There is another business named Mr. Noodle in the Los Angeles area, but it does not appear this business is affiliated with them. The Los Angeles location features Thai cuisine. This one is Chinese and specializes in many different types of dumplings and noodle dishes. They have been open for approximately one month.
Unfortunately, I write this review with little enthusiasm. Where earlier reviewers have found the food to be good to excellent and a great substitute for driving to the Monterey Park and Arcadia area, we did not feel that way. In fact, we have found really good Chinese restaurants are few and far between, but we have found a handful in the Inland Empire within a short driving distance that do meet our expectations. I cannot attest to authenticity, since there are so many regions in China that we Americans are not familiar with, but I do know, any leftovers we brought home have sadly been ignored.
We ordered 3 dishes, Mapo Tofu, Biang-biang noodles, and Salt and Pepper Shrimp, and requested them prepared as non-spicy.
The mapo tofu had a unique flavor in the sauce, one I am unable to identify, but had a kind of floral flavor to it and appeared lightly seasoned with a black bean sauce. While those special ingredients were a pleasant surprise, the overall sauce had problems, partially due to the glaringly red, pulverized semi-spicy pepper ingredient. It also seemed to be shortchanged on typically traditional flavors (e.g. garlic, onion, soy sauce, peanut oil?) that create the beautiful, complex flavor combinations that I admire in my favorite Chinese food. On the positive side, the dish had a lot of ground pork and a huge amount of tofu. Very generous. Wish the sauce had tasted better. The leftovers we did bring home with the intention of trying to modify it.
This is the first time we have had Biang-biang noodles. This dish is a combination of minced pork, scrambled egg, tomato, that has been stir fried in a red, semi-spicy sauce, and with very thick, rice noodles. I could take or leave the sauce, but the homemade noodles were simply too thick and heavy, and cooked al dente so they were quite chewy. It did not work for me at all. We did not even consider bringing the leftovers home.
Lastly were the salt and pepper shrimp. First of all, these are headless and shelled, battered, then fried. My personal favorite are not battered at all and have the shell and head left on. These were greasy and overcooked, a total disappointment in my eyes, and not worthy of a repeat.
While they have an interesting, large menu, the things we tasted were enough for us to realize this is unlikely to be a place we will return. read more