Noodle House

Sooo good!! Portions huge, price really reasonable. Why rating so messed up??

The service was very disappointing. The staff member had a rude attitude and was aggressively placing/throwing dishes on the table without saying anything. It felt disrespectful and unprofessional. I won’t be returning.

Delicious pan fried pork dumplings and beef pancake.

Best buns and dumplings in Southern California. They make wonders with flour and pork. They also don’t speak English, so I normally just point at the menu. Nothing is bad on the menu except the seafood. If you get something fried, try to dine in to get the texture right. If you get fennel buns, make sure you like the taste of fennel because there’s nothing subtle about that one. Pork and cabbage is the safest bet.

Very reasonable prices and great service for home style Chinese food.

This has to be the BEST Chinese restaurant I have EVER been to. My favorite things to get are the scallion (onion) pancakes, steamed shrimp and leek dumplings, steamed pork and leek buns, and fish ball soup. I also really like cold sesame noodles. Pros: The quality of the food is just OUTSTANDING and it's all very fresh. There's amazing service and everyone's always friendly. Everything is made right then and there and worth waiting for. Everything is cooked just enough. Cons: This restaurant doesn't accept credit cards, so remember to bring cash. Food takes a while to come out, so not ideal if your in a hurry. Best For: This place is probably best for a nice, but not too fancy lunch. This restaurant very clean, and worth coming to whenever your craving dumplings. This place definitely deserves a 6/5 rating, and I totally recommend it.

Most delicious pork buns and dumplings I've ever had. They have a wide variety to choose from.

My mom (a Chinese foodie!) loves this place and I agree. The buns and dumplings are really tasty (try the seafood dumplings). Family owned place, cash only, they make everything from scratch. Surprisingly nice service for a small Chinese place too. They also sell frozen dumplings, which we promptly bought after trying the fresh dumplings. They actually made the dumplings from scratch while we were eating to take home to freeze ourselves - that is so nice and rare to see!!

Their dough drop soup is quite delicious. It's rare to see this dish on menus so I would definitely recommend trying it. Their dumplings and buns are both top tier. My favorite place for buns is still Fortune No. 1, but I'm not gonna turn down a bun from this place either. I like their zucchini ones best. The cabbage ones also aren't too bad. Their red bean buns are very unique tasting, I've never had a red bean bun like it. It's kinda char siu flavored, if that makes sense. Their Korean style noodles are bad, so don't order those, lol. I just ordered them since it was funny.

I walked in around 4pm yesterday (Wednesday) and they immediately told me they were closed. Normally I would understand, but there was absolutely no sign of them closing as they were still in the middle of cooking when I walked in. Double-checked their hours online to find out they close at 9pm. Very sad and disappointing.

服务非常差 进去就没有食欲 这种餐厅根本不能去 餐厅从服务员到厨师都态度极差 好像别人欠他们的一样 感觉实属罕见 餐厅的老板话很多 让人感觉很不舒服 服务员满嘴脏话 让人感觉很不舒服。 The service is very poor and you lose your appetite when you enter this restaurant. You can't go to the restaurant at all. The attitude of the waiters and chefs is extremely poor, as if someone owes them. It feels rare. The restaurant owner speaks a lot, which makes people feel uncomfortable. The waiters are full of foul language, which makes people feel uncomfortable Done

I forgot to take pictures but the buns that I've ordered are so good! I got Steamed Buns (Pork and Cabbage, Juicy Beef, Pork and Combination Seafood), Pork Pan Fried Buns and Red Bean! Price is fair and super tasty!

super rude always closed we called and asked if they were open they said they were open all day and when we got there the owner yelled all rudely that they were closed hell no never try this again

Hole in the wall. Ambiance is meh. Food is good. Food served with a frown and no responses when you say thanks. I'll just go next time and pretend to be mute too. Then maybe I'll leave feeling better about myself. Ever hold the door for someone without a thank you? You feel dumb. But go in expecting this. No need to speak to the lady then your experience will be fine.

