Noodles & Dumplings — Restaurant in Tyler

Me and my 2 teens decided to give this a try. It wasn't the worst oriental food I've ever had, but certainly not the best. Tyler has been hurting for this kind of cuisine for years. We are searching for a place that isn't a buffet, but this isn't the one. We tried a multitude of appetizers and dinners. We started with Crab Rangoons, chicken egg rolls and Shrimp tempura. I was disappointed because the egg rolls were only chicken or tofu. I like the ones that have either pork or tiny shrimp or both. The chicken egg rolls were not a hit with any of us. If I were guessing they were either frozen, or "fresh frozen". I did however like the flavor of the Crab Rangoon. The only problem is they weren't very crispy, just sorta soft and mushy. The kids didn't like them. The Shrimp Tampura would have been good, but they come with some sort of sugar sauce drizzle all over the top. That is way too sweet for me personally. The kids wouldn't eat those either. So we decided to share alot of entrees because we wanted to get a good taste of this place. We ordered General Sho Chicken, Mongolian Beef, "popcorn" spicy shrimp. My daughter ordered some of those Bao dumplings things and some sort of noodles soup with strips of pork belly. Out of all these options I liked the General Sho the best. However, due to the sweetness of all these sauces I had to stop eating in fear my A1C would skyrocket off the chart. Also, why are the peices of chicken so large? You could atleast provide a knife so they can be cut. I just used my fork and one chopstick to mash the peices in half. Also, the jalapeños aren't necessary on this. The red pepper is enough. My son liked the Mongolian beef ok. I however felt it tasted like cheap "box of steak" and definitely not worth the price. The "popcorn" spicy shrimp was nothing of the sort. I would have to reread the menu, but usually when something is "popcorn" it is small in stature, these shrimp were very large. In fact I would call them prawns. They were also very dry and we didn't care for those. Perhaps if the waitress wasn't hurrying us, I could have examined the menu a little more closely. It was explained to her that we had not been in there before and asked for extra time to look at the menu. She gave us a total of about 3 minutes before she was back again. The place wasn't busy and there really wasn't any excuse for that. We obviously had our noses stuck in the menu, that should be a clue we aren't ready yet. But close enough. We ordered anyways at her convienience. I normally wouldn't care, but the appetizers just hit the table, and then a plethora of servers started overloading the table with entrees. We had to scarf down the appetizers as fast as possible to make room on the table for the dinners. It was rediculous. We still had some appetizers on the plates and this dude says "can I take something"...hahaha , hell no! They were barely cooled off so we could even eat them. One thing about this dinner, everything was served hot, I did appreciate that. Just as fast as they could pump things out of the kitchen. So my kids tried 1 of those dumplings each...I already knew I don't like those. Neither kid liked them. 2 went uneaten.my daughter ate about half that noodles soup. She didn't have much to say about it. She did not want to take it to go, nor the dumplings. We did take alot of the General sho and the gigantic popcorn shrimps, but I doubt either will be eaten and I would bet that stuff gets chucked in the trash. The atmosphere here is a little strange. I hate the lighting personally. That's too bright in there. The person seating needs to use her head. Stop asking people that are 6'5" 370 lbs if they want a booth. No thank you. Those booths are way too small for that. So at the end of the meal, I learned something from the waitress...she claims fortune cookies are Japanese not chinese. I am going to research this. Perhaps it is true, but I have bad news for you....in Tyler Texas I guarantee most locals don't know that. Locals expect...

The image speaks volumes on its own; regrettably, our recent experience at Noodles and Dumplings left much to be desired. During our visit this week, we were disheartened to discover a lengthy black hair in our ramen soup. Previously, I’ve enthusiastically recommended this restaurant to friends and family. However, following this incident, my enthusiasm is gone. Despite being frequent patrons, visiting at least once every two weeks since its opening, this incident has led us to reconsider our patronage. Not only does this pose a significant sanitary concern, but the handling of the situation by management was also less than satisfactory.

Upon picking up our $60 food order, my husband witnessed one of the cooks, typically responsible for dough preparation, asleep with arms spread out on the food preparation platform. While I sympathize with fatigue, particularly as a parent of a newborn, this scene unfolded on a surface where food is prepared, raising further concerns. However, what troubled me more was the unmistakable hair discovered in my husband's soup upon opening it, prompting him to discard it immediately. Consequently, we felt uncomfortable consuming any items from our order questioning the sanitation, particularly with young children to consider.

Subsequently, I contacted the restaurant to report the incident and inquire about a refund. The manager's request for photo evidence to be texted to him upon my call left me feeling doubted and further distressed as I had to scramble through the trash hoping we could get a picture. Although the manager acknowledged the presence of the hair after receiving the picture via text message and offered an apology, he claimed inability to process a refund due to their system constraints, which I found unacceptable given the circumstances. While initially agreeing to a refund for the soup alone, it felt inadequate given the broader sanitation concerns; the entire order had to be discarded, leaving us without dinner. Ultimately, no reimbursement was issued due to their inability to resolve it within their system.

When he realized that he wasn’t able to accommodate a refund for the item, he offered a complimentary replacement soup for my husband, an offer I found unsatisfactory. In my view, a more appropriate resolution would have entailed comprehensive compensation for the entire order considering the broader concerns regarding sanitation of the food entirely, rather than a mere mention at the counter of a replacement soup. Given these circumstances, it's doubtful we'll return anytime...

The first few times it was consistent and pretty good. This last visit, it was clear something had changed. Not the price. That remains consistently overpriced.

The Singapore noodles with chicken had essence of chicken and these big blobs of too much starch that give the appearance of chicken. Not funny. And skimpy veggies were included. Lots and lots and lots of noodles. Not spicy like you get at real Cantonese restaurants in Houston or Boston or New York or San Francisco. No heat due to lack of Singaporean spices. You can't fool me.

The pork and scallion Bao was sparsely filled with ingredients and the meatball tasted grainy. Maybe sawdust was used.

The Beijing noodle dish tasted like an overly sweetened, and poorly made ragu for spaghetti.

The condiment jars of chili oil was mostly oil, and no chili's.

The pork dumplings, count of 8, were okay.

Our server waitress was very nice, but another waitress came by with the Beijing noodle dish which we had opted to make it to go. The word must not have reached her through our main waitress. We politely apologized and tried to be cheerful as we asked for it to be takeout. She stood there silent for a minute or so. Looked down at the dish in her hand and looked like she was extremely unhappy about that request. She looked as though we had insulted her, her family, and all her future generations with our kind words and sympathy.

She ended up just tossing the cold garnishments in a box with the hot, and it lost its appeal during the ride home.

We tipped above and beyond the normal rate to show our gratitude but the total cost and low quality and lack of flavor and protein made this a ripoff.

I am a connoisseur of all regions of cuisine from China. I was the only white guy in an engineering group of Chinese engineers in California. For years. We ate at real Chinese restaurants. So you can believe me or not.

It looks like Houston, Austin, and Dallas are the places to go for now. H-Mart and Ranch 99, if you learn to cook it yourself. Gai Lan. Choi Sum. Galangal. Daikon. Long bean. Oyster mushrooms.

Not...