四姐 Special Noodle

The food here was DELICIOUS! The pan fried buns (shen jian bao) were probably the best I’ve had in the US. Soo juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside! Other honorable mentions: The soup dumplings (xiao long bao) and beef noodle soup (niu rou mian) were solidly tasty as well. Their beef noodle soup meat is super tender and flavorful, but their broth is on the lighter side which is just a stylistic difference to me. Lastly we got the coconut egg custard buns for dessert and they were really unique and yummy! Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. You can see some chefs making and preparing buns through a clear glass which is fun. They also have really cute and uniquely shaped dish ware.

Food was pretty good but the ambience was sterile and the staff non-communicative. Not a user friendly place. We had the chicken XLB, Pan fried buns (pork), scallion pockets & stir-fried chicken w broccoli. XLB was quite good (needs more ginger) with thin wrap & flavorful stuffing. Appreciated having the chicken option. Pan fried buns looked unusual but tasted on poin; scallion pockets were also quite good. Both together made this overly starchy as a meal. The chicken broccoli dish (we purposely chose this as we couldn't order spicy due to one diver's reflux condition) was surprisingly good - it tasted "clean" (not refried oil, no MSG, lean chicken meat & fresh broccoli). For a quick lunch in the neighborhood, the food was solid. However, with a QR coded menu & ordering system, this place was set up to have minimal contact with customers. We were the onky customers in a rather large restaurant, yet the waiter waved us off when we tried to ask questions about the menu - just pointed us at the QR code. The whole vibe was cold and unfriendly, exacerbated by having no other customers (it was early, at 5:30 pm) around.

A group of 6 of us went for Christmas lunch. Menu had many choices. My favorite was a vegetarian dish with noodles, eggplant and green beans. My favorite dessert was the deep fried red bean ball covered with sesame seeds.

I love this place!!! Def get the pan fried soup dumplings they’re ADDICTIVE and I literally dream about them. I live kinda far so I don’t come often but when I do I always leave so full and happy I got the pan fried soup dumplings with pork. They’re so good if you like soup dumplings at all, you have to try this. It’s like a super juicy soup dumpling with more filling more soup and a crunchy explosion of flavor. I also got the coconut milk, rice balls for the first time today and holy crap. They are so good so crispy on the outside with sweet tapioca coconut milk flavoring on the inside not too sweet honestly perfect way to end the meal. I’ve never had anything quite like these treats they’re so good

👍👍 Enjoyed a delicious and authentic Chinese meal in a clean and quiet setting. The service was exceptional from start to finish, and the final bill was surprisingly affordable. I highly recommend this place and will definitely be a returning customer.

The Tomato Egg Mixed Rice is always the best. This is the must order for our family(Sometimes we order 2 since my son and daughter would fight for this.. also recommend the Coconut egg custard buns and dumplings.

Love this place! Super clean and the food is always delicious. I’ve already been here 8–9 times in the past two months with different friends, and everyone loved it. Definitely worth coming back — plus the service is always warm and friendly!

My kid cannot have the noodles here enough. My wife loves the fish-flavored shredded pork, and she told me it has the flavor that could take her back to her childhood. My favorite is the spicy beef, so good! Service is also impeccable !

The chicken chow mein had good wok flavor! Pan fried dumplings had good texture and flavor!

An amazing Xiao long bao restaurant. Noodle broth is rich and full of depth, and the noodles have the perfect springy texture. Every bowl feels handcrafted with care. Service is top notch. Highly recommended!.

We were there today for lunch. Good food! We especially enjoyed the noodles, string beans and the fried buns. We come again.

Food here is amazing. We literally come here once a week. The fish dumplings, soup dumplings and spicy pork belly noodles are our go-to's. The special stone beef noodles are great too. The servers know us well and are extremely friendly.

Highlights: * Good value imo * Good for takeout * Soup pan fried buns were the favorite * They accept Google Pay Food: * Red oil pork wontons * Braised pork belly mixed noodles * Soup pan fried buns Hidden gem / not very visible from the street. Been eating around this area for over two years and didn't know it was there. Also doesn't help there is a "special noodle SOUP" a few miles north on DeAnza. Anyway it was an easy process to pickup takeout. This might be a matter of opinion, but I thought the portion size was pretty good; great value. I'll be back!

