SUP Noodle Bar - Irvine — Restaurant in Irvine

'Sup, Sup?

Sup Noodle Bar occupies the former home of Chur Chur Chi-Mac, which prior to that was Ajito. I've heard favorable things about their other locations in Orange County, so I was anticipating their opening in my hometown.

Being our first time here and with the weather being showery & cold, we chose Sup Noodle Bar's "bread & butter" - their pho

Pho Dac Biet (Combination), shaken style (50 cents extra) Beef belly, tendon, brisket, meatballs and a bone-in short rib. We ordered this shaken style, meaning added garlic, sliced onions/scallions, wok-seared w/ bone marrow. The broth was flavorful & clean. The various meat tender & succulent, especially the bone-in rib. Although $14 plus the additional 50 cents is a higher price point for pho when compared to other establishments, dining in at Sup Noodle Bar means unlimited broth & noodles! In essence, a neverending bowl of pho! Naturally, the broth refills aren't as delicious as when the piping hot bowl of pho arrives at your table, but the leftover juices do just enough to keep my tastebuds happy.

Besides pho, Sup Noodle Bar has options such as shaken house fries, chicken wings, garlic noodles & bao. I'm eager to try those on my next visit.

Service was good. We were promptly helped by quite a few employees whenever we asked for more refills, which happened on several occasions. Ample seating via booths & tables. Hip hop/pop music and flatscreen TV's entertain guests while dining.

Parking is via private lot at the busy landmark square. Sup Noodle Bar is located next to Umaya Ramen & Tasty Noodle House.

Soup's on! Sup Noodle Bar has got the goods. Although pricier, their main advantage is having unlimited noodles & broth for dine-in. Meaning I can fill up my tummy with delicious soup to my heart's content. Their menu is varied & can entice even the most staunch soup haters. Welcome to Cerritos, Sup!

Highly...

This is not a review of their food because the food is excellent. In fact, I have been to Sup multiple times. Unfortunately, based on this last experience, this will be my last time here. And will continue to share this story.

My S.O. was hungry and not feeling well, so on this particular date, we placed an order for take out (pick up myself). I was good with the hour wait for pick up when I placed the order because I understand that there should be a longer expectation on a busy Saturday night. Fast forward to when my order was supposed to be ready for pickup at 6:47pm. I arrived at around 6:50pm for the pickup. My order was not ready and the receptionist said that it will be ready in about 5-10 minutes. Again, I understand the longer wait and remained patient. 15 minutes later, I check again, and my food was still not ready. OK, I will wait patiently outside and sat down at a bench again. 15 minutes later, I check again and they still don't have it. A "manager" comes out to tell me that it was picked up by Uber eats and that it should be delivered. I showed her my confirmation email where it said nothing about Uber eats, nor did I provide an address for delivery. It was clearly a take out order. She apologizes and comes out 15 minutes later with my food and apologizes and says that the kitchen was backed up.

Here is where I think that they are a bunch of liars. I had been waiting about 45 minutes and everyone that comes to pick up an order was in and out (maybe just a few minutes late). If their kitchen was so backed up, there would be lots of unhappy customers waiting along with me. I think that they accidentally gave my order away or completely missed it. All I got was an "oh, sorry" and a ruined evening. From the time I placed the order to the time I actually got my food was 2 hours. If you find that acceptable, please go ahead and place an order with this...

Overall: 4.5/5 (dine in)

We were driving down on Sunday at noon and couldn't join the waitlist until we were 5 miles away. Once we got on the waitlist, we had to wait a little over 2 hours. When we checked in, we waited another 5 minutes or so before we were seated. Our server Daisy was super nice & attentive. You can check in on Yelp for a free herbal tea which was really refreshing. At Sup Noodle Bar, you also get free unlimited refill of noodles if you order any bowl of pho.

3 Egg Rolls ($9.50): The egg rolls were crispy and delicious. It came with lettuce, some vermicell, & carrots. The dipping sauce was a garlicky version of your typical nuoc cham which was really good with the egg rolls.

Single Golden Bao ($4.25): Definitely a must try since it's so different and delicious! Crispy on the outside with so many different flavors on the inside. It's an umami bomb so one was enough for two of us to share.

Garlic Chicken Wings ($14): Wow, these chicken wings are amazing. You can really taste the garlic and the skin was crispy too. I thought they were better after I air fried them the next day or so.

Combination Pho Shaken Style ($20): The pho was good but not as amazing as I thought it would be. There's a variety of meat which was nice. The rib is cool looking because it's big but not the best. I think the briskets/beef belly were super tender and the best. The broth was not as flavorful as I would like it. The noodles were good. We were sharing a bowl so I asked for an extra side of pho which was enough for me. The shaken style is wok fried red & green onions which I could have...