.... don't you just love it when you find a surprise hidden in your food?! Earlier today, I went to grab lunch at this place. Ordered a rice noodle roll and a beef brisket noodle soup. Low and behold.... I found a short strand of hair buried in the noodles... and brought it up to one of the employee's attention. Without even apologizing and acknowledging the fact that they served hair, they said "we'll.... what do you want me to do?" Super rude I'm telling you. Worst experience ever. read more

Joyful Kitchen - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Wow, just wow. I wasn't feeling the best and was craving for something comforting and familiar - particularly porridge with pork and thousand year old egg, and Joyful Kitchen blew me away. To think I was even going to attempt making myself something even remotely comparable or as delicious -- what was I thinking, lol. You'd be surprised at how something so simple can provide so much happiness! The pork was tender and soft, and you also had the trusty thousand year old egg pieces in it. It was nicely topped with green onions, and came piping hot. I didn't even need to warm it up and it was ready to eat when it came delivered! Each mouthful was perfectly savory with just the right amount of flavor and salt. Ahh... *heart eyes* (In case you don't love as much green onions as I do - my photo was actually taken after I had added a lot more of my own green onions. It doesn't come with as much as what you see in my photo.) 10000% recommend and can be ordered from Uber Eats! read more

Joyful Kitchen - Porridge with Pork and Preserved Egg - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

when I crave congee with Chinese donut, I get delivery from here. never actually eaten at the restaurant yet. I'm being socially distancing lazy. the congee has good consistency, not too thick or watered down. good amount of protein. not too salty so good for people with high blood pressure. add salt to your own taste. the Chinese donut is still warm when it gets delivered so safe to say they make it fresh there? Don't quote me since I haven't eaten there once again. i also like their special rice roll. my mom thinks it is too soft of a texture than what she normally likes it but she wear dentures so I don't understand why she wouldn't want it softer in the first place. Asian mom always have something to complain about. milk tea, congee, Chinese donut, and special rice roll is the perfect breakfast. their Hong Kong milk tea comes in iced version when ordering from delivery app. I'm sure it comes in hot too because it isn't real Hong Kong milk tea unless it comes hot or cold. read more

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I came for the rice noodle roll and it did not disappoint!! I'm kicking myself for not ordering more. I also ordered some hot and sour soup which was a large portion and packed with good stuff not just broth. Perfect consistency too. I will definitely be back!! 5 stars read more

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There's been a lot of fun churngs lately on the market, sea of people but I always meet them fun churngs. *wink wink get me canto fam? wink wink* Oh sorry we were talking about churng funz. .:: Food ::. Chow Mein with bean sprout and soy sauce $8: hits the spot. very basic dish but growing up on Chinese food, this was just comforting. Nothing out of the ordinary but it was pretty flavorful and the beef was cooked right. Special Rice Noodle Roll with Pork $4.55 + $1 egg: the rice noodle rolls were really soft and well made. The pork could have used a little bit more flavor as well as the egg. I wish there was more prominent amount of egg, as it was not noticeable in this dish. Special Rice Noodle Roll with Pork Liver $4.55 + $1 egg + $.50 lettuce: I didn't really tamper with this as I don't eat pork liver and I don't eat veggies, but my friends seem to enjoy it. There seem to be more egg in this dish as well. Salt & Pepper Chicken wings: pretty good and crispy, I loved the flavors on this. Nothing EXTRAORDINARY but very comforting. .:: Service/ Ambiance/ Parking ::. Service was not bad for a Chinese place. I stop expecting too much but they were pretty nice. Food took a while but not ridiculous. CASH preferred here, as they charge extra 10% on your card to cover for card fees. Honestly expect nothing from the decor. It was very "Chinese Restaurant" sticky tables, asian chairs. Parking was not bad on a Monday afternoon, I parked on the side in the residential area so it was free parking. read more

