Shake Shake Fresh Noodle — Restaurant in San Luis Obispo

Shake Shake Fresh Noodle Review

As a business owner in SLO, a lot of customers have been asking for my opinion on Shake Shake Fresh Noodle. I tried a couple of weeks after Grand Opening, to give the owners some time to hone in their systems.

Went to Shake Shake twice in last 24 hours, both Friday (4/25) and Saturday night (4/26). With both their inside and outdoor dining area, they were seating 80-100 customers per hour. About 15 people ahead on waitlist, but our wait time was about 20 minutes both days. Very efficient. Happy to see them doing well their first month.

Dishes our tables ordered over the past 2 days:

APPS: Chili Potato Salad $9 Surprisingly good and refreshing. Sichuan oil & blanched julienned potato. Slight crunch. Loved the texture, would order again.

House Beef Roll $13 Cold cut Beef wrapped in Cong You Bing scalllion pancake w oyster sauce and cucumber. Surprised that the pancake was a cold dish.

Beef Onion Dumplings $17 Standard. Doesn’t seem to be handmade, just frozen. Would rather get an entree for $17, as they’re just boiled, not pan fried.

DRY NOODLES: Numbing Spicy Minced Pork Noodle $18 Not very spicy at all, had to add a couple tablespoons of chili oil to make it spicy enough for me. Slight numbing from Sichuan peppercorn oil. Not overpowering, very approachable for SLO. Julienned cucumbers add a layer of freshness.

Braised Pork Belly Noodle $18 Solid option for braised pork belly in SLO. Doesn’t come advertised as spicy, so you’ll need to add a lot of chili oil. Don’t let the portion size fool you. Decent amount of pork belly, the fat combined with the chili oil fills you up well.

Chili Oil Flat Noodle w/ Beef Bone $22 Favorite dish there. Absolutely loaded with crispy garlic and scallions. Would order again. Beef bone is spectacular.

SOUPS: House Special Beef Bone Noodle (spicy) $21 House Special Beef Bone Noodle (not spicy) $21 Beef bone is the star. Slides off bone, but the braise time still maintains an appropriate level of collagen for some bite. Not overcooked. Broth is not the most flavorful I’ve had. Definitely not as flavorful as a Taiwanese Niu Rou Mian. But you’re getting the dish for the hand pulled flat noodles and the huge Beef Bone, not for the broth.

TAKEAWAYS: Definitely recommend the flat noodles over the round. You can see the chef pulling by hand the long flat noodles every 10-15 minutes in front of you. They have a really good bite.

Spice level is very mild here. I believe they adjusted their seasonings since Grand Opening in response to google reviews. I didn’t find the flavor in itself lacking, but simply tempered in respect to spice.

I believe they intentionally don’t oversalt or overspice their food. It would help to add a small 4x6 sign on each table, but you are freely able to add your own tableside chili oil spice to every dish, to adjust heat level to your preference. Which I believe is adjusted and intentional for the target demographic palette here in SLO.

I chatted with both owners at the end of the night tonight and heard their background. They own a restaurant in the Bay and are excited to start a new venture here in SLO. Definitely want them to do well, and told them I will be leaving a google review.

Will be returning again soon. Maybe 3...

