XiBei Cuisine

Excellent food and service! My husband and I came here with our children and enjoyed a scrumptious dinner. The atmosphere is lovely, professional, clean, and friendly. The flavor of the broths is embodied and delicious. The meats are perfectly cooked, and the dumplings come out steaming, freshly made. We also recommend the jasmine green tea. Everything was so good here! We will be back next time we visit Princeton!!

XiBei Cuisine is hands down the best Chinese restaurant in downtown Princeton. Specializing in Northwestern Chinese cuisine, it’s a refreshing change from the overly sweet and salty Americanized Chinese food you often find elsewhere. While it's not 100% traditional, it’s impressively close, and that’s coming from someone who grew up with real Chinese flavors and who is a picky eater. The braised beef noodles with peeled noodles were absolutely fantastic. (Interestingly, they translated it as "peeled"... It's more like a knife cut or knife shaved noodles) The noodles were perfectly cooked—chewy and full of texture—and I’d definitely recommend the peeled noodles over the straight ones for the best experience. I also tried the flatbread soaked in lamb soup, which could’ve used a touch more flavor to suit my personal taste, but I appreciated that they serve the chili paste on the side so you can adjust the seasoning exactly how you like it. And let’s talk about the crispy lamb chops. Wow~ super garlicky, a touch of sweetness from bell peppers, beautifully crunchy on the outside, yet tender inside. Easily one of the standout dishes. Some people might find certain items less salty than they’re used to, but honestly, that’s a plus in my book. XiBei keeps things flavorful without going overboard on salt or sugar, which makes it a healthier and more authentic option.

I really enjoyed my visit to this Chinese restaurant! The food looked incredibly fresh and every dish was full of flavor. You can tell they use quality ingredients, and the presentation makes everything even more appetizing. The portions were generous, and everything I tried was absolutely delicious. Definitely a place I would recommend to anyone who loves authentic and tasty Chinese food!

Before departing campus, we decided to check this place out. XiBei was a great experience with a nice atmosphere. The inside was well decorated and the menu had a lot of excellent choices. The soup dumplings and the crispy spicy chicken were both good. However, I didn't think the fried rice was worth $19. As a whole, it was a nice meal that you pay for quality. Definitely check this place out on Nassau Street!

I’ve been coming here consistently since they opened and they have never disappointed! Our favourites are the lamb fried noodles and pork and fennel dumplings. And you can never go wrong with the lamb skewers! The flavours are always so delicious.

If you’re a fan of spicy flavors and chewy, hand-pulled noodles, this place is a must-visit. I ordered the spicy oil noodles, and they were absolutely fantastic—smoky chili oil that clings to every bite. The spice level hits just right. Fresh green onions and aromatics add a nice brightness that balances the heat.

Good service but as a born and raised Chinese northerner, I can tell you this is not it. The menu is a fusion of Chinese food from many different regions, not Xi Bei specials. They don’t even have Liang Pi. The hand peeled noodles are disappointingly thick. The spice has no kick. The tomato and egg noodles are too bland. The grilled gluten is *sweet* of all things. You would find much better northern Chinese food in NYC, but I guess this is what we have in Princeton for now.

Simply good food. We really enjoyed the taste, the spices, noodles, soup, chicken and lamb. The environment is neat and the service was good. Of course good location.

Love this new place! It was so delicious. Our friends brought us here on a Sunday afternoon. It was packed, but they sat very quickly for a large table of 9. They were so attentive and even pulled up a additional chair and table so that we are more comfortable. The food was incredible. It was pretty authentic. I've had a lot of Szechuan food in the past and this lives up to the hype. We got a bunch of different dishes to share, but some standouts were the peppercorn chicken, the soup dumplings, the handful noodles, and the stir fried cabbage. Would absolutely recommend!

