Best bang for your buck in all of Campustown, and my personal favorite of all Asian places. Employees were super friendly and helpful.

Food #610 preserved egg and pork porridge #604 house special bun House special bun was solid, 7 out of 10. Meat was a on the oily side but otherwise this was good. The porridge (congee) was 4 out of 10 for me. Lots of corn starch added, though it got thinner as I ate more. The taste seemed like MSG, though I am not sure how much was from the preserved egg. This was less than $10 and a big portion. I would have preferred less volume if it meant less corn starch. Ambiance: Pros for authenticity: the music playing are Chinese artists like JJ Lin. Cons: a bit of a musty smell when I walked in. For context, it had rained all day. I realize I'm not the target market (university student), though the food was disappointing. read more

C-U LaLa Noodle - Preserved egg and pork porridge (congee) - Noodles Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

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First of all, do NOT order online for pick up or take out since it is much more expensive. The meat dishes (pork,beef,etc.) in store were $16.99-$17.99. I was going to order online but they were all around $22-25. The rice special lunches in store were $9.99 but online is around $15. I actually came because my friend loved to come here a couple years ago and said it was his favorite restaurant on campus. I ordered the pork lunch special. And I was extremely disappointed. As seen in the picture when you open your food, there's just a whole ton of cabbage. I then sifted through it and counted less than 8 pieces of meat. And the bottom of the box was padded with a thick layer of rice. I also ordered a stewed pork bun. It lacked flavor and the meat to bread ratio was extremely off. I assumed because of COVID, prices went up (at least online) and less expensive ingredients were being used(meats) and more cheap materials were used to complete customer orders (rice and veggies). I know many restaurants have done this but my order was just laughably disappointing. Also I came to order on a Sunday afternoon. I was placing my order when the cashier told me that the cook was out and they couldn't make over 50-60% of the menu. That put me off a bit as I was originally going to order two things from the menu but they were both "unavailable". I think there should've been a note in the menu so customers would be notified before they spend 5 minutes looking at the menu to decide. Anyways that was a slight tangent. But another reason I gave this place 2 stars is because the cashier and workers were quite short. They would interrupt you while talking. It's just not the customer service I would expect. The only redeeming factor I believe was that one of few pieces of meat I had actually tasted pretty good. Besides this I do not think I will be back or will be recommending this place to anyone else. If you're craving authentic Chinese food, I believe there are many better options on campus (Northern Cuisine, Lao Sze Chuan, etc.). read more

C-U LaLa Noodle - 604. Stewed Pork Bun - Noodles Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

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I forget the soup we had BUT it was full of flavor. Tasty veggie broth dressed with a by vinegar and peanuts. The eggplant was my favorite! All in all everything I enjoyed my meal. read more

C-U LaLa Noodle - Noodles Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

One of my favorite noodle places in CU -- definitely a underrated and kind-of hidden restaurant! I like their soupy noodles more than dry noodles, but will still happily eat both. I've also gotten their lunch specials with rice (changes daily) and it is so worth it. Food is large portions and tastes authentic! Every time I come here, there are so many international friends so you can tell this place hits home!! read more

C-U LaLa Noodle - 101. Noodles with Braised Beef Soup - Noodles Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

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Very solid, authentic Chinese eats. Big portions, super affordable prices. Hard to go wrong if you're craving some hole-in-the-wall Chinese. Loved: * Mapo tofu - well done sauce, very fragrant * Braised beef noodle soup - lots of tender beefy chunks and a rich broth * Eggplant with garlic sauce - a classic. Tender eggplant and a really good sauce read more

Underrated Eats in CU-area I ordered a bowl beef noodle soup and was pleasantly taken aback by how earthy, clean and filling the noodles were. This place is a few bucks cheaper than some of the other Green St. restaurants that sell similar style noodles. There were generous amount of beef, of course I would assume that you can add more for extra charge . I wasn't sure if they had a spicy option for this dish, so I asked for spicy and they added chilli oil for me. read more

C-U LaLa Noodle - Beef Noodle Soup - Noodles Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

Love love this place. Me and my husband come here all the time. You know it's good when it's filled with international students and food is served on home style plates. My personal favorite is their szechuan beef flank, with its soft texture and tofu skin mixture. The portions are pretty big and very cost effective. They used to have free soy milk Chinese style but I think they discontinued this recently. Their menu is pretty vast with a lot of options. Decent quality authentic Chinese food for a good price. read more

Great food. The cashier lady keeps yelling, and don't you dare to ask a question, she will insult you.

