101 Noodle Express

2 words: Beef roll! Their beef rolls are a must when ordering here. First time having Taiwanese cuisine and I’m pretty impressed. Their beef noodle soup was very good. I also like the fact they are open late. They only accept cash so make sure you come equipped.

Today I learned that #95 is Bok choy even though it states in the menu stir-​fried vegetables. The vegetable is Bok Choy and it’s sautéed with garlic. So fresh, crisp, delicious and healthy!
When you order soup you can order skinny noodles or hand torn which is thicker.
We tried #50 oxtail noodle soup. It was was good just needed some extra flavor enhancement from the sauce I made for the dumplings.
How could I forget the dumplings… It’s a staple, it’s a must when I eat here. #77 and #78 and the beef roll.
The Sauce I was taught to make here:
Ask for ginger then add vinegar and soy sauce which is already on the table.
–Ginger.
–Vinegar.
–Splash of soy sauce.
And Ta-​Dow!!! Awesome sauce!!!
I use this sauce for everything here! My vegetables, my soup, my dumplings… So hide your wife, hide your children… Just kidding, this sauce can literally change your life, it changed mine.
Don’t make the same mistake, equal parts of soy sauce and vinegar. That’s a no-​no. That’s a felony. It’s 3 parts vinegar to 1 splash of soy sauce.

I have heard from people that there are better spots than this one, but this was the first place I have been to with beef rolls and the nostalgia of it all just keeps me coming back.
The place is cash only so be sure to bring some dollar bills. If you forget, I believe they have an ATM.
The beef rolls are what I go back for: they have this crispy dough/​tortilla type wrap and have beef, cilantro? (Some sort of green), and I want to say I taste hoisin sauce in there. I LOVE their green cilantro/​jalapeño mix/​sauce… Cannot get enough of it!
Their handmade noodles are pretty delicious too. I’ve tried their minced pork/​cucumber noodle dish and a noodle dosh with soup/​broth– both very tasty.
Their friend dumplings are pretty flavorful too. They are not too crispy and gush out juice so beware! I have tried their steamed buns (din tai fun style), but their wrap does not hold and more than half of them bursted and gushed the juicy brothy part of them before it could get in my belly
Definitely part of my rotation of places I go to on the regular.

I’ll keep this review simple.
Get the beef rolls, best ever!
Everything else is pretty much fair game like the green onion pancake, boiled dumplings (especially the crab and pork/​leek), and spicy beef noodle soup. Food comes out quick and they have some tea options with boba. I have been here several times and it’s a weekly lunch stop.

It’s like Mama Lu’s, just not as good.
I knew coming in that this place was similar to Mama Lu’s. They have similar items like
— xiao long bao and beef rolls, but I realized many of the items were either the same or not as good. In addition, there is MUCH less available on the menu. There’s not really any meat dishes and there’s no chow mein, only soup noodles.
By itself I would say the place is decent enough, I recommend the
— xiao long bao, beef rolls, and spicy beef noodle soup (it has no vegetables!)
Personally did not enjoy the:
— Dan Dan Noodles. My friends and I agreed the sauce was not very tasty and we had to add soy sauce and spice in order to get it more flavor. Maybe it just wasn’t prepared well? No one wanted to take it home.
— Green onion pancake. It was more like a green onion cracker. I kid you not. If you’re into that then by all means get it. You do get alot though.
Recommend? Well it’s six minutes away from Mama’s Lu, so take the extra few minutes to get over there if you can. If you have to eat here you’ll still have an enjoyable meal but my friends and I all felt like we were on carb overload.

I’ve tried the 101 noodle express in Irvine and was very skeptical to try the one in 626. However, the 101 noodle express in 626 cannot even be compared to the one in oc. Everything from the beef rolls to the juicy pan fried dumplings are just the best!
My go-​toss
+pork&shrimp pan fried dumplings
+cold seaweed
+beef roll
+spicy beef soup with hand torn noodles
You really can’t go wrong when you try these items! Service is very fast. You can be in and out within 30 min no problem!

Clearly I am living under a rock, having never tried this place before, because dang, son, shit’s delicious. The beef roll is a huge serving and really great. The hot & spicy beef soup (with the hand cut noodles OMG) was solid. My boyfriend and I, in typical fashion, ordered too much food and got the scallion pancake as well. I was expecting something more like a Korean pancake but it was thin, like the wrapper to the beef roll, with scallions — it wouldn’t change your world, but it’s carb-​y and fried and yummy.
The prices were great for the serving sizes, just come with cash in hand ready to eat a lot of hot, fresh Taiwanese food.