OMG, you have to try this restaurant! This restaurant is very unassuming but dang...you have to give a try. If I am able to eat more, I would have ordered a lot more dishes to try. But for today, I ordered 1. Appetizer/ cold dish = spicy three delicacies (麻辣三拼） It has shredded pig ears, beef tripe, and pork tripe along with cilantro, shredded cucumber and ...I forgot. It's a good spicy dish to open up your appetite. 2. Noodle with minced pork / zha-jiang-mian (炸醬麵） First, I am glad they kept the noodle and veggies separate from the minced pork. For those who only eat veggies, you could have taken out your portion of noodle first . Once all mixed together, this is a good noodle dish, refreshing (because of all the veggie) and tasty (the minced pork is full of flavor). The portion is huge, which I really appreciate because with the leftover of #1 and this noodle...I made up my own dish (check out the picture ). 3. Vegetarian turnip pie (蘿蔔絲餡餅） I love turnip, and since I think I needed to have some veggies so I ordered this dish. This was delicious! Usually, the restaurant would over salt the shredded turnip to give it more taste: or else, ya know, too bland. But this restaurant did it just right. This was SOOO good, really. 4. Pork and shepherd's purse bun (豬肉齊菜包） Please don't ask why the vegetable is called a shepherd's purse, I have no clue. All I can say is I grew up with this veggie, i.e. filling for wonton soup...etc. Tell you the truth, I am not a bun person because of all the dough. BUT this bun, this restaurant changed me. The bun is SUPER soft, not dense. This is just like...eating cloud. And the filling? OMG, so flavourful and juicy. I am definitely coming back to try other dishes because I am certain they will be just as delicious!

Food was amazing. A lot of vegetarian/vegan options! My favorite thing was the spicy peanuts (I would go back just for the peanuts). They seem to only speak Chinese (not 100% sure because my mom order for us in Chinese but when we went to pay they seemed confused when we asked a question in English and my mom had to step in and translate....) still I wouldn't say it is bad service (maybe the language barrier is what is making people say it is poor service, I can see that). Food came quickly and was hot and fresh. The ambiance is not great but the whole place is very clean and has more take-out kitchen with table vibes.

I had a special discount on Chowbus, and also saw that Noodle House had its own special discount on Chowbus, so I decided to order from the app. I got pork potstickers, minced pork noodles, and a pork meatball casserole. Granted, all 3 were pork items, but that's what we were in the mood for. The minced pork noodles, otherwise known as zhajiangmian, were fairly standard for the area, but still pretty good. I loved the potstickers - they weren't as good as if I had eaten there fresh, but the dumplings were still quite juicy and the pork was quite tasty. They definitely tasted homemade. The pork meatball casserole was more like a soup than a casserole, at least in the commonly perceived sense of the world casserole. The tofu was ok, the veggies were not bad, but the meatballs were really good. The meal was overall quite tasty, but not the most amazing I've ever had. Worth trying at least once though.

1 stars because everything I ate tasted like leaks. I guess, if you love leaks, then this place is great. Leaks for you, leaks for you, and leaks for everyone. Covid-19 must have hit this place hard, because this place has to skimp on meat and replaced everything with leaks. This place is more vegan than an oyster bar. Yes, oysters are vegan. Google it, it is debatable. Serious note tho, I don't recommend this place. You can order the cheapest item on the menu instead of ordering the most expensive item because it is all the same. Leaks for you, leaks for me, leaks for everyone. Not sure who is creating the menu, but the chef must love leaks. PS: Don't come hard if you are allergic to leaks, otherwise you will get dumpling wrappers and bread.

I got a variety of buns and dumplings togo. They offered several different types of fillings, pork or beef with different Chinese vegetables such as shepherd's purse, leek, daikon radish, cabbage, etc. You can get any of the fillings in the form of steamed buns, pan fried buns, boiled northern style dumpling, pot sticker, or western style layered pancake, I think the price was good especially since they are also offer a discount. I was unaccustomed to the filling, which was too salty across the board. My family is from Southern China and I prefer the fillings to have just a dash of sugar to enhance the savoriness and mellow out the saltiness.

