Noodlecat

Had a very strange experience there. Food was good, but was very long coming out. Forgot an item of our order. Not to their fault, had a homeless man come in to sell flowers and an argument ensued. My daughter was loving the food, but had a bowl of broth spilled on her. It ruin ed her uggs and clothes. They told us to call them, but being from pittsburgh what can we do. The worst thing was my daughter was in town for a cheer competition. We came home and within 20 min she was in the bathroom sick. Place seems dirty. Manager was nice but still doesn’t help me with with my sick child.

I ordered the spare rib with the Ohio noodles and was satisfied. Service was a little slow but that is to be expected on a busy night. Spare rib come out a little chewy but the 6-​minute egg was cooked to perfection. Ambiance is urban and off-​beat but has a certain love or hate charm to it. Ended up with a free order of 4 assorted steamed buns but only on the account of the waitress messing up. The checklist order system is supposed to rule these issues out but some times there are slip ups.

I’ve been here a few times and enjoyed the food in the past. went there last night and was very disappointed. The coconut curry bowl used to be a ramen soup, but this time I received a pile of very salty noodles, no broth. It was supposed to have tofu, but there was no tofu and instead they put potatoes in it. My boyfriend eats everything and he got the octopus bowl. He barely touched it because it was so SALTY. I’m very sad that things have gone downhill and hope Noodlecat can come back to the way they were.

The service here is so terrible. What makes it worse is they did’t even seem to care! No apologies for the extremely long wait… no explanations given like that they were understaffed… nothing. It’s like they knew they weren’t doing well and probably weren’t going to get a good tip and so they just said «F it» and gave up. We were ignored so much. No one ever even asked if we wanted more water. I also had to poor my leftover soup in the container myself, which was so awkward. I started spilling broth on the table because the bowls are awkwardly shaped. The stools are also uncomfortable when you’re left waiting and sitting forever for your check, my butt started to hurt. Never again noodle cat. Your food is just «ok» so not even worth it.

Came in today, ordered the pork miso at Emily’s recommendation. The service was great and all of the employees-​very nice and courteous!

Went here on my Cleveland business trip. I met up with 2 other friends here, one of which gave me this recommendation. I’m lovin’ the name and simplistic décor of the place.
Not tonkotsu level ramen, but still better than your average noodle bowl. The dishes and flavors look a little different now than when I was here but overall, the prices are competitive and the taste was great. I remember ordering 2 tofu appetizers and a meyer lemon fancy soda.
Location can be tricky when you’re driving but it was walking distance from my Marriott downtown hotel.

Sad. Used to love this place. It was convenient, quick, tasty, and had the most important part gluten free noodles.
Went the other week to find the new menu concept. First of all we waited 5 min before someone told us to seat ourselves… okay then. Then we notice the new menu without gluten free noodles. Tracked down a waitress to ask and she simply said «well we have rice now, and that’s gluten free». Why would I want a noodle bowl made out of rice??? Long story short, we simply walked out after finding they took out the gluten free noodles from their menu and went over to Saigon for some gluten free Phở.
Won’t go back unless they bring the gluten free noodles back.

Atmosphere was ok. I absolutely loved what I ordered — the pork with traditional ramen noodles. It is salty, just to warn you! But I happen to love salty things. I could have had an entire bowl of the broth alone and I would have been happy :) :) it happened to be empty when I came at lunch on a Monday. I had no trouble with the servers

Great atmosphere. The sticky buns alone are amazing (recommend the pork) but I will say the noodle dishes can be bland. I got the pork ramen and had to add a ton of soy to get some salty flavoring. But overall, very good and priced well! My daughter was impressed and the services was great!

I had the ramen noodles with pork miso. It was good, but way too salty for my taste.
Also had 2 of the Ohio beef burger steam buns which were tasty. Cute place, liked the pencil and paper order yourself concept.

