Mẹcha Noodle Bar — Restaurant in Norwalk

An absolute gem in downtown SONO Mecha is an experience from start to finish. Nestled in a revitalized part of the town that has a Astor Place chic city vibe to it u will find this noodle haven amongst a crowd of trendy spots. Upon entrance you get the feel of a traditional Asian noodle house with these ceiling fixtures that almost resemble drying noodles and low seating areas contrasted by a high bar. The smells excite ur sense and ur mouth instantly starts to water as u see cooks hard at work in the open kitchen. U are shown to ur seat and ur eating station affords u all the amenities. There's chopstix napkins and wet naps as well as three different sauces (sriracha,hoisin,sweet vinegar soy) to use as u see fit. The menu has a simple layout with drinks on one side and food the other. The offerings are vietnamese & japanese with various asian influences. The main stars are the Baos (steamed split buns with unique fillings) Pho (traditional vietnamese soup) and Ramen ( traditional japanese noodle soup). We tried the KFC Bao/Chinese Spare Ribs/Pho Tai 🍜/ Ramen Tonkotsu The baos are some of the best I've had, light and airy bun with an extremely crisp fried chicken pickled carrots an cukes balancing with the kewpie(japanese style mayo) they are a marvel. The spare ribs had such intense flavor and a touch sweetness that I enjoyed, they we're rich and meaty and had just a touch of heat 👌. As for the Pho, these guys put a lot of love into these soup bases...the broth was so clear almost like a consommé it was a revelation. So delicate yet so complex at the same damn time! You can taste all the spices clearly the vegetables and meat were fresh and the noodles not over done. The Ramen as well was incredible! The complexity and richness of the broth was something to wonder over with each bite. The sauces complimented everything so well and the whole dish came together expertly. Thoroughly impressed with this place without a doubt a top 10 fave restaurant in the CT which would vault to top 5 IF they were to start making noodles in house. The only thing seperatin them from noodle...

Not particularly "out-of-this-world" ramen. There is enough flavor that I like it, but I wouldn't say it's really a game changer. The main problem I have with it is the shear amount of sodium that is inside of it. My arteries feel like NYC water mains from the high blood pressure I get each night I've eaten here. I know that ramen will naturally have a high sodium content, but I've tried authentic restaurant ramen from various Japanese establishments in the NY metro area, and this is clearly over salted. Sea water would be a decent chaser after finishing an entire bowl to cut the edge off the saltiness. The spring rolls are nice, but in my opinion expensive. They are the same type I'd get in Bridgeport Vietnamese restaurants only smaller and more expensive per roll. The atmosphere is interesting, and they certainly have a decent vibe going on. It seems to be popular among the younger crowd with the average age being no higher than 19 here. The furniture is horrible, and it's clearly because they want you to not get too comfortable so that you'll take a table for longer than an hour.

Service is so-so... waitress came around a few times, bus boys were quick to clear up, and water was kept filled. Nothing to write home about I guess, but they're certainly much better than their counterparts in Fairfield.

The other thing that isn't particularly... stellar is their requirement that all members of a party be present before being seated. This area of SoNo is not great for parking, so when I explained that one member of my group was parking the car and will be with us shortly to the host, he was indifferent and wouldn't seat us. This caused us to lose the private table that had been available and we had to sit in the shared table with the terrible stools. If business is that great, then I don't suppose they'll be changing that policy anytime soon. And I certainly wouldn't return to exasperate any sort of heart disease this...

I was so weirded out by the experience I just had. I've been to this restaurant dozens, yes dozens of times, frankly I love Ramen and most of their menu and this is usually my spot.. so my wife took the kids out for dinner with her parents and I had an opportunity to have a nice hot bowl of Ramen by myself and was keen on taking full advantage. It was a cold (28 degree) Wednesday night and when I arrived at approximately 7:04 pm there were seats at the bar, for those unfamiliar there are 6 seats in front of the bar and this table thing that sticks out in front which I don't like for a number of reasons (the bartender has to walk all the way around for service being one) luckily there were three open seats at the bar, a couple was there then a woman sitting by herself onr seat over. The guy at the front greeted me and I said I was going to sit at the bar, when I went over to the end of the bar he asked me to either sit in between the only 3 people at a 10 seat bar or over on the other side "because they get a lot of couples" having worked in the restaurant business for almost a decade i completely understand the need to maximize seating capacity on busy nights.

With that being said there were a total of 7 people in the restaurant, 9 if you count the two guys picking up for Uber eats or whatever at the front. This was not a busy night.. I sat at the bar for about 5 minutes and the bartender was just cutting open plastic bags behind the bar and did not even turn around the entire time, again there was practically nobody in the restaurant, you'd think it would be noticeable when people walk in. I have never had such a strange experience at mecha usually the staff is warm and welcoming, so i took it as a sign and instead of enjoying some Ramen I just went home and made food, just weird to make people uncomfortable when they come to support...