Sichuan Beef Soup: Love this soup!!! Looks unsuspecting but is very mala (spicy numbing), which is hard to find in the US. The soup is well balanced with greens, protein, and noodles, there's lots of variety in it (fish balls, tofu, fish cake, beef, bokchoy, green onion). Big portion to share and not too pricey. Would recommend if you like spicy numbing flavor. Definitely more numbing than spicy. Eggplant and String beans: decent size portion and great flavor. Cooked well and has the perfect caramelization and sweetness on the outside. Great to contrast with the soup. Tasted as expected for this dish. Previously I have tried their soup dumplings and pan fried soup dumplings and was not particularly a fan. There just weren't as flavorful and tasty to me. However, I would definitely return for their other dishes, like this soup!!! Service was good, pretty empty each time I've gone. The format of the shop allows you to see them making the dumplings from the kitchen. Feels like a traditional Chinese restaurant that I would go to growing up.

I absolutely loved the leek pancakes here, they were extremely delicious and dough was amazingly tender. We enjoyed the xia long bai but the skin was very tender and they broke easily when picking up with chopsticks, they also didn't give us sauce trays and the spoons were really small so you couldn't fit the XLB into the spoons to eat like in other restaurants- the overall taste was good though. Pan fried dumplings were also really good! Ordering is easy on their app and food came out pretty quickly. We came on Saturday noon and there was no wait but they had good business there.

Stopped by and try this restaurant while visiting our friend in San Jose. We were not disappointed. We came on a Tuesday afternoon for lunch and were seated right away. There's quite a variety of selection of food you can orders. To place order, you scan the QR code and order online. Food then is served. We really enjoyed the pan-fried and steamed dumplings. It was delicious and flavorful. We also liked the popcorn chicken and lamb noodle. We didn't really liked the beef rolls. Compared to the one we had in LA, this one is lacking in flavors and not enough beef. Also, the onion pancake was dried. Overall not bad. We had a great lunch.

We checked out special noodle for lunch on a weekday and it was very quiet. We ordered the pan fried soup dumplings, special beef noodle soup (clear broth), green onion pancake and spicy salt and pepper chicken wings. The dumplings came out first and so fast. I was skeptical that they would even be warm bc they came out so fast but they were piping hot. I even burned my tongue a little. The beef noodle soup was delish. It didn't look like much but the broth was flavorful and the noodles had a great chewy texture. Green onion pancake was pretty avg. The salt and pepper chicken wings were very tasty but pricey for the 6 wings that you get.

Cupertino Chinese food! Do not get this place confused with "Special Noodle Soup" in GPS! They are not the same! I'm no expert but the XLB here are the best I've ever eaten. For reference I've only had them from DTF in Japan and CA, and Chinatown's in NYC and Boston. The orange chicken puts all other orange chickens to shame. They also have orange beef. The salt & pepper chicken is also the best I've had, and I do order that dish at many places. It's also known as popcorn chicken at Taiwanese eateries, there's salt, pepper, and I taste Chinese 5-spice as well. Light and crunchy but not oily. Totally addicting. The service which is what several reviews complained about, is typical for Chinese restaurant. You order from QR code and there's not a lot of interaction with servers until the food starts arriving. If you ever have great service at a Chinese restaurant, then it's probably Americanized Chinese like PF Changs. Be careful with the tip amounts they suggest. I'm used to tipping on the subtotal for the food, and given their lack of service, they should not be getting tipped on the total including tax etc

Special Noodle is definitely well deserving of their high rating- so good we went twice in a week! Their spicy lamb noodles are delicious and flavorful, the lamb perfectly tender and the noodles are fresh and bouncy. The tofu and egg are a great addition to the bowl too. Their soup pan fried buns are juicy and stayed crispy even through the ride home. They were extremely satisfying to eat, only leaving you wanting more. We'll definitely be frequenting again and trying more dishes!

