Winn H.
Yelp
TLDR: Exiting parking is difficult, helpful to know Mandarin, tasty noodle soup and ingredients, order over $20 if you want to pay with card!
I was Yelping random restaurants on the way home and stumbled upon Ludingji. In the mood for noodle soup, coming here was a no brainer. I generally comment on how many places have nice parking, but the plaza for Lundingji is notably one of the worst in the area not only amongst construction but exiting is also a pain.
I entered the restaurant around 8;10pm and ordered a House Special Lamb with rice noodles. I have to admit that ordering wasn't the easiest, and they expected me to know Mandarin. It was alright; I ended up accidentally ordering a fried egg with my noodles, no biggie. Water was also not served and had to be asked for. The noodle portions were quite deceptive when it came. Although the bowl was full, it didn't feel like much, and I ended up ordering a second. Luckily, this tipped the check to over $20, so I could pay via card. I saw a recent review mention that one bowl of extra noodles is free, but I didn't experience that.
Aside from the service, linguistic challenges, and portion size, I enjoyed the House Special Lamb overall. The broth was an amazing combination of what tasted like bone broth boiled hours upon hours with dashes of herbs and white pepper. The unique ingredients also made every bite an adventure. I believe they included 1-2 of each wood ear fungus, snow fungus, quail egg, small dried shrimp, and a few slices of ham, bean sprouts, and a fair portion of lamb. The tastiness and excitement rushed into me so quickly that I ended up burning my tongue a few times on accident, but it was worth the experience. Would definitely come again despite a few minor inconveniences.