Capital Noodle Bar - Irvine — Restaurant in Westpark

I came in today craving rice noodles with beef. When the dish arrived it looked fine but as I picked up some of the noodles to eat I noticed a horrible burned smell. I then brought the plate closer to me and took another whiff and oh God was it bad. I highly recommend the owner buy a few new woks for the restaurant instead of cutting cost on kitchen equipment as their chefs literally burned that WOK that they use. You can get the best food in the world then put it in a burned wok and let it smell and taste like burned food. Took the fish back and sent me a new one only to arrive with the same smell and taste. Owner needs to sit down and have a word with his chefs and he can start off by first buying them 4 new woks so they have different WOKS to use for different foods and teach them how to sear the WOKS properly too. Sad how a good meal was ruined due to poor poor restaurant equipment. Can’t cut cost on the main item you use to cook meals with and you have to have quite a few so they don’t veggies in a WOK they just used to make a heavy sauces item only to ruin the new upcoming dish. Separate WOK for different dishes and replace old WOKs with new WOKS every time they smell burned. Also buy higher quality WOKS as well. People that have not lost their sense of smell and taste after COVID can easily taste and smell the taste of burned food from a bad WOK and taste of other foods in it as well.

Came back today as I was craving some Hainan chicken to give them another try. Tried their Hainan chicken and the chicken tasted beyond horrible. It tasted like the cheapest chicken that had gone bad which was then just boiled in water. On a 1-10 scale this Hainan chicken plate was literally a 1. If I was the owner I would fire those responsible but I reckon the owner wants to cut cost so he buys the cheapest chicken and is also not using fresh chicken. Last but not least chef is either beyond horrible or just following manager and owner’s orders. Cost me $18.30 to have to leave my dish on the table and leave as it was just horrible. This is good for people who just eat anything and say “Oh wow this was...

EXCELLENT DINNER ! After a fun evening at the movies on Tuesday we wanted dinner somewhere cool and definitely indoors. It was still 87F at 6.30pm when we exited the movie theater at the Irvine Spectrum Center so we headed straight here. THE FOOD IS ALWAYS VERY GOOD ! After parking our wheels close by we walked inside....Johnny the manager / host and Abbot our fav server greeted us in a very welcoming manner. It wasn't real busy so we were able to sit in our fav spots at a community table. Abbot came by to help us.....iced waters please while we check out the menu. We were leaning towards DIM SUM and SMALL BITES. When Abbot returned with our tall glasses of iced waters we ordered 1 x LEMONGRASS CHICKEN SKEWERS, 1 x GRILLED BEEF SKEWERS & 1 x CRISPY SHRIMP ROLLS...all from Small Bites menu. And from the Dim Sum menu we ordered 1 x JUICY PORK DUMPLINGS & 1 x STEAMED SIU MAI. Oh and I felt like an ice cold beer so I asked for a TSINGTAO ( 4.7% abv Chinese lager ). It tasted fine for a very mild beer. FIRST UP ! Our Lemongrass Chicken Skewers and Grilled Beef Skewers hit the table el pronto with a trio of dipping sauces. VERY DELICIOUS ! We've ordered these a few times on our many visits here and they never fail to please. NEXT UP ! Our Crispy Shrimp Rolls came out and disappeared very fast...a real winner. The Dim Sum items always take longer to prepare and cook hence they came out last. SO GOOD ! I Out came our Juicy Pork Dumplings and Steamed Siu Mai stacked on top of each other in cane steamers. I have to agree with my wife who loves both of these to death.....they were very yummy. DESSERT ! Always leave room for a sweet finish....we asked Abbot to bring us a serve of CINNAMON CHINESE DONUT WITH VANILLA ICE CREAM. It may be the only dessert they offer but it's a darn good one. As always we had a perfectly enjoyable...

GASTRONOMICAL DELIGHT ! This eatery has never let us down with great food and service so we keep coming back. After our 22 mile bike ride a few hours earlier my wife and I were starving by the time we arrived here around 6.30pm on Friday. Patrick a server & host greeted us warmly when we walked in.....quietly directing us to a low community table at the rear of the restaurant. DIM SUM ! We had a pretty good idea what we wanted but in the meantime we asked Patrick for 2 iced waters and a Thai Iced Tea. When were were ready Patrick took our dinner order for 1 x JUICY PORK DUMPLINGS, 1 x SPICY WONTONS, 1 x GOLDEN FRIED WONTONS, 1 x STEAMED SIU MAI...all from the Dim Sum menu plus 1 x LEMONGRASS CHICKEN SKEWERS & 1 x GRILLED BEEF SKEWERS...both from the Small Bites menu. Our server Patrick explained that the Dim Sum items would take 20 minutes. My wife loved the flavor and texture of her well made Thai Iced Tea. WHOO HOO ! Before we knew it the Spicy Wontons hit the table...so delicious. I asked Patrick to bring us some dipping sauces. BINGO ! Our Lemongrass Chicken Skewers and Grilled Beef Skewers arrived together courtesy of food runner Johnny. EL YUMMO ! This was the first time we have tried the skewers...totally tender & delectable ! It was pretty busy at this time of the evening and so cool inside....good air con. WHAM BAM ! The remainder of our Dim Sum items hit the table in quick succession. These guys really know what they are doing.....everything tasted as good as it gets. SO RELAXING ! We certainly like it here...the food is always spot on, excellent friendly service and nice chill vibe. Of course we had to finish with some dessert.....CINNAMON CHINESE DONUT WITH VANILLA ICE CREAM which was decadently delicious ! WHAT A...