Fullerton: Noodle St

Located in a tiny, but very busy strip mall off State College and Chapman is this Chinese noodle place. It’s located in the building behind the Chipotle, which is across the street from the Mobil gas station / Pieology/ Whats up Men?  The place is still in the soft opening phase, so they’re still training and working out the kinks. We had a mixed reaction to this place. I liked it, but I don’t think my friend Karen did.

While they offer Japanese and Korean style dishes, the taste is definitely more Chinese. Karen ordered the Miso Chashu Ramen, and I did tell her based on yelp reviews that the broth is not traditional Japanese miso. Apparently she thought miso is miso soup. Not the case here. The miso served here is not gritty like traditional Japanese miso, and the flavoring is different. The bowl of ramen, however, was plentiful, and generous. Karen didn’t finish her bowl, and I don’t know if it was from too much food, or she didn’t care for it.

I had the stir fried Chinese noodles with pork. I did ask for “no bell peppers” and I saw the server write it on the ticket, but apparently the chefs cook their food their way. Still, after picking out the bell peppers, my stir fried noodles was delicious! The pork was nice and tender, and plenty of it. I chose the flat noodles (suggested by the server) and it was a good choice. Just like Karen’s ramen, the noodles are handmade to order. Thumbs up to my noodles.

We also added the Juicy Pork buns (aka: Juicy pork dumplings/ Xiao Long Baos). Its no Din Tai Fung but it is more like Super Juicy Dumplings in Brea. The wrappers were thicker and the filling was the “sweeter” version of the XLB. Had it been the savory one, I’d give thumbs up, but not being a fan of the slightly sweet version, its a Meh for me.

Overall its definitely a 3 star experience, but since I liked my noodles and the price wasn’t too expensive, I’ll give 3.5 stars. Plenty of parking but I’d suggest park in the back, not in front of the store. The traffic can be very busy and you’ll have difficulty trying to get out of the spot.