Noodle St
No, not Noodlest, it's supposed to be Noodle Street (but not an actual street) in Fullerton and Irvine
Founded in Fullerton before expanding throughout the Los Angeles area, Noodle St. opened its second Orange County location in Irvine’s Northpark neighborhood, within short drives of both Tustin and Lake Forest. Decorated with bold, glossy red boxes and a mix of black and white accent lights, the space is one of the most striking Chinese restaurants in this area, and disarming: on our first visit, it was so modern and beautiful that we almost forgot about the chain’s off-putting logo, which looks like “Noodlest” until you realize that it’s “Noodle Street” abbreviated and minus the punctuation.
Noodle Street’s mission is to “be the best provider of Asian-style noodles,” and its major attraction is la mian – “signature hand pulled noodles” made in house. Across multiple dishes ranging from soups to sauced and stir-fried noodles, you can choose from two options: chewy, round flour and egg noodles with the same approximate thickness as spaghetti, or 3/4-inch wide knife cut flour noodles.
One of the highlights of our meal was those knife cut noodles, which were crazy wide, served with a Dan Dan-style sauce, and as chewy as promised, though arguably somewhat undercooked to achieve that texture. We also enjoyed the house special semi-spicy lamb skewers, which were cumin- and chili-spiced then grilled, served in a set of three. Each of these items was worth ordering again.
Unfortunately, most of the items we ordered were only okay, including stir fried noodles with shrimp, scallion pancakes, and other northern Chinese items that have become widely available across this area. Apart from Noodle Street’s modern dining room, which was memorably cool, we preferred the food and menu at Dun Huang/Noodle Nest, another Irvine-based restaurant specializing in northwestern Chinese food and housemade noodles. But we would consider a revisit if there were some menu or other changes that made the food stand out.
Stats
Price: $$
Service: Table
Open Since: 2017
Addresses
3963 Irvine Blvd.
Irvine, CA 92602
714.730.8460
2323 E. Chapman Ave. Suite B
Fullerton, CA 92831
657.217.5664
Instagram: @noodlestusa