With this stop, I think I've tried just about every place in Goleta that serves Vietnamese food. I first came here in 2015, but didn't remember much of my experience except for the vermicelli tasting decent. When my parents came into town, I knew I could squeeze a meal out of them by suggesting their favorite: Vietnamese food. As someone who grew up in a Vietnamese-Chinese household, I have fairly high standards for my Vietnamese food. The place has to be clean, the rice and pho broth have to be fragrant, and y'all better not skimp on the meat. If you order pho, a dish of bean sprouts, jalapenos, mint, and Vietnamese basil must come with it. That being said, I don't know if I'd rather go without or go to Noodle City. It's admittedly the best of the options available (Pho Bistro, Phamous, and Saigon Noodle House are the other contenders), but it's still mediocre. The pho dac biet only had a few pieces of tendon and brisket, and not much more. The rice they use for the com tam tastes off, as if they're not using jasmine rice. The other features of the com tam cha bi tau hu ky thit nuong (vermicelli quiche, shredded pork, fried bean curd, and charbroiled pork) got lost in a disappointing sea of blandness. While the bi is one of the more tolerable I've had at a Vietnamese restaurant, the quiche had no flavor or texture, and the fried bean curd looked dried and shriveled. The pork wasn't half bad, but could have used some more marinade and time on an actual grill to get good char. Service was fairly efficient, although I felt bad for one server who seemed to be doing all the work maintaining full condiment trays, bussing, and bringing the food out to customers. Guessing they're not quite short-staffed, but each worker must wear a lot of hats. read more

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I've only gone once. Just randomly stumbled across this place and was so pleasantly surprised! This is really the best pho I've had in town, finally something even better (and cheaper) than Saigon! I huge bowl of pho in under $10! The service was great, Nicole gave me and my friend so many suggestions and tips on how to order best. read more

An absolute gem in town. Noodle City is my favorite place to get pho. The service is efficient, friendly and the food is delicious! The dinning room is small and it's get busy on Friday and weekends but I've never had to wait more than 10 minutes to be seated. I highly recommend this restaurant. Make sure to try the peanut sauce too. read more

I came here the other day and got the vermicelli bowl with pork and pho w/ every meat! It seems to be a little bit cheaper here than other pho places too. Lets start with the pho... the broth itself is probably the best ive tasted in Goleta! It is super fresh and not too greasy like other places. They had a good variety of meat, it all tasted reallllly good. Would definitely come back to get pho. As for the vermicelli bowl, I dont think id order this again here. Im used to getting a decent amount of noodles, some lettuce, and a sprinkle of bean sprouts. Instead I got 20% lettuce, 50% bean sprouts, and 30% noodles! Lol. I feel like if you absolutely ate obsessed with bean sprouts then this would be fine, but I personally like more noodles and lettuce! Also, the noodles seemed like they needed to be cooked a minute longer.. it was a little hard! Overall, the meat and bowl were decent, I just wouldnt order it again here! read more

Noodle City - Vietnamese Near Me - Goleta, California

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This place is always full for a reason. I absolutely adore this place. The food is authentic and there's never a long wait because the service is always quick. The servers are always eager to help and super efficient at their work. The food is always deliciously fresh so this a must-have for Viet cuisine in Goleta / SB! read more

I'm Asian women ! And 100% addition of noodles all I can say is ... best noodles in town with good price !!! Fast and easy

It's actually funny how good this place is. You would never expect it. I walked up and ordered and my food was ready in about 5-8 minutes. Don't let that fool you tho. the quality is still amazing. Just a hole in the wall and easily the best quality pho in Santa Barbara. I used to come here all the time and was always amazing and very quick service. I just moved back to Santa Barbara and it still is just as good as it used to be. 5 stars highly recommend. read more

The best Vietnamese food I've had! I recommend the #41 Vermicelli and spring rolls. You won't be disappointed!

Hands down the best pho in santa barbara, and excellent service at a great price! Chill spot.