Omggggg the beef burrito is delicioussssss! The crunchiness is just. perfect! And they marinated the meat to a perfect taste! Makes me drool just thinking about it. We also order the noodle. which I’m not a fan of but its alright.
The juicy dumpling is also good! I find it juicier than din tai fung dumpling.
Fried rice is okay. nothing special.
Bok choy veggie dish was sooo freaking good!
So if you come here, you have try their beef burrito! I give this place 5 stars because of the burrito, affordable prices and their great service (:
The line is ridiculous though lol

Best beef roll ever! EVER! Shanghai dumplings were juicy and tasty. The soup was delish.
Din Tai Fung is delish but anything would taste good if you’re waiting for 2 hours! Not here, plenty of space, fast turnover, great service, great prices. I cannot wait to come back to this restaurant to eat more!

Came here to pick up 3 beef rolls to go for the holiday. Jenny said it would take 20 min (more like 40); we paid and waited for our food, that we ordered over the phone 20 min ago.
Waited about 10 minutes which pretty fast consider the place was kind of busy.
The beef rolls came in the to go box, and they didn’t give us any of the chili or the green sauce. When I asked Jenny for the green sauce and chili, she only gave us 3 green sauce, and I asked for more, she said it’s one per order. This is the first time I told it’s one thing green sauce per order (of 6 beef rolls)
2 stars for the food and parking out front.
Worst service so far at this place! And seems like Jenny «count» our change wrong. So for those who order to go, count your change before leaving

You are now of my favorite Taiwanese places, 101 Noodle Express!
This was my first time eating Taiwanese food and I absolutely loved it! This place was pretty large so we didn’t have to wait even though it was pretty crowded.
Beef roll: My favorite thing! Slices of beef with a little sauce and green onions. I loved eating this with the chili sauce and the relish that they have on each table. Perfect!
Hot spicy beef noodle soup: This was pretty good, even though I was expecting it to have a bigger kick to it. The soup was pretty tasty though. I just added in a little bit of the chili sauce to give it more spice.
Pork dumplings: The dumplings here were soupy and tasty. I’ve had better dumplings before, but this place offers pretty good dumplings considering they don’t specialize in dumplings.
Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at 101 Noodle Express. I will definitely come back here in the future.

I always ordered pork/​leek boiled dumplings and chicken roll from this place, and I’m highly satisfied in the end. Price is cheap, ranging from $ 4 to less than $ 10 for each dish. Service is always good here. This spot is smaller comparing to the spot at Atlantic so better service ;)
TIP for first-​timers: try their beef rolls! That is what almost everybody orders from 101!!! Those of who don’t like beef as much (like me), order chicken rolls. It’s good too!

3.5 STARS
I stopped by this joint to get my Taiwanese fix since Din Tai was too far away. It’s a Cash Only business. The menu offers similar items to what you will find in other Taiwanese restaurants:
Beef Roll: Savory beef rolled up in a crispy roll with greens. Taste great will chili since there’s no sauce in it. HUGE PORTION. Perfect for sharing. ⁴⁄₅
Dan Dan Noodles: Hand made noodles had the perfect chewy texture. It was not spicy, even though they said it was. It had a peanut buttery sauce with the minced pork. ⁴⁄₅
Steamed Mini Pork Buns (XLBs): Meh, okay. Skin was a little thicker than what I’m used to. Din Tai set the bar for me and made this a little disappointing. ³⁄₅
Dezhou Chicken: Served cold. The marination was awesome. It had a hint of star anise flavor to it and the white meat was tender. ³⁄₅
Fried Rice: Typical fried rice you can find anywhere. Could of made it at home real quick and it would’ve been better. ¹⁄₅
Overall, this place satisfied my Taiwanese craving for the time being. I wouldn’t mind coming back to try something else.

Okay, I know I messed up. I didn’t try the beef rolls or the dumplings. My friend got the beef rolls and really liked them. I came here with the mindset of saving money, and I actually don’t think this place is that cheap. I mean the beef rolls are kind of pricey, yes you get a lot of food, but maybe because I’m used to NYC Chinatown or Flushing prices. Anyways, I didn’t even try those, so moving on.
I got the Shan Dong chicken with cucumbers, because I saw the pictures of it on Unilocal and read a couple of reviews saying that it was really good. I ordered it, and was underwhelmed. It was cold and dry, and yes they give you sauce but the chicken was just hard to even chew and swallow. The chicken skin wasn’t even all that crispy. The cucumber was nice and crispy though.
Would I come here again? Maybe, but only for dumplings. Also, they’re cash only so if you’re planning on coming here bring cash and skip the chicken.

