Dumpling & Noodle House

This is perhaps one of the most non-​Korean Korean food establishments I have been to in my life. I guess I should have expected it from the really random location: smack dab in the middle of the Irvine/​Tustin Marketplace between a Thai Spice and Yogurtland.
Random.
But hey, I felt obliged to try out the place at least once and so I stopped by on a random Sunday to try out the food they had to offer.
I ordered Bibimbap (mixed rice) and my friend ordered Jjampong (spicy seafood noodles). We also ordered steamed dumplings on the side because we were starving and my eyes are always three to ten times bigger than my stomach…
The Bibimbap was mediocre at best, which is really hard for me to understand. I feel like Bibimbap is something that really shouldn’t go wrong! The Jjampong wasn’t horrible but it was by no means spectacular. Also, the portions are really mismatched. The Jjampong bowl was HUGE while the Bibimbap portion was average, and the dumplings were fairly portioned. Oh, and the taste of the dumplings could best be described as average as well (which is disappointing from a placed called Dumpling and Noodle House).
So the food: Meh. It was okay.
The service? Pretty bad. The waiters were curt and somewhat snobby: they didn’t say a word as they nonchalantly tossed our menus on the table. It wasn’t horrifyingly poor, but it definitely didn’t make me feel welcomed at the restaurant. Customer service fail.
Overall, this place is not somewhere that I would return to of my own accord.

Based on my dish (chicken bibimbap) this place is 2 stars. But I am bumping this up another star, because my sister’s bulgogi was really tasty.
Compared to other Korean establishments, I was kind of bummed that they only gave out 3 little side dishes. The kimchee was the best out of the three. They even gave us a second serving of it when they brought our meals out.
Much to my disappointment the rice of the chicken bibimbap never got crispy! It came out in the sizzling hot pot, but it didn’t do anything. The chicken itself didn’t have any flavor, but the «Korean BBQ sauce» added much needed flavor.
Frankly, I had higher expectations for this place. It wasn’t very good, yet it wasn’t that bad. I’m sure there are much better Korean restaurants in Irvine, so I don’t think I’ll be back to this one.

My brother recently ordered dinner to-​go here and after looking at the menu, I decided to get the bulgogi plate. For a little less than $ 10, you’ll get cabbage salad, white rice and the entrée. The meat was swimming in oil; it was ridiculously greasy. Not to mention, there were way too much onions. Although it smelled good, I couldn’t get over how oily it was. But for the very hungry, it was an alright meal.

Service:
decent enough for me to not complain but nothing amazing that i would want to talk about.
Food:
One of the dish, stream dumplings, was pretty good. I think its is one of their main dishes, so that was pretty nice.
I was really craving for black bean noodles and that was why I went there but epic fail there. Their black noodles didn’t have much taste and it was just very watery. I do not recommend this place if you are looking for black bean noodles.

Since it’s cold weather and we were meeting friends at Gen for dinner, my husband and I wanted something light after shopping at Target. This place was just around the corner so we stopped by.
We ordered a few dishes:
1) Steamed dumpling — I thought it was pretty good last time I was here but it’s not anymore. In fact, Myung Dong’s dumpling is better.
2) Jajangmyung (noodles in black Bean sauce) — I thought it was actually pretty good. My husband thought it was ok, he prefer Chinese jajangmyung.
3) Ramen with don katsu — I think they should really said it’s Korean Ramen because the soup is quite spicy. Granted we weren’t expecting Santouka quality ramen but wasn’t exactly expecting it to be so peppery spicy.
4) Jjambbong (spicy noodles with seafood) — This is a huge portion, I didn’t realize there was a smaller portion until I saw the bowl. This is still very good and I really like the deep seafood flavor.
Suggestions, only order korean theme dishes. Those seems to be the safer bets.

The service is kind of slow, we got there around 11:30 and they told us it would be a while before we would get our food because they had to make the sauce (I guess then we know it’s fresh!).
The kimchi was kind of dry but the people that work there are friendly.
We ordered the noodles with black bean sauce and the steamed dumplings. The dumplings were kind of bland and just OK but the noodles with black bean sauce was pretty good. I’ve had better sauce but the noodles were chewy and fresh tasting. I also prefer diced onions but here they give you big slices of onion.
Prices aren’t too bad, about $ 20 for two bowls of the noodles and an order of dumplings.
It was kind of hard to find at first, it’s in the same plaza as Baja Fresh, Panda and Yogurtland.