First of all, you should know I like CATS, so I am automatically prejudiced in favor of any place with a Cat name, and a logo of a cheery noodle eating Cat.
But I really did enjoy Noodlecat. The food is soooo comforting and the portion is huge! I got the curly ramen (perfect texture) with short rib (so tender in the middle and crispy on the edges) in a wondrous broth with accents of ginger, ornamented with lovely oriental vegetables. It was a symphony of flavor. I kept eating and eating, and it seemed I never made a dent in the bowl! I brought the leftovers all the way back to Cincinnati, and enjoyed them as a second meal yesterday.
We also had two steam bun sliders, fried chicken and veggie tempura, which were crazy good. But I was disappointed to not see the pulled pork steam bun on the menu, as others have mentioned how good this is.
The atmosphere is very casual. You mark your order on a sheet and hand it back. I suppose it’s different if you order a special. With the exception of the little back bar, all the seating is stools which might not be desirable for those who like to have a back on their chair. We sat at the bar, where the music was a little too loud to suit me, but, there were a number of cheerful Japanese lucky cats smiling back at us and the TV was set on Cartoon Network. With a hot pot of green citron tea and my great big noodle bowl I was a contented camper.
Noodlecat, yay! I’m a fan.

Was very excited to try Noddle Cat and see another Cleveland local Jonathan Sawyer representing! It was sadly disappointing. The tone was quickly set when we waited at the front for over 3 minutes before being told to ‘sit wherever’. It took us awhile to figure out how to order, but there is a clip board on the side of the table in which you just circle the type of noddles and flavoring you want. The waitress then came over took the papers without even asking if we had any questions.
The seating is very uncomfortable with just cold metal stools to sit on. As we waited for the food, I couldn’t help but notice the rap music by nicki minaj was playing, it seemed they were mostly targeting young, hippsters being in the downtown area, I didn’t like the music genera.
We had to take silverware from another table since there was none at ours. When the food arrived, it had a great presentation, but upon tasting it was very salty. I had pork miso, but others at my table got theirs without miso, also stated the broth was salty. About 5 minutes in I needed more water to quench the saltiness but it took over 10 minutes for a waitress to even come by to get a refill. And they don’t actually even refill it for you, your given a carafe to pour yourself. Some positives, the noddles tasted fresh, the pork in the soup was shredded nicely and I liked that they put a poached egg in the soup. But the service was horrible! Sadly won’t be returning here again, sorry Jonathan you need to get a better wait staff and actually taste your food.

Funny how a cat is the logo for this restaurant as it is more likely to attract cats than people. The ramen noodles aren’t authentic and the the pork broth has shredded pork Inside that tasted more like mystery meat that’s heavy and gives the broth an unappealing thickness and texture. It was really hard to get down. Here kitty kitty!

The steam buns are so yummy! I like the in and out set up of the restaurant without feeling like I’m eating at McDonalds. The broth is yummy for most of the Ramen even though it tastes slightly different every day.
Pros:
— Saki Menu
— Steam buns
— Daily sketches for specials
Cons:
— Seating is a little annoying
— Not enough Vegetarian options

I’ve been to other ramen places in California, very authentic and delicious. So I wasn’t sure what to expect out of a more hippie ramen place, such a noodlecat.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The noodles were delicious and full of flavor.
I had the misu pork, which I’m told is the most popular choice. It was great! Very rich, I barely even finished half the bowl. So unless you’re starving, you’ll probably end up taking half of it home (which isn’t a bad deal at all!).
My husband had the spicy octopus, which isn’t soupy, it’s more like a stirfry bowl, and he said it was also delicious.
I wasn’t overly impressed with the steam buns, but probably that’s cause the ramen was just too delicious to be impressed with anything else at that time.
Highly recommended!

