We are regular here. Always come in for their signature beef noodles soup, scallion pancakes, sweet n sour pork chop, pork belly with leeks, pork and shrimp dumplings . Service is ok, needs to flag her if we needed something. Food is served hot and fresh. Vegetables dishes are so tasty using their special spices. Ambience is just family dinner type of setting, and pictures around the restaurant to capture your attention in case you don't know what to order, just point at the picture lol read more

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I was in Hacienda Heights in SGV visiting relatives, and we decided to grab a late lunch here. Unfortunately, our go to Taipan in the same strip mall at Azusa & Colima closed. We shared dry fried green beans, shrimp & scrambled egg, beef chow mein, orange chicken and XLBs. First of all, the green beans were fresh and tasted good w/ the black beans and garlic. Secondarily, the shrimp & egg had a fair amount of shrimp and the eggs were nicely cooked. Thirdly, the noodles had a nice chew to them. Too bad there wasn't much beef. Orange chicken was the fourth dish to arrive, and the chicken was moist and the portion was big. Lastly, the XLBs were good sized, and the filling was nicely seasoned. Regarding the ambiance, its nothing special. There are tables of four & six. On the other hand, the service was friendly & fast. Mandarin is spoken here. While I'm sad Taipan closed, I'm glad NC is open. They serve good, reasonably priced food in a comfortable atmosphere. read more

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My girl and I shared our plates. We had the golden noodle soup, sesame sauces dumplings, and sides. The noodles tasted good and warmed the soul. As for the dumplings, it was on the soggy side and verrrrrry saucy. I like sauces and plenty of it but the texture overall was a little disappointing. I loveeeee the portion size of the 3 sides. Big fan of the potato shreds and pig ears. Compared to other locations, you get a great amount. Parking is shared and huge. read more

Northern Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

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The Braised Lamb with Sliced Noodle Special and Braised Pork Ribs with Kidney Beans came in very large portions. Both dishes were fairly average in taste. read more

Northern Cafe - Braised Lamb with Sliced Noodle Special - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

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Took awhile to get our order taken but after we ordered, the service got better. We ordered soup dumplings, green beans, spicy beef noodle soup, and spicy wontons. Everything taste delicious, with the standout being the spicy wontons. My friend and I were practically fighting over the last one. Great place! read more

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This was my first time trying the Hacienda location of Northern Cafe, and I can definitely see why their business is so good! They have a cold bar where you can directly order appetizer items, so we got the seawood and tofu noodles. The rest of the items came from the menu. My favorites were the crispy pork and the mapo tofu. We got the mild for the mapo tofu, but I definitely will be asking for spicier next time. I also really enjoyed the stir-fried green beans, but they were on the saltier side. read more

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I believe that in the future, more Chinese people living in the United States will choose to avoid your restaurant whenever possible. To be clear in advance: as a restaurant, providing customers with the food they order is your basic responsibility. When a dish contains noodles but no visible soup, and a customer asks for more soup, if your service staff agrees to do so, then you should follow through--instead of going back on your word： That is precisely why I informed you that I would not leave a tip. All I am doing now is translating your reply to me on Google Maps. The following is the translation of your response shown in the image. I believe this alone is sufficient to demonstrate your restaurant's attitude. These days, anyone with a mouth can just make up rumors as they please. It's such a small matter that I'm honestly embarrassed to even bring it up, yet you still had the nerve to post it publicly and make a fool of yourself. Let me ask you this: who comes to the U.S. and has never eaten out before??? When it came time to pay the bill, you said right there that you wouldn't leave a tip. I didn't even hear clearly what you were saying--whatever I said, you replied with "then I'm not tipping." This is truly speechless. If you don't want to tip, then don't--do you really need to announce it out loud? Isn't this exactly what you said? When your whole family came, we served you water, we even helped you with cold dishes. In the end, did we refuse to serve you food? Or did we treat you differently??? Yet again, when settling the bill, you said you wouldn't tip. You act like some kind of lord. You're Chinese, I'm Chinese too. If you're looking for dignity, go find it at an American restaurant. read more

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The foods were ok, just realized they calculated the tips including Tax. Which is not right! It is not so much about money, just the principle in doing business. Don't bring typical Chinese mentality to America. read more

