LA LA Noodles — Restaurant in Ottawa

See bottom of review for descriptions of the dishes we had

My wife and I went to La Noodle for the first time on New Year's day, very happy they were open because we had a great meal.

The noodle puller(I haven't found a proper name for this on-line) prepares the fresh noodles only when you order. The restaurant has an open kitchen window so you can see the chef at work, pulling the noodles aggressively while making that distinct counter-slapping sound. It's loud but also very exciting!

The place can get very steamy at times, like a faux-sauna, so make sure you pick the right spot in the restaurant you want to sit at. Very basic wood chairs and tables, nothing super fancy but at least it's clean.

The waitresses serving us were very nice, smiling and trying their best to help us decide what to eat. You might have a difficult time picking the right dish you want, as most of the menu is Chinese(unsure which dialect) and appears that the English parts were an honest effort to describe what the dishes are. You do get pictures that represent the thickness or style of noodles they prepare, but 3 of them confused me as they looked very similar in appearance. I guess we'll have to go back and order more to find out.

PORK BONE SOUP My wife had the pork bone soup with extra meat. Noodles were slightly thicker than packaged ramen noodles but ten times better since they were fresh pulled and boiled. The bowl came with 2 big pieces of pork bone joints and the "extra meat" was another bone joint on the side in a separate small bowl. The broth was decent, nothing crazy but at least tasted like pork. Soft chunks of daikon radish, thinly sliced white onion, and fresh chopped cilantro. There was a bit of meat on the bones you could pull off and eat but overall average. The noodles were perfect though, very smooth outer texture, slightly chewy with a bring of springiness, and soooo long that they hold only the broth while you slurps them up and chew them.

BRAISED BEEF SOUP I ordered a large bowl of they're #4 size noodles, not sure what they call them but it's the fourth picture in the menu for noodle size chart. The noodles were VERY tasty, fresh, a bit chewy but also soft texture. The beef isn't a cheap cut of beef with a thick tissue lining on it but luckily mine was cooked long enough to be soft enough to eat, but nothing crazy tasty, just fall-apart beef. Lots of cilantro, onions, decent broth. The tables all have a small bowl of toasty sesame flavoured chili oil, it smells and looks homemade but I didn't confirm with the waitress. There's also some black vinegar to help cool off the heat if you add too much spice. The noodles were the best part and I will try to order a dry bowl next time.

We also ordered two cold appetizers, lamb+veg in chili oil and seaweed salad. The lamb tasted a bit like deli meat, thick slices with fresh cucumber and other thinly sliced vegetables sitting in a tasty chili oil and vinegar I believe, but the way the lamb is prepared isn't very tasty, has a processed taste to it, I wouldn't order it again as it gave me gas as most cheap deli meats do. The seaweed salad is the thicker, opaque, long and thick kind of seaweed, possible Kombu seaweed? I'm not sure... but it's just meh..., lots of eat but wasn't very interested in it.

That's all for my review. I hope more people get a good experience like we did, as I see from other on-line reviews that the service can be very poor, and this is often the case with most Asian restaurants I've been to. My experience was nice, pleasant, but I did go on New Year's day, when only a couple other...

I love noodles! I'm always seeking out places that serve up good Chinese noodles and La Noodle didn't disappoint. Well...kind of. When I did a search for Dan Dan noodles in Ottawa, La Noodle popped up. This immediately excited me because I love Dan Dan noodles! Sadly, they don't have a vegetarian version of it. So I asked the server what BianBian noodles were, and she described it as something what I thought was like the sizzle hot noodles that I had at 'Peaceful Garden' in Vancouver (which is my favorite noodle place there) so i became exited again. Bian bian noodles are a red chili pepper noodle with baby bok choy- so yummy. It's not as good as the one in Vancouver, but it was still good! I ate every last bite! And I'd eat it again.

My friend and I both ordered the same noodles, but I got the 'large' portion while she got regular size. When we got our meal, the portion size looked the same. Mine just happened to come in a larger bowl. In fact, it seemed like my friend had more! It kind of bothered me, so I complained. But the server had no issue with it and kindly gave me more noodles to add to my bowl, free of charge! I was so thankful because it was so good! I wanted more! I'd definitely recommend those noodles and this restaurant. One last comment, they even allow you to choose the kind/size of noodles you want, unlike Le Mian, which didn't allow me to choose my noodle size for the veggie noodle soup even though it's indicated on their menu. If you're vegetarian, I'd go to La Noodle over Le Mian. The taste is better, you can choose your noodle and the price...

SERVICE = I was bracing myself for terrible service after reading the previous reviews but the service was actually good! The server was helpful, prompt, and answered all my questions patiently. Food came super fast too which is always a big plus when you're really really hungry.

AMBIANCE = Love the wooden furniture. Being an international chain, they definitely know what they are doing with the overall design. Feels like being in a (clean) restaurant in China.

FOOD = I'd give 3 stars overall for the food. 5 stars for the noodles, especially the Shaanxi sliced noodles omg. 5 stars for the pork bone broth - just the broth not the meat - I thought this broth was better than their signature beef broth! 3.5 stars for the steamed chicken in chili sauce - delicious overall, but some parts were too fatty and some parts just had too many bones for it to be enjoyable. 2.5 stars for the pork broth meat because even though the meat was tender and yummy, there was maybe only 1 bite of meat total on the huge bone... 2 stars for the beef broth because it tasted more Chinese herb-y than beefy. Broth was not rich, bit too watery for me but my SO liked it because it was light. 2 stars for the braised beef in the beef broth - like another reviewer already said, the cut was not good. We couldn't chew at least half of it.

VALUE = If I'm craving noodles and am already in the area, I'd come here. Just for the noodles though - it's a little hard to justify paying $12 for 95% carbs unless I'm...