Oodles N'Oodles Star City Birmingham — Restaurant in Birmingham

After a fun family bowling session at Star City, our evening took a sharp downturn with a truly disappointing visit to Oodles Noodles. Adding to the initial frustration, despite attempting to phone ahead to book a table for our party of 13 (8 adults and 5 young children), we were met with the now-familiar response that they don’t take bookings. While somewhat understandable for a restaurant of this size, it inevitably led to a significant 40-minute wait, which was far from ideal with hungry children in tow. The fact that the table we were eventually offered barely accommodated our group should have been a sign of things to come. However, the real issues began once we were seated at an unset table – no plates, cutlery, napkins, or even glasses were present. Despite being ready to order immediately, our server was nowhere to be found. Eventually, we managed to get her attention, and she took our order. What followed was a comedy of errors in slow motion. Ten minutes later, another server brought a partial set of plates, cutlery, and napkins – not enough for everyone. More requests were needed just to get the basics. Finally, after further prompting, we received enough crockery and cutlery, but the six glasses that eventually arrived were a mismatched collection of various shapes and sizes – utterly unacceptable for any restaurant. While the food arrived relatively quickly, which was a relief for the increasingly hungry children, the quality was mediocre at best. The three chicken platters lacked any discernible flavor, two of the four noodle dishes tasted identical, and one was remarkably bland. The Sambal rice was particularly offensive, tasting burnt and like it had been scraped from the bottom of the wok. The plain noodles were passable, but that’s hardly a culinary triumph. Throughout our meal, there was no check-back from our server to see if everything was okay or if we needed anything else. Once we had finished our uninspired meal, the staff seemed equally uninterested in offering desserts or even a simple tea or coffee. We couldn't wait to leave. Having visited Oodles N Noodles multiple times purely out of convenience due to the lack of alternatives in Star City, this experience has solidified our decision to seek other options in the future. Thankfully, the upcoming openings of Afrikana and Shrimp Shack offer a glimmer of hope for better dining choices. If they aren't open by our next visit to Star City, we will undoubtedly be heading to Nandos instead. My recommendations to the management of Oodles N Noodles are stark: Reconsider your booking policy: For larger groups, especially families, the inability to book adds unnecessary stress and waiting time. Perhaps a partial booking system or a dedicated area for larger parties could be implemented. Prioritise basic service standards: Ensure all tables are fully set before seating guests. This includes adequate plates, cutlery, napkins, and matching glasses for everyone. Improve staff training and attentiveness: Servers should be readily available to take orders, conduct routine check-backs, and offer additional service like desserts and drinks. Address food quality issues urgently: The inconsistencies in flavor, the blandness of some dishes, and the unacceptable quality of items like the Sambal rice need immediate attention in the kitchen. Focus on the customer experience: It's clear that the current focus seems to be elsewhere, likely on expansion. Management needs to reinvest in the basics at existing locations and ensure a positive dining experience for their customers. Perhaps a visit to this branch during peak hours would be insightful. The combination of the no-booking policy and the subsequent poor service and mediocre food made for a truly disappointing family meal. With new options on the horizon in Star City, Oodles N Noodles risks losing loyal customers if they don't drastically improve their standards and customer care. Basic hospitality should not...

Unfortunately we had one of our worst experiences dining out here. Nothing happened, the food was just so sub standard that I'm scoring it one star and I never do that.

We have dined here before, many years ago and enjoyed it , however the quality has really fallen. The good points were they were busy, the place had a welcoming atmosphere, we were seated relatively quickly, the management were polite and the food was warm BUT there's nothing else nice to say. Unfortunately it seemed there was an underlying lack of quality in the preparation and quality of ingredients and everything seemed rushed. A common pitfall of a successful business that sadly becomes complacent

We ordered noodles, shrimps and milkshakes We were told the chosen noodles came in two options only, mild and hot. We ordered both. The mild too bland to eat and the hot too hot even for me and I have a high tolerance to spice. The preparation seemed rushed as there was no consistency to the broth and noodle texture in both plates. When raised to management afterwards I was told they can make an off the menu option but our waitress didn't inform us of that option. She seemed rushed under pressure to take the order and move on. As we had left more than half the food untouched, the manager insisted on recooking the food for us to takeaway so it's more flavoursome. That was kind but its concerning that the chef has to be told to cook with pride and care and consideration. Is the chef under pressure to just get the food out? Is it even a chef? Similarly the milkshake seems rushed, it didn't taste like real Bueno according to the kids and wasnt even cold at the top. Again a little extra time and consideration of quality of output as well as higher quality inputs wouldn't have gone amiss. The dynamite shrimp tasted ok to be fair but it didn't represent good value at all. £11 for 6 tiny shrimp coated in batter equal to the size of the shrimp made it an instantly regrettable choice. Avoid this menu option, if you're thinking of PF Changs then think again, this isn't even close. I think we will avoid dining here again. We only went as we were travelling past and decided to dine in star city due to proximity to the motorway however I wish we had spent the extra time going to lady pool road and braved the parking situation. When sharing my experience, a local friend remarked this place is like a fast food outlet masquerading as a restaurant but that statement is quite offensive to fast...

Not been here before, I was visiting with my family from out of town (from the north) and decided to give this place a try.

Judging by the reviews, either Birmingham has bad taste or I must be missing something. The service was good - the waiters looked after us and no complaints about the service.

But the food is sadly not great. For example the starters: The prawn tempura for was more like a prawn samosa (I don't think the chefs understand or understood the tempura batter) and the dynamite shrimps was so spicy that they might as well tipped the whole of the chilli powder into the dish. The chicken dumplings were sadly more like a hippodumpling - dry and chicken filling raw in appearance.

For the mains, I ordered the kids simple egg rice and plain noodles - no complaints there. However, my beef Singapore noodles required me to call 999 - my mouth was on fire from the excessive amount of chilli thrown into dish, it needed extinguishers! I could not taste the noodles or beef or even the soy sauce. My wife ordered a beef noodles type of dish - the chef decided to cook it with tomato ketchup!?! I tasted it thinking she must be exaggerating - but the whole dish was a overpowering ketchup dish lol. The waiter luckily acknowledged she was not eating it and kindly asked her if she wanted something different (I think he asked the chef why he cooked it in ketchup) - my wife decided on lamb chops and chips, thinking nothing can go wrong with lamb chops and chips. The chips apparently where good when they arrived - the lamb chops unfortunately this time where cooked in a secret brown sauce that tasted like a cross between ketchup and sesame oil lol.

Again, waiters really good and apologized if food was not to the standard required for our pallette.

Birmingham generally has good eateries - I know Birmingham is bankrupt, rates have increased, bins are overflowing, floods are more common due to council cut backs and has an awful sold out corrupt MP in Shabana Mehmood - but the food scene will always be good with the brummies....but unfortunately not with...