Mogouyan Hand Pulled Noodle 磨沟沿老字号兰州牛肉面 — Restaurant in Toronto

At first, I thought I would prefer the dan dan with classic noodles. Since we didn't know their heat levels, we got medium heat. After we mixed the beef and toppings into the noodles, we decided it needed umami, salt, heat, and brightness for our taste. We asked for soy sauce, lime, and red pepper powder. At first, one of the wait staff said they didn't have pepper powder they could bring to the table so the noodles would need to go to the kitchen. But then, just as I started to ask if the pepper could be brought to us in a bowl, she thought of the same thing and immediately agreed to bring it out. In the meantime, since we were sharing the two dishes, we started on the braised beef soup. The broth was good, but it needed brightening and the flavor needed more depth and heat for our taste, so we added lime, soy sauce, the chili powder, and our server suggested black vinegar. We agreed heartily that black vinegar was exactly what we needed. Each time we asked for something new to be brought to us, the servers were happy to accommodate the best they could, offer suggestions, and bring it to us quickly. In the end, the braised beef soup turned out to be the better of the two. The flat noodles were wide, not too thick. This meant we got lots of evenly cooked noodle in every bite. They also provided scissors to snip the noodles into bite sized pieces. The beef, broth, and noodles really came together for us with our minor adjustments.

For those that might try dishes as is then say they didn't like the food, keep in mind no one can make the perfect dish for everyone. A truly good restaurant knows this and will not be insulted if you want to make some adjustments. For example, I eat lemons like other people eat oranges. We like our food to have "lift" or "brightness" that comes from acidity. We often need to add vinegar, lemon, and/or lime to our dishes when we eat out. Some places even expect you to finish the meal your way like Vietnamese soups with the plate of basil, sprouts, and lime with sriracha, hoisan, and/or chili oil on the table. Salt preferences, too, vary from person to person. It is easy for customers to add salt, usually, and impossible to remove. So, chefs often under-season their food so those of us who require more can add and those that like less don't have to complain that the food is too salty. In other words, those that gave this place a low rating might have missed an opportunity to adjust the flavor profile with a few strategic additions. Learn what you like and how you get that into your food. And don't be afraid to experiment. While eating at Mogouyan, I tried a spoon of dan dan with a touch of the black vinegar and it was all wrong for me, do I didn't add it to the whole dish. Try, taste, learn.

Overall, Mogouyan was a great experience from ambience through the professional service to the awesome food. We loved it and think you will too. Just don't be afraid to ask for a...

Service: server seating me and took my order was nice, but I never saw her again. Tips are probably shared and no designated server, so it could be confusing or weird. Male server was overly peppy to large groups and created a very strange atmosphere because as a single diner, my table was completely ignored the entire time, while the restaurant was not busy and he checked on other tables multiple times. He slipped me extra napkins that I didn't need or ask for and said nothing. Where is his cheerful attitude now? Probably just saving it for people he thinks would tip him more. I even lingered a bit to see if someone would check on my table. Nothing.

My tip for the serving staff: as a former server, I've been kind to single diners as well, trying to make their experience dining alone pleasant, and sometimes they tipped more than a full table would. So, it's not worth it to ignore single diners and make it so obvious that your services are driven by who you think will better fill your wallet. Genuinely enjoy your job and don't be selective about who you serve well. All customers should be treated equally.

Food: It was just okay. The food was more Americanized that I was expecting. Not very flavourful compared to other Chinese noodle places. I asked for medium spice but it was not spicy at all. I wanted to ask if my order was wrong, but no one checked on my table. For $18 after tax, there was not enough meat. The value should be more like $13-15 for what you get.

Overall: Definitely will not be returning and will tell my friends living nearby to...

I ALWAYS order from this place on UberEats whenever I’m craving a nice, warm soup during the winter. Their braised beef noodles are amazing especially when you add a spiced egg with it as well. For someone with low spice tolerance, level 1 spicy is the perfect amount of heat for this amazing dish.

My only cons; whenever I order on UberEats, it’s as if they add more sauce or the items portions seem bigger. I came in today and got: sliced beef entree, garlic mushrooms. These two items, everytime I get them online, the mushrooms are WAY bigger (the size of white cap mushrooms) while the ones we got literally had me and my partner looking at each other like, “5$ for such small mushrooms?” The sliced beef had little sauce on it, it was purely just beef (which is what you want to taste, yes. But the sauce adds an extra kick to the dish) which was underwhelming.

The soup was good, but ours had little beef, and the broth tasted different than when we usually get (assuming it was a different chef so it’s only understandable that the recipe differs) but that was okay, it just sucked that there wasn’t that much beef.

Our server was amazing, very kind person. The service here is amazing! Stellar attitudes each time we visit.

All in all, this is a place my partner and I frequent whenever we go to eaton centre, and their dishes are amazing. I just feel that they prioritize Uber orders more than they do actual in-house ones, but maybe I came in on a bad day. Overall, this place is amazing, and I never had a truly “negative” experience....