Kingfu Master

Not a bad place for beef noodle soup. Decent, but not a restaurant I’ll crave to come back.
[SERVICE]
Order before you sit down! They mainly speak Chinese, so be prepared to get some blank stares when they don’t understand you. They’ll only call out your food order in Chinese as well. Might have to show them your receipt when you see food bowls sitting at the counter.
[FOOD]
I tried their #1 Kingfu Braised Beef Brisket soup with thick hand-​cut noodle ($ 8.99). You’ll most likely get leftovers, so I would recommend sharing along with another dish. The portion size is HUGE, which was great, but soup is on the saltier side. Their «tea» egg needs to be cooked more though, it lacks flavor. It’s NOT supposed to just taste like a regular hard boiled egg.
If you have leftovers, try to separate the soup from the hand-​cut noodles. It doesn’t taste good if you try to reheat it again.

I ordered five minutes ago, and had to order my fourth choice because they don’t make the first three things I asked for «take too long,» and they close in (at the time) 15 minutes. Just now, I saw two groups start to walk into the restaurant but they were greeted with shouts of, «we’re closed!» so they walked out. Just as I am writing this I saw a third couple treated the same way.
Now, I’ve worked in restaurants for a long time. When we close at 9 o’clock, very often we would start cleaning at 8:30 and hope that we could get out a little earlier than usual. We knew, however that when we did that it was a bit of a risk, because when a customer comes in before the restaurant is closed, the customer gets what they want.
9 o’clock closing means 9 o’clock closing. It doesn’t mean we close at about 845 but stop serving certain items before that because it would keep us in the restaurant longer than we want to be. If you want to get home at 9:30, close your restaurant at 8:30. And certainly don’t be rude to people who want to eat during your posted hours.

This place was fantastic when it first opened! I was a bit turned off by the prices at first ($ 8.99 for beef noodle soup usually gets you a bigger portion), but decided to give it a try anyway. The beef noodle soup was one of the best I’d ever had! I’ve also tried their mini soup dumplings (XLB), minced pork noodle, takeout items, and boba. Everything was great in the first month!
But what happened?
Now every time I go, I wait at least 25 minutes for my food. Food is consistently too salty. Menu items often «run out» or become unavailable. Went in early in the morning for some boba once, and they said it wouldn’t be available for another hour! If you have it on your menu, and the item hasn’t run out due to excessive sales, I expect it to be ready during operating hours!
Service is hit or miss. Some of the cashiers are quick on their feet, and have great attitudes. Others… not so much.
Please step it up! I missed the way this place was before!

This is my third time here and I’m still waiting for my food. I’ve been waiting for 40 minutes for my beef noodle soup. After reminded them twice I came to talk to the manager and apparently they forgot about my order! She didn’t even bother to say sorry or feel bad that I’ve been waiting for so long so I asked to cancel my order because I was just so mad! but she said give them «two minutes». She finally gave me my food and again didn’t even apologize! Honestly I’m just so mad that I do not want to eat the beef noodle soup anymore. I placed my order at 7:02 and got out at 7:50. (I still have the receipt)
This place has good food but after this experience I will never come back again no matter how good their food is. They need to improve on their customer service! And please learn how to say sorry. I really want to let the owner knows so they can fix this because even the manger is clueless and unprofessional.
I’m very disappointed because this place has really good Chinese food but I do want to come back again due to their bad service and the unprofessional manager.

This place is amazing! I have been there at least 7 or 8 times so far. My favorite dish is the Pickled Cabbage and Lamb noodle soup with the knife cut noodles… But I have tried something different ALMOST every time, and have not had a bad dish. Very friendly, very clean! Took a friend from out of town here and he loved it too. Easily 5 stars… Nothing fast food about it. Fantastic noodle shop. Perfect for take out too!

I ordered 1 bowl of beef noodle soup. #1
1)26 minutes to get my single item to-​go order.
2) They only call your order number out in Chinese, I had to ask if it was my order. Why even have the sign outside in English?
3) The soup was just ok.
I won’t be back.

I only tasted the Hunan Rice Noodle！But it deserves five stars！Rice noodle is very Q！Very very spicy！It even has dried radish strip！ I can not believe I can have this in the US！
I felt very very thirsty after eating it. And I hate this feeling. Though I like its flavor，I kind of can not handle it. It is very very spicy.