I've been going to Noodle house for years and it still has the same quality which is fantastic and pretty much the same menu. It's good for a quick snack or a serious binge of nostalgia.

Ordered take out. They have a variety of food and the price was reasonable. Tried a little bit of everything; buns, dumplings, pancake. Everything was freshly made and delicious! The skins/wraps were not too thick nor thin with a bit of chewiness. The fillings were juicy and savory. Id be back for more!

I ordered the shrimps noodle. But there's no shrimps, just noodle and some veggies. Maybe it's not what the restaurant is known for. I only ordered cuz I felt bad leaving the restaurant without order anything. The menu need to be more appealing.

Authentic & Delicious. If you like dumplings or buns, this is one of the best in all of Los Angeles IMO. The restaurant isn't much to look at and service is mediocre at best. However, the reason you come here is to eat the freshly made buns and this place has plenty of delicious flavors to choose from. Highly recommend!

I had the pork buns and it was so juicy and so tender! Everything was delicious! Prices are affordable and service was great. Overall, I will come back here again.

I love this place! I randomly found this place while craving buns and ever since I haven't been too another place. This place is small but full of flavor. When I first went here there was no one that spoke English but I order through here and it was all good. All the other times I've had come over there is someone that speaks English! Food is so yummy! I'll update with a picture next time I go here!

To be honest the food is not bad. Esp given the plethora of vegetarian choices. The one star is for the utterly unbearable attitude and service. The elder lady whom I assume is the owner will offer no greeting or slightest civil curtesy. Every time you order you're made to feel like you're indebted to them. Put in words of one my Chinese colleagues :" 老板娘把大陆80年代的恶劣态度原本不漏的带来这里...

I use to love this place, but they gave me cold steamed pork buns most likely someone canceled their order and they gave me theirs and I waited 25 minutes for the food. Also the pancakes used some old oil tasted funky and I had to throw up. Truly a shame though not many choices left when it comes to this kind of food.

Really good fresh made dumplings! They sell frozen to go dumplings too. The dumplings and the pies are freshly made and cooked to order. They come out piping hot, so be careful not to taste too quickly like I did and almost burned my tongue!!! Definitely would come back. The beef noodle soup was delicious too!

Cucumber and tofu skin took me by surprise! It's a Must have while you're there. Everything tasted great. Tip: Water tasted like tap water and it doesn't come with ice.

We always come if we don't hv enough time for lunch.My husband loves this place coz they offer northern Chinese food,like dumplings and noodles.The noodles and dumplings pretty good. I know many ppl complain abt the boss lady. Haha that's true. 1st time when we there, she didn't smile and very commanding.I guess it's the third time, she suddenly smiling at me when I came to pick up my food. And 4th time she smiled and was nice to me too. We all like the food there. It's simple but tasty!

Order take out just try to support their business but their attitude is very bad, pay the money already after order, have to ask to get a receipt, and they are not happy to give the receipt:(, never back

I order different types of steamed buns to go. The bun is very small than others. It's a little bit too salty. And it almost taste the same. No service, not friendly place to visit. Don't recommend it.

Typical really good noodle place in Monterey Park. The highlights were the egg and tomato soup, which was very flavorful and the noodles had great texture; the shrimp combination noodle; and the lamb dumplings, which were pan fried to crisp perfection and had a good lamb flavor. The steamed dumplings are made to order so they are not served quickly after ordering. The noodle itself is a bit lumpy and thick, but the filling is very good - the shrimp was fresh and the green onion gave it great flavor. The seafood combination bun was nothing special.

Got takeout and it was delicious! I really like garlic cucumber and this place makes it perfect! The onion pie, sliced beef and egg tomato soup were all flavorful my kid who is picky was all over the bread and meat.

