Top Chinese Noodle Restaurant in Santa Cruz
Special Noodle
415 Ocean St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
Drove by Santa Cruz, didn’t expect this Chinese noodle restaurant provides authentic Chinese food, “AUTHENTIC!” Real Chinese food, well, also American Chinese food :) Dishes may not look good, but the flavor was excellent!
Top other services in Santa Cruz:
Taba Taba China Bistro
20 S Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030, United States
It's been a year and a half since I wrote my first review of Taba Taba China Bistro, so I think that an update is long overdue.This is a small family owned business. Ming (co-owner with her chef husband) emigrated from southern China in 1989. She's proud of their restaurant and her relationship with their many regular customers, and she always greets me with a smile, by name, even if I haven't been there in a while.Their enormous menu, with over 200 choices, offers everything you can imagine from a Chinese restaurant (with the possible exception of duck). It's mostly Cantonese but they also offer Mandarin style dishes such as MooShu Pork, Sichuan style Kung Pao Chicken, and popular Westernized staples such as Vegetable Chow Mein. Their Sichuan hot-and-sour soup is perfectly spiced, and their Wor Won Ton soup (“wor” means “everything”) is a meal in itself.The dining room is small but it does have one round table that seats up to eight and another that's large enough for six. There are a couple of cozy booths as well. It's nicely decorated with an elaborate mural covering the entire back wall.Based on continued excellent food and service over the years, I'm raising my rating from four to five stars. But I'm not alone in praising Taba Taba China Bistro. They just won a 2022 award for “Best Chinese Restaurant” in Los Gatos!ORIGINAL REVIEW:Taba Taba is Yummy Yummy!There are many fabulous restaurants to choose from in downtown Los Gatos. But sometimes you just crave some classic Chinese food. If that's the case, then join the many locals like me and my wife who have become regulars at Taba Taba China Bistro.This family-owned and operated restaurant is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. They offer lunch specials, dine-in service, and take-out (including party platters). You'll be greeted with a genuine smile and made to feel very welcome.My wife and I have ordered take-out often over the years, and everything we've tried has been good. Portions are generous and always cooked fresh to order.Heads up: Although their address is 20 S. Santa Cruz Ave., the entrance is around the corner on W. Main St.
Mos Dumplings
2301A Mission St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
My Bf and I stopped by here for dinner. Youre seated and then order from QR code on the table.We got:- Pan fried dumplings (very good, simple)- Mapo Tofu Dumplings (very creamy and tasty! My bf says he wishes it came with vegan cheese option, although I liked it as is since Im not vegan ^.^)- Spicy Korean Dumplings (super delicious and my fave! Soo good!)- Sesame Salad w/ Braised Tofu (it was nice to eat the dumplings with something lighter and fresh, since dumplings can be a bit heavy and filling)- Lastly we also got the Spicy Sichuan Noodle Soup (this was my Bfs favorite, he really liked this one!)Were from out of town so we ordered a lot of food and didnt finish half but all of it was tasty, reasonable price, and it was awesome to have left overs to take home, which lasted another 2.5 meals after.The best part was the service. All the staff members who we spoke to were so cute, sweet, and nice! We really enjoyed our time there. If it was closer, we would def go back! There are so many other items on the menu we wished we could try! Next time were in the area, we plan on stopping by.
Golden Triangle Cuisine
217 N Santa Cruz Ave Suite A, Los Gatos, CA 95030, United States
We, a family of 4 adults and a toddler stopped by Golden Triangle( Los Gatos ) this evening to grab a quick bite before heading home. We had been out all day and it was raining, we just decided to spend some time together at the restaurant. Let me start off by saying that weve been here multiple times and have never really had any issues. We have almost always enjoyed the food and the ambience. Not sure what went wrong yesterday. When we entered the restaurant and asked for a table, the staff at the entrance asked if he had a reservation ( we did not know we needed one, weve never really had to make one in the past), and we said we didnt. She was polite and did let us know that the table she was willing to offer was reserved for another party that was coming in an hour later and that we would have to leave by then. We agreed and she seated us. We sensed some irritation when we asked for a high chair for my toddler but we just brushed it aside as we knew that they were busy and were probably in a rush, we were provided one nonetheless. Next, I asked another hostess if there was a baby diaper changing station in the restroom and she snapped back with What changing station? I repeated my question with more clarity, this time around she just responded with No! Just a restroom! with some amount of irritation which again, I didnt think much of. She handed out the menu and repeated you dont have too much time to order, ok? The hostess that checked us in came back to take our orders and we did let her know that we were ready to place an order for our toddler and that we would be ready in a couple of mins to order main course for the adults. She got upset and started rushing us and said ok no, I was clear that we have only one hour for you, ok? You have to order soon and just then my 2.5 year old daughter reached out to shake her hand and said Hello, nice to meet you! (I have a chatty toddler and she was just happy to be at the restaurant), she withdrew her hand in annoyance and walked away and said that we would have to decide and that she would return in a few mins to take our order. This attitude, is something that I do not appreciate. Im not expecting every person out there to oblige and to reciprocate to friendly attitude from a toddler, but she neednt have reacted the way she did and we did not have to be reminded every 5 mins that there was a countdown. If they were super busy, they could have told us straight up that theyre not able to accommodate us, we would have taken a to-go. We, anyways were prepared to pack the rest of our meal closer to 7pm and head out in case we werent done by then. All, I want to say is that we arent paying less just because we have no reservation and do not have to feel obligated to anybody for accommodating us! Overall, the food was good but the service was pretty bad! Rude staff! I dont feel motivated to return here!
