Young's Alley — Restaurant in Moscow

Let me start off by saying, Young's Alley food is great. I enjoy getting their steamed buns and potstickers from the Farmer's Market. Now that their actual restaurant is remodeled and re-opened, I was hoping for a similar experience. It has the potential to be SO GOOD, but unfortunately there are some problems.

The setup is a small kitchen staffed by 3 people, and you pay for your food before it is served. Because of this you'd expect faster, more immediate service, but the wait times can be insanely long.

In the summer, after they opened but before they had their indoor seating license, I stopped by a couple of times for steamed buns and potstickers, and although they were good it took an exorbitant amount of time for them to get to us. I know it takes about 20 minutes to steam a bun, but it was taking upwards of an hour to get it. Not ideal when we have short lunch breaks.

Today, I was optimistic and wanted to try again, and some of my coworkers were also interested. I was the second to last person to order out of a party of 8, and it absolutely overwhelmed them. After 30 minutes, the first person got their food, and the rest of the orders trickled out over the next hour. Between one of the frustrated cooks saying that they would only focus on one meal at a time, people asking for refunds and leaving because of the wait, and the guy waiting on us profusely apologizing for the wait, it was chaos. Again, the food was great, but they have not streamlined their processes at all which makes for a bad experience for the customer.

I want to be able to give more stars, but I can't--I'm an optimist and want to still give them a chance, so I may append this review in the future if...

This restaurant is wonderful. I don’t know where to start.

The food was spectacular. The noodles are hand stretched to order it seems, and they are pillowy, yet stretchy and tender. An art. The portion size is generous for this level of hand-made quality. The chicken was very skillfully cooked. It was tender, and had soaked up the flavor of the curry in the most tasteful way. All of the vegetables in the sauce were the same. Beautifully cooked and bursting with flavor. The garnish is equally beautiful.

Coming to Young’s Alley is equivalent to being invited into someone’s home so that they can personally make you a meal.

The notes on the table reveal the love that is present in the cooking. The owner learned how to cook during childhood, and clearly enjoys sharing this part of their culture with guests.

There is usually only the owner in the kitchen, but it is every bit worth the wait.

As a former chef, I can tell you that this level of care in a restaurant setting is exceedingly rare. If you have the opportunity, I would highly recommend that you...

This place has the best tomato noodles, boba, and potstickers. I have a peanut-allergy and often cannot eat at Chinese restaurants because of the presence of peanuts in the food, but there are no peanuts at Young's Alley, so I can finally enjoy Chinese food! I know there are some reviews on here about slow service or cold food, but I think you just need to be more patient. Good food takes time, and small restaurants are not equipped for a lot of orders at once. I have worked in small restaurants like this before, and often you don't understand this as a customer until you yourself have worked in a restaurant. The food is super delicious and high quality. I have really enjoyed getting take out from here...