Been coming here for years and I bring everyone here. It never fails. It's consistently good and it's exactly what you need when you're craving something homey. Service is no frills and they're available when you need them. Highly recommend the salt and pepper chicken, pan fried soup dumplings, combo fried rice, spicy beef noodle soup. But to be honest, no matter what you get, it'll be real good.

Heard some hype around Special Noodle in San Jose and finally tried it! Ambience inside is super pretty and very decorative. We got seated immediately and ordered via our phone. My girlfriend and I got their Beef Noodle Soup which was really good, I just wasn't used to the numbing of the pepper inside. I thought I was allergic to the soup but my girlfriend clarified it for me that its a certain pepper that makes your mouth feel numb. I was so relieved haha. We also got the steamed soup dumplings which were really good. In my opinion this place was overall okay, not dying to come back or would pick other spots over it but glad I tried it.

We arrived at 6 pm on a Sunday evening and they were busy. Almost every table was filled by 7 pm. We had a large party with total of 9 including 3 kids. They had QR code to order which makes it a lot faster to order but there were no service at all. If you need anything, it's probably faster to get them yourself then wait for waiter to stop by. We ordered their soup dumplings (pork and crab) and they were really good. The skin were thin and had plenty of soup inside. The crab XLB had plenty of crab taste. The yummy dumpling was just okay but their pan fried dumplings were amazing! Be careful not to burn yourself from the soup inside. The spicy beef hot pot noodles were just right with the spice. It was spicy! And I think it could have feed 4 but my husband and I split it. Chinese lettuce was flavorful. Very way done on the flavor. We ordered tomato beef stifry noodles for the kids. The kids loved it! Of course they had fries too. Kids never say no to fries. Overall, food were great. But service was not the best. You can hardly get anyone to check on you even when they drop off the food.

SOUP DUMPLINGS BE SOUPING! Dropped by for late lunch on a Saturday ~2:40 pm. Aside from two tables and the staff eating, the place wasn't busy. We got seated fairly quickly, with our choice of placement. What we got: - Soup Pan Fried Buns ~ Comes out fresh and piping hot. Crispy on the outside, soft and full of soup on the inside. Note: BEWARE. WILL SQUIRT HOT JUICE. EAT WITH CAUTION. - Red Oil Pork Won Tons ~ Delicious! Very flavorful and savory. Chili oil used to flavor other dishes with spice. - Cucumber Salad ~ Very Refreshing. Great for palette cleansing between dishes and pairs well with the chili oil from the spicy pork wontons! - Spicy Beef Cubes ~ Spicy indeed. Very flavorful. Beware: green peppers were jalapeños. Would pair well with rice. - Stir-fry Chinese Lettuce ~ Great addition to the table for veggies. Not too oily. - Black golden sweet custard buns ~ A great finish to the meal. Soft buns paired with runny custard. Perfectly balanced in sweet and salty egg yolk custard filling. Be careful with trying to split this in half. Yolk runs down and out pretty quick. We also got the soup dumplings. There was a promo for a free dish of steamed soup dumplings if $88 dollars of dishes is ordered. Soup dumplings were packed full of a savory soup with the sweetness of pork. Skin was thin and melts in your mouth! All in all, great experience. If you come at off hours, there's no wait, vibes are chill and you can get a table fairly quick.

Amazing food, y'all gotta come here and eat down! 5 stars all around 0 complaints! The service is amazing as well! Ambiance was very welcoming and chill perfect for eating in! 快乐

Really delicious vegetarian options! Ordered the veggie pan fried dumplings, onion pancake, and eggplant and string bean noodles. Everything was super flavorful and came out fast. Kind service too!! Very thankful they're open on Thanksgiving!