I know Santa Barbara/Goleta doesn't have the best or most authentic Pho compared to other cities that I've tried. However, this is the closest best place to get a good big bowl of yummy affordable pho. They have a good selection as well as other things if you're not into pho. It's located close to Isla Vista so of course it's going to be a hit for us college students. That being said, the seating arrangement can be awkward so I wouldn't suggest a big group unless the place is empty. The service is fast and they're quick to get your food out. However, sometimes I feel bad for the host because they're the only ones taking orders, running them and checking customers out. And I understand it's because of the size of the place. This is definitely a hole in the wall type establishment with good food, but inconsistent service. read more

So I was pretty excited to eat the broken rice dish at Noodle City. I've been here once previously about three years ago and I remembered the food was good. I ordered my food for delivery this time: Broken Rice dish with grilled pork, pork cake, shrimp paste, and shredded pork, and the fried shrimp appetizer. This is the only place in the SB area (that I know of) that has an authentic com tom dish with all the major sides- shrimp paste and the shredded pork. My dad was Viet, so I grew up eating Viet food. But when I got my food I was very disappointed. A Viet restaurant is distinguished by its fish sauce, and the sauce here was below subpar. It tasted like fermentation. Not sweet and salty, but like it's still going through some kind of fermentation process, almost vinegar-y. The pork cake was very dry and chewy. The grilled pork was okay, but all it tasted like was smoke. Then there was the shrimp wrapped in wonton, which was served with a sweet and sour sauce. They were pretty big and looked like mini egg rolls. I was expecting the sauce to be sweet and sour like any typical restaurant serves it, but the sauce tasted and looked like muddled apricots or plums. In my opinion, it just didn't pair well with the shrimp. On top of that, the shrimp was bland and had no taste. So it felt like I was crunching on oil and won ton wrappers. Additionally, there was a long strand of HAIR in one of the shrimp wrappers. Overall, won't be coming here again. read more

Noodle City - Long strand of blond hair in my shrimp wonton. - Vietnamese Near Me - Goleta, California

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i fekt sick after eating here. the pho tasted like it was not fresh. the place was dirty. i will never go back

Best pho I have ever had!!! If you're looking for something fancy- this isn't your spot. But if all you care about is deliciousness then you're headed in the right direction. I'm not impressed with their spring rolls though. read more

Noodle City is a no-frills eatery that offers tasty Vietnamese food at a decent price. It's located in Old Town Goleta. Pho noodle soup is their specialty, as you might have already guessed. One of my favorite dishes, however, being a rice lover--aside from their flavorful soups--has to be the fried rice combination, which is delicious in every sense of the word. It contains a good quantity of beef, chicken and shrimp, besides the usual mixed vegetables and scrambled eggs. If you're looking for good Vietnamese soups and awesome fried rice, give Noodle City a try. You definitely won't be disappointed. read more

If you know what to order then you're good but god forbid you have a question. The worst hospitality I've ever experienced. It's the kind of service ruins your appetite. They're food is good but honestly so are a lot of other food places. read more

This food fire asl ong have gone like 16 times. Honestly I always get the shrimp spring rolls and bao pho the spicy one

best place in town: great food and amazing prices. Service is always super quick. The number 9 and number 32 are my go to

Great authentic Vietnamese food. Has a big menu with different choices. The best phó in town. I recommend the Thai tea, pho tai and bun bo hue:) read more

This place was great on a rainy day. We got the beef pho with pork and another one with meatballs in a spicy broth. My mom enjoyed her soup, but I wasn't the biggest fan of the meatballs. The broth was really tasty and the appetizer of spring rolls we got was crispy and tasted nice. read more

Noodle City - Thai iced tea and spicy meatball soup (meatballs were ok, but the broth was very good) - Vietnamese Near Me - Goleta, California

Had a pretty disappointing experience here. Went in for lunch with my friend, and both of us left shaking our heads. We were encouraged to order 2 times within like 3 minutes... I just got settled and barely looked at the menu the second time our waitress came by. I ordered a combination rice vermicelli while my friend ordered spring rolls and pho. My vermicelli was supposed to come with egg rolls, but didn't. I raised my hands for quite a while before I could get a server's attention about this. He was nice enough and brought out egg rolls separately. My friend's spring rolls were so small it's funny.. Sure, it wasn't expensive, but they're probably half the size of a typical spring roll. The quality of the meat in her pho was also mediocre at best. While the food and service probably would've earned this place 3 stars in my books, what took one star away was just how much dust was everywhere. It was quite windy, and the gusts of wind somehow rushed in the door and made noticeable sound and blew dust in the restaurant. By the time we were about to leave, we noticed that our phone screens on the table had a layer of dust on it! I wiped my finger across the table and yup-- there was definitely dust. Something needs to be done about that door! Imagine all the dust that must've been in our food the whole time we were eating it :( read more