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Cash only to be prepped and brought over! I haven't had Hong Kong cafe grub food for days and this simply just hits the spot! Their rice noodle rolls are delicious and so fresh with complimenting squishable bottled sweet soy sauce to go squirt all over it! They have many fillings to choose from and my favorite was the shrimp and beef! They have the signature stir fried dishes that's superbly bomb and homely! Picture foods on the wall to choose from. Hong Kong iced milk tea for the refreshing win! I was in a happy place grubbing and munching! read more

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I used to live in Ingleside and Joyful kitchen is my favorite spot. This is my second time ordering from them since I moved. Clearly they raised the price, which is understandable. The taste of the garlic lamb is just as good as before. If you come here, you gotta order that one. Sadly, dice fried rice is not in the menu in Ubereats. That is my favorite fried rice option. Anyway, I like this restaurant a lot. read more

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My family and I had dinner here last night, the food was absolutely fantastic! The restaurant owners are very friendly and gracious. Our favorite are: the crab congee (rice soup), the shrimps, the rice cakes and the pig intestines stir fried. We will definitely be back! Highly recommended. read more

Joyful Kitchen - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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Came here for a quick lunch. Always wanted to try this place for their rice noodles and they did not disappoint. Order: {Porridge with pork -- w/ no preserves eggs} {Special rice noodle with scallops and drier shrimp} {Special rice noodle with pork & egg} {Flour crisp} {Iced milk tea} Simple easy breakfast food. Porridge remained hot, rice rolls were so delicious and you get to add as many sweet soy sauce as you like! Can never go wrong with comfort food, gonna come back to try others! **TIP**: They condensed the special rice roll portion so #57-59 I believe are for individual protein orders and NOT all together! read more

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My sister, who lives out in the boonies in the state of Washington came to visit. Knowing she have not had some decent porridge in years, I got some pork porridge and rice rolls from Joyfull Kitchen for a light brunch. She definitely loved both. There were some rice rolls leftover from our brunch. I microwaved them the following day and the noodle turned tough! I was getting ready to throw them out, but decided to take out my steamer and steam them instead. It was good! If anything I think they were more delicious than when we ate them fresh from the restaurant the day before! Yum! The service was fairly decent. I ordered the food online and it was ready for pick up when we arrived at the store 15 minutes later. Would try their other foods. We did not dine in. But from I can see the place was fairly busy at 10 a.m. The place is well lighted and clean. read more

Rice rolls are still good here and still reasonably priced but everything else on the menu has gone way up in price. Still a decent place to get rice rolls and porridge for a quick breakfast that is open early. Service is pretty terrible and the waitresses have shitty attitudes but it is what it is. read more

A go to place if you love fresh rice rolls where you have the option of adding eggs mixed in with it. We love going here for lunch as they have good portion and many vegetarian options. read more

Joyful Kitchen - We ordered a special mix with black bean green beans and egg plants. - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

I came across this place on DoorDash because I was sick and craving Chinese porridge. Based on the reviews, a lot of people recommended this place for their porridge. I ordered the House Special Porridge. I didn't know what to expect because there was no description on the menu. It was basically porridge with liver, beef, fish, and shrimp. I love preserved egg so I added that for an extra fee. I did wish they only had a preserved egg porridge because all the meats were a bit too much. Some of the reviews said their porridge was bland but I do have to disagree. I think it was tasty and cooked perfectly. They topped it with roasted peanuts and slices of flour crisp (Chinese donut). They should place the slices of flour crisp on the side because it was very soggy by the time I ate it. Porridge wouldn't be complete without the flour crisp so I ordered a side of it. It was a bit too oily for me though. I recommend wrapping it in napkins to get rid of the excess oil before you eat it. I would still order from here next time I'm sick. I probably would just order another porridge instead of the house special. The liver was a bit too much. read more

Overpriced food for unimpressive food. Ordered chicken chow mein, chrispy noodle style. A lot of gravy and nothing else. You'd think at a $22.00 price tag, you get more than 4 pcs of bok choy 6 small chunks of chicken. Not returning. Fried noodles were good, but not good enough at $22.00 a pop. read more