Cons: too greasy, bland taste, tea tasted weird Pros: cheap, prompt service Verdict: go to "Noodle House" in Rowland Heights. (different owners)

I am a food delivery person, I arrived at the place and the lady who was serving me was indifferent and did not pay attention to me. The place was alone enough to say that she was very, very busy. They should realize that they live from the attention they give to the client

First visit to the Noodle House. It's a cozy place inside a plaza. Everything was made to order so don't come here if you are in a hurry. Items are reasonbly priced. I ordered a braised beef tendon soup noodle and the pork & cabbage pie. The pie was served piping hot, straight from the pan. The tendon noodle was just average. My mom ordered the Chinese Napa pie 素白菜餡餅, which she really liked. She also tried the daikon potstickers, which surprisingly took the longest time to prepare. People at the next table ordered dumplings and they looked amazing. So guess what I'll order the next time!? I may be wrong but this seems to be a family owned/operated restaurant. If so then they deserve my business.

The making of a good bun is almost a lost art; normally the buns at other establishments are too big, the skin is often too thick [sometimes hard] and the ingredients taste stale in terms of flavor. Here they make the buns really well. The buns are of proper size (not too big or small. If it's too big, then the meat juices from the ingredients will spread throughout the insides of the bun. In being of the right size, the flavors are more concentrated). The skin is not too thick or hard: it is soft and carries a slight glutinous texture as it's chewed. The ingredients are fresh and yields good amount of juices within the buns. In short come here for the buns, dumplings and beef rolls as opposed to their noodles [yes it's named the Noodle House but it is what it is]. Items I recommend getting: 1. Combination seafood buns 2. Pork and zucchini buns 3. Red Bean buns 4. Beef rolls 5. Beef dumplings Price: The items on average range around $6.99-8ish. In terms of the quality and amount offered, the price here is affordable if not a bargain. Service: Don't expect the service to be exceptional that's not how Asian restaurants work typically. Usually the service is mediocre but the food more than makes up for it. Here is no different.

Located in a plaza next to Kim Tar Seafood Restaurant, plenty of parking available. I have traffic school in the same plaza and have been eating my way through the neighborhood spots once a week. I love family owned spots like this and from my experience it's either a hit or miss. My insticts told me to order the dumplings or scallion pancakes which were well reviewed but I was really craving chow mein. I ordered the shrimp chow mein and the first few bites were really tasty, I was completely satisfied. It was well seasoned, flavorful, shrimp was on point but... way too much oil was used. Half way through it started to feel super heavy and I noticed the pool of oil at the bottom of the plate. I didn't notice how much oil there was until I saw it and it ruined my appetite. I liked the chow mein and would give four stars but I was turned off by the amount of oil used. You may think I'm being picky or just crazy but there was seriously enough oil to make three dishes.

Rude, not friendly. Does not care about service. Take it or leave it. This is not the only noodle house in town. Will not come again.

Got a sweet and spicy prawns noodle soup, great taste. Tea is on the house like a true Chinese restaurant.

Ordered two types of vegetarian filling steamed ban. They were so good. The skin was very soft, fluffy and a little chewy at the same time. The veggies inside were very fresh, tasty and not oily at all. Overall, the bans were healthy and tasty. The price is a little high comparing to similar restaurants.