Before I start this review, I would like to preface by saying that while I am Chinese, I am not from northwestern China, and thus have no knowledge on the authenticity of the food in this restaurant. I can only base my review compared to other restaurants with similar food and on my personal tastes. XiBei Cuisine restaurant is located on the former location of Sakura Express in Princeton. Sakura Express was one of my favorite Japanese restaurants and while I was sad to see it go, I was excited when I heard a North Western Chinese Restaurant would be opening in Princeton. While they have been open since April, today was our first time trying it out. From my brief knowledge of Northwestern Chinese cuisine, I know they are famous for their "rou jia mo" aka "Chinese Hamburger." Chinese hamburgers consist of a flatbread called "mo" stuffed with chopped braised meat (either pork, beef, or lamb). Tonight we ordered three, two with pork filling and one with lamb. We had also heard their Zha Jiang noodles were good, so we ordered one as well to split. Being a Chinese restaurant, my mom called ahead to order, and unfortunately no one spoke Chinese to take her order. She had to hang up and go online to check their menu for the English names before calling in to order again. Not expecting all Chinese restaurants to have people who speak Chinese, but just wanted to note as a heads up to make sure you know the English names of the dishes you are trying to order. The Chinese pork hamburgers were ok. The filling was pork and peppers, and tasted very similar to other ones that I have had. The added peppers were a nice touch in this dish, but overall I felt the dish wasn't as savory/juicy as I wanted it. The "mo" or flatbread part of the dish was a little on the dry side. Overall, I just felt this dish was lacking a little, and more slightly more expensive that other restaurants in this general vicinity. The Chinese lamb hamburger was slightly better. It had a spicier sauce and lots of cumin, maybe a little too much, but overall I was more pleased with how flavorful the lamb version was compared to the pork. For the Zha Jiang noodles, we were asked if wanted peel noodles or regular noodles. Based on their explanation, the "peel" noodles are basically what some call "knife shaved noodles" which are generally slightly thicker, shorter and not as uniform in shape since they are sliced off a large piece of dough with a knife. We opted for the peel noodle which while slightly thicker than I had expected. They were pretty chewy, but had a pretty good texture, which I did enjoy. However, there was very little sauce for the noodles. Zha Jiang noodles should have a rich savory sauce that coats every noodle, but we did not get enough sauce to coat all the noodles, which resulted in us eating pretty flavorless noodles for most of the dish. Overall, I was a little disappointed with XiBei Cuisine. Like I mentioned above, if you are willing to drive an extra 30 minutes north, there is another North Western Chinese restaurant located in Edison that I think does a better job and prices are cheaper. I have a review about them as well.

Good dining experience and service. Beef noodle soup was ok. It came out less than a minute after we ordered (which is very prompt but also a bit of a red flag most of the time). In this case, the soup was a bit warmer than room temperature which was disappointing since I like my soup scalding hot. Beef on top was tender but some were cold. Broth (which is the most important for me) tasted just like chicken stock. Noodles slightly soggy. I care about my soups a lot, so this was a bit disappointing overall. The beef hamburger was good and the soup dumplings were okay as well.

Our friend who lives in the area recommended the food here and it was worth the stop! The lamb scorpion pot and bell pepper hand pulled noodles shredded beef were delicious!! They gave us gloves to eat the lamb off the bones with rice. Great food and service, air conditioning, clean bathroom, two sinks outside to wash your hands. Will be back!

TLDR: modern casual space with lots of popular Chinese options XiBei Cuisine is the first of many modern Chinese restaurants to arrive in Princeton. You can try a lot of different trendy dishes you'd find in a Chinatown all in a polished restaurant. The service was fast, and for such a casual restaurant I was impressed by how attentive the staff was. I got the zha jiang noodles, which were tastier than I expected. It was served with the traditional vegetable garnish and a generous portion of meat. It was salty and oily, but that's what I expect from a more traditional version of the dish. XiBei cuisine is a great spot for a quick sit down meal. If prices were lower it would be around the top of my local choices, but I can still see myself coming relatively often.

