Cafe Lucky Noodle

Free appetizer + good food + decent service + loud but pleasant ambiance = Café Lucky Noodle.
I came here for dinner while visiting my step sister in Eugene. It was recommended by a couple people. Though it was hard to find at first (we came in the wrong door), it turned out to be a pretty good experience.
We were seated with water, napkins, and silverware on the table. This café is «fancy» with their water – id est, they don’t put ice in it, but I’m sure they do upon request.
The bread was cold but decent tasting and was served with a pre-​made olive oil and vinegar mix.
In addition to the bread, we also had the risotto balls as our free appetizer when we checked in. They were decadently coated and fried with perfectly creamy, warm and moist risotto on the inside just waiting to be tasted by soon-​to-​be satisfied customers.
At our table, we ordered the steelhead special, pesto tortellini, peanut chicken curry, and almond crusted chicken breast. To be concise, all were excellent – well cooked, well seasoned, and good tasting.
The only caveat was the service. Though our waiter was extremely friendly and had good hair, we didn’t see him too often except to take our order or clear our plates. It took about ten minutes for him to pick up the check! Also, I ordered an Arnold Palmer a little late into the meal (before we got our food), and I got it about twenty minutes later when I was nearly finished eating.
My only other critique is that the Arnold Palmer was straight up weird. It was foggy, and tasted almost like they had used milk tea and only a splash of lemonade. I’m not sure how they could mess up such a simple drink, but the I can’t emphasize enough how good the food was.
The building itself was loud. Really loud. We had a lot of trouble hearing our waiter. However as for the design, it was very modern and clean looking.
Overall, this place has exquisite food, subpar service at certain times, some weird drinks, is pretty loud, and is pretty nice.
Individual Ratings:
Food: ⁵⁄₅
Service: 2.5÷5
Ambiance: ⁴⁄₅
Cleanliness: ⁵⁄₅
Overall star rating: ⁵⁄₅

I popped in here for some tofu Pad Thai and was unfortunately not impressed. Besides it being an Italian/​Thai place (what is that anyways?), my food came in a Chinese take out box. Very interesting. Go here if you want to just grab something quickly. Not so sure I would go here for an evening out.

My girlfriend is too kind.
Re: our new year’s eve experience. We wanted to have nice after dinner drinks and Lucky Noodle in the past had a reputation as a halfway decent place. It has some of the same lighting and same appearance as a nice place, but at some point in the recent past the people who built it apparently sold it to a 21 year old with parental money. Imagine hanging out at long bar with no customers, except the 4 or 5 21 year-​olds at the service end, blythly enjoying themselves and their lucky friend bragging about how he owns the best restaurant in Eugene. Meanwhile your pretty lady and you are patiently waiting for service. When it does come, the server is confused and overwhelmed by the two actual customers at the bar. Besides, shes still engaged in the conversation with her friends. 10 feet away, you are ignored even about 10 minutes after you finished your drink. …
I could go on but what’s the point? If you are looking for a nice experience with professional service AVOID LUCKY NOODLE.

For those of you who are not aware this has changed ownership. Server didn’t tell me they didn’t have the liquor for the lucky limonada and it was way too sweet. The menu is now smaller and more expensive. No bread and oil, waiter said only in the summer now. Stay far far away. So sad that this has changed owners and Ring of Fire closed. Booooooooo!!!

Lucky Noodle has lost its luster. Sadly found on our last visit that the service and food was just plain lacking. We have been fans for many years. The restaurant was semi-​busy but we were seated right away. Noodle dishes are still on the menu but $ 15.50 for a sub par Pad Thai without shrimp (they are $ 4 extra) doesn’t cut it. Our server barely managed to get us two rounds of beer and wine during the whole meal and forgot my wife’s salad. My wife’s dish was somewhat better the duck was over cooked however. We would have stayed for another round of drinks had the meal not taken so long already. And he never asked about anything else, just brought us the bill.
It seems like the menu whole atmosphere has just gotten cheaper. The menus are now in cracked plastic sleeves and the wine list is now tiny. Next time we are in town Lucky Noodle will get the pass from us.

Overpriced! Nice clean place. Decent service. Below average Asian dishes. And did I mention overpriced? $ 15 for Thai noodles? Come on.

I will NOT be going here again… We were here today… The place had a few people BUT wouldn’t call it nearly packed (3 – 4 tables maybe).
Service, host or waitress was so awful we walked out and I’m glad we did especially reading some reviews here… There’s absolutely no excuse for bad service, none!

So upset… seriously, well at least this time the server/​bartender was nice. .but very preoccupied.
So after a year away (because of terrible service) we went back. After a long day of serving others, l just wanted to be taken care of. Well once again my giving second chances has backfired. I will not be handing out thirds.