Disgusting. My coworker and I stumbled upon this place for lunch and I really wish we’d have gone to Thai Spice or Baja Fresh instead.
Service– slow, not very friendly, seemed unaware of the fact that we had an hour for lunch and that they may want to pick up our food to give to us.
Food– GROSS. Chicken Katsu Curry was the worst thing I’ve put in my mouth. EVER. EVER. EVER. The chicken was burnt on the outside, dry yet rubbery inside. The sauce made me want to vomit. I just ate the rice.
Price– too high for this gross food. I should not be paying $ 10 for something that I took 2 bites of and decided I’d rather not put near my mouth again.
I will happily avoid this place in the future.

Food are good, but the service? It was the WORST!!! (Attitute, manner & etc)
Those servers have no idea how to serve customers… (of course, it would not be for all of them, but definetely most of them!)
I sincerely like to suggest them to just quit & go home if they don’t want to work as they are supposed to be. (their stupit & rude attitute can ruin entire image/​reputation of the restaurant! poor owner)

I am usually one to check out the Unilocal review of a place before I enter it. I failed to do that upon entering Dumpling & Noodle House. We sat down, started looking over the menu, and then I looked. 2.5 stars. Uh oh, are we going to get food poisoning? I told BF the rating and he wanted to leave. Then I pointed out that Ingrid V (who I have come to trust!) just gave them 5 stars last month. That eased his mind and we stayed.
— Free soda! You are given tiny cups, but it’s free and that is awesome.
— They were out of King Dumplings, and BF was bummed about that.
— The vegetable egg rolls had an okay flavor, but the skins were super thick.
— BF’s Chicken Katsu with Curry was good. It was a large piece of white meat chicken, already sliced, covered in a large pouring of a curry gravy. We both liked it. I liked dipping the egg rolls in the curry.
— My beef ramen bowl was good. I read people complain that the ramen is the packaged kind from Maruchan. It definitely was, but the broth wasn’t. The noodles were A-​OK for me. The broth was good, I liked the veggies in it. The beef was fried (I was not expecting that) and almost tasted like chicken fried steak. Odd, but edible.
— The bill was about $ 20 for lunch. Not bad. The service was okay, the guy checked on us a few times. Our food was out very quickly.
— The place is more of a 3.5 stars for me, but I bumped it up to 4 because I don’t think the overall rating of 2.5 stars is justified for this place.

Met one of my favorite people here after work!
Water pitcher with glasses makes it quite convenient to obtain water.
Ban chan! Didn’t take a pic due to talking too much trying to catch up!
Pickles and kimchi where awesome!
Scanning the menu, woohoo! They have kimchee ramen
!
I am a devout ramenaholic and I have to say I know my ramen. This was one tasty PACKAGED ramen! So disappointing… Had I known I would have ordered the bulgogi bibimbap. Alas, I did not know… Nothing more needs to be said about my choice.
THE END
Friend’s bulgogi bibimbap
She loved it! Drool…
Dumplings
These were quite delish! Will definitely get these again.
Ambiance — 3 Stars — Don’t like TV’s in a restaurant. I don’t even like them when I am dining alone — too much of a distraction
Food — Dumplings — 4 Stars and ramen — just FOHget it!
Service — 2 Stars — slow and when asked about our dumplings he said «they should be coming out soon», instead of «I will check on them and get back to you»
I don’t think I will be back…

«Anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies with its back to heaven is edible.» –Cantonese saying. Source: The Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-​Fei Lo
This place is the nicest surprise I’ve had all week long!
The Food:
Steamed Dumplings:
Delicious. So very delicious! Even more so with soy sauce and vinegar readily available as a table condiment.
Complimentary Pickles and Kimchi:
Droolworthy. The flavors matched with everything!!!
Bulgogi Bibimbap:
Fresh veggies, perfectly steamed rice, killer in-​house made spicy soy paste. Super tasty bulgogi! My favorite part of the dinner!
Spicy Chicken with Rice:
My guy’s dinner with tender, savory and spicy. The flavors were bold and delicious.
An extra plus… they leave you two water cups and a whole large container so you never have to worry about needing refills!
The Service:
The service was fantastic! We let our server know it was our first time and he was excited to make recommendations, often asking what we liked. At the end of the meal, when the eatery had slowed down a bit, the guy in the back cooking (he can see us, as the kitchen is all glass) came out and asked me how I liked the bibimbap. LOL, apparently I was eating it wrong, and should have slathered much more of the in-​house chili paste into the rice. I told him that I was weak with spicy food. He chuckled telling me that he makes it with 75% soy paste so there wasn’t anything to worry about! I guess news travels fast when you tell them you’re new! It’s really awesome to see someone take so much pride in their restaurant.
The Atmosphere:
Nice little hole-​in-​the wall. There is a large TV at the end of the restaurant showing cool Korean shows. Looked to me like their version of MTV. It was packed in there. And everyone seemed to be very much enjoying their food.
I would most certainly come back! Geez, in fact I would totally order Dumplings ahead and take them to any pot-​luck or party. They’re very reasonably priced! The Dumpling and Noodle House pretty much made inner Little Nomster happy for a very long time!

