Noodlebar Restaurant — Restaurant in Great Britain

What used to be a hands-down 5 star on all levels has progressively lowered its quality and now (imo); hit a new low...

I've enjoyed Noodle Bar over the last few years as a great go-to with my partner from time to time and it was always amazing! Sadly, this is no longer the case. Some bits have slowly gotten worse/lesser quality, like swapping out Coca-Cola for an off brand offering at the same charge to customers. Which is fine in itself, businesses don't run on the goodwill of their own hearts of course and the cost of living has risen, these cuts are understandable and not a complaint.

The food however has never been bad until tonight. Under fried katsu chicken with a soggy bottom (the coating basically slid off and wasn't a pleasant texture to eat) and overcooked thin-egg & ramen noodles for both dishes was a step too far - for the record, I love my ramen and have never left anything behind in the past visits here. I couldn't physically eat more than half and my partner barely a third before we called it quits feeling quite sorry for ourselves.

Waited 35-minutes to be checked on after they served our food (it was busy, but never felt ignored with past service, even when busier) at which point we'd already given up with the food. Asked if everything was okay, to which I kindly replied it wasn't anywhere near as good as we have had many times before, the server disappeared, served a further two tables food & drinks (10 minutes approximately) to eventually return with our bill for £33.90 (no goodwill applied for bad quality food).

Asked to speak with the supervisor that was already aware of our unsatisfactory meal, who then blamed us for not alerting the staff sooner to rectify the problem (why is it acceptable for you to serve poor-quality food) and that because we already had free starters (everyone gets this deal on a Thursday), they couldn't do anything more off the bill. So you get a free starter (on Thursday) per main regardless of a good or poor quality main - deal with it 😂

Clearly some form of hospitality training is required for staff on issues like these. Existing offers DO NOT excuse poorly cooked food and should be dealt with as a separate matter in itself. Service goes a long stretch for repeat and happy custom. Sadly, after a few good years, we'll never be returning to Noodle Bar for what was a fairly easy mistake to rectify...

Businesses don't lose customers for a mistake, we're all human and mistakes happen sometimes; however, they do lose customers for their lack of willingness to fix it. I wasn't expecting (nor gave the inference of) a free meal (that would be ludicrous), I did expect our complaint to be handled better with the hopes of finding a mutually agreeable solution instead of the finger being pointed at us.

If I'd served my own food both over & under cooked, I'd accept responsibility for it and own my mistake. Please don't blame your customers in...

Great if you want noodles - however there are a few options on the menu that will cause you to wish for things that you just can't have the way you expect. For instance you will see Katsu on the menu, however don't expect it to be delivered in a way that you might expect at Wagamama or any other Japanese restaurant where you've ordered Katsu curry, and prepare for the bewilderment of the staff when you start asking questions about Katsu curry. Another time I wanted a seafood soup with no noodles, and the seafood was served separately to the soup, which was also strange. I feel that its very harsh that I'm rating 3 stars - but the reason that I am doing so is that this restaurant is very nearly somewhere that I would choose to come frequently but there are just a few points for me that prevent this restaurant being excellent. Everything is always tasty but however the rigid constraints of the ordering system tantalize you with options that the restaurant is not willing to break the mould of their concrete system for - a little more flexibility to enable these would be great - I.e. Katsu curry with rice as you'd expect from a Japanese restaurant - Or more flexibility when ordering soups. Unfortunately I can't remember more about the specific times where I've been disappointed - however I remember that I am consistently disappointed. The food tastes great, however this will not be me restaurant of choice in the area due to the lack of flexibility. I will need to find somewhere else for Katsu, or for a Japanese soup. The food tastes fantastic but I just can't bear the excruciating interactions with the waiting staff, when I have a question or if I want to change something slightly (not their fault - its either lack of training or the concreteness of the...

Sorry to burst other reviewers bubbles, but the food her is average boarding on poor. It's a shame as the space is modern and the service is excellent.

You have to choose from noodles, then the method of cooking then the ingredients etc. Honestly isn't that the chef's job? Knowing what combinations work.

The vegetarian choice was mushrooms and tofu, no green vegetables at all.

We went for the Thai curry with mushrooms and tofu and coconut rice. The coriander was going dark green in places and still had the stalks on, which I had trouble chewing (recipes for this dish say to remove these). I would have removed the dark coriander as this is obviously going off/rotting.

The curry was good, however too sweet. Go easy on the sugar next time.

We also have udon noodles, fried with mushrooms and tofu. This was really strange as there was bits of lettuce in the dish, perhaps this is the fusion stuff, but I didn't care for the combination, so we removed it. And some of the lettuce was also rotting. Come on guys, if the ingredients aren't fresh, bin then and go to the supermarket and get some more! We also found a short black hair on the inside of the bowl after we had eaten, which wasn't one of ours.

The noodle dish was also under seasoned and there was only soy sauce, no salt.

The side of fried rice was however very good.

Perhaps you'll have better luck, but we'll be looking for a more traditional Chinese next time we're in the area.

Half of the dinners were Chinese/Japanese/Korean the other half twentysomethings. The area is a destination for stag and hen nights and I guess the restaurants name is something the other group...