101 Noodle Express

Really great

Phone ordered the beef roll for pick up, was told that it would be about 15mins. Arrived at the restaurant a little over 15min later and still had to wait about 20 mins more… calling and ordering ahead was/​is pointless, and cash only.
Beef roll was about $ 9 and it is huge!!! Taste was pretty good but a bit bland, needs some kind of sauce and/​or hot sauce.
Food is good
Wait Time… Bad…

Get the beef rolls when you come here. They are the best I’ve had at a Chinese restaurant. The pancake is perfectly crispy outside and chewy inside. Inside you will find a generous amount of sliced beef and cilantro with a bit of hoisin. They don’t skimp on the meat and don’t use cucumber as a filler.
I’m also a fan of the lamb pot stickers. They are filled with a ton of juicy and oily goodness. They are a bit game-​y though so heads up for those that aren’t a fan of that kind of flavor. Be sure to eat them hot or else the fat inside can harden.
They have a bunch of classic noodle soups to try as well. The hand torn noodles are excellent.
Big problem with this restaurant is the service. Bottom line: servers will never check on you. You HAVE to flag them down and even then it’s difficult. No tea refills, no taking the check etc.

I wanted to give a 0 star but I can’t so.
The food is ok. The «service» is none existent! We went in on a Friday at 11:02AM when they just opened. There was clearly no customer besides us three. Walked in, I said hi first, the waitress was behind the counter counting cash, no response, no greetings, nothing, she just stare at us. Took a while for her to come over to take our orders. She had such attitudes while taking order. My mom wanted to try their food otherwise I would have leave. Mid way through our meal, another waitress came in, she’s the one with the «service». Too bad the other one wiped out allll her «points». I really don’t get why people take jobs in the «service» industry when they clearly hate people!

Nice quick evening dinner or snack. Looks like a light remodel recently. No frills Chinese restaurant. Get in, eat and get out type of fast food.
We had spicy beef hand torn noodles and order of Pork with leeks dumplings. Pretty tasty and flavorful. Cucumbers and other cold dish helps fill you up. We passed up on the usual beef roll because if the late evening snack.
An above average Chinese restaurant. Maybe 3 ½ stars. Service needs attention.

By default, we ended up here because Din Tai Fung’s wait time was over two hours on New Year’s weekend:(Thankfully our friend who speaks Chinese came with us. I’m sure it would have been okay otherwise; it was just sort of a relief to have him get our table and order our food. It just seemed to make things go more smoothly.
So the wait was about a half an hour here, but we were a party of eight and were waiting for one of their «big» (i.e., round) tables (they have two; the rest are smaller tables or booths). Service was harried and frenzied. Neither friendly nor rude but understandable because they were super busy. We ordered three types of dumplings, stir fried greens, their famous beef roll, shrimp fried rice and the onion pancake. My favorites by far were the beef roll, the greens, and the pancake. All were yummy. The fried rice and dumplings were underwhelming. I expected a lot more flavor, to be honest. Sprinkling
some soy sauce and chili oil on them helped a bit, but not much. I should have tried their famous green condiment that many Unilocalers have mentioned, but I didn’t read those reviews until after our meal.
I would come back here for the beef roll and onion pancake for sure and skip the dumplings altogether. I’m curious to try their hand torn noodle soup which gets mixed reviews here on Unilocal but looks delicious in the photos. I don’t think the food warranted a half an hour wait, though. Prices were very reasonable which was a plus. Cash only so be prepared. Small parking lot… no spaces when we were there so we had to park in the adjacent neighborhood.
Small hassles like wait time, lack of parking and cash only do add up and for me and take away from the enjoyment of the overall experience:(

I am so disappointed! Before their remodeling their food was great and the portions were bigger. But now the portion of noodles they give is a lot less and the food quality isn’t as great.
I came with three friends on a Sunday. We ordered the beef noodle soup, zha jian mien, xiao long bao, and an eggplant pork rice. Sadly we weren’t full. The service was alright, better than before. The interior décor makes the restuarunt look even smaller than before and the lights are super bright. It wasn’t comfortable sitting there for too long.
We stopped by to grab boba and some popcorn chicken since we were still hungry. I probably won’t be going back anytime soon.