Quite a tasty place for XLB and fried dumplings down in the South Bay, despite the English name. Their dedication to the craft was very obvious when it comes to XLB - very tasty and soupy, along with skin just thick enough to keep the Baos together Their fried dumplings are also very good - and EXTREMELY FRESH AND HOT. They had warnings all over the place and really were not kidding around. Price was also decent, 5 of us paid about $30 each and we could've honestly ordered 1-2 less dishes with the portions

Before I start, I just have to say that the pan fried pork buns were a 10/10. You have to get them if you come, they were so good we ordered it again. The sticky rice pork chops and spicy wontons were also really good. The wontons are pretty different from din tai fung where I think theirs is more sweet whereas when I eat Special Noodles wontons, I taste more of the pork and dough. I personally prefer this one since it's more in line with what I grew up with. The noodle dishes themselves were kind of a let down. I wouldn't personally get them again but I think it's nice to get as a shareable for some carbs. They also have a ton of fresh dumplings you can buy to take home and cook yourself so if you want to eat it at home, that's another great option.

Food is fantastic. At the end of the meal, it ended up a bit salty for us but we may have just picked the wrong food to combo. See pics! Will definitely return

Overall, a pretty solid dining experience! The service was friendly and the food was mostly great. We ordered four dishes: Pork Soup Pan-Fried Buns, Spicy Lamb Mixed Noodles, Sticky Rice Pork Ribs, and Fried Coconut Rice Balls. The pan-fried buns were tasty--thin skin, juicy filling. Not as crispy on the bottom compared to the Milpitas location, but still really good. The spicy lamb mixed noodles were also excellent. We picked knife-cut noodles, and they were super chewy and satisfying. The lamb was flavorful with just the right amount of spice, and the sauce mixed with the noodles was super appetizing. The fried coconut rice balls were a total surprise--in a good way! Crispy outside, soft and gooey inside, and that rich coconut filling just bursts in your mouth. If you like mochi-style textures and sweet treats, don't miss this one. The only miss for us was the sticky rice pork ribs. It was basically a pile of sticky rice on top of big chunks of pork ribs. The rice was plain and didn't soak up any flavor. Traditionally, the rice should wrap around the ribs and absorb both the meat juice and the aroma from lotus or bamboo leaves. Sadly, this version didn't deliver that at all. Still, a mostly great meal--we'd come back to try more dishes next time!

The food is sooooooo good! Really enjoy with my friend! Xiao long bao is amazing! Highly recommend all the pork serials

Come here every week for some dinner. One of the best buns in the Bay Area for sure. Service is great as well

Incredible spot - food, service, atmosphere - all around great dining experience. Good location, can get crowded, prices are reasonable, decor is a bit too busy. Definitely will go again if we're nearby.

Cute local spot if you're craving some Chinese food! Out of all the dishes we got, the braised pork belly surprisingly stole the show. I don't know how they were able to achieve such a tender, melt in your mouth, burst of flavor braised pork belly but it was amazing!! The next on the list would be the beef noodle soup. I usually don't enjoy the numbing of schezuan but I quite liked this one. And for the price, the portion is pretty big. Pan fried buns were also yummy! Not too crispy but fried to perfection. I wish the inside had a litttttle bit more flavor but it was still really really solid. 8/10

Great place to grab a meal with minimal wait times! Came here on a Saturday for dinner and got seated immediately even, which surprised me since it was prime dinner time. In terms of location, it's in a quieter area and there's plenty of parking. The interior has a pretty casual vibe and has a lot of space. In terms of menu, I was pretty impressed by the diversity they had. Some highlights included their griddled pork intestine, the pan fried XLB, and the cucumber salad. Everything came out super fast and they were also super attentive about water refills and such.

Came to San Jose to go to Japanese markets and when it was time for lunch we came to this place. Service is great and fast with food being serve. Place it big and has many seatings. Check out my pics.

My favorite xlb in the bay area! Skin is thin and soup is delicious! Their pan fried dumplings are also reallyyyyy good. The special stone soups is unique and flavorful. Highly recommend. I've taken my parents here before and they love it too :)

this place is so good. We came here for a birthday dinner, and everybody was super pleased. The string beans were phenomenal green onion, pancake cakes were super Duper flaky. The soup dumplings were incredibly flavorful. ambience is quite slow and moderate on a friday night i went. and service was fantastic .