Want Shin Ramen done by the experts? Come here.
Although this place isn’t all high-​endy, I come here when I just need to be fed. We got the udon, ramen, and fried dumplings the last time we came and were both quite satisfied with our selections.
The ramen is shin ramen perfection. If you’re looking for some kinda Japanese ramen, I suggest you go somewhere else before you get disappointed and rank this places lower than it already is. If you haven’t already, try the cheese ramen! It’s like middle school all over again when you dipped your hot cheetos in cheese dip! (or was that just me?)
The udon wasn’t as bad as I expected to be… it was a huge portion and tasted better than what it’s cheapo pricetag warned.
The fried dumpling came as a surprise to us both– they were super good! You could tell that they didn’t skimp on the meat and the texture had a nice balanced blend of veggies and pork.
Overall, come here for a low-​key meal and you experience will be more than satisfactory :)

Duh to me! I go to a dumpling & noodle house and I order a rice dish (chicken bimbim bop). Maybe I will try their dumplings and noodles next time.
My rice dish was blah! It cost $ 10.00 which is a rip off and didn’t taste that good. I wanted to find a fast food Korean place but it just didn’t happen this time.
I would give it one star, but gave an extra star for my mistake. ha!

After eating here many times now I can honestly say, eat the steamed dumplings! They are really really good. The chewy cold noodles are good and kimchi fried rice is decent, but don’t have any of their Japanese offerings *bleh* — just don’t!
The dumplings are 4 stars and I would give them 4 stars if they had more than 3 – 4 items I like.

OMFG… why didn’t I just listen to the reviews!!!
Came here with Ryan M. today for what I thought would be a good meal of jajangmyun (noodles in black bean sauce).
We walk in, we’re sat and given menus. 15 minutes go by before our order is taken. In fact, one of the servers took another table’s order before we had to try and make eye contact to get him or his colleague to notice us. Lucky for them I didn’t have steam coming out my ears since Ryan and I were busy choppin it up.
My bowl of noodles come out in about 10 mins but Ryan’s ramen comes out about 5 – 7 minutes later. Not cool. He ordered the cheese ramen which was basically a bowl of (packaged) ramen with a slice of Kraft’s Single cheese thrown on top. My jajangmyun was ok. But the sauce’s consistency was very thick and the julienned cucumber slices weren’t fresh. The «banchan» were 3 small dishes of cabbage kimchi, pickled daikon cubes, and sliced yellow daikon.
Total came to $ 13, before tip. Service was atrocious. They really need to up their game BIG time in the service area. There just seemed to be such a huge disconnect between the servers and the customers, and it is not a big restaurant at all. Train the staff or hire new people… do something! Bad service on top of mediocre food = BIG FAIL.

Without going past Irvine/​Tustin, I came by here looking for rabokki (ramen noodles + ddukbokki) or ddukbokki. Found both, thanks Unilocal!I first tried rabokki in Seoul when I was 8 years old… at some food court in a huge supermarket. I remember thinking everything was too spicy but kept wanting more.
The rabokki here was ok. Plenty for two people. Mild spicy, more ricecakes would have been better. Too much cabbage…
The fried dumplings were just ok. Cute crescent shape with lots of filling but the actual taste was a bit lacking for me — something was missing. It wasn’t just salt either. I think it was the meat, not enough flavor.
Both dishes will satisfy you but I don’t think you’ll leave jumping for joy. I was hoping to find my close-​by go-​to ddukbokki/​rabokki place but oh well. I’ll come back here if I’m really desperate for some. Otherwise I’m going to have to trek out to Garden Grove or K-​Town.
Oh, and I hear JuJu Pocha on Jeffrey has decent ddukboki so that place is next to try! :)