Cheap prices.. good pho...26(rice and beef with fish cakes) and 51/52 (crispy/rice noodles with beef) are the best! But the place looks greasy so 1 star knocked off cuz of that read more

Bf and I went here last night and it was disgusting! We ordered a rice plate with stir fried beef and the rice came out bad! Rotten bad where you can smell it and taste it and it wasn't even white! What's even worse was the service! Right from the start the male server with black hair and glasses was being pushy very pushy and forced us to order. When the food was served I had another server came over and told him that the rice was bad and he just walked away and told another server. She came by and I repeated myself all over again and all she responded was "okay" and walked away. It was ridiculous! We decided not to touch the rice even though they gave us a new bowl but we all know it came from the same pot. The funkiness was still there and nothing changed. Then 5 minutes later the female server came back and asked how the rice was. I told her is still the same and asked whether it came from the same pot. She stumbled a little but admitted anyways. And idk what went on her head atm but she decided to talked me out of thinking that the rice was not bad and it was newly cooked which I highly doubt because we came in 30 minutes before the restaurant closed. I told her that the rice is clearly bad rice and that they shouldn't serve people that. The male server came out after and started giving us attitude and asked whether we still wanted the rice. I told him to forget it because we are not eating the rice because it's rotten. This is frustrating because they were clearly being rude since the beginning and that I was being nice and simply told them that the rice was bad but for zero response and minutes later, the server came and asked how we feeling and when I simply told her, she decided to argue with me about it. We also ordered pho but I just couldn't finish it with the thought of a kitchen serving bad rice to customers. We go up and got our check and leave. And this is we're it gets worse. When I asked the male server for a check, he didn't go and grab the check. He approached our table, extended his hand to grab my card from me without giving a check first.... Wtf. Don't waste your time people. This place is gross!! And the service will piss you off more than paying for gross food! read more

Pretty good pho it hit the spot! I enjoyed the Pho Tai but I'm from the Bay Area and we have really good pho where I am from. This pho was pretty good and definitely filled me up but it wasn't the best I've ever had. That being said if you are craving pho this place is pretty good! The large portion is very generous as well! read more

This place was interesting. Saturday night. Pretty full, but I got a seat. Service was super brief and fast. You have a few options to choose from, quickly scan the menu, place the order in a hurried fashion, and the food comes out in roughly 5 minutes. The decor is mediocre. Very plain. The food: Chicken pho- $7- like, wow I paid $7 for glorified cup noodles? Tiny slices of chicken, some noodles, some broth. It was a small portion. (For $7!!!). It was ok. Egg rolls $5- basically 4 skinny, minimally-filled lumpias with some kind of mush filling served with a vinegar sauce. They were crispy, but nothing great. Definitely overpriced. It should've cost $2 max. Thai tea- $3- they ran out of tapioca. Boohoo. I still got a Thai tea since I haven't had one in ages . I asked for less cream, which made the drink wayyyy too sweet. I had to water it down. It probably would've been better with tapioca. Service- kind of awkward to hear the workers and owner interact... Plus everyone is so ridiculously fast paced. The waiter was very pleasant though. He had a positive attitude despite running around. Conclusion: it's sad that this is the best SB has to offer. It's O-K. The end. read more

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We came in when the restaurant was empty in the afternoon. I ordered a vermicelli bowl with tofu, and my partner ordered one with soy chicken. We were excited to see some vegan options, but were quickly disappointed. The tofu had no flavor whatsoever. The soy chicken had a horrible texture and looked like octopus. There were stale peanuts in both of our bowls and the peanut sauce was really yucky. There were too many strange sensations in the food, including some stale lemongrass. We both had to toss our food as we couldn't finish it. read more