My friend and I came here on a holiday late afternoon, and we were seated immediately at one of their dozens of tables. The restaurant felt roomy due to its many glass windows and doors visible from all the tables. There were already placed utensils and bowls and plates on our table. The bowl I had was slightly dirty, so I just thoroughly wiped the bowl and utensils with an extra napkin. We ordered their green onion pancakes and salted egg yolk custard buns since we were coming here for a mid-day snack. Our order came out within 10 minutes, and both snacks were delicious! The portions for the green onion pancakes were generous, and the buns were soft & had a creamy egg yolk taste on the inside. I enjoyed the snacks from this place but would love to come back to try their soup and noodle dishes, which is their specialty!

Other than maybe the crabmeat xlb, nothing else was really enjoyable. The pros: good and quick service. Price is reasonable. The cons. The pan-fried dumplings were 5/10. They clearly baked, not fried. They didn't have the standard aromatics piled on top like sesame seeds and green onions. The filling was ok but because it wasn't pan fried, the bun was nowhere near as good as it should be. Their specialty beef noodle looked like they threw whatever scraps they could find into it. It was small scraps of beef, maybe a spoonful of tendon pieces, a singular beef ball and singular fish ball. There wasn't a full amount of any singular thing. Other than that it was mostly just soup which was ok. Everything else was underwhelming. But my biggest qualm was the sheer amount of msg that was being used. My entire family felt dehydrated all night. Unpleasant experience.

What's a dumpling's favorite type of music? Wrap music! If you're craving Chinese food and dumplings, this is the spot. It's comparable to Home Eats, though I'm leaning more toward Special Noodle. I love the portion sizes, but the chicken is a bit pricey. The general chicken is flavorful, and the chow mein is solid. The dumplings are good--my favorite is the pan-fried dumplings, along with the chicken wings. My least favorite was the bao. However I've dined here two times in a week so that's says something. Overall, a great spot for Chinese food with generous portions, though some items are a bit on the pricey side.

Nice comfort food Tender lamb, chewy rice noodles, rich broth--comfort in a bowl that warms from the first bite.

The food here is great! our family loves coming over here to eat the Pork Soup Pan Fried Buns and the Sweet Garlic Pork. It's one of our favorite places to dine at.

The inside set up is cute but tight. I was thrown off by the ordering. We didn't know we were suppose to order through the QR code so we sat for about fifteen minutes without being attended or checked on. Regardless, staff were nice and welcoming. Place was clean too. Now to the food - we ordered the Pork and crab dumplings 10/10, spicy steam pork dumpling 10/10, snowflake pot stickers salt 20/10 & peppered ribs 10/10. Honestly the dumplings were the highlight of the table. The only item we weren't fond of were the general chicken 5/10 and chicken chow mein 5/10. Both felt like they were just warmed up and lacked flavor.

The service was amazing! They were super quick. We were craving chinese so we ordered way too much! Ashamed to say but we finished almost all.. Everything was great, but my favourite was the beans, my husband loved the noodle soup ( it had a kind of pepper that makes your mouth numb) and our daughter loved the sesame balls and coconut balls. I've had chow mein many times before, but this one was completely different. The noodles were thick and full, incredibly delicious. I don't usually like chow mein, but we ordered it because my daughter loves it. I'm so glad we did--I ended up eating it all! My overall experience was so good, I would definetely come back.

One of my family's favorite spots. We come here routinely. Never disappointed. Our favorites are pan fried buns, steamed buns, beef /pork noodle soup, dumplings, green beans and eggplants. I've tried other options which are good too. But I have to go with what kids love .

Amazing restaurant for Chinese food! Wow, everything we ordered was delicious. Every dish, no complaints! Great flavors and great quality. A must-go.

Love the warm, friendly noodle place. The food is always fresh, delicious, with a lot of varieties. The service is always good. We love to come here for casual meals or gatherings with friends. Keep up the good work!

My favorite is the pan fried dumpling. The bottom was perfectly crispy, inside was filled with a savory soup, and the filling was yummy. My second favorite is the beef noodle soup and I picked the numbing spicy version. It looks so simple but the numbing spice and beef flavor was so addicting. The chili oil wontons and soup dumplings were just alright, I prefer the ones from Din Tai Fung and other dumpling shops but they were still good.

