed) -L4 Fiery Lamb Stew of Lanzhou with Wide Noodles ($24+$4) - I actually prefer the lamb stew now to the version I tried in the past: it's very flavorful, decently spicy, has a strong cumin flavor, and clings well to the noodles. The bone-in lamb is good. However, the noodles were very soft, not bouncy at all, and shorter and thinner than in the past. I would recommend getting this dish here, but I'm not sure if the wide noodle add-on is worth it. (Side note: I'm sad that they no longer serve this on a sheep-shaped platter). -V7 Water Spinach ($20) - good and fresh, not overly salty. Quite garlicky. P4 Shredded Pork Tenderloin with Baby Bamboo Shoots ($18) - I think this is their version of 鱼香肉丝, and I liked it. The pork texture is good, and it comes with shredded bamboo and a few wood ear mushrooms. The flavor is slightly sweet, vinegary, and spicy. The red oil at the bottom is spicier than expected, so gets spicier toward the bottom of the dish. -D1 Black Sesame Munchkin ($8 for 5 pieces) - much worse than before. These are black sesame and walnut tangyuan with a peanut coating. It tasted like frozen store bought tangyuan; the peanut coating was coming off in several places. The filling is much sweeter and fattier than before; I found it too sweet. -N5 Beijing Zha Jiang Mian ($16) - this wasn't good. The noodles were too soft, and the sauce was very oily yet watery; the flavors tasted watered down. Service was nice, but it was really busy when we went and the servers seemed a bit overwhelmed (e.g., our vegetable dish came after the dessert). I believe that there is a 2% credit card fee, according to a sign on their wall (I forgot to double check my bill for this). read more

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I went there for lunch during a weekday in the summer of 2025. Some Chinese colleagues suggested this place. Parking was a bit tricky as this is pretty much in the middle of Princeton downtown. The place was not very crowded. We ordered several dishes and shared them. The food came relatively quickly and was quite tasty and plentiful. The service was very good. We were quite happy with our visit. read more

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Freshly made food with authentic flavors. The chow fun is chewy and bouncy. Rice is fluffy and filling read more

Lan Ramen - N10 Authentic Chow Fun with beef - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

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Comfort food on a blustery evening. It is a small-ish but efficiently run place in a university town with spicy, numbing, hand pulled noodles, what is not to like! Wait lines can be long but move quickly, service is kind, attentive, and fast. For the vegetarians and vegans out there, the N9 can be made with tofu instead of beef and is lovely. Ma po tofu is great too. The minced pork belly over rice topped with a marinated egg was loved by a Peter Chang lover while the 7 year old is a fan of the shrimp pot stickers. read more

Stopped by on a Monday for lunch with my husband. We were seated right away despite being quite busy. We ordered 2 entrees and 1 appetizer. The monster spicy noodles weren't as spicy as we hoped for but was a nice warm bowl of hand pulled noodles on a cold November day. We chose the wide noodles. The caramelized pork with steam buns was my husband's favorite. I wish that it came with 6 buns as we had to finish the rest of the pork with white rice. The homemade pork potstickers were cooked nicely. Slightly chewy skin (iykyk). Also available with seafood or vegetables. Food was 3.5/5 Service was 5/5 read more

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Love their ramen, my 6 year old always orders N1. My husband likes the spicy dishes and there are so many - great value for the price, we always have leftovers. read more

We went here for an early dinner at 5pm on a Saturday eve and snagged the last table they had. Not sure if they take reservations but if they do I definitely suggest getting one. We started with the Taiwanese popcorn chicken and it was really good.. crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.. just perfect!! We then got the ultimate lanzhou beef noodles and the shabu shabu beef with GLUTEN FREE noodles!! We personally preferred the shabu shabu beef. The portion sizes are huge for the entrees so keep that in mind when you order. I took my leftovers home and I had enough for 2 more meals Will definitely come back to try the other stuff on their menu!! read more

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Ordered at 6pm for pickup - not delivery - for 6:45. Arrived at 6:45, waited 40 more minutes until handed food at 7:25. Will absolutely NEVER give these people any business ever again. read more