DO NOT go to this restaurant ! The lady boss is beyond insanely rude, completely out of nowhere! I just said I was there to pick up my takeout, and she starts screaming at me, 'What's the order number?! I haven't received this order!' 'Didn't you just order a bottle of tea?!' And then she just keeps yelling, nonstop, acting so unbelievably rude and aggressive! read more

If you are craving a warm bowl of beef noodle soup, definitely try their Braised Beef Noodle Soup! It's only $10, which is a few bucks cheaper than some of the other Green St. restaurants, the beef is super tender, and the broth is a lot less oily! If you like a little spice, ask for chili oil too! read more

When you first walk in C-U Lala Noodle, you are immediately welcomed with a wave of beef noodle soup smell. This is one of the few restaurants on campus that serves the most authentic Chinese cuisines. My favorite is their lamb bun, as it doesn't taste too gamey, and it's the perfect size as a side of any dish. I love all the flavors that are packed in there. The bun is not cut all the way through so no filling no spills out when you eat it. I love it! read more

C-U LaLa Noodle - Lamb bun - Noodles Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

"Ohh La La" is what you will be saying as you nod in pure joy and satisfaction from your delicious Chinese meal at C-U LaLa Noodle. We made a quick detour to Urbana-Champaign and Chinese food was on top of mind so we ran into this hole in the wall on the UIUC campus. Ordered - Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry. This is a pretty standard Chinese menu item, but definitely hit the spot. The portions were large and it was on-point in sauce levels to spread across the rice. - Cold Appetizer Platter. Yummy. This is a first I've seen at a Chinese restaurant. There is an assortment of items from cold potatoes, pig eggs, and a celery mix. Anyone who enjoys 'drinking food' would like this. - Lamb Bun. Tasty and different. I have had dim sum-style buns but this was a little different. The breading had the texture of something you'd get at a Middle Eastern restaurant - roti. The meat was marinated well and will surely activate your taste buds! Try C-U if you get a chance the next time you're in the area. read more

Really good value for the dishes here. The portions are good, and the flavor is good as well. I don't have enough experience with X'ian food to compare, but i thought the food tasted delicious. The lamb bun bread i believe is supposed to be a little dryer, but i think the one we might might have been stale? It seemed a little too dry. Fortunately, we could dip that bun in the sauce and soup of the noodles dishes we got, and it was awesome for that. Service is pretty bare bones, but you should expect that at a place like this. read more

I was on campus taking care of business when I stopped by for lunch. It was relatively packed with students by 11am on a Wednesday, but they were able to get my order prepared quickly. As it was rainy and cold, i ordered beef noodle soup (#101). The serving size was decent. I was pleasantly surprised with the vegetables and half egg that came with the noodle. The only thing that i would add to it was a touch of chili oil. I suppose i could have asked them to make it spicy! read more

This place is a definitely a hidden gem! Big portion sizes for a great price. Staff was very welcoming and friendly. The food tasted very homey. read more

Ordered takeout from C-U LaLa Noodle and the food was amazing! The portions were great, and everything was cooked to perfection -- raving five stars across the board. Would undoubtedly come here again, and recommend anyone on campus to give it a try read more

C-U LaLa Noodle - 702. Spicy Chicken - Noodles Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

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The place is kind of run down. Their AC is hardcore leaking, so there was a giant slippery area right as you walk in. The communication with staff was difficult. #301 was ok at best. #102 gave my wife severe food poisoning, and the taste pretty poor. read more

Good authentic options, with generous portion sizes. Beef dishes are a solid option. The buns are good as well. Service is good and I have not been let down yet by this place. read more

My favourite Chinese restaurant in town. All of their menu is so affordable and the portion size is huge. Their garlic noodles and tofu griddle is amazing! Highly recommend for anyone wanting some good food in town read more

The noodles are salty, very salty. Also the service is poor, no apologies when they made mistake.

This is the best noodle place in Champaign. Their noodle and 泡馍 are authentic flavors as what they should taste like in their origin places in China. The 鸡汤米线 are soooo good. And they even have soy milk in the morning (I haven't tried). read more

Ordered a few dishes when visiting the place. It was beyond our expectations. We ordered classics braised chicken, braised pork ribs, fried bok choy and noodles with braised beef. They were all tasty and had good portions. In addition, the three dishes came with free rice. The prices were pretty fair. Very good deal. read more

Portion sizes are extremely generous and the broth is pretty tasty. The meat isn't the best quality, but you get what you pay for.

The old lady at casher had really bad attitude. She was not happy with her job so she put all her temper to the customers. She felt like she is the customer and I have to please her. When I called, she told me it will be 20 minutes, I waited 10 minutes then walked there (10 minutes to walk there), after I arrived, it still took me another 20 minutes to get my food. She didn't provide any explanation nor any apology. If you are looking for a fight, go to C-u lala noodle! But if you don't want to those bad attitude ruin your mood, don't go there. Their food is not that delicious and it's really not worth it. The food is expensive! read more

Worst place ever! The soup has no flavor, they got our order wrong, and when I asked the waitress "Can I have some lime and sugar?" then she said "No!" and walked away. Please refrain from coming here. It's terrible. Don't waste your time or money. read more