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I came for lunch during the rain. There was no wait on a wednesday. Only about 7 tables in the store. Nothing special about the decor. Standard fare. My dishes were dirty, I had to scrape off the dirty stuff. I ordered the spicy chongqing chicken and the xibei noodles. Chicken was crispy and kinda dry. 3/5. The noodles were actually decent, broth was decent. I asked for spicy and they had seemed to forget about it until I reminded them. They also can't adjust spicy so they gave me oil instead. 4/5 for this dish. Considering the dirty plates, strange service (nice ppl though!), and dryness of chicken, I have to give 3*. I was torn between 3 and 4.
Cool little shop for a taste of Northwest China, but the spicy wasn't much spicy, the servings looked big but ended up being small and not deep dishes on the tins above heater bowls that weren't heated, and the hand-pulled or knife-cut noodles - noodles were premade, not handmade. Pass. This might satisfy a homesick student because there's nothing better, but we can do much better at home or at Flushing. The best dish was the chopped cabbage dish - that was closest. Lamb skewers were too thick and not seasoned enough. Monstrous plate chicken - good thing we had two, because they weren't all that big for 6 of us, and no spicy adjustment allowed (couldn't do not spicy, but ended up eating it.. and it wasn't spicy). Beef w/tomatoes was better - potatoes felt like they were deep fried and thrown in, not at all taking in any of the sauce. Big groups could have a hard time finding seating - this gets busy and their tables are really designed for 2-4. Staff was also mostly non-Mandarin speaking students that hung around and talked amongst themselves instead of checking on our experience, refilling water, or getting the check until we flagged them down.
3.75 stars. I like the food here. It's tasty and the menu has more to choose from than other northwestern Chinese restaurants. The noodles taste fresh and the broth is tasty. The meat is tender. We ordered the braised beef with tomato and potato. There was a lot of sauce with this and we debated whether this was actually sauce or soup. The beef in this dish was very tender We also ordered the mapo tofu and it had the familiar mala numbing. Flavor was authentic and spicy. We also ordered the xibei braised beef noodle soup, mild. Although it wasn't spicy, the broth was very tasty and the beef was tender. I was disappointed a few dishes were not available like the tomato egg dish and the cauliflower dish. Oh, and my husband wanted me to mention he wasn't happy paying $3.50 per bowl of rice. He said that is the most he's ever paid for plain white rice. Me? I'm on low carb right now is so doesn't matter to me. Ha!
I had pretty high expectations before coming here, mainly because the restaurant advertises handmade noodles right at the entrance. I ordered the beef dao xiao mian, expecting freshly shaved noodles. Unfortunately, the noodles were clearly dried, store-bought knife-cut noodles rather than handmade. While the seasoning and overall flavor were actually fine, it felt disappointing given the price -- this is not a cheap meal, and the quality didn't fully justify it. On the positive side, the interior atmosphere is pleasant, and they serve hot water as soon as you sit down. That said, the cup had noticeable stains, which was a bit uncomfortable and took away from the experience. Overall, decent flavor but misleading expectations. If you're coming specifically for handmade noodles, you may want to reconsider.
Update 2nd review 2nd time visit here wasn't as good. We called and reserved in advance. When we got there we were told that they were busy and have walk-ins and didn't honor the reservation??? So we left. Why tell your clients to reserve when you don't even follow that system? Until they fix this, I won't be going, sorry. 1st Review It was a busy Friday night and we put our name down so they could call us when the table was ready. Waited about 30 mins (lots to walk around in downtown Princeton). The waitress said that you can call to reserve table next time. It's a cozy small restaurant (about 25 seats). It's a bit confusing because you can order via QR code or with the server directly. Food came out hot and tasty! Service was friendly. We plan to go back.
TLDR: modern casual space with lots of popular Chinese options XiBei Cuisine is the first of many modern Chinese restaurants to arrive in Princeton. You can try a lot of different trendy dishes you'd find in a Chinatown all in a polished restaurant. The service was fast, and for such a casual restaurant I was impressed by how attentive the staff was. I got the zha jiang noodles, which were tastier than I expected. It was served with the traditional vegetable garnish and a generous portion of meat. It was salty and oily, but that's what I expect from a more traditional version of the dish. XiBei cuisine is a great spot for a quick sit down meal. If prices were lower it would be around the top of my local choices, but I can still see myself coming relatively often.