When my friend and I visited on a Wednesday afternoon, we were seated immediately! The restaurant was in this cute downstairs space on the corner, and the interior was also cozy. The Lanzhou beef noodles were delicious; I asked for spice on the side, which the server was able to accommodate. My friend ordered the scallion and ginger noodles, which were SO good (I would order them again). The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the eggplant fries; while the sauce that came w/ them was delicious, the eggplants were bland, and the batter was really thick. Honestly though, I was overall really impressed by the variety of foods and the affordable pricing of everything. I would come here again! read more

Lan Ramen - N7 Scallion And Ginger Noodles (top) and N1 Lanzhou Beef Noodles (bottom) - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

That was some of the best ramen and dumplings I've ever eaten. It's a fun atmosphere here too. The food is very fresh and high quality. I think it's the best I've tasted locally. The quality is unmatched. The dumplings (goza) doesn't have mystery stuffing it has actual fresh veggies that you can see. Friendly staff. read more

Lan Ramen - N7 Scallion And Ginger Noodles Vegan with crispy tofu - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

hands down the best chinese food in town! I usually go for their various beef noodles, the original one is super flavorful and you should get it with a side of chili oil. the spicy one is also good but could be too hot for some. if going with a group, try their cumin lamb, kung pao chicken, all the eggplants and tofu dishes are quite amazing too. for appetizers, get their eggplant fries and soup dumplings. overall no bad dish. the interior decor is pretty fun and good for family or small group gatherings. the service is fast and friendly. my go-to place for chinese food in Princeton read more

Hand-pulled noodles piqued my interest in this place, especially after reading all the positive reviews on Google. I visit with my husband for lunch while we're in the area. It didn't disappoint! The braised beef noodle soup was delicious, and so was my husband's lunch. My appetizer arrived while I was still eating my main course, but I didn't mind because the portion was generous. I'll definitely be back with my family. The menu offers so many delicious options that I'm eager to try more in my next visit. read more

Lan Ramen - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

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Very disappointed with Lan Ramen. First off--despite the name, Lan Ramen is not a Japanese ramen place. Their noodle dishes and the rest of the menu are distinctly Chinese. I had looked at the menu online beforehand so I was not surprised, but it's something that could be easily missed. Don't expect to see shoyu or tonkotsu ramen on the menu. My party was given water and menus right away, but we sat for 15-20 minutes before a server came by again. One of us has a gluten allergy so we were pleasantly surprised to see that most of the dishes on menu can be prepared gluten-free. We asked to order the crispy spicy chicken gluten-free, but our server responded "Sorry, it's not really gluten-free. I know the menu says it can be made gluten-free but most of the entrees aren't really gluten-free because of breading and sauces." I appreciated the heads up from the server, but I was confused as to why the restaurant would misleadingly label those items as having a gluten-free option. Thankfully, the noodles are the one thing that can actually be made gluten-free. We ordered two bowls of lanzhou braised beef noodles--one extra spicy with regular noodles, the other with gluten-free noodles--as well as the lanzhou home-style noodles. The food came out fairly quickly, about 10 minutes after ordering. As the server was handing us our bowls, he said, "I don't remember which one is which; you guys will have to figure it out," and left. Given that our noodles had different spice levels and one was gluten-free due to an allergy, it felt inconsiderate to leave us to determine who ordered what, especially since all the bowls looked identical. The bowls were filled with broth, noodles, a few pieces of beef, and a massive amount of fresh spinach on top. The menu mentioned the noodles would be topped with spinach, but the amount just overwhelmed everything else in the bowl. I ended up picking out over half the spinach to get it to an amount that would even stir into the noodles and broth. The amount of meat was disappointing for the price ($17-$18 per bowl, plus $3 extra for gluten free noodles). I had about five pieces of beef and one piece was entirely fat. All three of our broths had very little flavor. The home-style broth was supposed to have hints of sesame and peanut butter but it tasted almost identical to the braised beef broth. None of the broths were spicy, despite being marked as such on the menu--not even the "extra spicy" bowl had a hint of chili oil. After the server dropped off our food, I did not see him again for the rest of the meal. Our waters were not refilled a single time. We waited 15-20 minutes for the check after we finished eating. Finally, I went up to the hostess stand and paid the bill there. I won't be coming back. There are many noodle places across NJ and NY with better service and tastier noodles. read more