If you are looking for flavorful and delicious food, Northern Cafe is the spot to go. My family and I come about 3x a month and their food is CONSISTENTLY delicious. Not sure why the overall rating is 3 stars. They have a large variety of noodle/rice dishes. The beef noodle soup is clean yet flavorful w/a kick of spicy. Entrees: Pickled Peppers and Sauerkraut Beef Noodle Soup (regular noodles) 3 Cold Appetizers (cucumber, mushroom, seaweed) Stir Fried Lamb Noodles Pork Spare Ribs Cumin lamb Beef wrap Lamb saukeret soup IG: @gabxeatz read more

Northern Cafe - Spare Ribs + Cumin Lamb - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

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The service was nice. They seated me right away. You are able to place an order thru their table barcode, although I prefer to order it in person. The noodle was how I remembered it. The beef was tender, the soup was savory. The cold dish was tasty, the marinated peanuts on top were the best. read more

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Located in the same plaza as 99 Ranch and Bank of America, the parking lot is huge, but I know at certain times it can be tough to find a good spot. Place was very clean and bright! It's a nice little spot if you're craving fresh noodles. We were greeted by a very lovely woman who gave us the highlights of the menu. When you order noodle soup you choose what size/kind of noodles: extra thin, regular, large, flat, or knife sliced. I like texture in my noodles so I opted in for knife sliced. Beef Roll was really good. The scallion pancake was crispy and not too thick/doughy. I got the house special beef noodle soup. The broth was rich, savory, and not too salty. There was LOTS of noodles! I had to be conscious of my noodle to soup ratio as I ate. It was very filling, I only ate half of my bowl and took the rest home to eat later. read more

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We love this restaurant! All those authentic Chinese dishes & the lan noodles are our favorite! I am so happy to be here again! We love the atmosphere, the service & the excellent food! Will definitely come back more often! read more

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Came here for a family dinner and it was perfect choice! If you're looking for great value and shareable portions, definitely a place to visit. Items we tried and really enjoyed included: Golden Prime Beef Soup: For less than $20, this is an absolute steal! Great spice level and sooo much beef. Highly recommend sharing this dish with maybe a side of rice. Golden Prime Beef Noodle Soup: They actually brought this out by accident and gave it to us anyways. But same concept as the soup but packed with noodles. Most of their noodle dishes are under $15 and they come with plenty to share. (also handmade noodles!) Wontons in Chili Oil: A staple dish and we enjoyed these. The wontons were huge and they were juicy. Beef Roll: Also a must order, flaky roll on the outside and great ratio of meat on the inside. Overall, from my first experience here, we all really enjoyed it and had plenty of leftovers (though they don't hold very well the next few days, so I recommend enjoying your food there!) read more

terrible, the chunking chicken was horrible and really hard to eat. It tasted like rocks. We asked them to do a refund and we go there every Friday and they refuse to. We'll never go here ever again. Do not go. read more

My family used to order takeout from this place a long time ago, but we haven't in recent years. It's a decent choice for Chinese comfort food. Some items are hits, others are misses. - Cold Potato appetizer ($7.99). We ordered these to try, not knowing what they were. They turned out to be Sichuan julienned potatoes. Each stick was cooked through, but had a snap. I detected a light spiciness and peppercorn flavor. It was very good. - Pan Fried Pork Dumpling ($12.99 - 10 pcs). Tasted alright, but the skin was too thick for my liking. - Pork Pancake / Jing Du Rou Bing ($14.99). The meat pie was sliced into four large and thin rectangles. Good, but not as juicy or crispy as I had hoped. - Eggplant with Garlic Sauce ($14.99). The eggplant was cut into long strips up the entire eggplant, with some pieces of inedible stem attached. Odd cut aside, the flavor was excellent; fragrant "yuxiang wei" permeated the dish. read more