The Bywater
532 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030, United States
The service was great, however, food on my recent visit was not living up to how I remembered it. Last time, I got the special--a whole fish fried served with a Vietnamese-inspired slaw. It was so absolutely delicious, and creative, and unique that I thought it captured a beautiful point about Nola and the influencing cultures in the region. I was curious about other specials, but the most recent night we went there were no specials. Ive had the fried chicken, po boys, and gumbo from The Bywater. Theyre generally good, but a bit one note for me.This night, I ordered fried chicken. The portion sizes dramatically changed. Previously, it was a generous portion with 3 large, whole parts. This time I got 1 medium drumstick and 1 breast tender (not to be confused with a whole breast). I paid $20 for a small cup of beans with bacon and 2 pieces of chicken. Why wasnt this entree $14-$16 for 2 pcs? It was more lunch-sized than dinner-sized. It was fabulously breaded and well-seasoned, but strangely, the drumstick was dry and the chicken tender moist! (I usually like dark meat because it tends to be moist compared to white meat.)The Daves Famous Fried Mortadella sandwich was a hot mess, in a bad way. The bun was some soft bread that fell apart because of all the juices. If the bread was toasted, it needed more toasting. As soon as you picked it up, the bread would fall apart in your hands. I thought each component would be fried and assembled together, but it seemed only one part was pan-fried and the rest of it tasted like a warmed cold cut sandwich. The sandwich came with nothing on the side, not even a pickle spear.Im not sure why the food was so terrible compared to the last two times. Thankfully, The Bywater continues to have good raw oysters that are cheaper than most places (1 dz =$34). The mignonette sauce was a disaster. Do they put bbq rub in a cup of vinegar? Are they trying to cajun-up the mignonette sauce like that? It just tasted like spicy, smokey vinegar that didnt enhance or complement the oysters. Whoever was shucking that night was 9 for 12 for getting shell shards in our oysters. The mignonette sauce was so awful and I was tired of finding shell bits that I didnt want to risk ordering another dozen.If you want stiff drinks, every cocktail Ive had here will knock you hard. Theyre not particularily subtle or complex even though the menu makes them seem that way. The gin fizz here is not the frothy version.Maybe brunch is the way to go or--only dining when they have a blackboard special. I want to love this place and come back often, but there were too many things wrong. It might be a while until I give them a second chance.
Guang Zho
3150 Portola Dr #5101, Santa Cruz, CA 95062, United States
04.18.24 On the border of Santa Cruz & Capitola. Cantonese Chinese food. Lady owner was sweet!Small restaurant looks kind of run down on both the outside as well as the inside, needs very deep cleaning, new clear outdoor signage.Very inexpensive lunch specials were tasty enough, though the soup that came w.it was inedible (clear vinegary soup w.bamboo slices & tofu), long cabbage filled egg roll was ok, Beef in Black Bean Sauce & Ginger Beef were indistinguishable but both were good, lots of food, nice stir fried crunchy fresh vegetables, hot steamed white rice. Hot tea was fresh & good. Utensils & plating needs to be replaced.We would visit again.Also; restroom is on the outside and you must get a key to use it from the lady owner. Parking is limited, maybe 12-13 vehicles only.
