Mulan Noodle and Grill — Restaurant in Carrollton

I was in the area for some business, and I looked up this place. It kept getting shown up whenever I was in the Carrollton area, so I thought to finally try it out on a rainy day that made me CRAVE noodles!

So I came in on a random weekday during lunch hours. I was seated very quickly, and there was barely anyone there dining in (about 2 other tables). The restaurant is clean, and staff were all wearing their masks. There was one woman who I saw busy at work folding dumplings. HECK YES. By looking at the menu, they offer quite a bit. But of course, I came because I wanted the housemade noodles and dumplings. I decided to order their special noodle soup with housemade noodles and their xiao long bao (soup dumplings).

It didn't take long for the food to come out. The noodles came out first, and just think of it like their take on Taiwanese beef noodle soup. At first, I thought the noodles were a little pricey ($13 a bowl). However, I took a sip of broth and slurped the noodles and I was instantly HOOKED. The noodles were so pleasantly chewy and the broth was clean and had a spice to it that was hard for me to detect where it came from. It tasted close to curry and coriander in a chicken broth because of the color, but that's just a guess. The meat was PLENTIFUL in the bowl, and it was some of the softest meat I've had in a beef noodle soup. The green onions and cilantro made the soup a little more herby and was the only garnish needed for the dish. Really, it was simple, but you can taste the quality of the food clear as day!

The soup dumplings came out shortly after the noodles, and those came out PIPING HOT. So fair warning, if you order the soup dumplings, make sure to eat those FIRST before anything else. I made the mistake of letting 3 of the 6 sit while I ate my noodles, and the soup got lost with the dumplings, and that was my own fault. When I had the dumplings fresh, it was so soft, piping hot, and flavorful. The soup was plentiful, and the skin was nice and thin, just BARELY holding onto the filling. The meat was very soft as well, and really soaked in all of the flavors that made the dumplings so TASTY!

I believe dine in is the best way to taste how good their food is. You can taste the housemade effort, and care into their specialty foods. If you decide to go, I would recommend sticking with what they make in house if you want something unique and quality made. Can't...

2.5 stars overall (weighing in relatively good food overall, and relatively bad service).

relatively good (for dfw) xiao long bao- thin wrap, juicy, but mediocre taste compared with what i consider the norm, and unreliable wrap which may come broken. relatively poor service as well.

personally, while i love a thin wrap, i have to say that i would rather have it a little thicker but NOT come with any of them broken.

if the service attitude was that they would replace a broken one, i would feel differently. but they will not. i called my waitress over to show her that one was broken and losing juice, , and her response was, "I'm sorry"and walked away. absolutely no offer to replace the broken one.

at the prices they charge, i would have expected better service.

oh.... they spso don't serve ginger with the xaio long bao. :(

we also tried the pork buns, which was good, and the beef noodle soup, which we did not think was very good for various reasons.

overall, the food is ok (3 stars, and the service I'd give 2).

as for a good dumpling place, i would rate dumpling house in place higher. as for xaio long bao specifically, there just aren't any great ones in this area, but I'd give the edge to Fortune House in Irving for superior juice flavor.

anywhere else in dfw... don't even bother. if you really want good xaio long bao, need to visit other cities. my current favorite in North America is kung fu xaio long bao in...

I've been here several times but it's been a while now until we ordered pickup recently. The first 3 or 4 experiences were really good. The food is more authentic in flavor and ingredients, with the favored Chinese-American inspired additions you'll find from your local takeout--done better. And at a fair price point. Dining in is prompt and friendly while pickup is smooth and on time.

Then last night happened. For pickup we ordered a chicken dish and a noodle dish. The chicken was so dry that my son thought he had bit into a bone. The noodle dish was so small for the price and had barely any noodles - I asked them to omit the beef and use vegetable which saves them money - and still had hardly any noodles. The noodle dish was swimming in oil. The flavor was okay but our mouths were coated in oil. The broccoli was so saturated with oil that it was unpleasant to eat.

Back to the size of the dish, I don't need a massive amount of food but if I remember correctly then their prices have really jumped while the dishes do not reflect consistency, much less add extra value.

I don't know what happened and I'll probably give them another shot because they have been great in the past.

Not thrilled with this last service though so 3 stars for now with fingers crossed that next time...