The restaurant is nicely decorated. Order from a QR code and food begins to arrive at our table. We were ambitious to try as much as we could between three of us. Every item tasted super fresh with delicious soup broth in the dumplings. The cucumber salad was light and refreshing. We definitely stuffed ourselves, but the only thing we couldn't finish and had to take as leftovers was the scallion pancakes. Would definitely visit again.

I had ordered the beef noodle soup with thick noodles. It was good. The meat was tender and the noodles were cooked well, but the broth was not anything special. We ordered green beans and the cucumber salad which was the highlight of the meal. Will come back for those two!

No wait, and the food came out fast. Overall, pretty clean place with cool plates and super tasty dumplings, I loved them! We ordered the Pork Soup Pan Fried Buns ($13.99) and the Beef Pot Noodle Soup ($23.99). The soup had a strong ginger flavor, which I didn't mind. The dumplings were perfect--the soup inside was so flavorful, and the crispy bottom was just right!

Came here for Thanksgiving Eve dinner. Ordered the beef wrap, 8 piece steamed soup dumplings, Beef Pot Noodle Soup. Beef Pot Noodle Soup was my favorite. The soup dumplings were also very solid. The beef wrap was disappointing though, barely any beef. Food came very fast. The interior was a little sad, pretty empty. Service was alright. Even though the restaurant was almost empty, they said they barely had time to clean the tables...

Came because I was violently craving some good quality soup dumplings and was so impressed. We were seated immediately on Saturday afternoon, you know a place is going to be good when the servers speak little English. Pork xiao long bao were incredible! Filled with the most comforting broth and tender meat filling. They're held together by a perfectly thin hand rolled skin. They only come with six but are generously portioned out and pretty filling as well. Pan fried soup dumplings were amazing as well, fried to golden perfection with a crispy bottom. They're FILLED with that delicious broth, but I will say I wish there was a bit more meat in these. Overall a very casual vibe to the restaurant, you're in and out pretty quickly. Can't wait to come back to try some of their other menu items!

XLB order has 8 very juicy dumplings. Real tea leaves for the hot tea served in a beautiful porcelain teapot & tea cups. Service was great. parking lot was crowded so we parked on the street. We also enjoyed tomato beef chow mein. Only 2 of us on this visit so we need to try other dishes another visit.

Food - XLB hit!!! Recommend for sure. Can't really recommend anything else. Tried the noodles and thought they were okay! Price and ambiance is right.

Disappointed... been here a few times for dinner. The food is generally decent to good in my opinion. Tonight's last minute dinner really left a bad taste in my mouth. Starting off with positives, service was good and attentive. Good came out fairly quickly. Pan fried buns are good and came out very hot. That's about it for the good part. 1st dish, we had the combination fried rice. There were literally 2 shrimps, 3 pieces of chicken and 1 piece of meat. It was the saddest looking fried rice I have ever had. The rice was flavorless. 2nd dish, salt and pepper spare ribs. There were maybe 12 pieces of pork rib on the plate, a lot of onion and green pepper. The dish was like warm at best. Something was wrong because we were the only table there at 6pm. 3rd dish, sticky rice steamed ribs. This was disgusting, the rice was like leftover sticky rice that has been in the fridge for a white and they resteemed it. I wish I took photos. 4th dish, spicy beef cubes, literally a plate of jalapeño peppers, some onions and maybe 10 pieces of meat that were bite sized. Lastly, the dan dan noodles. Flavorless. No sauce or anything. Just the little bit of pork I'm assuming, bean sprouts, cucumber. So disappointed. And the bill came out to $130 and with tip it was $160. I will pass on this place moving forward. Too bad. You can see my previous reviews and really liked this place.

I really liked the dumplings! My friend and I got the pork and cabbage steamed dumplings and they were super juicy! I also got the beef pot noodle soup and the portion is huge! The noodle soup was delicious, comforting, and has the right amount of flavor. My friend got the spicy beef noodle bowl and there was so much meat! The beef was tender and has a nice kick of spice. She could barely put the soup in the noodle bowl because it was so full. The server was also really nice and the restaurant has cute little lantern lights. Overall, we had a great experience!