Came here again with my bother in law he loves the one on valley. He said it is nothing like the other one.
They didn’t have many of the refrigerated items. They didn’t even have onion cake really? But you can make the beef rolls. It as the only thing I like. The hand cut noodles were not yummy at all. The pan fried dumplings were decent but really I don’t know 6 people and we spent like 65+ no thanks we won’t be back.

i usually always order the same thing. beef rolls. pork soup dumplings. yang chow fried rice.
it’s good and hits the spot and the value is there.

Coming in at 11 AM in the morning after a 5 hr and 15 minute drive from San Francisco. I figured what better way to start off the morning with Lamb Meat & Hand Made Noodle Soup and 雪菜豬肉煎餃子(Snow Vegetable & Pork Pot Stickers.) Both dishes did not disappoint. The Noodle Lamb meat did not disappoint. It was tender enough to eat with a delicate taste. There was barely any gamey taste to the meat at all which was perfect. The noodles were tasty and had a subtle taste from the broth. The cilantro’s on the noodles, made it aromatic as well as refreshing in the mouth.
The Pot stickers were perfectly pan fried with just the right balance of vegetables and pork. The taste was not overpowering and was enhanced with 2 tablespoon and soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of hot chili oil. Mixed and dipped, resulted in a taste that was more then just mouth watering. If you like pot stickers, these are definitely better then average. Enjoy

Beef rolls are delicious. Mrs. G likes the green onion and jalepeño relish to top that off. And get the chicken noodle soup: bamboo, cucumber, cilantro and (I don’t still don’t get it) fungus mushrooms and plenty of shredded dark meat chicken with perfectly al dente noodles.
Service is a bit slow, though, and it’s cash only (the Monterey Park place will take cards), hence the 3.

Pro: beef roll
xiao long bao
hand torn noodles.
Con: parking is horrible
Unfriendly customer service, i guess it’s expected
Cash only

As usual, the beef rolls are delicious here. Get that and leave happy.
Ox tail noodle soup was a tad bit plain, but quite delicious. Remember your soy sauce and vinegar for the n00b’s. Hand torn noodles are very good– worth the upgrade.
Pork potstickers were crispy pan fried perfection, and the grease drained straight out of ‘em and onto the serving dish.
4.5 stars. Service degrades a bit too much when they’re full, and there are much more convenient locations to me most of the time.

I think I went on a sad day. It was a bit before 8:00pm and they were out of many things :(The waitress even tried to mind read me and interrupted me mid-​sentence pretty much every time to say «We’re out.» or «We don’t have that.» They were out of all beef (meaning no beef roll), the hand torn noodles, the lamb skewers, the appetizer platters (because they have no more beef tendon), etc. Luckily, we still managed to get some dishes:
Lamb noodle soup (with rice noodles): Soup was okay, not as lamb-​flavorful as I was hoping it would be, but not too salty and not too bland. There were a decent serving of lamb chunks as well, and it had so little lamb-​gamey flavor I almost couldn’t tell it was lamb… not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing (Bad for me as personal preference).
Pork roll: Since they had no more beef, we made do with the pork. It came out looking like 2 giant sized burritos! Taste was pretty decent… definitely get your money’s worth with this one! We were left unsatisfied since we wanted beef though…
3 side dishes platter: Without beef tendon, we were left to order this. It was clearly pre-​packaged and squished down into the plate, which didn’t make it look too tasty. Seaweed was soft and a tad too salty, so I wasn’t a fan. They gave a bit of the pork ear/​whatever it was, which was eaten quickly, as well as the tofu noodles, which also had no texture or taste except for salt.
Honestly, I came out very disappointed and ended up ordering another meal at another restaurant. The pork roll was probably the best dish, but my other friend loved their lamb noodle soup – then again, she loves anything lamb. I don’t know… maybe we came too late? I’ll have to try again and give it another chance some other time when they have everything on the menu…