Special note: I know I shouldn’t compare it to packaged ramen noodles, but I did… so? Now what? LOL… on with my «review»
So, after a few years I finally decided to try Noodlecat. I walked by the restaurant and saw a guy eating ramen noodles and for some strange reason, I wanted to eat some ramen noodles too lol. The reason why I thought it was strange and why it took so long for me to try Noodlecat was because of it being ramen noodles. I find it the meal to eat when I’m broke, there were times when I ate it so much I thought I would never in my life eat it again. Well Friday night I wanted some, along with trying out a steamed bun (or two).
I know this will come off as silly but I wasn’t too happy with the bar stools at the table. I like backs to my chairs lol, somewhere I can hang my purse. I didn’t realize the only area that had backs to the chairs was the bar area but it was too late because I already settled in (ugh what is wrong with me lol). On the table there is a clipboard with copies of the menu and the server was giving walking me through on how to order, which in my opinion was pretty self explanatory. Made my choices and was anxious to dig in. The service was okay, I ordered a drink but my server forgot to look at my entire menu selection (which also carryover to the back) and he really didn’t check on me at all… didn’t get the «your meal will be ready in a few moments» or something along those lines. At one point as I was looking down eating the mushy, tasteless ramen and a guy came out of nowhere and grabbed the two empty bowls and just kept walking. It did startled me a bit, looking up asking myself «does he work here?»
As I stated above, the ramen was very mushy and tasteless… didn’t enjoy it at all. When I am in the mood for at home ramen, I do like it to be a little bit firm. I was making myself eat the rest because I didn’t want to be hungry later in the day. I also ordered two steamed buns… the pork and the fried chicken, now those were good, especially the chicken. It does get a little messy but the sauce was yummy delicious so it was worth it. I kind of wished I should’ve swapped the bowl of coconut ramen for two (or three) more steamed buns.
This actually would have gotten less stars if it wasn’t for the steamed buns, which would be the reason for a return visit. Other than that, no noodles for me.
Oh and can I say the bowls were really cute?
What I ordered:
*Nama Ramen, flavor Coconut Curry Tonkatsu
*(2) Steamed Buns — Fresh Bacon and J-​Fried Chicken
*Poloma (drink)

Hmmm… Where do I begin. I know people who crave and love Noodlecat. Then, I know people who find it subpar. I’m just right in the middle. Noodlecat has offerings that I have yet to find in other places. For instance, all the buns. So of course, I head here to fulfill those cravings. Deep down though, I just know they are very basic in their delivery. I’ve had bigger and better elsewhere. Also, I find their soup bases to be very salty — and this is coming from someone who LOVES SALT. Furthermore, I find their offerings to be limited. If this place is going to be known as a ramen place, they need more ramen options!
So overall, while a solid staple to keep in mind, I would jump ship in an instant if a new Japanese/​American fusion restaurant option popped up.

I hate doing this, I really do. I still have a strong love for Noodlecat for sentimental reasons and I generally love what Chef Sawyer does. Unfortunately, I’ve seen a decline in Noodlecat’s product and I feel like I’m unlikely to return as much as I have in the past.
This decline began when my husband and I brought his sister and a friend here when they were in town. We waited nearly 40 minutes for some noodles and buns. At this point, we were starving, so it didn’t matter that my soup was basically flavorless and we were anxious to get on with the rest of our evening.
The flavorless soup didn’t stop me from returning and a friend and I came back for lunch one day. We got a bun special made with brisket and I received what was basically a jiggly flop of fat. I’m gagging just thinking about the lack of actual meat in this item and the mass of inedible goop.
Again, I stayed strong and returned for happy hour recently. The happy hour items have changed and not in a good way. While the drink specials remained, we both ordered off of the regular menu and a few beers were out of stock, which was a disappointment. So I had to basically ignore the beer list and order directly from the beer cooler. Not the worst thing, but still kind of surprising that the menus were becoming useless. Then, when we asked about happy hour food, we found that there are no specials. So, we ordered some buns… except they’re now deconstructed plates made of mountains of lettuce/​cabbage and lacking the delicious pickled veggies that I so love. Not the same at all. There’s something about getting that bun with a perfect amount of ingredients. «Kids like making their own»…well, while I’m much like a child sometimes, this is not one of them.
These changes are not improvements and I’m worried about the direction this place is heading. Such a disappointment.

For so long I was so hesitant to try this place and now I want to eat here everyday. I am in love with this place now. I want it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
You MUST try a steam bun. The pulled pork one is to die for.
You also MUST try a noodle bowl. The Dan Dan is delicious.
Now that you’ve read this review, go (RUN) to Noodlecat and try it!

We had the beef short rib noodles and the some smoked tomato/​curry/​tofu thing. Both dishes were hot with lots of noodles. They were also both rather bland. Fortunately, there was a shaker of ground red pepper or cayan pepper at the table that have it a nice kick. Toss in some soy sauce and now we’re talking! The short ribs were tossed in a tasty BBQ sauce and were also good.
Not sure what a steamed bun is, so I tried the pulled pork. It was good, like a pulled pork slider. We also tried the chocolate peanut butter banana steamed bun for desert. I nice finish to the meal, but not a lot of flavor.
We arrived on. Friday night around 6:00 and has no problem getting a seat. By the time we left at 6:45, there was a line out the door.