Pretty good food for really decent price! Just a heads up, this place offers really big portions. We live nearby so we come here pretty often. read more

Joyful Kitchen - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Based on the three items we ordered, just terrible; the worst food we've been served in months To be fair , it seems to feature " porridges " and " dry fry plates", neither or which we ordered. First a wonton noodle soup; weak broth, small amount of Bok Choy, and the terrible straw type egg noodles they seem to use in everything. A rice roll w pieces of fish, was not as pictured or what was expected, w ok pieces of filet in a gloppy mess. A beef chow mein had a few pieces of beef in a large pile of the awful straw egg noodles that seem to be cooked in just soy sauce. Service was not friendly . Nothing joyful about this place; maybe we ordered the wrong stuff, but we won't be back; there are great places within a block or two. Sorry read more

a piece of steel found in the middle of chaofen. this steel wool is used to clean pots in the kitchen. this place got serious health issues here. thumbs down read more

Joyful Kitchen - a piece of steel appeared in the middle of chaofen. thumbs down. got serious health issues here - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Don't expect any service here. Servers are very rude. First of all the noodle was super salty, but we didn't want to say anything. Then we found a piece of wire in the noodle that we ordered, they didn't even apologize. Just unbelievable. read more

Joyful Kitchen - A piece of wire found in the noodle. - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

We came here for the Cantonese rice rolls since we've tried a couple places and they were just ok. Not the same as our childhood flavors back in China. Wasn't bad, would go again if in the area. read more

Joyful Kitchen - Pork Special Rice Noodle Roll with Pork - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

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I only come to joyful Kitchen for their freshly made Cantonese style rice rolls. Their rice rolls are very silky and smooth. Also if you come here, get their soy milk. The only reason why this spot doesn't get 5 stars is because all their other food are NG. read more

Joyful Kitchen - Special Rice Noodle Roll with Corn and Egg and shrimp and pork - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Really good rice rolls! This place should be called riceroll kitchen cause I feel like I would legit come back just for that. I love that you can add egg to the riceroll too. I never knew such a thing existed until Joyful Kitchen. You have to get the shrimp rice roll and add an egg, it really is the best rice roll I've had. The riceroll is not too firm and the shrimp is just small enough to fit with every bite. Also, with the egg it's like a soft scramble right in the middle. You don't need much soy sauce since this is flavored well already. I also got the preserved duck egg (with extra duck duck egg of course) and pork porridge. The pork is super tender and actually not bad. I do wish the preserved duck egg were more fresh, you could taste the difference between previously cut and stored duck eggs vs. just cracked and sliced duck eggs. I'll be back! And will def order more than one type of riceroll order next time :) Porridge, 2 rice rolls and a chow fun came out to $31 total read more

Joyful Kitchen - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Joyful Kitchen is a Chinese eatery that specialize in rice noodle roll and other traditional dishes like peking duck and pork buns. The place is a bit dingy and narrow but can probably fit a party of 8 if they move the furniture around like Tetris. It's not a white table cloth spot, just a little joint good enough for the locals and students around the area or people like me who was exploring and craving noodle rolls. Special Rice Noodle Roll w/ Shrimp- For $4.75, I got this huge plate of one of my favorite noodle dishes for such a steal. These freshly cooked noodles were nice and thin and they wrapped shrimps in them. It was pretty good. And they had a bottle of that sweet soy sauce at each table, yay, can't get enough of it! You can also add an egg into the noodles for $1. Overall Service: I wasn't sure if it's the kind of spot you can seat yourself so I waited before one of the Asian lady pointed to a table. It took awhile because I think they thought I was waiting for people but nope, it's just me. They give you time and space to peruse the menu and eat which I was pleasantly surprised because it typically doesn't happen at places like these. I would go again to try other dishes if I was visiting again. read more