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人生只有一次， 不能白來這一遭，所以一定要試著讓自己快樂， 做你想做的事，愛你想愛的人，在這吃貨團就真的是 吃你想吃的東西，人生短短幾個秋呀，本就該不留遺憾～ 被獅子會的獅兄唸說， 出來吃飯 也都沒見我po 過， 要寫的餐廳太多， 好像堆積在桌上一疊疊文案要慢慢消化般， 頤豐園，在 San Gabriel 也是小有名氣的餐廳，我記得他們的火鍋也好吃， 這次是吃炒菜， 時隔兩個多月， 印象最深的還是他們的安格斯雪花牛小排，做的很好， 不輸那家的牛小排，其他的炒菜也都有一定的水準， 當天獅兄們是去喝酒抽雪茄的， 所以點的都是比較下酒的菜色， 不知道去哪聚餐的， 這家也是不錯的選擇！ -- at Northern Cafe. read more

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the server was very rude, and was just staring at me the whole time while i was eating with an RBF. she was very nice to other customers and greeted them with a smile and enthusiasm. but with my mom and i she just mad dogged tf out of us. the dish my mom ordered the stir fried noodle with lamb with bland not gonna lie. and it looked nothing like the picture. read more

Two words: Beef Rolls Well actually this place needs a lot more hype, in a small parking lot mall there's a surprising amount of food to try, and I was blown away by Northern Cafe. I looked at pictures from fellow Yelpers and saw pictures of the beef rolls and knew I had to get some. The flaky texture, the umami from the sauce, and the flavor explosion from the cilantro and beef were just amazing. The size was huge and could be it's own meal, but wait there's more! The beef noodle was delicious with a clean broth filled with flavor, and adding a dash of chili oil took it over the top without being overwhelmingly spicy read more

Northern Cafe - Beef rolls - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

Walk in the restaurant. Not friendly waitress point a table to us . The table was not clean table. ( used napkin. The table looks very drity) we ordered the food and waiting , and waiting ,no food out , the restaurant is not busy , few tables only . The waitress the one and only waitress tell me food is coming . Ok I went to wash my hands n come my table . She lost our order. She has to order us . It has wast my time just set there. She told us to wait for other 10 to 20 mins. It is lunch time ! The place and service is outrageous . read more

I've been to Northern Cafe Rowland Heights, Northern Cafe Irvine, and today I'm driving by here, wanna have a try. Although flavors vary from each location, but what about service? That's why from my opinion it drops from 4 start to 2: after I placed order, the waitress using a weird tone asking me: is that all you want just a noodle? I told her that my friend not yet placed the order. So is that a problem even if both of us only want a noodle soup? Another part is while checking out: while I selecting tips option, the waitress starred at my bill. Is that anything you concern about how much tips I added to you instead of improving your service in advance??! read more

My favorite thing here was the beef pancake roll. It's like a little Chinese Wellington. The portions are huge so you'll get your money's worth. We also got green onion pancakes, and 2 types of XLB. The food didn't leave an outstanding impression on me but I enjoyed my time there. Large amount of indoor seating and soy sauce, vinegar, chili very available for self use. read more

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Not sure why the overall rating is a three. I think this is a solid four. The flavors are good, the service is quick and the portions are big (especially the noodle soups). When I mean big, I think you could easily share one noodle soup and a appetizer and leave satisfied. If you do plan on taking home left overs I'd recommend getting a dry noodle since the noodle soups would get too soggy. read more

Northern Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

Nice food but a bit too greasy and spicy for me, other than that the taste is great. My favorite is the eggplant

We came here at 4pm for a birthday celebration. Nice service for a large group. The food is just ok, noodles are not great but the onion pancakes is great. read more

Just an FYI some of their menu items (both pictures provided by Yelpers and on their online order form) are not available! We tried to order spicy wontons and the mala hot pot, but the worker let us know over the phone that they did not have those items. We ordered to go and our food was ready for pick up in around 15-20 minutes and this was around an hour before they had to close. We got the: 1) Mapo Tofu: -Nice numbing spice with soft tofu. -Yummy, especially since we were super hungry. Not a bad dish overall as mapo tofu goes. 2) Steamed Pork Buns + Pork: -Very strange way to label XLB but that was what this dish basically was. -We ordered 2 servings. It didn't come with its own sauce so we had to do with the chili oil and vinegar we had at home but it was no biggie (I'm sure you can get sauce if you ask for it before hand). -The exterior was alright and the pork was juicy enough on the inside. 3) Cumin Beef: -Went deliciously well with the rice and the seasoning and spice was nicely balanced. Not too spicy or salty. -The beef itself wasn't too chewy either. All around a decent dish. Our order didn't come with rice, but we had some at home, so that wasn't an issue. Just keep this in mind if you need to order some on the side. read more