Lan Ramen - a6. pork with crab meat soup dumplings - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

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Lan Ramen is a delicious Chinese subterranean hole in the wall on Hulfish Street in downtown Princeton, NJ. It specializes in Lanzhou hand drawn noodles with well made sauces and soups to please the savage beast within. The family stopped in this week to celebrate an important birthday and the purchase of a new electric vehicle by the lovely woman sitting next to me. An app (Thin Sliced Tripe in Hot Chili Sauce), and then onto the mains (Baby Lamb Chops - excellent, Mapo Tofu - soft, silky and nicely spiced, Ultimate Lanzhou Noodles w Sliced Beef - as good as advertised as the most popular dish on the menu, Dry Lanzhou Noodles with Soicy Beef moderately hot, and Big Chicken Plate - dark meat chicken, red onion, jalapeños, potato and tomato that was stew like). Everything was really delicious and as folks who are a mixed Chinese/American family who always look for something unique in our wheelhouse, were impressed with the whole spread. We just wondered how Lan Ramen had escaped our attention for so long? Needless to say, it will escape it no longer. The somewhat haphazard service was the only reason for this 5 Star report. read more

Lan Ramen - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

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Welcoming atmosphere, staff friendly, food is fresh and very tasty. There Homemade Noodles very delicious. Seafood bowl had the right amount of spice for me. Awesome experience. We come back. read more

Lan Ramen - S6 Griddle Cooked Spicy Pot (Seafood) - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

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The service and food was delicious. Everything tasted very fresh. Seeing the noodles being made in the kitchen was fun as well.

We ordered the Beijing zha jiang noodles, the Ultimate noodles, popcorn chicken, wonton shrimp with spicy peanut and pickled carrot and radish. The zha jiang noodles were incredibly bland. It tasted like oil with meat sprinkled over it. The broth for the ultimate noodles was literally water mixed with chili oil. The popcorn chicken was very crunchy and the flavor was good, it was honestly the best dish out of the five. The wonton tasted store bought and the peanuts had no spice to them all. The pickled carrot and radish were exactly what you think it is. Overall, the food was mediocre at best. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't good. Although they have a large menu, I doubt I would come back to try the other things. read more

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Visited Princeton with some friends and wanted to try this place out. My friend ordered the sesame chicken because he doesn't like soup and he loved it! The Ultimate Langzhou Beef was perfectly spicy and left a nice numbing aftertaste and the Lanzhou Home-Style noodles had a similar flavor profile but on a lighter spice level. My personal favorite was the Beijing Zha Jiang Mian. Service was great and I will definitely would come back. read more

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Yesterday my dad and I tried Lan Ramen when I went to Princeton. We tried the potstickers and I had the Beijing Zaijan mein. The food was good. It's a good place to get Chinese food. The service was quick. read more

This place surprised me. The menu is extensive but anything you get will be delicious. I love spicy food and they do not hold back on the spice! I got stir fried noodles and it had great flavor from the wok. I did wish the noodles were a bit more al dente. The side dish of the pickled vegetables is a must. It was so nice to have a little refreshing bite after eating the heavy spicy food. read more

The taste is great and not too spicy and good amount of salt . The chicken was not cooked too long so it's not dry. The pork is well done. The service is great and not too long of a wait for both dishes. The ambience is fantastic and nice chill environment. read more

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Order delivery, and while the food was tasty and packed well, I was really disappointed to see they used linguine for the dan dan mien. The picture on yelp showed thin fresh noodles, but I guess they assume they can get away with mediocre noodles for delivery orders. On top of that, the linguine was very overcooked. read more

Lan Ramen - Why linguine for dan dan mien if you're restaurant specializes in fresh noodles. - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

The braised beef noodles had a flavorful rich broth and good quality noodles! Also enjoyed the shrimp mini buns- very tasty tempura, pillowy soft buns topped with spicy mayo. Can't wait to try more items here! read more