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I just recently started to getting out of my keto diet and eating more carbs. This is one of the first places I wanted to order from. Can't wait to have my go-to comfort food which is porridge and rice noodle rolls especially after hangovers. I got the porridge with preserved eggs and pork, like I always do, and it's just as delicious as I remembered. However, it was not as thick as I wanted, but maybe it's because I ordered it like super early in the morning and they probably just finished making it before it's delivered to my table. Porridge does need a long time to simmer in order to get thick. So I don't blame them. I did asked for extra ginger and green onions on it but didn't give me, must be too busy. The rice noodle rolls was perfect, I got the bbq pork ones with extra lettuce, eggs, and pork. It's very meaty and has great portions of all the ingredients. They even gave me 3 sauces for it which is such a nice gesture because the sauce is literally like one of my favorite parts about it!! I might not miss their rice noodle rolls that much if the sauce wasn't that good. Generally 4 stars, I hope to see them better in the future! read more

Joyful Kitchen - Porridge with Pork and Preserved Egg, Special Rice Noodle Roll with BBQ Pork with extra lettuce, eggs, and pork - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

This place is pretty good!! Came here for breakfast with my parents a little before 9am on a Saturday, and no wait! There were maybe four other tables occupied. It got more and more busy as we finished our breakfast. We got everything BEEF: congee with sliced beef (7.99), congee with minced beef (7.99), and two beef rice rolls (4.50+4.50). Their congee was good, can also flavor it with the sauces and white pepper at the table if you wanted. I only added a little ground white pepper because I like to eat some meat congee with a little bit of white pepper but plenty flavor. The rice rolls are made to order, as their paper sign says (in Chinese), and that means it's fresh when it comes oooouuutt. Soy sauce in squeeze bottles at the tables so you can decide how much soy sauce to pour, can sprinkle a bit or drown it in sweet soy goodness. Would definitely come back when I crave that comfort Chinese breakfast food read more

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Illegally add extra 3% charge if you pay by credit card, in the other way receiving cash they can avoid paying government taxes. read more

Joyful Kitchen - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Solid rice roll place ! Very yummy I would give them 4 stars if it wasn't for the long wait time and other food items are just meh. Will come back but only for rice roll Ps. They accept Venmo and cash only read more

Joyful Kitchen - Shrimp rice roll with veggie - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

巨难吃！怎么能有这样的餐馆？非常不负责。除了肠粉应该是新鲜之外，其他的几个菜连狗都不愿意吃。 猪杂粥里的猪杂究竟存了多久？是臭的。整碗粥都是极馊的猪味。 所谓的招牌炒面干到不行。明明都焦了。吃一口面得配好几口水才咽得下。 店家自己摸摸良心- 这样的店还需要继续维持下去吗？一点道德都没有。 The ingredients at this establishment are not fresh. The pork porridge tasted utterly spoiled. The smell was so foul that even my dog noticed it. The fried noodle was the driest I've ever had in my life. Most of the time Cantonese restaurants are good at basic stir fries, and one can't go wrong with fried noodles or rice, not this one. Terrible restaurant. This is the second and last chance I'm giving this place. Never again. read more

My search for the perfect porridge is over! They don't cut any corners on their pork and preserved egg porridge - lots of eggs and lots of pork, and really tasty without being overly salty. These guys will be my go-to for comfort food porridge from now on. read more

Joyful Kitchen - Porridge with Pork and Preserved Egg - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

I really like how they give you the broth separately when it's to go. You get more broth and I was able to mix the veggies and meat. Pretty sure the broth is the same for both so I highly doubt it's truly vegan. Everything was really good, broth, noodles, veggies, etc. Btw, it comes with soy sauce and chili sauce packets. (They're forks are pretty flimsy so if you e got a better one it would help. The veggies aren't super soft.) read more