Where: Shake Shake Fresh Noodle 1049 Nipomo Street (In The Creamery across from Goshi), SLO www.ssfreshnoodle.com What: $0.00 - Starter of potato noodles $11.99 - Chili Oil Wontons $12.99 - House Beef Roll $17.99 - Numbing Spicy Minced Pork Noodle $20.99 - House Special Beef Bone Noodle $17.99 - Braised Pork Belly Noodle Ok. This is going to be super short because: #1 Three of us ate all these dishes and we all agreed about them #2 All of the dishes were amazing #3 The service from Vivi, her husband and the chefs was something like out of a movie it was so good #4 I predict there will be a line at this restaurant like you’ve never seen before because it’s so good Vivi, one of the owners, greeted my two friends and I as we sat down, brought water and this potato noodle dish which is unlike anything I have ever had before. The texture and perfect seasoning. Along with their housemade chili oil… oh my. Chili oil wontons? They make the noodle wrapping for the wonton there!!! Like we were in some big city! Filled with pork I believe and covered with the chili oil, absolute perfection. I could eat 50 of them easily. House beef roll is another dish I have never seen before. Probably my least liked dish, but we’re talking an 8/10 vs 9/10 or 10/10. It was like a Chinese sliced beef burrito! What?? Spicy minced pork noodles - both with their flat noodles and round noodles. They make their OWN NOODLES!!! They stretch them in front of the whole dining room when an order is made!!! FREAKING AMAZING! The noodles are the star of the show, but the proportions of the toppings fits so well with the amount of noodles. I would have loved more of the numbing Sichuan/Szechuan pepper but that is something you really need to know about before eating, so I think they’re playing it safe for the white peeps. Beef Bone Noodle soup - Oh, my. The rib must have been cooked for 6-8 hours easily. It fell off the bone, but still had a bite to it. Not too much salt or extraneous seasoning because you can add soy sauce, vinegar and chili oil at the table to your liking. I ate the whole thing and I didn’t feel full, I felt satiated. Braised pork belly noodle - Well, the pork belly was cooked to perfection. Tender, juicy, beautiful. Holy moly. I visited a high end Taiwanese restaurant in Century City called Din Tai Fung a year and a half ago and the food at Shake Shake was just as good, if not superior to Din Tai Fung. Yes, I know Taiwanese cuisine and the various styles of Chinese cuisine are not the same, but they take the same extraordinary amount of skill and love to do it properly. Shake Shake is gonna shake the county up - seriously good food and I will be back many times to come!

I don't normally post on google for food reviews, but this place is SO good, I want to them thrive and...

Authentic Lanzhou Lamian pulled, twisted, and flung, right before your very [Occidental] eyes, in downtown SLO? Absolutely!

Watch Master Noodle makers fling noodles almost into your hungry mouth! Oh Yes please!

Authentic Yummy Hui Muslim Chinese food in SLO? Oh so GOOD!

Impossible?

Not any more…

I don't Lie about Lamian....

I watched them fling the ingredients together... Beef Rib, Fresh handmade Flat Noodle, Broth, & Bok Choy...and then I flung it into my hungry mouth.

It was beyond good...it was near a cosmic orgasmic titulating culinary climactic experience!

As a longtime culinary expert, with Chinese in-laws, the food here is beyond reproach....and is lightyears beyond the Americanized Chinese eats typical on the Central Coast. It is as if, a little piece of old SLO Chinatown was resurrected via a time warp.

Thank You! 谢谢 Xièxiè

FINE DETAILs.....

Shake Shake Fresh Noodle has handpulled Noodle Masters weaving amazing flat noodles right before your very eyes!

Direct from cold Northern China to please your palate & warm your tummy in SLO.

WOW, authentic Chinese food in SLO!

Who knew?

SHAKE SHAKE is in Downtown SLO, in the Creamery building.

It is a must!

After watching carefully, and then eating carefully, then one may qualify as a

Master Authentic Chinese Noodle Eater....

LAMIAN & the HUI MUSLIM CHINESE=

Some background information for the Occidentals....

The cuisine of Northwestern China, particularly from the provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi, and Xinjiang, is known for making fresh hand-pulled noodles, or lamian, often in front of customers. These regions also feature a variety of rich meat dishes, primarily beef and lamb, influenced by their large Hui Muslim and Uyghur populations.

Hand-pulled noodles (lamian) The preparation of lamian is a spectacle in itself, where a noodle master twists, stretches, and folds a lump of wheat flour dough into long, perfectly even strands in a matter of seconds.

Key characteristics:

Origin: The modern, popular form of lamian originated in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, and was refined by a Hui Muslim vendor in the 19th century.

Regional spread: Hui Muslim families from this area operate many of the lamian restaurants found throughout China.

Signature dish: Lanzhou beef noodle soup This dish follows a "five-color" formula: clear beef broth, golden noodles, white radish, green cilantro, and red chili oil.

Halal tradition: Due to its Hui origins, lamian is traditionally served with halal-prepared meat, like beef or mutton.

Most important of all....

Hand-pulled noodle eating is endorsed and approved...