I have been a fan of the Lucky Noodle for years now. I just don’t go very often because of the price. I love how they switch up the menu items once in a while. I was always a fan of the Ring of Fire and was pleased to see I could still order some of my favorite dishes if I wanted to. I didn’t this evening because I wanted to try some of their Indonesian plates I spotted on the menu because part of my family is Indonesian-​Dutch. I love Indo Food! I hear the cook is from Bali! The plate I ordered was very good! I also enjoyed a Thai me up beverage. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a Thai iced tea with vanilla vodka. Are server this evening was great. He did a fantastic job. We were told his name but it was really loud so I couldn’t hear. It was only loud because of this cute little 7 year old was having a big family birthday dinner. So we didn’t mind. It was very entertaining because the 7 year old ended up telling us why fire trucks are painted red. :-)

What a great experience!
We had a group of four on a Saturday night and we leisurely took our time, slowly enjoying the wine, food, conversation, and ambiance. We never once felt rushed by the adorable, slightly inexperienced, waiter.
We started with the baked goat cheese appetizer, the sesame chicken tempura appetizer, and the free bread with oil and vinegar. The goat cheese appetizer was incredible!!! and went very well with my glass of Syrah. The tempura chicken was also breaded and cooked perfectly, and came with a delicious dipping sauce. And their house bread for dipping in oil and vinegar had a very unique (in a good way) flavor.
For the main meal: I had the Lucky noodle entrée– a Pad Thai dish. It is one of the better Pad Thai’s I’ve had in town yet. My husband had the duck special. The Duck was tender and flavorful, and my husband claimed the risotto was some of the best he has ever had. One of our friends got the Chicken Marsala. There were a couple pink spots on her chicken that she was too scared to eat, but she ate around them and when I asked her what she thought of her dish (for the Unilocal review) she stated «I am enjoying putting into my feeding hole». Ha. She really did like it though. Her boyfriend got the pesto pasta, he ate every bit of it, so I guess he liked it.
The music was a little loud and did not seem to appropriately fit the environment. It sounded more like «drinking-​buddy bar music». Which I would enjoy if I were drinking with my buddies in a bar, but not so much in a restaurant, drinking wine, and trying to have good conversation with friends over gourmet food.
As I said before, the waiter seemed young and newish. But he was sweet, helpful, attentive, and a hard worker.
We will be coming back for more double dates!

Went here twice on my visit to Eugene, I must say they have an interesting menu of Thai and Italian food. My first visit was on a Wednesday where there was live music the ambiance alone was worth another visit back however the 2^nd visit there was no music and we were the only group in there it was freezing in the restaurant as well but the food was all amazing. I highly recommend the vegetarian lettuce wraps and also the almond chicken dish!

This used to be one of my favorite Eugene restaurants so I was excited to visit while in town this weekend. I was disappointed that our noodle dishes were bad. My group had 6 people and no one wanted to return after this dinner experience.
The service and ambiance were great! But this can’t make up for bad food.
Khi Mao and Pad Se Ew just tasted salty. They were missing flavor that you’d expect from these dishes. It seems like the cook just added a load of soy sauce or salt to them. Yuck.
One member of the party had a salad and it was passable. But with a restaurant name with the word noodle in it, I would expect the noodle dishes to be the stars.
Maybe it was an off night but since I’m not often in Eugene I probably won’t find out anytime soon.

Had a lovely experience at Lucky Noodle a few nights ago! From the food, to the service and ambiance, much improved since my last visit! I have a feeling that if this keeps up that Lucky Noodle will have redeemed itself in my eyes.
The calamari was nicely and lightly breaded with not only squid but jalapeños and peppers with a lovely plum sauce. The salmon was pan roasted and perfectly and delightfully crispy on the edges with a creamy and savory mouthfeel on a bed of risotto which I could see being a bit more creamy and an increase in the presence of liquid wouldn’t hurt. The roasted veggies that accompanied it were just right amount of al dente and the sweetness of the beets really balanced out the savory components on the plate.
I love that LN carries Liberty School Cabernet as their house cab, it is by far one of my favorite cabs!
Once again, I recommend sitting at the bar, I love the interaction with the bartender as well as other foh staff. Definitely will be coming back!

Dinner NYE was Great food Great service and atmosphere. Things do go wrong.@ times like our waiter coming, to telll us that one, of the burners in kitchen was not, working we asked for more bread however i food came before we got the extra bread. I was a little, disappointed with the amount of, wine served an exact 5 oz! really LN ! I expect if im plopping 30 $ for a meal i should get at least 6 – 8 ounces!
Overall. LN exceptional with new owners and great staff

This place is owned by the same outfit that had the late, fairly unlamented Ring of Fire. Some of the same things that brought down RoF exist here as well.
The space looks nice, and they have a bar for those nice nights out. Sorry to say that the food doesn’t live up to the expectations set by them ambience. Asian and Italian versions of noodles are available, but Asian is easily better. Sandwiches at lunch are decent but nothing special. Everything I’ve seen here has been unexciting and not as good as it should be. Too many other better places in town to bother coming here.

