Gellie E.
Yelp
I was not impressed with Yu Noodles in terms of food or service. We came here on a Saturday for lunch and it wasn't busy. We were seated right away. The waitress poured our first cups of water and then left us with a carafe of cucumber water for self-refills. The table also already had the soy sauce, vinegar, and chili oil condiments to minimize service.
The ambiance is nice with the modern lighting decor, golden cups, and a decorative mural featuring Asian architecture. Pop music was also playing in the background.
We ordered the Quarter Duck appetizer ($13), Pork Soup Dumplings ($10), and Steamed Pork Buns ($9). The food was brought out in an above-average, but not unreasonable, amount of time. Once the food was brought out, we were never checked on again. We had asked for a refill of the water, but it seems that the waitress forgot and we didn't get it until close to the end of the meal. The level of service provided was super minimal, it was more like a cafe-type of service.
The quarter duck appetizer was dry. There was sauce at the bottom of the bowl, but it was served with a fork instead of a spoon so there was no way to scoop up any extra sauce and moisten the duck.
The flavor of the soup dumplings was good, but I was disappointed with the size and broth amount. These are the tiniest soup dumplings I have ever had. There was hardly any broth inside the dumplings - there was just enough broth to keep them moist, but in no way would I categorize them as soup dumplings based on the skimpy drop of soup inside. It comes with six dumplings (six for $10), so I suppose the small dumpling size is warranted for the price, but the size is more akin to an appetizer.
The steamed pork buns were the biggest letdown. I'm used to the more traditional char siu (bbq pork) filling, and this was not that. The bun was nice and soft, fluffy, but the inside quickly got soggy because of the filling. It was more like a wonton/steamed meatball filling which was super bland. I have never felt the need to add soy sauce to a steamed bun... until now.
Maybe it's my own fault for going to a place called "Yu Noodles" and not ordering the noodles, but none of their noodle dishes piqued my interest. I don't plan on coming back to Yu Noodles again.