I ordered take out for lunch today. I ordered Home Style Chow Mein, Beef Roll, and sweet & sour fish fillet. They were all good and delicious! The chow mein had a good texture, not soft or too firm, almost like a thinner version of Udon. It was flavorful. However, I did not notice they do use a lot of oil as I see it on the bottom of the take out container. Beef roll was crispy. The sweet and sour fish fillet was nicely fried and tasty sauce on it. There are places that slab on sauces that make it gooey but this place did it very well! Indoor decor is nice with a traditional Chinese feel to it. Menu pricing looks like same price for lunch and dinner. Do not see any lunch specials. Would like to try their other dishes next time. read more

Northern Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

I like Northern Cafe! This place however, with this particular RBF server completely ruins my appetite. The food here is not bad for what it is. We like coming here for the knife cut noodles. When she took our order, in Chinese, she didn't ask us what noodles we wanted and it also slipped my husband's mind... we try to remind her she was all bitchy about it. Ughhh... I wouldn't come back here because of her. You're a server, is it too hard to crack a smile? read more

Northern Cafe - Not very nice server... kind of bitchy actually ... - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

Good food and fast service. Clean. I ordered the chicken chow mien. I took my food to go. read more

Northern Cafe - Lots of salads - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

The food is so tasty! They have the best onion pancake and the sour cabbage lamp soup! We tried the sweet and sour fish for the first time, everyone LOVE it! We will definitely come back again! read more

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We went to Earthen Restaurant on January 1st, but the hostess wanted us to sit at a community table. We said no thanks and walked right next door to Northern Cafe. Good decision! We ordered the following: Deep Fried Diced Chicken with Chili and Peppers House Special Fried Rice Lamb Skewers Total with tax came to $31.71 Pros: --Deep fried diced chicken was amaaazzziing! The chicken pieces were so tender that I thought I was eating protein filled Cotton Candy! Red chili added heat and flavor to it. (+1) -Lamb Skewers were very well done! Meat was marinated to my liking before cooking. I could eat 4 or 5 skewers in a single sitting if I had the chance. Easy on the wallet! Cons: -Employees did not speak English, at all. It was very difficult to even ask for napkins, or a to go box. (-1) -No chili sauce. We have continued our tradition of dining at the Hacienda/Rowland Heights neighborhood for new years! I am glad we dined at Northern Cafe. I recommend this restaurant for their Lamb Skewers and Deep Fried Diced chicken! read more

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Fried noodles with aged vinegar. It's so delicious. The sour and hot taste I like to eat. read more

Northern Cafe - c Chow Mein - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

This was our 2nd time at Northern Cafe and it did not disappoint. Food was very good. The server was friendly but she was busy. read more

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My boyfriend's mom has been wanting to come here for awhile, so when there was a special occasion to celebrate (her birthday!), she wanted to come here to try everything. I mean, what better way to try all the foods you're curious about than with a family style meal. I think she ordered the whole menu. No lie! There was a time during the meal that I didn't see the table and we had to stack some plates to make way for new ones! Here's what we got: Dry-fried string beans, yu-shiang eggplant (sauteed with peppers in garlic sauce), sweet n sour spare ribs, orange chicken, XLB, Shanghai stir-fried sliced rice cakes, grilled whole squid, fish fillets in chili oil and I think the last item was a poached two item in chili oil (intestine and something else). I'm certain there was more I can't remember. It all became a blur of plates and the end of the meal required a lot of take out of boxes. Out of all the plates we tried, my favorites were the orange chicken, eggplant, and spare ribs. read more

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Fresh hand pulled noodles, who would say no? Noodle pulling is an art and hard craft to master. The noodles served here are nice and chewy. You can select the thickness. The delicious warm soups coupled with the fresh pulled noodles just makes your stomache feel nice and warm. Beef rolls are nice and crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside and a good appietizer to share. They also have a variety of side dishes you can share or have on the side with your noodle soup. Even though they offer togo and pack the noodles separately, I still strongly recommend eating this in the store where the noodles are freshly cooked. read more