Service here is terrible. It was clear that english was not the first language of the lady working the register because the communication was quite difficult. Luckily, they had pictures and the menu was in english because when trying to ask questions about the menu, it just made things more confusing due to the language barrier.
They specialized in Chinese noodle dishes, whether you want it dry or in soup form. The noodles are handmade. I ordered the traditional beef noodle soup. The broth was surprisingly good. Much lighter and favorable than others I’ve tried. The chunks of beef were probably one of the best i’ve had. They were tender and full of flavor. Each bowl comes with half of a hard boil tea egg.
I also ordered the xiao long bao. This item took a bit longer to come out as they had to steam it. It wasn’t too bad. There were pockets of the soup.
Seating is a bit limited.

Prices were okay. Food could’ve been better. Definitely felt like my food was way undersalted. It was nearly flavorless. I added so much of my own salt. Also, they kept getting my order wrong. I would’ve appreciated it if they had given me my entire order all at once. Instead, I got my noodles at one time. Then I got my egg. THEN I got my drink. I just want it all at once instead of having to get up three separate times just to get my entire meal! I was pretty annoyed at that. It was also a hot day and it was very stuffy inside the restaurant.
I got the knife cut noodles, because knife cut noodles have an amazing texture. I thought the prices were fair and the food was okay. I’m only disappointed by the flavorless broth. Perhaps I ordered the wrong thing. I guess I’ll have to give it another try.

Moderate prices, pretty tasty food. Really local to my place, I tried it the other day. Tried out the shao long bao, the number 2, and a noodle with spicy sichuan sauce (yes, I’m a fatty when trying new places). The shao long bao was really juicy and good, same with the number two. The noodle in spicy sichuan was just alright, but it may be because I ate it a few hours later (was too full from the first two).
The girl at the register was really nice, too.

Not bad for a fast food restaurant. This little restaurant is right next to Wholesome Choice, they are pretty hidden.
I came here because 302 was having a wait and my stomach was telling me to walk around to look for other food… I came across this place.
I got the #2 braised beef noodle soup, the portion was good and the price is about the same as class 302. My friend got #1 and he said it was just like mine but spicy version. I also got their dumplings (10pc) to share, it was good but the dumpling skin was a little thick and hard to chew. They served it on a paper plate which most of them was broken when I tried to pick them.
Overall, there’s a lot of UCI students here– I guess it’s because this places service is faster than 302. You pay at the front for your food and wait for your order. The prices here are attractive to students around this area. I’ll come back next time to try their drinks!

Yum! Love the noodles choices — they have dao xiao (knife cut) noodles!
The set-​up is more similar to a fast-​food place: order at the register, wait for your number, and seat yourself. The main menu is kind of confusing as there’s a larger one on the right showing the soup options but doesn’t specify that you can choose your noodles, while the other menu behind the register says DIY menu, with Step 1, 2, etc. showing sauce & noodle choices, and then house special dishes, which I think are just the extra side dishes you can order. My friend ordered #2, and didn’t even know that there were different options for noodles since the main menu doesn’t show it at all. I also wish the menu showed what was included with each order. I asked the cashier if there was an egg included in #1, and he said no, egg is extra charge. When my order comes, lo and behold, there is an egg in my soup.
Despite the menu confusion and poor communication, the food itself was good. I ordered #1, Braised Beef Brisket Soup with knife cut noodles, which were thick, doughy, and pretty fresh tasting. The soup was flavorful and the beef was tender, but pretty fatty. It’s a small shop and located on the left of Wholesome Choice.