Ambiance was bright and happy. Good, clean, and nice design. Service was ok. Had to ask for water glass to be refilled and it was room temp. Very Chinese/asian but in the US, we like our iced water. Didn't come over to check on how the food was. So, for the price, would have expected more about ensuring the guest experience is good. First started with the pork "Hamburger". Was good and tasty with a hint of heat. Was expecting the bun to be a bit more on the crispy, flaky side but it was fluffy. May have been a difference in regional cuisine but enjoyed it never the less. Noodle soup is where we went wrong. The Tomato noodles had a very weird taste but the bigger issue was the shaved noodles. I am surprised that I ever would say this but there was too much but in a bad way. They were thick, gummy and clumpy. This probably contributed to the odd taste. Would have thought there would be a veggie or two in there. I recognize you could order add ons but would have expected some minimal to give it some different texture. Also had the shaved noodles with the beef. The beef was tender but it coulda been more tender. It was tasty but had it with those same shaved noodles. This time, it wasn't too much but was weirdly thick, gummy and clumpy. I've had plenty of shaved noodles so the concept is not new to me but this was.. wayyy thicker. Probably twice as thick as I've had before. Now, back to the service. Server clearly saw we didn't finish but just asked if we needed anything to pack left overs. Could have easily have asked but perhaps was afraid of the answer. I think the prices are bit on the high side for what you get. I don't think I would complain if the rest of the food was good so don't mind paying for a good, end to end but this was not it. Had high hopes from the photos and such.

Solid noodles here! Prices are competitive with Lan Ramen and Noodle house. They got both my guest and I's order wrong but it's the first week of opening so maybe just some grand opening hijinks. The wide noodles and broth are quite savory, and the beef tendon was also very delicious. Decently quick service and plenty of seating even though the restaurant is pretty packed. One small retraction was the lack of a toilet seat on their toilet in the bathroom, not sure why it was missing lol. Either that or I'm too small to fit on whatever cover they had on there.

The food seemed authentic. The service was good; the waiter was friendly. The environment is nice.

Foods yummy. Service is horrific for a new business--interesting comments and reluctant helpfulness. The place seems clean enough!

Excellent, authentic Chinese cuisine! Seating inside is charming but limited. Highly recommend!

This place was kind of alright. It didn't feel too authentic although they seemed like they were trying to sell the idea that they were. I felt the servers were a little nervous but it was okay. I did like the interior design. I just wished the portions were larger, and the food was more authentic.

I am not a good judge of what authentic Chinese food is, but the food was great. Most patrons were asian and seemed happy with the food. This may sound bad, but I found it odd that the front of the house staff were all white kids.

For the price they billed us, i would expect them to use hand pulled noodles but they are noodles are either made by machines or just store bought since i can't taste any difference with the ones i bought from store.

Every dish was oily in there and did not taste super fresh, which was a letdown. The dumplings were awful. The noodles were so so the fried rice was good. We ordered a lot and we were disappointed with at least 99% of the dishes.

Prime location in downtown Princeton, amenities above average. We ordered lamb kebab, crispy lamb chop, mouth watering chicken, and beef noodle soup. The lamb dishes were on the gamy side, which is expected and I like. The knife-paired noodles were very good. The mouth watering chicken was tasty but nothing to write home about. However, there's room to improve, especially for the chef: salt is supposed to bring out flavors of the food but I think in this case salt's killed them. If you asked me what spices or condiments went into the lamb dishes, I wouldn't be able to pick out any besides salt. Overall it was still a pleasant experience, thus a three.

Amazing food and genuinely high-quality service! I visited during the grand opening and left feeling delighted that Nassau's second Chinese restaurant turned out so wonderfully. My favorites included the 包菜羊肉饺子 (cabbage and lamb dumplings), the 手抓羊肉 (hand-pulled lamb), and the yogurt dessert was a lovely finish as well. Lily, who runs the restaurant, is incredibly warm and welcoming--definitely take a moment to meet her if you can! She also operates MTea, and these two spots have quickly become some of my favorite places in Nassau :)