We were craving dimsum on Sunday and knowing how Asians love their dimsum on Sundays. we decided to hit up this place because there is never a wait. so I’ve heard.
Well, they were right. Walked in and was seated right away. Waitresses arent that friendly nor do they even look anywhere near friendly. They all looked like they did not want to be there or be bugged in anyway. Oh well!
We ordered:
–Beef Roll: This was my first time trying it and it was just eh for me. I’m not a big cilantro person so naturally I didn’t love this dish. It was kind of bland and honestly, it needed sriracha.
–Pork XLB: Of course these were not as good as DTF”s but they satisfied my cravings. Juicy, hot and soupy. My only complaint was that some of the dumplings were stuck to one another and when we pulled them apart… it resulted in the soup spilling out :(
–Pan fried pork dumplings: Basic pan fried dumplings. not much to say about them but they were good. I appreciated how the inside was piping hot but the outside was crispy.
–Dan Dan noodles: One word, YUCK. I don’t know what else to say but this was just not my cup of tea. They had a weird minty/​peanutty taste to them that I did not like ONE BIT. We all basically took one bite and left the bowl where it was. What a waste :(
Honestly, even though this place is called «Noodle Express» it seems like their specialty and forte is their dumplings. I wouldn’t mind coming back for more as the prices are cheap, the food is okay and theres never a wait… but I’d still choose DTF over this place any day.
**CASH ONLY** (I hate these kind of places because it’s so inconvenient for people like me who never carry cash around! =/)

Dumplings? Good! Hand-​torn noodles? Good! Cheap prices? Good!
I’ve been to other 101 Noodle Express locations and so far this is my favorite one. This place is known for their pan-​fried dumplings and for their hand-​torn noodles. I’ve come here multiple times and so far the food was delicious and prices are cheap!
We ordered:
1. Stir-​fried beef noodles: A good selection. Flavors were great! (⁴⁄₅)
2. Pork and shrimp pan-​fried dumplings: One of the *best* pan-​fried dumplings I’ve ever had! They come in piping hot with delicious juiciness! I love dipping them with my combo of soy sauce and vinegar. The juices inside the dumplings are so flavorful. So good! (⁵⁄₅)
3. Beef noodle soup: A great choice if you love beef. You have the option for getting hand-​torn noodles, which is a good choice! Texture of the noodles are delicious. Not soggy and not too chewy (⁴⁄₅)
4. Pork spare-​rib noodle soup: My personal favorite. The broth is very flavorful and I just love how the pork is tender and juicy! (⁵⁄₅)
5. Beef oxtail noodle soup: If you love oxtail, then definitely order this one! Everything was delicious, although my only gripe is that I wish the oxtail pieces were bigger! (⁵⁄₅)
This place is cash only. Be prepared to come early or when it’s not busy because they can run out of oxtail and hand-​torn noodles towards closing time. Plenty of parking and service is okay. But the food is good!

Cheap and Good Chinese Food.
PROS:
— xiao long baos are $ 7.50 vs. Din Tai Fung’s $ 8.50 xiao long baos — I’d say its comparable.
— Beef roll $ 7.99 — Basically, beef wrapped with cilantro and hoisin sauce. It’s pretty good but its humongous. The three of us could not finish it.
— Pork Hand Torn Noodle $ 7.99 — very good especially the soup base.
CONS:
— place is a little dingy and bathroom looks real dirty and gross.
Note: CASH ONLY

Every dish was around $ 8. Btw, they only take cash…
Since it was pouring rain. it felt like the perfect day to have noodles and a hot bowl of soup.
Parking was difficult but service inside was quick. Food was delicious and cheap!

No frills and cheap eats. I’ve been wanting to try the beef roll from 101 Noodle Express for years. Finally made it out here on a rainy day so we decided to take it to go. We also ordered some chicken chow mien noodles.
The beef rolls were pretty good. Reminds me of a burrito but rolled and not folded consisting of sliced beef, cilantro, garlic with hoisin sauce. The roll is somewhat like a dense flour tortilla. Definitely worth a try.
The noodles were pretty good. Not very salty but pretty greasy.
Food came out within 10 minutes. Service was okay. Not the friendliest but just okay.

Open late. Cheap food. Delicious. What’s not to like?
I’ve been here numerous times, and it doesn’t disappoint. The beef rolls, beef noodle soup, pig ears, pan fried dumplings and the beef noodles are all stellar choices. The beef noodle soup here is really flavorful… Rich broth and good amount of beef in the soup. My favorite combo is to get the beef noodle soup and add the beef roll. This way you can dip the beef rolls into the soup and it’ll soak in more flavors. They also will give you a small jar of Chinese veggies, if you don’t see it on the table… Make sure you ask for it. It goes really well with the rolls, and I’m pretty sure it’ll go well with everything else.
They’ll give you free tea, and if you don’t like to drink tea like myself just all for ice water. Sometimes during the weekends, this little strip mall gets packed. So finding a spot may be a little difficult. My biggest problem with this place is that it’s cash only. :(