After seeing mixed reviews about this spot, I had to try it out for myself because I was really intrigued by the Beef noodle soup. All these Taiwanese spots in irvine, and everyone has their own variation, with their own take on broth, noodles, etc.
I should have got the beef noodle soup to compare, but ended up getting the Beef Tripe noodle soup with egg noodle. Now, when I asked what kind of noodle went best with the type of soup, he looked at me blankly, and pointed to the noodle pictures on the board. Eh.
So anyway, I get my noodle soup and its a big bowl… but its not filled to the brim, and the pieces of protein (stomach, beef, and beef balls) are almost non-​existent. For $ 9 a bowl for noodle soup, you would HOPE there was more, but there wasn’t. *shrug*
The flavor was decent, which is what keeps the score up. Sans me adding about spoonfuls of both Soy sauce, vinegar, and chili oil. But it was otherwise good.
The noodle texture was also pretty good. Not sure if its fresh made, or previously dried, but the texture was OK. Nothing spectacular, but also not horrid.
I’m not a stickler for décor, (as stated by other reviews here) I could care less if you had posters, or designs… I say let your food speak for you… design and such are for upscale places where we also eat with our eyes, and enjoy the ambiance… this is the type of place to satiate your stomach, nothing more.
Overall, its was just Ok. Maybe i’ll give it another Shot and try the Beef Noodle. Soup… But I already know places like A&J offer great alternatives.

I came here recently with my parents and boyfriend after seeing people post about it on Unilocal.I’m always a fan of noodle soup places and so I was eager to try this new establishment out. We ordered two #1, one #2, and one #4. They gave a generous portion of meat that’s both tasty and tender. I got the spicy beef noodle because from previous experience at other restaurants, usually the spicy beet noodle has more flavor and bold taste than regular braised beef noodle. However, after trying some of the broth from the non-​spicy braised beef noodle, I think I actually prefer the non-​spicy one. The chili oil from the spicy beef was a bit too strong and overpowered the original taste of the broth.
I believe there are 4 or 5 noodle options that you can choose from. I only remember egg noodle, knife-​cut noodle and glass noodle (?) (or vermicelli?). I got the knife-​cut noodle this time, but I will try their egg noodle next time. Some pieces of the knife-​cut noodle were a bit too big and the texture was slightly too doughy.
The restaurant is small and has very limited seating. The restaurant is open and connected to Wholesome Choice next door, but I’m not sure if you’re allowed to bring the food over and sit at the tables inside Wholesome Choice. There are tables lined up outside between the market and the restaurant but those also get filled up very quickly.
*Note — When we went, we saw a poster that advertised «New Items Coming Out!» We thought those items were not available yet and the poster was just kind of like a «coming soon» poster. However, when I asked the server when the items will be released, she said that they are already available. Wish we knew so that we could have tried their steamed buns (xiaolong bao) as well!

If you dine with a friend or significant other, don’t expect your food to come out all at once … HORRIBLE! Here’s an example order 9, 10, 16, 12, 14, 11, and I’m still waiting for mine! It’s been 15 minutes 5 more and I’m giving this place 1 star.
Food wise it’s average to good but nothing amazing.
Guess what they screwed up AGAIN!!! Both times I come here lol.
1 star it is!!!
FYI this was for an order of Beef Noodle Soup

I tried the Lamb noodle soup with these wide flat noodles. Lamb was so tender, and the picked veggies in it was yummy. The wide noodles were all thickness and all lengths it was fun to eat. A lot were unfortunately folded long ways, so it was hard to eat because it gets doughy, tough, and hard to chew. There were A LOT of noodles to begin with anyway, so I was able to eat the ones that were not mangles in clumps and still managed to be full.
Service was good! Place was clean.
It’s next to Wholesome Choice!

+ Good prices
+ Boba/​tea next door at Wholesome Choice
+ Friendly staff
+ Fast service
+ Good portions w/​large pieces of meat
+ Outdoor seating
-/​+ Limited seating
I didn’t even know this place existed until recently so my gf and I decided to give it a try. It is a pretty simple place, but the soup base, meat, and noodles were very good. Some dishes were quite spicy and you could select from about 4 different types of noodles.
Other similar types of establishments give you VERY little meat, but not here. My beef noodle dish had these huge cubes of beef that were very tender and tasty.
While there is quite a bit of seating inside (and outside), the shopping complex gets a lot of traffic so it may be hard to find a seat during the peak lunch hours. I’m not sure how dinner times are.