I don't think it was possible for me to give a place 1 star. I would give this place negative stars if I could. Let's start with the service. The service is terrible. The moment we walked in we were rushed by a Latino waiter. The Vietnamese woman behind the register was yelling at us telling us to order. There were open tables, no one was waiting, and yet we were rushed. In the middle of our meal the waiter came and put the bill on the table. WE DIDNT ASK FOR IT. When we went to pay the bill the lady charged us for an extra order. We confronted her after looking at the receipt but she said she already ran our card. She started raising her voice and rushing us to leave cause other people were in line. Are you serious?! Let's get to the food. I'm Vietnamese and have eaten this food my whole life. The pork ramen I got was super plain. It's like they used water for the soup. There was barely any pork also. My friends got broken rice and the proportions were laughable. I posted pictures. Judge for yourself. We also ordered egg roll and spring roll. The egg rolls were small and had no stuffing whatsoever. The spring roll was dry, it was like they premade these rolls and left it in the fridge all day. How hard is it to roll fresh spring rolls? Overall, the food was mediocre at best. The crappy service just killed the experience. Would never come back to this place. read more

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I wanted to review this place again fully loaded with 5 stars! John (the tall man with glasses) is always working here. He works hard and he's got a really good sense of humor which my significant other, friends and I enjoy. He deserves all the promotions in the world! Like I said, the pho is excellent. I love the tendon, rare steak and brisket pho. Broth always comes out piping hot which I really like, and the fix in sauces are always available. I've also gotten into the vermicelli noodles with shrimp bean curd, pork and egg roll. It's super filling and it's even better when I ask for extra pork! Love it. The shrimp bean curd is both crispy, and flavorful and adds a nice taste to the pork and noodles. The sampler (egg rolls, shrimp rolls, and spring rolls) is delicious. I love how hot the food comes out. I hate when my food is cold... even warm! It's hot!! That's the way I like it! Would definitely recommend this place! Parking is a little sparse, but go at a weird time when it's not prime lunch or dinner time! read more

This is third time I came back for pho here. I ordered #6 today and the brisket wasn't as tender as I ate before. Other than that, everything else was good read more

Noodle City - Vietnamese Near Me - Goleta, California

I'm glad I ignored the reviews about the bad service and gave this place a shot. Everything we got was delicious, which usually means the whole menu is quality. We visited at lunch time on a Saturday and it wasn't overly crowded. We started with the #2 spring rolls, which came with an awesome peanut dipping sauce. I'm not a fan of shrimp so I took the shrimp out of mine, and if you are like me this is an easy fix because the shrimp are whole and right near the surface. We got the #44 (basically a broth soup with chicken, green onions, small white onions, a bit of cilantro and lots of noodles) with egg noodles and the #49 (basically a chicken and noodle stir fry in a light sauce) with the big flat rice noodles. Both were awesome. I'm not a fan of all of the bean sprouts in pho so the #44 was an awesome alternative. We ended the meal with a Thai iced tea, which they are happy to do to go. It was super sweet so next time I might see if they can do it less sweet. The whole thing came out to a little over $20 so it's a good place to go for a cheap lunch. We had zero problems with bad or pushy service. Note: They are closed on Sundays! read more

Noodle City - #44 with egg noodles. Yum! - Vietnamese Near Me - Goleta, California

the male vietnamese waiter is so sweet and the food is great, i will definitely be coming back!!

My go-to Pho place in SB. The owner lady is scary but pho comes closest to the ones in Garden Grove/Westminster. Compared to Pho Saigon or Pho Bistro, if you are the type that really likes tasty broth, go here. I have ordered egg rolls and spring rolls, they are tasty as well. It gets pretty packed during lunch/dinner hour. read more

Noodle City - Pho Tai - Vietnamese Near Me - Goleta, California

Cheaper than any pho downtown and way better tasting than any in IV. Can call ahead for pick up too read more

Best Place to get pho in SB. Wait staff is usually pretty fast and nice! Food tastes very good and costs very cheap!

