Frank's Noodle House — Restaurant in Portland

My colleague took me here for lunch while we were on a business trip and it honestly was the highlight of the trip. And as an added bonus, it was a restaurant featured on diners, drive-ins, and dives!

Food - Since we came in for lunch on a Thursday, we were able to get seated right away and also order the lunch specials. The lunch specials are the same as the items on regular menu, it’s just a bit cheaper and comes with soup (choice of egg drop or hot and sour). We ordered the handmade noodles with pork, cashew chicken with broccoli, and dumplings to share. The dumplings were underwhelming, as the dough was a bit too thick, but it was still tasty. The cashew chicken didn’t come with broccoli, but it was a good choice to add it because it came still crispy but coated in the thick, brown sauce. The chicken was diced, which is apparently different from the chicken and broccoli which is sliced thinly and has a more subtle flavor (according to the worker). It came with a bowl of white rice, but you can order noodle instead for $4 extra. The handmade noodles are the star of the show, and were incredible. I would go back to this restaurant the next time I’m in Portland. Perfectly chewy and coated in the sauce, they were irresistible. The noodles with pork is the staff favorite, and the pork was sliced thinly with just the right amount of fat to be yummy, but not overly fatty. The noodles with chicken is apparently the most ordered item, and they do offer a vegetarian version and noodles with tofu. The food came out quickly, and

Service - the service was quick and efficient, but still pleasant. The staff took the time to answer our questions and made sure to refill our waters promptly.

Miscellaneous - we took an Uber there so didn’t note the parking situation. The restaurant is located in a converted house, which gives it a homey vibe. You can tell it’s authentic. Note that they don’t take Amex, and there is a fee for using cards for transactions under $10. There is indoor and outdoor seating, with additional seats located upstairs.

Tdlr; highly recommend coming here if you’re in town. The handmade noodles were amazing and the cashew chicken was super tasty. You will walk away with a...

I can’t believe I have to write a review like this but it must be done. For years I have been wanting to eat here and finally did a to go order. Picked up on time and in 15 min I was home and opening the bag. Firstly they forgot my order of rice, yes you pay $2 for it. Lame but I was hungry so I kept opening items. The noodles looked good and so did the General Tso’s chicken; both of which I always order from Chinese restaurants. I sit to eat and that’s where everything went wrong except for the hot n sour soup, that was actually decent. The noodles were extremely soft and seemed almost undercooked. There was almost no firmness to them and they tasted very strong of garlic and barely anything else but were covered in chili flakes so they had some taste. The shrimp with the noodles seemed like your basic frozen kind. Here’s there real disaster, the General’s Chicken. OMG it was 100% inedible. It was overcooked so bad that it was like chicken jerky covered in a sauce that was also overdone, thick and paste like. I’ve had Chinese dishes from almost all of Portland and traveled a lot experiencing Chinese fare from top chefs but hands down this is the second worst food I have ever had in Portland, if not ever. I couldn’t go past what you see in the pic of the Generals Chicken. I hate half the noodles but did consume all of the soup. Oh and I got crab puffs that I detected zero crab flavor and instead it was very oniony. A complete waste of $50 and that included tip!...

We were really excited to try this place, but unfortunately, it turned out to be a major disappointment. Despite the quick preparation time of about 5–7 minutes, the food lacked freshness and quality.

We ordered the orange chicken, pork belly noodles, hot and sour soup, and crab puffs. All of the dishes felt like they had been sitting out for a while rather than being freshly made. The orange chicken was drenched in an overly sugary orange sauce, making it cloying and unappetizing. The pork belly noodles lacked depth and flavor, while the hot and sour soup was overwhelmingly salty, dominated by soy sauce. To make matters worse, the crab puffs were disappointing—there were only four, and it was clear they were old and stale.

We also ordered level 3 spicy, but the spice level was almost nonexistent. Overall, the food seemed more like mediocre takeout than the fresh, hand-pulled noodle experience we were hoping for.

For $50, we expected much better quality. The food felt like it was worth half that price at best. Sadly, we don’t even plan on eating the leftovers. What a waste—definitely wouldn’t return.

Based on the reviews, if you decide to visit, make sure to go early. It seems like the quality of the food declines as the...