Another Taiwanese beef noodle in Irvine! According to other Unilocalers, kingfu master had the best beef noodle in OC… but I disagree… whomp whomp.
The braised beef was very tender but it was too salty and fatty for me. My first bite was of the beef cube and I thought I took a big bite of salt! I was too scared to try the broth but after a few bites of the noodle I attempt to taste the broth which was not too salty. I guess they braised the beef in a different pot? So that’s my beef about this (no pun intended =P)! The knife-​cut noodle was good: fresh and thick.
Noodle mixed with soybean paste (#10): we ordered this was egg noodles and it tasted okay. I’m not a fan. The sauce was a little too sweet.
Xao long bao: they’re no DTF xlb! They were juicy but the dumpling skin was a little thick. The meat was pretty good. Be prepared to wait for at least 20 minutes! I finished my beef noodle before we got our xlb and I’m a slow eater… be patient?
Service: the manager or owner took our order and was very helpful with suggestions. She made conversation with us while we were paying. After we ate, she came by to ask us how the food was then asked us to clean after ourselves by putting the bowls and trays away if we’re done eating… ummm, if I were her, I’d tell my new customers that but would offer to clean the table off (at least this time)! I felt like I was being scolded for not putting my plates away after I eat (but I wasn’t even finished)! However, her new server who didn’t hear our conversation came by later and said she’d take away the trays for me.
Price: $ 8-​$ 10 per order. Portions are pretty decent.
Overall: nothing special about this place. Just another quick place to eat at when you don’t want to drive outside of Irvine for good Taiwanese food.

Thoughts of Carl Douglas’s song, Kung Fu Fighting, filled my head as I heard that a new place «Kingfu Master» had opened:
Oh-​hoh-​hoh-​hoah
Oh-​hoh-​hoh-​hoah
Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting
Those kicks were fast as lightning
In fact, it was a little bit frightening
But they fought with expert timing…
Kingfu Master is located next to the grocery store, Wholesome Choice in Irvine, and even has a side door that connects to Wholesome Choice. Seating is limited to a handful of tables inside and some tables outside. This place is not recommended for large groups and is more of a To-​Go restaurant. Ordering is done at the front cashier and the staff is very friendly and helpful. I got here before the lunch rush, but as I was finishing up my meal I saw that there was a decent crowd coming in to challenge the Kingfu Master and sample their cuisine!
I went with the lamb noodle soup with hand cut noodles ($ 8.99). I was pleasantly surprised at how big my bowl was and it had a fantastic amount of tender lamb. The noodles I chose were hand cut noodles as they were highly recommended. The noodles tasted great and had fantastic texture, although they were a little wider than I had expected. The broth was perfect and not too salty and not too overpowering, taste wise. I enjoyed the tender pieces of lamb. This was the perfect dish for a chilly day especially when I added a bit of siracha sauce to my dish!
One of my co-​workers ordered the noodle mix with spicy Sichuan sauce which came with some ground beef on top ($ 7.99). While he really enjoyed his dish, it was a little too spicy for him, but he’s a bit of a wimp when it comes to spicy dishes. I was like dude, it says «spicy Sichuan sauce» what do you expect? And he was like, I know, but this is a unique dish that he hasn’t had in a long time.
There are additional items on the menu such as stir fried noodle dishes, egg rolls, mango smoothie, boba tea, etc. There are definitely a lot of good things to choose from here. I think price wise the main dishes are about a $ 1 higher than they should be.
Overall Kingfu Master is a good place to go on a cold day! I’ll be be back to try some of the other dishes and see if it can continue to live up to my expectations and the expectations of the other patrons. Till we meet again, Kingfu Master! Xie Xie!

I came through here during lunch with Van D. (who noticed it on the hot &new). The place was a bit tough to find. At first I thought it was inside the Wholesome choice market and technically it is but it has a left wing all to itself. The place is small and cozy and the people seem friendly but there were a couple of things that could use improvement. They ran out of trays so that was a bummer. They also were out of napkins at the table we were sitting at too and the sauces were half way gone.
When the food came out it seemed like it was gonna be the savior but we soon noticed that the beef to noodle ratio was horrible. They gave us way too much noodles and hardly any meat at all. The noodles, though tasty, became tedious to eat after a while. I had the #2 on the menu and it was pretty spicy but not as much as I had anticipated. The flavor was just ok and the broth was lacking something. The only good thing really about the meal was the egg that came with it.
I see potential in this place but they definitely gotta work on the flaws here. The food too has plenty of potential. Sadly this is more of a Kingfu grasshopper than master but a nice try though. I might return if I’m in the area. The service was really nice and the place was quite clean.