Tramonti
528 Seabright Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95062, United States
We were visiting Santa Cruz for 4th of July weekend and happened upon Tramonti for dinner on the 4th of July after another place we tried around the corner was closed. We had an amazing experience! Especially in contrast to a very negative experience we had at another restaurant on the pier the day before.First off, we walked up to Tramonti randomly and asked if we could be seated for a party of 7, 4 adults and 3 children. We were asked if we had reservations. We did not. We were told it would be a 45-60 minute wait. We figured that was probably our best bet at this point anyhow, so we opted to wait.The hostess was very kind and accommodating. There was some outdoor seating where we could wait for our tables, we were even able to order some drinks for the adults and the children while we waited. There were some arcade machines inside for the kids while they waited. I doubt we were even waiting a half an hour before our table was ready.We sat on their outdoor patio. Im not sure if its a temp COVID setup or what, but the large picnic style table was nice and set up for us. I really enjoyed the outdoor setting.Shortly after sitting, a man who I presumed to be the owner came by and passionately described the evenings special in his Italian accent. At that moment, I knew we were in good hands and that we were in for an excellent dinner.Dinner did not disappoint! We ordered a wide selection from the menu, and everyone shared a little bit with everyone else, and it was all exquisite! This place has ruined Italian food for me. It will be hard to find anywhere in my neck of the woods that is nearly as good as this was.The staff treated us and our children with kindness, the service was great, given the quality and amount of food we ordered, I think everything was reasonably priced.I cant recommend this place enough! The next time were in Santa Cruz, Im sure well be back.
Aloha Island Grille
1700 Portola Dr, Santa Cruz, CA 95062, United States
Im not in Santa Cruz all that much. Thats the conundrum about living in Vallejo: so extremely far from all the great NorCal beaches. Stinson, Pacifica, and Santa Cruz: none of them a mere hop, skip, and jump away. Anyhow, I digress, as Im veering away from the point of this review. My friends and I had just finished up a boogie board session and we were crazy hungry. We had planned to hit up Pono after the beach, so we headed there... and were gracefully turned away. That, my friends, sucked. No one likes feeling turned away. So I hit up the ol trusty Yelp app and found the Aloha Island Grill. Mad and hungry (mad hungry, son?), we headed there in hopes of some good grub.Upon arriving, I see the line is out the door. Reasonably, I was a bit on the aggravated side as I was getting hungrier by the minute and the prospect of waiting in a line was slightly daunting. Still, the reviews for this place spoke highly of it, so I decided to wait it out. Also, it was very near closing time, so I wasnt sure if theyd still take our order. Fortunately, the long line moved quite briskly upon our arrival. We were able to get our order in. Very friendly servers as well, so very nice and chill. Cute to boot! So here on out, I just had to be patient for a few more minutes to get some food in my now insane stomach.The decor of this place is really nice. You get the total island/surfer town feel upon entering. The walls are chock-full of surf stickers, logos, related signage, and even some boards. Theres even TVs overhead that are playing some surf DVDs. Very nice touches in those areas.I was joyous upon the arrival of my food to the table, a mere few minutes after ordering. I had ordered the loco moco and an ala carte order of the teriyaki chicken. The food was nice and hot. First thing I tried was the loco moco. It was good. Well, better than good. It was definitely better than anything youd get at L&L. Next was the teriyaki. Oh my goodness. This was the best chicken teriyaki Ive ever had at a restaurant. Besides being juicy, it was tender and oh so very flavorful. I LOVE that it wasnt just some chicken that was slathered with tons of teriyaki and then flat-top grilled. No no, this was seasoned/marinaded just right and then it was cooked on an actual charcoal grill (YES, I am able to taste the difference, being a master home BBQer of sorts.) That teriyaki was, hands down, the best Ive ever had. Any joint, Japanese, Hawaiian, or otherwise, will be hard pressed to make something that tastes better.All in all, I like this place a lot and it absolutely sucks to have to live so far from such a cool joint. Next time Im in town for some boogie boarding, Ill definitely hit this place up again. A place with great grub that seems to appreciate my business.
Sabieng Thai Cuisine
1218 Mission St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
Oh, how the mighty have fallen..Ive lived in the Santa Cruz area for 20 years, and Sabieng had always been a mainstay for great Thai food. Haven't been there much since moving to Ben Lomond, but just visited today to get a lunch combo for my wife and I. We both got curry (red and green). They were both extremely disappointing, watered down, and the balance of flavors was off. Too much lime and fish sauce in the green curry and the red was so watery, it was more like a broth than a rich curry. The crab delights that came with my combo were possibly the worst I've ever had, undercooked and soggy. Unfortunately, most restaurants are being crippled by the extremely high cost of doing business in Santa Cruz, and like the town itself, they have been degreased substantially into a shell of their former selves. It's a sad reality of life in one of the most expensive places on earth. Sorry Sabieng, this will be our last visit. Thank you for having good food for so many years prior.