In all honesty, I'm not quite sure if I was missing something from this place. Some people seemed to love it when it first opened, but I'm always curious if it was just too over-hyped or I lost my taste buds. I decided to let this sit for a few month before I sit down to write this review. After a few more visit, I was hoping that maybe initially I was too harsh and too critical of this place. Maybe...maybe not? *sigh* It wasn't meant to be. All fairness to the place, it should have been called Steam Buns House or the ever generic Dumpling House. This restaurant is not really known for their noodles as it is very unimaginative and very lackluster. If you ever want to hit up a noodle place, just walk around the corner to Kam Hong Garden http://www.yelp.com/biz/kam-hong-garden-monterey-park . In the very beginning, I think the big selling attraction was that they have an open window where you can see how they made their steam buns and green onion cake in the full view from the front. In a nice way, sort of reminds of you of how dumplings were rolled up in an opening window at Din Tai Fung. Yes, you do get to watch them make those dumplings. What the big idea was they have many options for their baoz (steamed buns). My favorite ones are the pork with spring onions http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/ysJ8F5Fgkm4G9vX-KaxXLQ/l . I think if they match the noodles variety with the buns, this place would be fabulous. My favorite variety of dumpling is the pork and pumpkin boiled dumplings http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/urhXhtikmwP4xl5pxAElBg/l . It is so close to Halloween these days. I might as well jump start on the pumpkin phenomenon. Here comes the let down to this place. Their buns, noodles, and dumplings are too thick. It's just too much dough on this thing. Too much carbs with no flavors at all. It was like they are saving their spices and ingredients for another day. It wasn't just one time, it's all the time. That's maybe why I am little bummed out on this place. I was to give it three stars, but I started thinking of all the places I have visited from DTF, J&J, Mei Long Village, Dragon Marks, Mama's Lu, etc etc. It was getting obvious that this place is going to be one of my least favorites for dumplings. It's not that high either for noodles or buns. The only saving grace was their onion cake http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/yktbZyJJfeoG385GZwPrTQ/l . Now that wasn't thick. It was actually delicious and wasn't overcooked or deep fried like other places. This place is full of carbs and not in a good way. Less dough and more concentrations on liven up the taste. It was one thing to have the dough to be bland, but not the fillings in the buns or dumplings. I'll give it one more shot down the road, but the recent experiences are not very good at all. --------- edit: 11/26/08 Hate to bring this one up. It seemed like I stumbled upon a blogger's favorite and a few follower's decided to make a spirited defense. No, I didn't compared it directly to DTF, but that seemed to be a rally cry to throw you off track. This is not about how hard it is to make buns and dumplings. Heck, I grew up in the 80s making dumplings myself since my younger years does not include too many, if any at all, of Chinese restaurants that make buns and dumplings. Period. I know what's it's like to appreciate a made-to order buns and dumplings when they do open up. However, it's not just about the thickness issue as it is not the only problem this place would be facing if the dumplings and buns are not that good. The review on top explained it all. I guess it's too bad that I had to be the minority to disagree, but it shouldn't get personal with two of the reviews. It is a tragedy when your own opinion cannot be respected and a long lesson needed to be show off just to invalidate other opinions. Like I pointed out, I might come back and try out to see if it there are any improvements since my visits. This review does not stopped anyone as it can see it picked up a few more of the blogger's followers. The ratings says at all on the two stars, "Meh. I've experienced better". And I did.

I forgot what noodle I got but I wasn't impressed. The broth was thick and my noodle was tasteless and had too much veggies. They gave me free roasted peanut appetizer sprinkled with MSG. Yuck!! Got the dumpling too and it was just meh. So why did I come back to try the steamed buns? Because every table ordered the steamed bun. I rushed to go there after work and was impressed when they actually made the buns fresh in front of me. The ladies there were bun experts. The meat is pre-mixed but I saw them working with the dough and stuff the buns, steamed it and boxed it in front of me. All of that in less than 5 minutes. Quite entertaining actually. I went home, took a bite and................was disappointed. This reminds me of Benihana. The show was more fun than the food. I don't think I'll come back here again. 2 stars for the food but 4 stars for fresh buns and the friendliness! Noodle House is not yummylicious!!

Meh, not impressed. Ordered the Beef stew soup noodle, the broth was ok but overly salty. I heard the dumplings are better, maybe next time.

