Noodles & Dumplings — Restaurant in McAllen

We finally got to try Noodles and Dumplings this week. I love East Asian cuisine but usually have to go to Houston for it. So I was so excited when I saw people line up for this place.

I walked in and see the chef making dough for the buns through the large window into the kitchen. The menu was much longer than I expected and I saw some Japanese favorites of mine. There is only one other place in the valley I know of to get takoyaki so i had to try it here. I make it at home oftentimes because every place has fallen short on this classic Japanese street food. We also grabbed shrimp tempura, a cucumber salad and of course noodles and dumplings.

The takoyaki unfortunately missed. It’s not correctly dressed and I’m very sure these are frozen not fresh. The cucumber salad was nothing like its Korean counter part should be. The wrong cucumbers are used and I wished there was some gochujang in it. The shrimp tempura was cooked perfectly, so it was soft not rubbery, and very enjoyable. There was way too much sauce with it so I didn’t finish them. I love kewpie and all kinds of Japanese sauces but this was a bit too much.

But let talk about the main course, the reason we wanted to come. The noodles and dumplings.

We got the green onion pork bao and the pork belly noodle soup. The plates were presented perfect and authentically. The buns were some of the best I’ve had period. The dough is soft soft, bouncy, not too sticky so it’s well proofed and kneaded. The filling was delicious though I do prefer when it’s loosely packed instead of the filling rolled into a tight meatball. Still delicious, that just my preference for texture. Though I’d imaging other of their buns are like this.

The noodles are amazing. Also most definitely homemade noodles. The lemongrass broth was very aromatic, had a light flavor that pair so well, and my wife loved it. We wanted to take home a large cup of just the broth if we could. The pork belly was mostly soft and tender. The fat was rendered and soft but still a little chewy. Both the buns and noodles are large portions and more than enough for both of us.

While we did not enjoy our appetizers, just skip them completely and indulge on noodles and dumplings. How good those are more than make up for what we didn’t like. Their namesake dishes are so great and not something we get enough of in the RGV.

What we ordered: Takoyaki shrimp tempura cucumber salad Green onion pork bao Pork belly noodle soup We spent a total of $67

Would highly...

Unacceptable Ramen Experience , so I’m writing to express my utter disappointment with the so-called ramen soup at your McAllen, Texas location. Let me be blunt: it was the most unauthentic ramen I have ever had in my life. The soup base tasted like someone mixed Alfredo sauce with water. It was a disgrace. The noodles were Italian, resembling the kind you'd find in a Progresso can. And broccoli in ramen? Who does that? It makes no sense and completely ruins the dish. The pork belly was another horrible thing to point out. It was not tender and had no flavor like I asked it to be but either way it was going to taste like Olive garden. To add insult to injury, you charged $17 for this travesty. That’s outrageous, especially when there are real, authentic Japanese ramen places around town that offer high-quality ramen for much cheaper. Then, to make matters even worse, the manager had the nerve to try to charge me half price after I complained. This was after the employee at the front had assured me it was good and authentic Japanese ramen, which it clearly was not. The only thing remotely Japanese about it might have been the fish cakes, and even that’s a stretch. This experience was an absolute letdown, and you need to seriously reconsider your recipe and pricing. I won’t be returning and will make sure others know to avoid this place. Then to add to the burn the manager was wanting me to pay at least half of it and I'm just like okay. Why should I pay half or something if you clearly told me it was authentic that's kind of like false advertising. Do yourself a favor and avoid this place if you're trying to eat. Ramen,real ramen that is. Then they have to tell me that it's actually Mandarin style noodles when I've actually tried authentic Mandarin noodles and these taste nothing like it. So they tell me first its Japanese ramen and then they tell me it's mandarin noodles after complaining ,but it tastes like Italian noodles and a bowl of pasta soup. If you make the mistake of coming there, you'll see what I'm saying. To make it all worse than noodles were not even fully cooked, right? They tasted raw! The place is really dirty, especially the bathroom. The waiters are unprofessional and have no manners, And it's really hot in there. They lack air...

Wow when I saw this I got so excited cause I have been to the Corpus location many many times when I am traveling with work. To be honest its truly one of my favorite places to eat and lets be honest there really is not good Asian food in RGV. I ordered my normal Spicy Szechuan Chicken and curry beef noodles. First I ordered Togo and when they asked for my number I told them I don’t give it out and they argued with me and said they had to have it. Finally someone else came up and just took my name annoying. I waited my 10 minutes which was good on speed. I noticed how heavy everything seemed, but didn’t look at food when I got to the hotel. I noticed definitely a different dish, but I knew this was what I ordered see below. The chicken was definitely not popcorn more like tenders all very overcooked and chewy and it seemed like there were two or 3 pounds of it. This dish should be very bite-size pieces. It’s popcorn chicken and had almost no peppercorns , when did jalapeños become Asian this dish should not have jalapeños it should have that numbing effect. This is normally a very dry dish and the chicken was extremely wet and a sauce. It did taste fine. It’s just not correct. I have had this at other oodle and dumpling restaurants , this is the first time that it came out like this The other dish I had was curry noodles beef if you order curry anything you should never be looking for seasoning what it seemed I got was more of a beef lo mein. It tasted fine plenty of beef. Great tasting noodle had a good chew but where is the curry and trust me? I do understand Asian curry, I know it’s not Middle Eastern curry I will for sure be back heck maybe even tomorrow and try some other things but RGV needs a really good Asian spot. I am hoping this is what it is. The place was busy. I love to see that just don’t insult people with wrong ingredients just because you think they will like that people come to restaurants wanting to be authentic food served to them otherwise they could’ve went to an Asian buffet, I...