Moving from the 626 and living in Koreatown leaves me having Taiwanese food withdrawals. The boyfriend and I came here for dinner when we were in the area and it was so tasty!
PORK PAN FRIED DUMPLINGS
Juicy and flavorful. Love it with a vinegar/​soy sauce mixture!
BEEF ROLL
So filling, so good. The scallion pancake wrap has the perfect chewy texture and I love dumping the chili oil on it.
DAN DAN NOODLES
Noodles had a great chewy, bouncy texture and the flavors marry together perfectly.
This place is everything I know and love– bomb Taiwanese food and everything is under $ 10, but this IS the 626… so remember CASH ONLY!

I might be in the minority and may get a lot of heat for saying this, but this place is way better than overhyped Din Tai Fung. Plus, we only had to wait 10 minutes for our table (we came here around 1 pm on a Sunday).
What I ordered this time were:
–Xiao long baos. It’s a must. I still have no idea how they inject so much juiciness within each dumpling and have no idea the right technique on how to consume it without spilling all the juices out. But i think that’s the fun of this plate.
–Dan dan noodles (minced pork over noodles). Growing up this was my favorite dish to order at Chinese restaurants. It’s a nice alternative to the usual noodle dishes, since it is more on the dryer side. Plus it has a nice tart/​hearty taste to it that took me back to my childhood.
–Beef noodle soup w/​hand torn noodles. I’ll honestly say the hand torn noodles don’t make that much of a difference, so I personally would stick to the normal noodles. But this one was pretty standard, and what you would expect of a beef noodle soup. I might opt for the spicier version the next time I come here.
–Leak & pork dumplings. My sister loves leaks so we chose this one to compliment the other dishes. I surprisingly enjoyed these a lot, but I am sure you can’t go wrong with any of the dumplings here.
Overall, great place and would definitely recommend.

The noodles are good, the pan fried dumplings are great and the crab shanghai dumplings are awesome!
Each dish sets you back about $ 7.50, and I think it’s one of those places where the more people you go here with to experience and experiment with a variety of tasty flavors, the greater the overall meal can be. I’d estimate 1.5 orders per person (so 2 people can order 3 dishes, 4 people can order 6 dishes, etc.) and you’ll come out around $ 15 per person after tax and tip for a good meal.
Parking is easy, and the menu has a very diverse selection to choose from.
The service is very fast and friendly, with food coming prepared cooked to order hot n’ fresh.

I think that it’s pretty sad to have eaten at this place for the first time last week, I’ve driven past 101 Noodle Express HUNDREDS of times and I’ve finally given it a try thanks to a few friends who had a hankering for some cheap but good Chinese food. We went on a Wednesday afternoon around 5pm and there was no wait at all. Once we placed our order it took no longer than 10 minutes to receive all of our food.
BEEF ROLL:
Something went wrong here. Our rolls had a bit too much cilantro in them and it overpowered the flavor of the beef. Even my friends that have had beef rolls dozens of times said the flavoring of the cilantro was a bit on the strong side. Oh well, there’s always next time.
LEEK & PORK DUMPLINGS (10 count):
These were by far my most favorite thing that we ordered; they were so good that we had three orders of these. Similar to xiao long bao, soupy dumplings with leeks inside. Be careful not to burn your mouth when eating these.
PORK PAN FRIED DUMPLINGS (10 count):
Crispy on the outside but hot and juicy on the inside. You can’t go wrong with these. Got two orders of these but ended up ordering a third because it was that good.
We weren’t in the mood for soup but I continue to hear great things about their beef noodle soup; I will most definitely try that the next time I come back.
Free parking all around the plaza, so no worries there.
Oh, and what was that? CASH ONLY, you say? Ermm… let me. run to the bank to get some cash. you can… ugh. hold my friends here as collateral…

Bummer.
Ordered pan fried dumplings, eggplant w rice, and of course a beef roll. The eggplant and beef roll out within 5 minutes. No dumplings.
We finish our meal and still no dumplings. We tell the server to take off. We’re done and we end up arguing about it, that it takes so long to make. I’ve checked into this location 16 times and we’ve ordered the same dumplings and it never takes this long.
Hello! It may take a few minutes longer but not that long. They came up to the window, were snagged by another server for another table and never noticed ours were short.
Just a heads up. Pan fried takes longer but 5 minutes tops, not 20+
Meh

Came by for a quick snack the other day and it was excellent. The beef rolls were freshly prepared. The roll was warm and crispy while the beef inside was decent with some oyster sauce and cilantro.
Seems like service is done in Mandarin or English only.
~$ 7.95 for 6 pieces of Beef Rolls.
…they’ve also seem to have recently expanded making seating a much easier task.