Noodology

've had this place bookmarked for a while. I happen to have some free time and I was in Irvine so I decided to check it out. I ordered the hot and sour noodle soup I believe is what it's called. Number 14 for sure. When I was getting my order taken it was kind of a language barrier I couldn't make out what he was saying and I don't think he understood me. When I got my food, the noodles weren't the glass noddles I was expecting and I didn't remember there being beef. Nonetheless I ate it. It was really good the flavor was good it had a good kick of spice without overpowering the broth. It reminds me of a Vietnamese Spicy Beef Noodle Soup (bun bo hue). Aside from the flavor being different there were a couple other things that the Vietnamese dish it is comparable to doesn't have. Bamboo and peanuts. Not just peanuts but roasted peanuts with the skin still on. Omg that was my favorite part! The portion is huge. The restaurant is clean. The staff was attentive to ensure my water was always full. Only thing that I had trouble with here was two people who were hard to understand when ordering my food and when they called me from the wait list. Not deal breakers. The beauty of being able point on the clipboard to ensure we're in the same page. I may have been a little upset since I got the wrong order but all an all I got the #4 the braised beef that was recommended in most reviews. I was between this one and what I was trying to order anyway. I definitely was not disappointed. I will be back to try other soups and their cold appetizers.

Overall food and experience was good. Here's my dine-in experience: Once you arrive they ask if you are dining in or taking out. We dined in, so they asked us to sit and brought us a cup of water each. You then place your order using the QR code on the table and you wait for your food. You can notify them you are either ordering more or checking out using the same QR code. However, there was no option to order more water, nor was there anyone asking if we needed more water. I like the mostly contactless experience but given that most of the food here is spicey, they should at least leave out a water refilling station. 1 fairly clean unisex restroom was available as the other was out of service.

This is probably the best noodology that I have been to. The flavor is amazing and the soup is hot. They skimp on toppings compared to the other locations but the flavor is the best out of them all. My #10 had the perfect amount of flavor in it and the beef was not bad at all. The noodles were perfectly cooked. I recommend that everyone should go here at least once to try out some dishes from across the Chinese culture.