If I were to ever eat pho you'd find me here at Noodle City. I used to go to the one near Kmart called Saigon Noodle House but the pho at Noodle city is a lot better and tastier. The Lady (owner) is so funny. I guess I come here a lot because she always pats my back and laughs and then rubs it a little (?) And no one understands her! She speaks in english and throws in some viet every now and then. Even my vietnamese friends have no idea what she says. But try their appetizer sampler! Fried egg rolls, fresh Spring rolls, and Fried Shrimp wontons all on one plate. read more

10/10 would definitely recommend to support this small business! Super quick service, good prices, and delicious food!(: read more

Noodle City - Iced coffee, Thai tea, #8 & #14, appetizer sampler - Vietnamese Near Me - Goleta, California

I've been wanting to try this place for awhile and finally decided to since the weather has been a lot colder than usual. The atmosphere is like your typical pho place in the bay, but a lot smaller. The waiter/hostess was friendly, but seemed a little stressed. To start, I ordered four egg rolls and it came with lettuce wraps, cucumbers, and pickled ginger and carrots. They were a little smaller than what I'm used to, but still pretty good. For pho, I ordered a large #6: house-special beef rice noodle soup with eye round steak, well-done flank, brisket, soft tendon, bible tripe and beef meat ball. The small was $6.95 and the large was $7.25. Why not pay an extra $0.30 to fill you up? My friend had the same, but she also ordered the thai tea. It was good, but a lot sweeter than most places probably. I thoroughly enjoyed my pho and finished all of it and most of the broth. Of course, it's not as good as pho from the Bay Area, but it's probably the closest you can get around Santa Barbara. The prices here are similar to Pho Bistro in Isla Vista and maybe a little cheaper than places like Saigon in Santa Barbara (from what I remember). But I think you get a lot more for your buck from Noodle City than you would at Pho Bistro, and Saigon is kind of just a rip off--their portion sizes for pho are ridiculously small. So for now, this is my go-to spot for pho! read more

Noodle City - #6 House-Special Beef Rice Noodle Soup - Vietnamese Near Me - Goleta, California

Truly the worst service in the whole of California, but there certainly is a reason for everyone going back. Kind of comical actually, the experience is so horrible every time but I find myself going back because I love pho and they are a good fix for the Santa Barbara area. Thai teas and iced coffees are good but you need to expect them to come in plastic cups half full in an effort to maximize profit on the business owner's end. Pho is delicious, as well as other main dishes like vermicelli. Simply put, you'll leave here with a very happy stomach but completely questioning whether it was you who should be paying the restaurant for food or if the restaurant should be paying you for their a read more

Hole in the wall. Great food and prices are good as well. Service is ok but still very worth it.

I'm really hoping that after I leave ucsb, someone will open up a good Vietnamese restaurant around here. But for now, Noodle City is the only decent Vietnamese restaurant around here. I ordered the bun thit nuong cha gao and it was a little less than ok, actually. What made the dish so disappointing was that the noodles weren't even cooked all the way. I feel like this problem shouldn't even be the main issue at an Asian restaurant. Most of the times, when people complain about Asian food, it's usually that it doesn't taste the same as the authentic dish. But something as simple as cooking the noodles all the way shouldn't be an issue. I've also had their pho and that definitely isn't up to par, either. The soup tastes watered down and, if you are a true pho lover, you know that their broth isn't cooked as long as it should be. Also, service is terrible. The lady is frightening and I am too scared to talk back to her, lol. Pray that Goleta gets a good Asian restaurant!! read more

Noodle City - Bun thit nuong Cha ga - Vietnamese Near Me - Goleta, California

In my opinion, this is the best viet restaurant i've been to in Goleta/IV area. The charbroiled pork w broken rice (#15) is my go-to, and so far it never disappoints. Also, the broth for phó dishes are more tasteful than the other ones in Goleta. The spring rolls are also good, kind of smaller than others i've been to, but the dip that goes alongside with it is delicious. However the service here is a hit-or-miss. I came in last night to eat when it was a bit more busy than usual, and the guy seemed too stressed to pay us any attention. The girl servers are sweet but still seemed unfamiliar with the menu. When my friend told her that his rice dish normally came with soup she said she doesn't think so, but he ended up being correct and got his soup later on. Nonetheless, the other times i've been here -- when it's slow -- the staff is a little bit more friendly and attentive, even when refilling our water cups. So would recommend coming in during lunch hours if you're in the area! read more