Avoid Seaweed salad tasted like they just dragged it out of the ocean and tossed it on a plate. Steamed pork and leek bao . . . too much dough to meat ratio. Pumpkin shrimp dumplings. . .where was the pumpkin? Mandarin styles noodles- pretty decent, but not enough sauce. Ordered the beef wrap . .informed that they didn't have it...then tried to order the onion pancake. . didn't have that either. We were the only customers in the shop. . . I think this is a family owned business. and the son is the waiter. He sucked a$$. No refill on water and practically dumped our dishes onto the table like he didn't give a f@#$ about life. Parking sucks. . . Cash only

Have only ordered take out from here and we usually order the steam buns and dumplings. I liked their fish dumplings and the veggie buns. For cold dish, I recommend #30 - the simmered beef, pig ear and beef tendon. Medium size parking lot in the shopping center.

After tasting dumplings at 3 restaurants you would think I'd be dumpling out for the rest of the decade. Instead we went back to Noodle House to buy more dumplings for the folks back home for dinner - it was that good. We picked up the two flavors that we liked most, Pumpkin and Shrimp-$6.99 and Pork with Leek-$5.99, along with a couple orders of Stew Beef Tendon Noodles Soup - $5.75. The dumplings were just as good as those we ate earlier in the day. Noodle House makes BIG dumplings with soft doughy skin, not too thick and not too thin. Then they stuff, and I mean STUFF, them with a whole load of stuffing. I've always liked pork and leek dumplings but this was my first time eating dumplings filled with pumpkin. Now, I'm not a big pumpkin fan (except in a pie) but the slightly sweet taste along with the fibrous texture worked well with the shrimp - who would've thunk? I was, however, disappointed in the noodle soup; the broth was anemic. With Chinese stew beef I'm expecting a robust soup - strong with 5 spice seasoning and more than just a hint of daikon flavor. What we got was a watery soup with salt as it's predominate flavor. In addition, the tendon was way over cooked and, you know, over cooked tendon just taste like goo with a bit of texture. This is a very small and simple restaurant. Don't expect any fancy decorations; just chairs and tables. The server spoke passable English so we didn't have to do the "Do you speak Cantonese or Mandarin?" dance. Parking was fairly easy with parking available in their lot as well as on the street. All in all, I think they miss named this place it should be called the Dumpling House because the dumplings were definitely better than their noodles. Next time? I think I'll try their steam stuff buns.

If you're looking for and craving some home Chinese noodles, dumplings and bao zi, this place is it. It's my favorite in all of the SoCal SGV, Rowland Heights, DB to Walnut areas. I always come and order the pot stickers and take out the bao zi when I'm around the area. The restaurant employees mainly speak Chinese but even if you bring non-Mandarin speaking friends, they're really nice. The price is affordable and makes me feel at home and very full. It's worth the price and the food never lets me down

Typical Chinese customer service (bad), but the food is pretty good except shrimp. It was not fresh. Buns are tasty and fresh. Next time, I will get take out instead of dining in.

Noodle House is a quaint little shop in an old plaza. I almost thought I came to the wrong place. We started off with some cold dishes. The cold seaweed plate was very fishy in the worst possible way. I do not recommend this at all. The pig ear was pretty flavorful in all the right ways. The knife cut noodles weren't too bad either. The dumplings were a slight disappointment. While they were quite large, quantity is not greater than quality. They also had interesting flavors. The pumpkin/squash dumpling was good but lacked salt or herbs or spices. The veggies and meat in all the dumplings were all processed with a food chopper most likely, and I don't like my dumplings this way. To me, the filling becomes too thin and the unique flavors aren't as distinguishable. I prefer to chop my veggies for an hour because then the filling is tastier. And you sink your teeth into dense deliciousness. Esp the fish dumplings. When you chop a fresh boned fish, the consistency isn't like a fish ball. At least they make their own wrappers. The pork buns were about par. The parking lot was a mad house except there didn't seem to be anyone in the plaza. Whaaat?? I was scratching my head at this one.