In the mood for Chinese food, and we're in the area. We ordered the spice oil spill noodles and the spicy crispy chicken. Food came out quickly, albeit at separate times. The spice oil noodles are very oily, so be careful when eating, with splatter. Not too spicy, so it was comfortable to eat. The spicy crispy chicken was spicier, with lots of red peppers and numbing spice. Prices are steep, but given the area, I guess they have to be.
we went on friday for lunch and good timing. lots of people got the chinese Beef Chinese Hamburger so we decided to get one to share too. it was delicious. the soup dumplings were amazing and so was the pineapple shrimp fried rice. staff was friendly.
Before I start this review, I would like to preface by saying that while I am Chinese, I am not from northwestern China, and thus have no knowledge on the authenticity of the food in this restaurant. I can only base my review compared to other restaurants with similar food and on my personal tastes. XiBei Cuisine restaurant is located on the former location of Sakura Express in Princeton. Sakura Express was one of my favorite Japanese restaurants and while I was sad to see it go, I was excited when I heard a North Western Chinese Restaurant would be opening in Princeton. While they have been open since April, today was our first time trying it out. From my brief knowledge of Northwestern Chinese cuisine, I know they are famous for their "rou jia mo" aka "Chinese Hamburger." Chinese hamburgers consist of a flatbread called "mo" stuffed with chopped braised meat (either pork, beef, or lamb). Tonight we ordered three, two with pork filling and one with lamb. We had also heard their Zha Jiang noodles were good, so we ordered one as well to split. Being a Chinese restaurant, my mom called ahead to order, and unfortunately no one spoke Chinese to take her order. She had to hang up and go online to check their menu for the English names before calling in to order again. Not expecting all Chinese restaurants to have people who speak Chinese, but just wanted to note as a heads up to make sure you know the English names of the dishes you are trying to order. The Chinese pork hamburgers were ok. The filling was pork and peppers, and tasted very similar to other ones that I have had. The added peppers were a nice touch in this dish, but overall I felt the dish wasn't as savory/juicy as I wanted it. The "mo" or flatbread part of the dish was a little on the dry side. Overall, I just felt this dish was lacking a little, and more slightly more expensive that other restaurants in this general vicinity. The Chinese lamb hamburger was slightly better. It had a spicier sauce and lots of cumin, maybe a little too much, but overall I was more pleased with how flavorful the lamb version was compared to the pork. For the Zha Jiang noodles, we were asked if wanted peel noodles or regular noodles. Based on their explanation, the "peel" noodles are basically what some call "knife shaved noodles" which are generally slightly thicker, shorter and not as uniform in shape since they are sliced off a large piece of dough with a knife. We opted for the peel noodle which while slightly thicker than I had expected. They were pretty chewy, but had a pretty good texture, which I did enjoy. However, there was very little sauce for the noodles. Zha Jiang noodles should have a rich savory sauce that coats every noodle, but we did not get enough sauce to coat all the noodles, which resulted in us eating pretty flavorless noodles for most of the dish. Overall, I was a little disappointed with XiBei Cuisine. Like I mentioned above, if you are willing to drive an extra 30 minutes north, there is another North Western Chinese restaurant located in Edison that I think does a better job and prices are cheaper. I have a review about them as well.
Good dining experience and service. Beef noodle soup was ok. It came out less than a minute after we ordered (which is very prompt but also a bit of a red flag most of the time). In this case, the soup was a bit warmer than room temperature which was disappointing since I like my soup scalding hot. Beef on top was tender but some were cold. Broth (which is the most important for me) tasted just like chicken stock. Noodles slightly soggy. I care about my soups a lot, so this was a bit disappointing overall. The beef hamburger was good and the soup dumplings were okay as well.
Our friend who lives in the area recommended the food here and it was worth the stop! The lamb scorpion pot and bell pepper hand pulled noodles shredded beef were delicious!! They gave us gloves to eat the lamb off the bones with rice. Great food and service, air conditioning, clean bathroom, two sinks outside to wash your hands. Will be back!
