Noodle House aka Mian Hsiang Yuan
Monday, August 25, 2008 13:48Always up to try new places, the BF took my parents and I out to Mian Hsiang Yuan, a small dumpling restaurant in Monterey Park. For a place that specializes in made-to-order dumplings, they certainly picked an inaccurate American name. They do serve noodles, but their noodles were not made in-house.
We started off with three cold appetizer plates. The beef tripe plate was my favorite: tender, seasoned perfectly, and a bit spicy. Their tofu-skin plate was also very good and flavorful with a hint of peppercorn without being spicy at all. The cucumbers were disappointing and under-seasoned.
Next came the scallion pan-cakes. They were cooked with lard, so vegetarians and vegans stay away. For being cooked in lard, they were underwhelmingl. There were plenty of scallions, but there just wasn’t that much flavor.
The BF ordered their ma jiang mian, which is a vegan cold noodle dish with peanut sauce. My dad really liked this dish and I thought the sauce was fine, but apparently it dried out too quickly.
Next, we had the hong sao niu rou mian, which is the beef noodle soup. The soup was good and flavorful, but a bit on the thin side. The noodles were the same as the noodles that came with the BF’s noodle dish: pretty generic super-market type noodles.
Since dumplings are this place’s specialty, we ordered their combo dumpling (boiled water-style). When it came, I was a bit surprised by how massive the dumplings were. They take at least two bites to finish. The skin was good and chewy, which I liked, but the filling was bland and disappointing. The combo dumpling has seafood in it, but you wouldn’t be able to taste it in the filling. There was no savory taste at all.
We also ordered the steamed pork and mushroom dumplings. The skin was again chewy and great, but the filling had the same blandness.
The BF ordered the leek bun (vegan) and liked them. The filling (thankfully) was flavorful and salty and the bun’s exterior was soft and chewy.
Lastly came the beef rolls (niu rou juen bing). I think they had been sitting around the counter for the while because the crepe on the outside was cold and rubbery. The beef inside was bland and not even the sauce could save it.
Overall, Noodle House was pretty disappointing. Their food wasn’t bad at all, but I just expected a lot more flavor for a place that specializes in dumplings. It’s strange that there are no vegetarian dumplings on the menu and they refused to make any when I asked them about it. Considering they’re a “made to order” restaurant, I would have thought it’d be easy for them to just stick the filling they use for the veggie buns into some dumpling wrappers.
I’m also considering not patronizing this place anymore because we asked if they could make one of our orders of dumplings pan-fried (as in pot-stickers) and they lady said no. That would have been fine, but after all our food came and the restaurant filled up, I saw that the table next to us had pot-stickers! I don’t think it’s a timing issue because when we asked, the restaurant was only half full. I think it’s pretty rude to give some customers the “right” to potstickers while denying it to others.
If the food had been better, I could have excused that rudeness, but since it was so disappointing, I don’t think I’ll be returning.
Noodle House (Mian Hsiang Yuan)
958 E. Garvey Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91755
Tel: (626) 280-0831
Louise absolutely LOVES filthy, cheap places! (See more of her posts). You can also find more of Louise's writing at her own website NakedSushi.
Michelle says:
September 1st, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Good review :) I’ve been to this restaurant several times but I haven’t been back with my family because of the rudeness of the staff
Pepsi Monster says:
December 21st, 2008 at 3:40 am
Hey Louise,
Let me start off by saying it was a great review. I’ll let you know you and I are probably the only ones that have disappointing reviews on blog posts about this place. I too was disappointed, but it was more towards specialty of the made-to order buns that was the blandness of the filling and tough to chew dough on those buns. I’m hoping for better, but I seriously doubt it will be any better. I would recommend another made-to-order dumpling/buns place up in Las Tunas Dr. called Kingburg Kitchen if you have a chance to go and try out.
Louise says:
December 21st, 2008 at 12:16 pm
@Pepsi Monster
What kind of buns did you get? The veggie bun my BF got was really salty and far from bland. Maybe they just reheated previously steamed buns for you. That would explain its chewiness. It’s also kind of a cop-out if that were the case, considering how the restaurant is known for made-to-order buns and dumplings.
I’ll keep Kingburg Kitchen in mind though. I’m always game to try out new dumpling places.
Pepsi Monster says:
December 28th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Hi Louise,
They shouldn’t be reheating those buns. After all, they proclaimed it as “made-to-order”. What I ordered was a standard pork and leeks buns, the skins was too thick and the filling was too bland. I did go back two weekends ago and they did improved the skins as it was less doughy, but the boiled dumplings was still a bust for me. However, their steamed dumplings are much better. The only thing I would touch at this place are their steamed pumpkin and shrimp dumplings and their steamed pork and leeks buns. Their noodles should be skip as well as the boiled dumplings.
If they left the food on their station too long before serving it to you or “reheating” their leftover buns instead of making it as you have ordered, then this place really have horrible service. I haven’t encountered that yet and let’s knocked on wood on their service being improved a little more.
JC says:
November 17th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Next time get the beef noodle soup with handmade noodles–it makes all the difference! Also there’s a szechuan chicken dish that has been taken off the menu that’s really good. It takes some time to make, so they may make it for you if it’s not too busy.