*******new owners!!!*********
I have visited many restaurants over the years. High class, hole in the wall, down to earth, shady and 10 foot roach wagons in the middle of Podunk Oregon. One thing I have never done is 100% recommended a restaurant. I can say now, that I recommend this restaurant 100%. Anyone looking for great food and above and beyond customer service should go to the Lucky Noodle.
Starting with the Atmosphere; dim lighting, comfortable seating and soft music in the background. The place was packed, almost full and no wait. We had our children with us ages 11 and 9. There were no other kids in the place. Several dates, a few date nights for married couples. They had a large table of about 20 people. I was surprised to see so many employees working, perhaps 5 – 8 in the front of the house alone. Everyone was busy working and helping. We had a 7:45 reservation, came in at 7:35 expecting a wait. There was no line out door and no one waiting, 90% of the tables filled. We were greeted kindly and seated immediately with water and «Your waiter will be with you in a moment.» Perhaps 1 minute later the waiter arrives and takes our drink order. Bread and oil/​vinegar showed up at this time, very light bread well seasoned and just enough for 4. Oil/​vinegar had fresh garlic diced in the middle. My wife ordered a Raspberry Lemon Drop, it came within 5 min looking well made and had a generously sugared rim. We had a bottle of the house Cabernet Liberty School 2012… fantastic. We ordered two appetizers. Spring rolls (fresh made this morning, simple and perfectly deep fried with a house made sauce to die for, which had a sweet flavor ending with sharp spice and a smooth finish.) Second was calamari with the same sauce (amazing. have I said that yet?) Impressed with the fact that the fried foods were not over fried, not chewy, burnt, or oily. Beautiful presentation and extremely delicious. Portions were perfect for 4. The main dishes we ordered were: Pad Thai, Fettuccine Alfredo, Pork Belly, and Salmon. I could easily take over 30 minutes describing how amazing everything was but you will have to try this part for yourself. The dessert menu was simple with 5 options. We got the cheesecake and a chocolate cup. Unlike traditional cheesecake this was tall and airy versus the typical dense cheesecake. Despite being so light it was delicious; creamy, rich lemony heaven on a plate. The chocolate cup was wonderful as well. Thick chocolatey goodness that leaves you wanting just a little bit more.
The food was wonderful and the atmosphere was great, but the most stand out part of the entire experience was the level of customer service that we received. Every single employee from the host to the waiter to the owner of the restaurant went the extra mile to make our experience fantastic. For example: at the table behind me a gentleman’s beer fell on the floor (full) and went all over. 3 people rushed to the table and had the spill cleaned up and a refill of beer faster than i knew what happened. As busy as the staff was, they noticed, reacted, and resolved like nothing i have seen before in a restaurant.

Over time this restaurant has become our favorite. I have had almost everything on the menu and I love it. Only thing is shrimp are always a bit overdone. Other than that I’m happy every time. Service is spectacular and food delicious.

Skip this place if you have the luxury to pick and choose. We ended up here because other spots we chose were closed.
It wasn’t the worst meal I’ve had but it was way over priced for mediocre food. No kid options. «Very darling» is how I describe the menu — which means it thinks it’s clever, but it’s really just annoying.
They charge for split plates… that must be the down side of fusion cuisine because in a straight Thai place they expect you to be somewhat family style.
The interior is pretty — but I prefer substance over style when I dine.

I’ve been to this restaurant twice now and have not been impressed either times. The food is extremely overpriced and the quality is quite poor. I shared a Thai dish that had chicken in it with a friend and the chicken did not taste good. We both ended up getting very sick the next day from eating there.
Overall, the food isn’t good and everything is overpriced. If I ever went back to this restaurant it would be for their cocktails and dessert only.

I came here with a group of ten people for my friends’ birthday. They don’t take reservations which is a tad annoying so one of our friends came 30 minutes early.
The service was very attentive, our server came over multiple times to check on us and make sure that our food and drinks were good. And when I asked for hot sauce she literally came back in less than a minute.
I had the raspberry lemon drop per my friend Kali’s recommendation and it was delicious. I definitely recommend it too. The only downside is the price, nine dollars for a drink seems a bit on the spendy side.
The service and deliciousness of the drinks is why Im giving it four stars.
The food on the otherhand is just alright and honestly deserves three stars. They were out of salmon tonight which was disappointing. I ordered the Thai noodle salad w chicken. While it was a light and refreshing dish it wasn’t amazing.
The ambiance of the restaurant is nice, the friendly service and the deliciousness of the drinks will have me coming back.