This place is close to my parents’ house. We come here sometimes if we want quick Korean food nearby (usually late at night when most other Korean places nearby are closing).
It’s okay. Nothing fancy. Actually, it’s pretty mediocre.
The ddukbokki here was somewhat watered down in taste. It had some spiciness but the sweetness seemed to overpower the heat.
The mul mandoo (boiled dumplings) were a watery mess. Not only were the dumplings served practically drowning in the water on the serving plate, but the filling inside the dumplings were pretty much unseasoned.
The udon was decent though not much different from what you can buy and make from the grocery.
All in all, if you live nearby or have a fairly late night craving when not much else is open, it’s an okay choice. But i’d rather not go here if it’s at all possible.

2.5 stars
Ok…I’m down-​grading this place.
Samantha ordered the ramen — which can be classed as a noodle :) — and as Catherine W. said. She was expecting a piping hot bowl of steaming broth and noodle. Instead we get this metal balti-​style beaten up bowl that was small. That was ½ filled with instant Doll noodle and some chicken cutlet. Not good at all… let alone for $ 7 – 8.
My octupus on rice was spicy as described on the menu, but it has been better in the past.
But as a 9pm dining spot on a Tues night this place is still an option. The moral of this review is tread carefully as you order from the menu. Avoid ramen and dumplings. Udon was ok last time I tried.

After coming here several times, I have to admit that this place is just A-​OK — not sure what I was thinking the first time around, maybe I was just sooo happy a korean restaurant opened up within walking distance of my house.
Steamed Dumplings ($ 5.49) — the skin is not homemade and very thin. This isn’t anything special, but it satisfies. 3 stars.
Jajangmyun/​Noodles in Black Bean Sauce ($ 6.49) — I actually like the jajangmyun here, but I think it’s hard to go wrong with this dish. The noodles are nice and chewy. The sauce is flavorful, though I still think Chinese jajangmyun is the best. 3 stars.
Soonde/​Korean sausage ($ 8.49) — I loove soonde, and they give you a huge portion here! It’s cheaper to buy at Korean markets, but this definitely hits the spot when I feel a massive craving coming on. 4 stars.
Tempura Roll ($ 4.99) — Ok this was pretty gross. It tasted like the prepackaged sushi rolls at Costco. 1 star.
Chik Nangmyun/​Black chewy Arrowroot Noodles ($ 7.99) — this is my go-​to dish here. I love the crushed ice and the noodles are topped with thinly sliced cucumbers, hot paste, and a boiled egg. Really hits the spot on a hot day. 4 stars.
Labokgi/​Volcano with Ramen ($ 9.99) — The texture of the rice cakes are nice, but it is slightly watered down. If you look at the color, it is not as red as I think it should be. Not as good as other places, but I’d still eat it. 3 stars.
As you can see, the food here really depends on what you order. The majority of the menu is carb-​based, but what else can you expect from a place called «Dumpling and Noodle»? The portions here are pretty huge, and the food satisfies my korean cravings when I’m on the go and want something quick. Another plus — their soda is free!

This place used to be Ozeki Noodles in the Tustin Marketplace food court. After seeing the picture that Angela C. posted, I was like dude, this looks good! I gotta try it! The Labokgi (spicy rice cakes with ramen) is quite big, almost 2 meals in one dish. I thought the dish was just whatevers. It’s not bad, but nothing too special about it. The «dukboki» was kind of runny, a little too sweet (although I liked it that way), and it was definitely lacking more fish cakes. The ramen, is a nice complement because it absorbs to the runniness of the dish. Nothing spectacular. It’s kind of like one of those «why didn’t I come up with that!?» It’s a simple idea that works. The side dishes were just picked radishes and kimchi, but you can’t expect too much from a «fast food» restaurant.
This is what my friend, Greg T., said: (exactly with bullet points and all)
Volcano
— not enough fish cakes
— too sweet
— volcano was too flowly (too wet)
Cold noodle
— noodles not soft enough
— broth not enough flavor
Overall, the portions are pretty huge for it’s price. But then again, you’re paying at least $ 10! Unless you get the $ 6 ramen. The volcano with ramen is more meant for 2 people to share. I had leftovers! (I almost always NEVER have leftovers). They also have free drinks (soda dispenser) so the bonus .5 stars. But then again the catch is they have super small cups. 3.5 stars for this place.