Joyful Kitchen - Mixed Vegetable and Shredded Pork with Snow Cabbage Soup (to go) - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Nice rice rolls! This place has the best rice rolls ever. The shape is different from the ones at dim sum restaurants--the rolls are in a "pulled" shape, and taste really soft and smooth. We got the chicken congee as well which was served warm and had decent amounts of chicken in side. Everything is served warm so it's real comfort food eating it. The restaurant is usually full, with a line waiting outside. The inside is not that nicely renovated, and not super clean, but it does have a lot of seats, and people still come here a lot for the food. There are 4-5 servers there, and they look busy and exhausted, because they have a lot of customers who order a lot of food. The service is not bad. Overall pretty quick to get food out. The serve staff are not bad. Overall, the place to go for rice rolls. I come here often to get it to-go read more

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Very original Cantonese food. Porridge is great. Price is good. Want to have another try next time. read more

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The beef is undercooked. So disappointed about that. wish next time can be better. Threw it and won't order this again. read more

Joyful Kitchen - The beef is undercooked. So disappointed. - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

Saturday night. We went there so excited to try the food. Mongolia Beef is super salty. The waitress is very rude!!! I think she was frustrating working by herself I guess. Don't throw your anger to customers. We wanted to enjoy food and our day. We are not coming back. I don't want you to ruining my beautiful day read more

Had this place bookmarked for awhile but never bothered to check it out until recently. I had a rather long gap between my classes so I came here with a friend to grab a bite to eat to kill some time. We ordered the pork and preserved egg porridge with Chinese donut, seafood pan fried noodle, and BBQ pork/shrimp egg rice noodle rolls. The porridge was nothing special to rave about, and was flavorless. The seafood pan fried noodle was pretty good! The noodles were crisp and the seafood was so tender and soft. I would say if you're gonna come here for the first time, just stick with the rice noodle rolls! They were the star of the meal and I was rather impressed by how soft and delicious they came out to be! Most places make their rice noodle rolls thick and very skimpy on filling, but not this place! Ugh you can also just taste how fresh it is! I would come back just for those rice noodle rolls alone. Please give them a try! read more

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About 6 years ago, I went to revisit an old mom & pop shop in Chinatown for their $3 steamed black bean spareribs over rice. My mom brought me there as a kid but I haven't been back since high school. As I was waiting for my order, I could see ah sook in the kitchen in a wife beater smoking a cigarette while cutting a hunk of meat with his bare hands and cleaver. Straight gangsta. He stopped to dig into his ears with his long pinky nail, flick something into the air, and carried on like it was nothing. Heeeelllllll naaaaaaahhh... I left without blinking an eye. I told my friend about it to which he said, "Hey, it just adds to the authenticity". Damn, so that was the secret ingredient all these years?! Ignorance is bliss. I don't want to knowingly eat anything from anybody's orifices unless it's USDA certified organic or grass fed. While it's somewhat true that the dirtier the Chinese restaurant, the better the food, hershey squirts is never on my agenda. What else is a telltale sign that a Chinese restaurant (or any Asian restaurant) is legit? When there's a crowd of natives outside. Twice, I've driven by Joyful Kitchen, and there was a large crowd of Chinese peeps outside. Always a good sign. I read all the bad reviews about the long wait, sh*tty service, and running out of food which is why I stopped by on a weekday morning and experienced no issues. It's a small place so unless you come super early on the weekends, I wouldn't bother. Joyful Kitchen's specialty is their Cheong Fun - Handmade Special Rice Noodle Rolls ($3.85) which you can customize by adding additional meats: bbq pork, beef, pork, liver and seafood: fish, shrimp, and scallop for $1, or egg and veggies for 50 cents. Only available until 3 pm or earlier if they sell out. I read several reviews that they were selling out at 10:30 am. Also, on the menu is jook (breakfast only), noodle soups, stir fried noodles, fried rice, and the typical Chinese American dishes like kung pao chicken and beef & broccoli. They also have housemade soy milk and black soy milk which I regret not ordering. Everything is under $9 and cc's accepted with a $15 minimum. I placed my order over the phone with the Cantonese-speaking lady but easily placed my order in English with no phuck ups. She said, my order would be ready in 15 minutes and it was. I ordered three Special Rice Noodle Rolls - Shrimp & Egg ($4.60), Beef & Corn ($4.35), and Pork & Egg ($4.60): http://bit.ly/2elWX0T. You receive two long noodles per an order which is enough for a small meal. The handmade noodles were beautiful, translucent sheets of carby goodness with a nice elasticity. The accompanying sweet soy sauce made it even more delicious. The pork and egg were my favorite while the one with the corn was my least favorite. The corn wasn't sweet so I would skip that next time. The shrimp one was fine but just like Andy W. mentioned they don't give you much (and it's small) so I would add extra shrimp for $1. I recommend enjoying the rice noodle rolls onsite. It's really delicate, and the heat in the to-go box can easily cause it to get mushy and break apart upon picking up if you're not careful. Perhaps, they can punch holes in the to-go boxes? Lai Hong Lounge in Chinatown still has the best cheong fun in San Francisco IMO and coincidentally has a Yelp "Consumer Alert: Poor Food Safety Score!" so go figure. The ones at Joyful Kitchen come a close second. Plus, there's a young beefcake with tats manning the kitchen. Not that the latter matters but just sayin'.... ;) read more

