Northern Cafe — Restaurant in Gardena

One of my favorites places when we don’t know what to eat. First time we ate here was probably because another restaurant had a long wait and we randomly tried it out.

Parking can be difficult in this old plaza depending on the hours. Seating usually doesn’t take too long.

One of the best things about this places is the noodles. House made, can be adjusted to your liking. They’re perfectly chewy and have a nice texture to them.

When I first visited, one of my favorites places dishes here was the kung pao chicken. It used to be very unique, fried super crispy before mixed with the carrot, peanuts, peppers, and other bits. On our recent trip, it’s seems like they completely changed the recipe, it’s on the sweet side, no carrots or other veggies and peanuts were just added on top. I lost one of my favorite dish here, would never order the current kung pao chicken again.

Not pictured or ordered since it was a hot day, but one of my favorites is their beef noodle sou. It’s a great comfort dish with excellent flavor and good portions of meat and veggies

All of their dry noodles or cold noodles are delicious as well.

One of their house specialty entrees I really enjoyed and will order again is the spicy spare ribs. Super crispy, good spices. Might be a bit on the oily side, but it’s delicious.

XLB are good, not the best but perfectly fine. Juicy and good flavor.

Cold cuts are good as an appetizer, you can choose however many you want and portions are good.

Staff is very friendly and helpful. I would say they get swamped a bit during busy hours as they handle tables and also...

I usually don't write reviews, even when I highly recommend a place and perhaps praise a business, but what happened earlier today with my order was... super unfortunate. Firstly, a business must prioritize quality control, especially when it comes to the CLEANLINESS of their food. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a highly anticipated shrimp fried rice for my brother, ended up having a rather long and obvious string of hair in it. Immediately, even before opening the lid to the dish, I spotted the hair stuck to the inside of the plastic, and couldn't believe I was really experiencing such a cliché inconvenience lol. And, honestly, having previously worked in a fast-paced cafe environment, I didn't entirely condemn the idea of ordering from this place again, because I understand that accidents happen. However, I only briefly had that notion until I'd been totally dismissed by not one but TWO of this location's workers, over the phone. They didn't hesitate to blame Uber(Eats) for the incident, even though the driver usually has nothing to do with the preparation and packaging of the orders they deliver. Plus, if you really cared about the quality of the food you serve and the satisfaction of your customers, from what I've learned working in the food industry, you must act quickly to show some kind of remorse— I mean, REALLY?? Not even a refund for the shrimp fried rice dish out of the whole order. That'll be my first and last time trying out this location from this rather satisfactory restaurant chain. I'm super...

The first time we been here, it was an enjoyable experience before the pandemic. And even some of the food that we got for takeout, sometimes wasn't the same flavor like how I remembered it. I definitely don't recommend this handpull noodle stir fry. Out of all the things we've tried, the spicy beef noodle was pretty plain and the stir fry noodle was ALOT of noodle mix in w shredded carrots n thin slice pork? Couldn't even tell where the meat was. I had a feeling it might not be good since when we walked in to pick it up to go, I noticed the dish that I ordered lol my first reaction was OMG..THEY LEFT ALOT OF FOOD ON THAT PLATE...my gut told me I wouldn't like it lol. Yep. 90% of the dish I end up tossing out. Maybe little kids would enjoy simple stir fry noodles lol but not a grown person. The flavors was not there. Spicy beef noodle lacked alot of bold flavors. I'm only dropping a star cus of these two dishes. I could say the inconsistency of the cold side dishes (potato shreds n carrots) sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not. 🙇🏻‍♀️ Which was one thing we loved from here since the beginning. But anyways lol, they still have the rest of the menu that's good so don't think of this place...