Lao Wang Noodle Bar — Restaurant in Isla Vista

Lao Wang YUMMMmm, this is by far the safest and my go-to option in IV (imo). The food here is always consistent! I got the sweet and sour chicken rice bowl with an add on of garlic tofu and let me tellll you, it's delicious! The chicken is crisp and tender with a coat of their homemade sweet and sour sauce, added on was fried tofu in their yummy garlic sauce, and the bowl comes with egg roll, corn, and Mac salad! I also tried their spam, Chinese sausage and popcorn chicken buns. This was a flavorful appetizer. I highly recommend trying them with spicy mayo and jalapeños that they provide in the dining room. And lastly, for this meal, I ordered the curry chicken fingers. As you bite into this, you can see the coat of curry sitting in between the chicken and batter. It is flavorful in itself, but dipped in ranch is even better! To quench your thirst, they have a variety of beverages like tea in the fridge (my fav is the herbal tea). Josh, the manager, definitely does a great job in recommending which items are good for you, and esp if it's your first visit, he'll eagerly want to present the menu to you. I highly recommend you try this place out and ask Josh for recs. Also it's right outside Pardall tunnel, very...

Upon buying my food, the guy at the register calmly looked up at and said "I love you." To be honest, I was taken aback by the remark and made slightly uncomfortable, but I got my two buns and sat down.

Both buns I got, the popcorn chicken bun and the stewed pork belly bun, were spicy which I wasn't really expecting. To be honest, I was disappointed by the taste and only ate half of each before tossing out the remaining contents of the tray.

Its good that there is some cheap street food in IV--on the order of $3 a bun--but there was an apparent lack of diversity in flavors, as both were soaked in the same spicy red sauce. If you're not a fan of that specific cilantro sauce, which I imagine is pretty foreign to the Californian palette, this place is not for you--or me for that matter.

So if you want food that's all the same, specific flavor, and a server who makes you uncomfortable, I guess this...

The food here is amazing but the service is terrible. The guy who regularly works as cashier and answers the phones is extremely rude especially over the phone. He is consistently rude and acts annoyed and mad at you that you’re calling. Tonight I ordered food over the food and he was being extra rude and scoffing at everything and responding “uh yeah I guess” to my orders. I asked for his name at the end of the phone call and he laughed and said his name was “cashier”. Extremely rude almost makes me not want to even order food from here to not have to deal with such a rude person. He has a shaved head and has been extremely rude and acted like they’re closing or something every time I’ve gone in and ordered in person even though it’s actually 3 or more hours before they close. If this cashier didn’t work here however I would 10/10...