Chopin Noodle House兰州牛肉面(Catonsville) — Restaurant in Catonsville

After The Missus (Bless 'er) brought home soup and noodles twice from Chopin, we thought it high time to make a visit recently- and am I ever glad we did!

My curiosity as to why 'Chopin,' a polish composer of the 19th century, would be the name of a noodle house was only deepened when we entered into the spotlessly clean establishment and were greeted by a baby grand piano taking up a solid third of the floor space. Someone has a commitment to the arts that outweigh their desire to make money from having tables occupy that space. Intriguing...

The counter-server was welcoming and polite, taking our order and answering our questions. The Missus (Bless 'er) picked out a can of Coke, while I choose (to the surprise of the server) a can of Chinese Herbal Tea beverage (very sweet).

The room is spartan, but well appointed with musical motif art and violins (!) adorning one wall.

The food was outstanding: We ordered the 'Oil Spill' noodles, and I can not recommend them highly enough. The sauce was spicy and hot, but the texture of the noodles and their flavor, expressed in every bite, made this dish and absolute MUST HAVE.

We countered the heat with a chilled cucumber salad. Crunchy and slightly tart, finished with a sesame oil dressing.

For something more toothsome, I also ordered the 'Mutton Chops' appetizer, which could easily be served as a main course. The meat had the tender texture that only comes from lengthy braising. It had some raw garlic (strangely sweet) and a lively spice mixture to dip the meat into.

Tucked away in a small strip mall anchored by a Great Wall grocery store in Catonsville, there is tons of parking and is wheelchair accessible.

Chopin is well worth the drive. It is our intent on returning to try everything on the menu....

Unfortunately I have to edit my review. I've eaten from here 3 times recently and the food is always great. But after my last visit, I am taking a break from here. I only ordered 2 items from the kiosk; the cucumber salad and popcorn chicken. After paying for my order I sat down at a table and waited for my food. Not long after sitting down the restaurant started to fill up the remaining open tables. My order was #23. They called out #19, so I figured it wouldn't be long till my food was ready. Boy was I wrong. Everyone, and I mean everyone who came in after I did got their orders before me. I understand the popcorn chicken takes longer to make because it's fried, but how is it possible that 6 different orders/groups received their food before me? The weekend prior to my last visit, my son and I ordered a beef noodle soup, small beef soup, spring rolls, and popcorn chicken and it didn't take over 20 minutes to bring the food out. I definitely grew impatient after 15 minutes of waiting so I got up and mentioned that I have been waiting for a long time. The older woman went back to the kitchen and checked on my order. What made matters worse was the younger woman who works the register literally bumped into me and didn't even bother to say excuse me or sorry. I was definitely not in the way at all. So the 20 plus minutes wait time and the rudeness of the employee really rubbed me the wrong way. As much as my son and I like the food here, it's not worth it if the people who work there are rude. So I changed my 4 star rating to only 1. Poor customer service and rudeness will definitely...

Solid joint if you are into soup noodles. We got the liangpi, three beef broth noodles with thin, regular and thick noodle size and one of them spicy, as well as the mutton chop. The thin noodles were similar to angel hair pasta and the thick one was udon-like. I liked the regular size most as it had a little bite to it and wasn't doughy but that's purely personal preference. The broth was flavorful and has a mild hint of spices like cumin and fennel seed but not overpoweringly so which was nice. The amount of beef in each serving wasn't huge but it was well done. The spicy version is just like the regular one with some of their spicy oil poured on top and wasn't too spicy so very accessible for a lightweight like myself. The liangpi uses the same noodle as their soup noodle with some dried tofu and cucumber on top. I'm not a Lanzhou cuisine expert but I've had different versions using a bouncier type of noodle which I enjoyed more so I was hoping for something like that again. The mutton chop was braised and served at room temperature with garlic, pickled cabbage, dry spices and chili oil on the side. The mutton was tender and well cooked with just a bit of fat around the side and tasted great when dipped in the chili oil and then the dry rub spices. Overall I enjoyed the meal and found the prices reasonable and look forward to going back to try some of their...