24 days ago
29 days ago
I came for lunch during the rain. There was no wait on a wednesday. Only about 7 tables in the store. Nothing special about the decor. Standard fare. My dishes were dirty, I had to scrape off the dirty stuff. I ordered the spicy chongqing chicken and the xibei noodles. Chicken was crispy and kinda dry. 3/5. The noodles were actually decent, broth was decent. I asked for spicy and they had seemed to forget about it until I reminded them. They also can't adjust spicy so they gave me oil instead. 4/5 for this dish. Considering the dirty plates, strange service (nice ppl though!), and dryness of chicken, I have to give 3*. I was torn between 3 and 4. read more
Cool little shop for a taste of Northwest China, but the spicy wasn't much spicy, the servings looked big but ended up being small and not deep dishes on the tins above heater bowls that weren't heated, and the hand-pulled or knife-cut noodles - noodles were premade, not handmade. Pass. This might satisfy a homesick student because there's nothing better, but we can do much better at home or at Flushing. The best dish was the chopped cabbage dish - that was closest. Lamb skewers were too thick and not seasoned enough. Monstrous plate chicken - good thing we had two, because they weren't all that big for 6 of us, and no spicy adjustment allowed (couldn't do not spicy, but ended up eating it.. and it wasn't spicy). Beef w/tomatoes was better - potatoes felt like they were deep fried and thrown in, not at all taking in any of the sauce. Big groups could have a hard time finding seating - this gets busy and their tables are really designed for 2-4. Staff was also mostly non-Mandarin speaking students that hung around and talked amongst themselves instead of checking on our experience, refilling water, or getting the check until we flagged them down. read more
3.75 stars. I like the food here. It's tasty and the menu has more to choose from than other northwestern Chinese restaurants. The noodles taste fresh and the broth is tasty. The meat is tender. We ordered the braised beef with tomato and potato. There was a lot of sauce with this and we debated whether this was actually sauce or soup. The beef in this dish was very tender We also ordered the mapo tofu and it had the familiar mala numbing. Flavor was authentic and spicy. We also ordered the xibei braised beef noodle soup, mild. Although it wasn't spicy, the broth was very tasty and the beef was tender. I was disappointed a few dishes were not available like the tomato egg dish and the cauliflower dish. Oh, and my husband wanted me to mention he wasn't happy paying $3.50 per bowl of rice. He said that is the most he's ever paid for plain white rice. Me? I'm on low carb right now is so doesn't matter to me. Ha! read more
I had pretty high expectations before coming here, mainly because the restaurant advertises handmade noodles right at the entrance. I ordered the beef dao xiao mian, expecting freshly shaved noodles. Unfortunately, the noodles were clearly dried, store-bought knife-cut noodles rather than handmade. While the seasoning and overall flavor were actually fine, it felt disappointing given the price -- this is not a cheap meal, and the quality didn't fully justify it. On the positive side, the interior atmosphere is pleasant, and they serve hot water as soon as you sit down. That said, the cup had noticeable stains, which was a bit uncomfortable and took away from the experience. Overall, decent flavor but misleading expectations. If you're coming specifically for handmade noodles, you may want to reconsider. read more
9 months ago
Update 2nd review 2nd time visit here wasn't as good. We called and reserved in advance. When we got there we were told that they were busy and have walk-ins and didn't honor the reservation??? So we left. Why tell your clients to reserve when you don't even follow that system? Until they fix this, I won't be going, sorry. 1st Review It was a busy Friday night and we put our name down so they could call us when the table was ready. Waited about 30 mins (lots to walk around in downtown Princeton). The waitress said that you can call to reserve table next time. It's a cozy small restaurant (about 25 seats). It's a bit confusing because you can order via QR code or with the server directly. Food came out hot and tasty! Service was friendly. We plan to go back. read more
29 days ago
Best experience ever! Our server Dani was so kind and was so attentive with our requests! I would definitely eat here again! read more
TLDR: modern casual space with lots of popular Chinese options XiBei Cuisine is the first of many modern Chinese restaurants to arrive in Princeton. You can try a lot of different trendy dishes you'd find in a Chinatown all in a polished restaurant. The service was fast, and for such a casual restaurant I was impressed by how attentive the staff was. I got the zha jiang noodles, which were tastier than I expected. It was served with the traditional vegetable garnish and a generous portion of meat. It was salty and oily, but that's what I expect from a more traditional version of the dish. XiBei cuisine is a great spot for a quick sit down meal. If prices were lower it would be around the top of my local choices, but I can still see myself coming relatively often. read more
1 year ago
In the mood for Chinese food, and we're in the area. We ordered the spice oil spill noodles and the spicy crispy chicken. Food came out quickly, albeit at separate times. The spice oil noodles are very oily, so be careful when eating, with splatter. Not too spicy, so it was comfortable to eat. The spicy crispy chicken was spicier, with lots of red peppers and numbing spice. Prices are steep, but given the area, I guess they have to be. read more