Hidden chinese restaurant in downtown Princeton. It is easy to miss as it is located below floor level and the stairs are easy to miss. But once inside, it was a cozy restaurant. Seated right away, we ordered the langzhao braised beef noodles and the langzhao home style stir fried noodles. We heard great things about their hands pulled noodles so we wanted to try both the soup version and the stir fried version. Loved the stir fried version as it definitely has a lot of flavor and the noodles tasted fresh. It was a bit on the salty side though. I would of preferred it to be less salty. The soup noodles were bouncy and absorbed the beef broth flavor nicely. Broth tasted nice and clean with no oily residue. Service was great, we didn't have to wait long for our food or our check. read more

Lan Ramen - N9. Lanzhou Homestyle Stir-Fried Beef Noodles - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

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Every time we come to Princeton this is a favorite stop. Their hand pulled noodles are great and always hit the spot. Byob. read more

Lan Ramen - A10 Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

On a cold, almost-winter day, Lan Ramen truly hit the spot with perfectly chewy pulled noodles and flavorful hot broths. Found below the street, Lan Ramen has a very cozy & intimate atmosphere, great for snuggling up with a warm bowl of noodles. The staff were super attentive and had our water filled basically every time I blinked. For appetizer, the Taiwanese popcorn chicken was nicely balanced between crunch and juiciness. It wasn't it overpowered by salt or other flavors. The Dan Dan noodles had a delicious, but slightly numbing sauce that had us scraping the bowl for more. The N2 Braised Beef Pulled Noodles had tender thick pieces of meat that complimented the sensorial experience of chewing on hand pulled noodles. The broth had a decent amount of spice but didn't burn my mouth thankfully. I highly recommend Lan Ramen for those looking for a Chinese spot or craving soup read more

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This place was packed and we did have to wait a while before we could be seated. Make a reservation or leave your name early. Attentive service and quick turnover though. This place seems more like a noodle/noodle soup restaurant than a true ramen spot. The home style noodles were just okay - I wasn't particularly impressed. The chicken was pretty bland too. If I return, I would probably try the original beef noodles which more people seem to speak highly of. read more

Lan Ramen - Home style noodles with chicken - Chinese Near Me - Princeton, New Jersey

Amazing food! Our weekly go to dinner place. Service is great. Kid friendly. Spicy Triple pepper lamb and their speciality dessert is a must try. read more

This is the to-go place for authentic Chinese noodles and fresh tasty good quality food in the area!

The food was amazing and the service was great! The waiting staff were super nice and sociable! The food also came out really quickly which is a big plus. Would highkey recommend and I expect to be back soon! read more

Came here on our Princeton tour guide's recommendation. Spot on choice, especially on a rainy day. Excellent fresh pork pot stickers. Both of us had ramen: Langzhou Ultimate, and Monster Beef. Both were delicious with different flavors. Monster Beef was spicy, but on my west coast scale still only a 2 out of 5, so pleasant but not "hot." The Ultimate was a very garlic heavy flavor, also very good. We enjoyed these dishes very much and this is really a treat to find the quality here. read more

Every time I visit this restaurant, I am reminded of how good Chinese food can be. This place stands out in particular for its chicken curry dish paired with white rice, it's definitely my favorite curry dish in the Princeton area. Also, the service is incredibly nice and attentive! Will be bringing some friends back! read more

I enjoyed my meal here, the service was great and the food was fresh and tasty. I'll be back!

Great service and great atmosphere. Highly recommend. Homemade Raman is a must in town.

Celiacs beware. They say things can be made gf on the menu but you arrive and they say there may be cross-contamination and you leave and you feel like it was more than just that! Certainly not worth the risk for the soups. We had two- bland broth, just watery, no flavor. And for gf they put spaghetti in ( like Barilla) instead of rice noodles. Very disappointing. read more

Excellent food, enthusiastic service, and lively atmosphere on a Saturday night. Our server Rosemary was delightful and informative. She helped us sort through the extensive menu with some very helpful recommendations. Eat here! read more