Joyful Kitchen - Special Rice Noodle Roll (clockwise): Shrimp & Egg, Beef & Corn, Pork & Egg | $3.85 + 75 cents for egg, + 50 cents for corn - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

I came here for lunch with my coworkers. Parking here might be a little of a challenge but it isn't so bad if you don't mind paying. This place gets really packed so i suggest coming here early or you have to wait for a table. We got the pan fried noodles, chicken congee and two types of rice noodles. The pan fried noodles were very crispy, so if you like it crispy , get this dish. i wasn't amazed by this dish, it was just ok with it. The Chicken congee was good, you can tell there's no MSG in there. It was fresh and had just the right amount of flavor. The Rice noodles we got the beef one.. The noodles was fresh but the beef was a little rough. The corn rice noodle wasn't bad, i wish there was more corn in it. The noodle was still very smooth. I think the next time i come back i'll just order to-go read more

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Food is salty but the main reason is that the server is so mean and too slow... then at the end I gave tips but i think she wants more and start saying mean things loudly in front of other customers there. Just so mean! read more

This is one of my go to spots for quick dim sum bites like their popular rice noodle rolls. I usually get it with cilantro and sometimes I add corn or chicken to it. I tried their Mongolian beef rice plate as well and it's amazing. The portions here are worth your money bc most is under $10 each plate. A must try is their fried chinese donut, dip it into a bowl of hot porridge and you won't regret it. read more

Joyful Kitchen - rice noodle rolls - Cantonese Near Me - San Francisco, California

This is my absolute favorite hole-in-the-wall find of 2020! Every time I've been, I see Chinese uncles and aunties lining up for fresh steamed rice rolls so you know it's legit. They let you customize your rice rolls with your favorite add-ins and as someone with decision phobia, this is both my favorite and least favorite part of the experience. So many choices, so little time :( The combo I've landed on after a few visits is pork, cilantro, and lettuce. The lettuce is perfectly wilted while still holding a bit of crunch and absolutely delicious doused in their house made soy! It might sound weird but don't knock it til you try it. Other items that I've tried include the salt and pepper calamari, soy milk, and Chinese donut. All super delicious! Their lunch/dinner menu looks good too and I'm sure they're great, based on the quality of everything I've tried so far! I'll be back to try those, once I move past my infatuation with their rice rolls. read more

Overall 3.5 stars Tasty(some items), quick hot Chinese food. A little bit expensive than the other Chinese restaurant tho. They except cash and also credit card but with extra charges. Food Sweet and sour pork : 2/5 weird taste, couldn't finish. Beef broccoli : 4/5 flavorful, good to eat with rice Chicken with black bean sauce : 5/5 very tasty but not much chicken, loaded with bell peppers Singapore style noodles : 3.5/5 a little bit too salty Service was meh read more