Northern Cafe - Beef roll - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

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This Northern Cafe location is now the same Northern Cafe as the one near Nogales/Fullerton next to Yi Fang. I literally jumped for joy when I heard that there is one closer now. The staff is the same as well. Their hand pulled noodles are one of the best in Rowland. I always opt for the oil spill noodle, house special beef noodle soup, or pickled pepper & sauerkraut beef noodle soup. Side note: I feel like they should create another yelp account and deactivate this current one so customers aren't ordering from the previous Northern Cafe menu. read more

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Simple and Sweet To sum this place up it's a shop that sells hand pulled noodles and dumplings. My family and I came here and frankly had a great time chowing down on some delicious noodles. Between us we got to try all the different varieties of noodles and they were all fantastic. They have a good chew and they're made to order (you can watch the chef pulling the noodles since there is a glass pane to see into the kitchen.) We also tried four of the different noodle soups and they were all good in their own ways. I really enjoyed the mala fatty beef soup since that soup vibed with me the most. I haven't yet tried the dumplings but I definitely will next time! The decor is nice and staff was kind. I felt bad that there was only one waitress but to her credit she had the whole place running smoothly. The price is about 13-15 but the bowls are massive! You can probably make it two meals or you can walk away really freaking full. read more

Northern Cafe - Mala fatty beef noodle soup - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

For the size of the diner, we were super impressed by their service. Authentic food. Fast service. They came to our table to pour water into disposable cups. Simple and theme-relevant interior decorations. Huge selection in the menu. I'm generally a gluten free eater. This was definitely a delicious gluten-filled meal. Oh... technology required... order using QR code and some sort of Chinese app. Glad that my friends placed the order for our table. Only reason for missing a star... we were so disappointed that they ran out of cucumbers and this other amazing appetizer that I forgot the name of. They did not have a lot of servers, AND never skipped a beat about making sure customers had the service they needed. No one hollered. Very unusual Chinese restaurant experience. Very pleasant experience. I'm just so impressed by the positive vibe of the people who work at this restaurant. read more

Northern Cafe - Lamb noodles - Chinese Near Me - Hacienda Heights, California

A lot of people have said that Northern Cafe was comparable, if not better, than Din Tai Fung, so I had to check it out! They specialize in authentic Chinese handmade noodles and dumplings and so much more. The steamed pork dumplings were juicy and you can really taste the freshness The pan fried dumplings and beef roll were huge! Super crispy on the outside with lots of flavor. I really enjoyed the steamed bun filled with red bean It wasn't too sweet and was the perfect treat after a delicious meal. Overall I thought this place was solid and could be a good alternative to DTF if you're not trying to wait in super long lines read more

The big plus about this place is the portion is huge. One bowl of noodles is good for at least two people. Noodles were fresh and chewy in soup. The soup base was good but not the best. The cold noodles texture was too tough to eat. I love my noodles to be chewy but not too tough. The noodles in the soup had the perfect texture though. Side dish: seaweed was really good with the vinegary taste. The red oil pork tummy wasn't spicy and it was really tasty. The tofu skin had no taste and the texture was too hard. I guess the server was too busy to serve all the tables on a busy weekend, so he was a little too busy to answer questions properly. I'll still go back to give the stir fried knife-cut noodles a try and order the side dishes along with it. read more

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Didn't realize Northern Cafe was somewhat of a chain, as the first time I visited one was the location next to USC. Came here on a Wednesday night. There were more than a few people in the restaurant, but no wait time was required. If you like Chinese comfort food and know the right items to order, this is definitely your kind of place. Green onion pancake, beef roll pancake, and xiao long bao are all a part of the menu. But there's also more traditional items such as cumin lamb, Mongolian beef, and shredded pork with bean curd as well. Basically, a little bit of everything. Some dishes tasted better than others, but overall I can't complain about the food. Service is as you would expect from your typical Chinese restaurant. You're only going to get service if you flag someone down and get their attention. But once you do, they're pretty responsive and are very helpful. Overall, nowhere near the best Chinese restaurant. But if you want some good Chinese food that gets the job done, Northern Cafe gets the job done. read more

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