Delicious! Fresh! Good service! Cheap! Northern China Dumplings made to order and have it your way... steamed, boiled (water dumplings) or pan fried (potstickers)... HEAVEN! Our party of 6 pigged out on: combo seafood buns pork w spring onion buns scallop w pork dumplings pumkin w shrimp dumplings double mushroom w pork dumplings shrimp w tofu dumplings simmered beef wrap cold shredded seaweed beef stomach in red spicy oil DTF DTF... Yeah, I think I like the DTF juicy dumplings a little better, but here at the Noodle House, they will potstickerize most of the dumpling dishes which is fabulous. The fried dumplings really adds a ton of flavor and can turn a good dish into a great one. I guess 9 dishes in all for the 6 of us was overkill, we were all trying to force the others to eat the last dumplings as we were all so stuffed. Yet there's so many dishes on the menu that intrigue me so I'm planning a return visit here very soon! We got here before the place opened so we got the only big table that would seat up to 8 people, the rest only seat 4 or maybe 6 at best. Great free parking and if you go in a group, get there early as we got there before they opened (DTF routine) at 10:45am so as to grab the only big table and when we were finished, there was over a dozen people waiting to eat here. We spent $11/ea including tax/tip. Minor Rant: Back in the old days, restaurants used to ALL have 100% Sesame Oil on the tables as part of the condiments and today, virtually none of them do. Understood, it is a very expensive condiment, but to me, it's a necessary item for me to enjoy my dumplings, dim sum dishes. The reviewers that say the food is bland, I say use some of the chili sauce, or soy sauce... My tastes favor the bold and spicy, so I do have to make liberal use of the condiments and having a good assortment of sauces, oils, vinegars makes or breaks a place for me sometimes. I think I'm going to have to put together a special dim sum/dumpling spice kit to take with me... I recommend to this place that they should reduce the portion size and price because they don't have ANY tables that will seat 10 people but make the dumpling orders with 10 pieces! Since most of their table seat only 4, I'd say make the serving size 4-6 pieces.We were a party of six and if the portions were smaller, we could have tried more dishes! DTF has lots of tables for 10 so their portion sizing is fine as I usually go in a big group of 10 or 20. Also if the mall/city would allow it, put some 2 seat tables on the sidewalk (probably not allowed) but that would have been great as it was a gorgeous day the morning we dined here.

I've been chomping at the bit to make the trip out to this fabled made-to-order dumpling house ever since I first read about it a month or two ago. Any place that's touted as having the best [insert Chinese food here] in the SGV (and therefore most likely in all of SoCal), shoots up to the top of my to-do list, with a bullet. Whether it's Savoy for their Hainan Chicken or Sea Harbor for their dim sum... hell, if anyone has any others, please: message me. Anyway, I think most Chinese folks do require some real Chinese food at least every once in a while, just to keep their bodies properly calibrated, like clocks need to be wound or plants need to be watered or dogs need to be walked. In SoCal, that means speeding down the 10E to Alhambra or Monterey Park or wherever. And I hadn't had dumplings in a while; my inner Buddha belly was losing its smile. (I have no idea what that means...) On to the meal: everything we had was incredibly fresh and steaming hot. Within the first five minutes of them being set down on our table, every pork and leek zheng jiao I touched with my chopsticks erupted with juice. The shrimp and tofu shui jiao were a little TOO fragile, often falling apart long before reaching my mouth. But the best thing we ordered was definitely the double mushroom pork bao. They were wonderfully hot and had just the right amount of flavor, the pork encased perfectly in a fragrant bun, not too soft and not too firm. I am docking one big star, though (and tempted to drop two), for the following reasons: First, they refused to pan fry my dumplings. That sucks, especially since I've been craving guo tie for like a week now, it's right there on their menu, and it wasn't even a busy night. The guy said to me in Chinese that they "didn't have pan fried dumplings" tonight, but my Bad Chinese Service Translator sent that back to me as "we don't feel like making them." Second, when I tried to order cong you bing, they "didn't have" that either. Really? You don't "have" cong you bing?? I mean, I know this place isn't well-known for its cong you bing, and it was dinner time, but come on. I'm not asking for a Peking duck. And then, as if anticipating my next move, the guy said they were also out of niu rou juan bing. You wanna know how to harsh a Chinese man's mellow? Tell him you're out of both cong you bing and niu rou juan bing! Ta ma de!! There was a white couple sitting a couple tables away, and I paid careful attention to how the server treated them. If he had been more forthcoming with the English-speaking patrons than with the Chinglish-speaking ones, I would've dropped two more stars without even thinking about it. But no, he was his typical surly self to them, too, and I went back to concentrating on my dumplings. All in all, the stuff we did get was amazingly fresh and tasty. The water dumplings were a little too eager to gleefully self-destruct in a soupy mess, but the buns were so amazingly good that I can forgive that. I would happily have given five stars but for their rejecting my request for guo tie and their inability to deliver two staples of Chinese comfort food, especially when I was being so well-mannered. In days of old, people might've drawn their swords for that kind of dishonorable behavior (all I'm doing is dropping stars on Yelp). I left pretty happy, however, and walked out carrying what I expect will be some very tasty leftovers. The clocks are wound, the plants have been watered, the dogs are happy and my Buddha belly is smiling serenely once more.