3 months ago
4 months ago
we went on friday for lunch and good timing. lots of people got the chinese Beef Chinese Hamburger so we decided to get one to share too. it was delicious. the soup dumplings were amazing and so was the pineapple shrimp fried rice. staff was friendly. read more
4 months ago
1 year ago
Before I start this review, I would like to preface by saying that while I am Chinese, I am not from northwestern China, and thus have no knowledge on the authenticity of the food in this restaurant. I can only base my review compared to other restaurants with similar food and on my personal tastes. XiBei Cuisine restaurant is located on the former location of Sakura Express in Princeton. Sakura Express was one of my favorite Japanese restaurants and while I was sad to see it go, I was excited when I heard a North Western Chinese Restaurant would be opening in Princeton. While they have been open since April, today was our first time trying it out. From my brief knowledge of Northwestern Chinese cuisine, I know they are famous for their "rou jia mo" aka "Chinese Hamburger." Chinese hamburgers consist of a flatbread called "mo" stuffed with chopped braised meat (either pork, beef, or lamb). Tonight we ordered three, two with pork filling and one with lamb. We had also heard their Zha Jiang noodles were good, so we ordered one as well to split. Being a Chinese restaurant, my mom called ahead to order, and unfortunately no one spoke Chinese to take her order. She had to hang up and go online to check their menu for the English names before calling in to order again. Not expecting all Chinese restaurants to have people who speak Chinese, but just wanted to note as a heads up to make sure you know the English names of the dishes you are trying to order. The Chinese pork hamburgers were ok. The filling was pork and peppers, and tasted very similar to other ones that I have had. The added peppers were a nice touch in this dish, but overall I felt the dish wasn't as savory/juicy as I wanted it. The "mo" or flatbread part of the dish was a little on the dry side. Overall, I just felt this dish was lacking a little, and more slightly more expensive that other restaurants in this general vicinity. The Chinese lamb hamburger was slightly better. It had a spicier sauce and lots of cumin, maybe a little too much, but overall I was more pleased with how flavorful the lamb version was compared to the pork. For the Zha Jiang noodles, we were asked if wanted peel noodles or regular noodles. Based on their explanation, the "peel" noodles are basically what some call "knife shaved noodles" which are generally slightly thicker, shorter and not as uniform in shape since they are sliced off a large piece of dough with a knife. We opted for the peel noodle which while slightly thicker than I had expected. They were pretty chewy, but had a pretty good texture, which I did enjoy. However, there was very little sauce for the noodles. Zha Jiang noodles should have a rich savory sauce that coats every noodle, but we did not get enough sauce to coat all the noodles, which resulted in us eating pretty flavorless noodles for most of the dish. Overall, I was a little disappointed with XiBei Cuisine. Like I mentioned above, if you are willing to drive an extra 30 minutes north, there is another North Western Chinese restaurant located in Edison that I think does a better job and prices are cheaper. I have a review about them as well. read more
1 year ago
Good dining experience and service. Beef noodle soup was ok. It came out less than a minute after we ordered (which is very prompt but also a bit of a red flag most of the time). In this case, the soup was a bit warmer than room temperature which was disappointing since I like my soup scalding hot. Beef on top was tender but some were cold. Broth (which is the most important for me) tasted just like chicken stock. Noodles slightly soggy. I care about my soups a lot, so this was a bit disappointing overall. The beef hamburger was good and the soup dumplings were okay as well. read more
1 year ago
Our friend who lives in the area recommended the food here and it was worth the stop! The lamb scorpion pot and bell pepper hand pulled noodles shredded beef were delicious!! They gave us gloves to eat the lamb off the bones with rice. Great food and service, air conditioning, clean bathroom, two sinks outside to wash your hands. Will be back! read more
2 years ago
Excellent, authentic Chinese cuisine! Seating inside is charming but limited. Highly recommend! read more
1 year ago
Solid noodles here! Prices are competitive with Lan Ramen and Noodle house. They got both my guest and I's order wrong but it's the first week of opening so maybe just some grand opening hijinks. The wide noodles and broth are quite savory, and the beef tendon was also very delicious. Decently quick service and plenty of seating even though the restaurant is pretty packed. One small retraction was the lack of a toilet seat on their toilet in the bathroom, not sure why it was missing lol. Either that or I'm too small to fit on whatever cover they had on there. read more
1 year ago
1 year ago
Foods yummy. Service is horrific for a new business--interesting comments and reluctant helpfulness. The place seems clean enough! read more
9 months ago
10 months ago
i love the kebabs, very seasoned. the interior is amazing, the service is nice.. everyone is so kind, 10/10 read more
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