This is becoming one of our favorite restaurants in Monterey Park. All the dumplings and buns we tried so far had all been tasty and delicious! All of their food are freshly made after ordered. Going to become a regular in this place!

Tianjin is in Northern China, where noodles are the main staple starch in the area, hence the name - Noodle House. But we didn't have noodles, but ordered the famous Tianjin buns (Baozhi) among other things. The baozhi is made from a flour dough and steamed with different fillings. The type of baozhi that we had, was filled with pork and cabbage. There are other restaurants that have Tianjin Baozhi, but at the Noodle House, they've brought it as close to perfection as I am used to. The filling was just right, pipping hot and with good subtle flavors. But the steamed doughy buns, not all too thick, nor too thin, was just right. You only need to dip the buns with a little bit of vinegar to enhance the taste. Though I'm sure there are those from Tianjin who would argue that they're not as good as they are, back home. The Tianjin baozhi, with a dry buns, would probably comparable to the Shanghai style steam dumplings, with a "wet" dumpling skin. Baozhi and dumplings are rarely going to be the same as they are, from their hometowns, as pizza crust is difficult to duplicate. The key in producing proper baozhi, dumplings, and pizza crust is the water, which is mixed with the dough. The basis of a good mouth feel and texture derives from proper dough. That's why it is difficult to have New York style pizza in Hong Kong or proper Tianjin Baozhi in Los Angeles. Also on the menu, we had the wine hardboiled eggs - similar to that of Tea Eggs, but made with wine. Served cold, these eggs were a good change in palate from the hot baozhi's. Tianjin is also know for their water dumplings - one of my favorite things in the world. Mr. B suggested that we have the fish water dumplings. I was hesitant, but relented. I thought there were ok, nothing special. I would have preferred some sort of pork water dumplings or something. I didn't like the filling of the fish filling from almost a paste looking substance. In addition, we had probably some of the best onion pancakes around. Usually the onion pancakes are thicker and more oilier. Whereas the Noodle House's are thinner and less oily. Thought I would have preferred it to be more flaky I've had similar Tianjin Baozhi from Shaomai, and these taste so much better.

Not what it used to be. Before people come for the noodles like the beef noodle soup. Now it's more of a bao, bun, dumpling, and potsticker sort of place. Came here since we were around the area and decided to order a beef wrap, pumpkin shrimp potstickers, and beef noodle soup. It's definitely not the same as before, as the soup is quite flavorless. The beef wrap had a taste that I can't wrap my head around. The potstickers though, were awesome. Not much shrimp, but the soft creamy pumpkin mix inside was great. Around 10 per order but it was quite filling! Probably won't be back for the noodles but definitely am down to try more dumplings and bao the next time around.

This place didn't really do it for us. The menu in the photo album is for another restaurant so we were deceived! We ordered noodles with minced pork which was okay. We also got some dumplings that were a bit forgettable. Next time we come, we're going with someone who knows what to order because we feel like we didn't get the right thing. Willing to give it another shot. We've also had cheaper.