Joshua is consistently a machine of excellent service every time we come here. He manages to be everywhere at once keeping all things flowing smoothly. My kid choked a little bit on a bite they didn't chew well enough and within seconds he was at the table with a fresh cup of water. He is superb. Also the food is great. Highly recommend the green beans! read more

This place has some solid options if you're craving Chinese food! You first order at the counter and they give you a number. You seat yourself, and the waitstaff will bring you the food. We ordered the garlic pork ribs and the pork pancakes to share. I have to say the garlic pork ribs were bomb! They were so flavorful and tasty and had quite a bit of meat. The pork pancakes were pretty good, but the portion of meat compared to the pancakes was small, so it just tasted like the pancakes. The pancakes were also a little on the greasy side. Service was pretty quick. Overall enjoyed the meal here! read more

Northern Cafe - C3. Chinese Pork Pancake - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

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This place had been recommended by a work friend. Was pleasantly surprised by how much we loved the food. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. We order the house special cold noodles, chicken wonton in chili sauce, and the fried rice cakes with chicken. Everything was really good. We will definitely be back again sometime soon read more

Northern Cafe - D5. Shanghai Stir Fry Rice Cake with Chicken E14. Chicken Wontons In Spicy Chili Sauce F11. House Special Cold Noodle - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

Delicious food! Love the dishes that I can have dishes that I can't find at other restaurants. The garlic pork was amazing! It was so good with plain rice. I can't wait to come back and try out their other dishes. read more

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Super good authentic Chinese food! It has all the original flavors you can get in Monterey park or Rowland heights finally in Irvine!! It's on the UCI campus so you'll see a bunch college students and old azns alike! Ordering was super easy and the food came out so quick too! It's like if boiling point and din tai Fung had a baby! read more

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I always come to University Center (UCI) for food pick-ups coz hubby and son loves the Garlic Chicken Sandwich from Le Diplomate. Although I love the sandwich too, I needed a variety. Then one day, I saw my Yelp friend Sandra L.'s post of this place, and it immediately grabbed my attention. So, I came here one weekend to try their Golden Spicy Beef Soup, their Chinese Pork Pancake, and the Sesame Balls. It's a walk-up counter style of ordering. If you're dining-in, go straight to the counter, order your food, grab a number, find a table, then wait for your food to be brought out to you. On my 1st visit here, I waited for 5 minutes at the front to be seated, and didn't realize it was a walk-up counter style. I thought it's a sit-down place. On to the food: The GOLDEN SOUP BEEF NOODLE is very spicy, even though it doesn't look like it on the picture. I was a little surprised when I took a sip of the soup and coughed a bit 'coz I didn't expect it to be that spicy. I actually love how spicy it is! The beef strips were so good too! It's the kind of beef strips similar to Marugame's Beef Nikutama. Yes, that kind of beef! It's so tasty and delicious! The soup flavor is so different from the normal beef soup you get from typical Chinese restaurants. The CHINESE PORK PANCAKE was also delicious. The pancake wrapping is thin, and juicy in the inside, with some tasty ground pork and onion filling. I would've preferred a doughier wrapping to hold the juicy meat steadier because the filling fell off each time I took a bite. Also, the juice oozes out at each bite, it's so tasty, but it needs a denser dough to hold it up. My favorite part of my meal was the SESAME BALLS. These were chewy, lightly sweetened, and with a similar texture of mochi, but I prefer these much better. The sesame seeds on the outer part gives these amazing balls a nutty flavor. This place have ample seating both inside and outside. It's to the left of Mendocino Farms when you're facing south-east. Plenty of parking during weekends. However, when I used to go in to the office nearby, on weekdays during school hours, especially lunch time, parking was such a hassle at this plaza. read more

Northern Cafe - Golden Beef Soup (very spicy) and some Sesame Balls - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

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I have been to this place a million times at this point. So freakin delicious and the food comes out fast! I've had both takeout and dine in. Both are delicious, but unsurprisingly, it's even better when you dine in. Highly recommended are the crispy pork sandwich, Zha Jiang noodle, and house special beef noodle soup. And the beef roll! read more

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Omg.. came here after a hike and our group was starving. All dishes ordered were SUPERB! Can't really go wrong with anything here. The stars of the show were definitely the garlic ribs and Chongqing spicy chicken. Also, the eggplant and beef roll were also super satisfying. I will definitely come back to try their other dishes. read more

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They do to go very well - nice packaging, ready quickly, easy online ordering. Soup dumplings to go are a particular challenge but these held up well. Their orange chicken is so good - that's what keeps getting me to come back read more

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This place is such a hidden gem for people in the area, for families and people who just wanna have some feel like home experience, yes the food here looks very clean and environment is very homey. The squid skewers were especially delicious with a hint of sweetness to balance the spice. The green beans have a nice crunch and a perfect blend of spices. I highly recommend read more

Northern Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

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I got take out from here and tried their pork dumplings! It was SO good, I've been wanting to come back and try more of their food because their menu is so extensive. One serving filled me up perfectly. Can't wait to take others here too! read more

the food looks great, and the place has plenty of parking , the service is fast. i recommend this place if you are in Irvine. read more

Northern Cafe - front cashier area - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

I ordered beef roll and popcorn chicken to go. Great service. The food was delicious and exactly what I need to fill my stomach before a tough night. read more

Northern Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

Delicious! The sautéed green beans were my favorite! The prices are great and the food comes out really quickly! Try the dumplings! read more

The prices were a few dollars less then specified online. Their noodles excellent, just the perfect texture. However the soup base was just okay. Their beef rolls, were yummy! The fried rice with chicken was super oily. Lots of veggies and good amount of flavor though. We got the food to go so can't speak on their customer service. You order your food first then find your own seats. Good amount of table inside. Overall just okay for beef noodle soup read more

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Writing this as we are still eating..... lol because wow this place ended up being beyond our expectations. It's a Saturday around 4pm and we ordered and had our food in under 15 minutes. The portions are large and filling, and the menu overall gives din tai fung dupe for half the price. We will definitely be back! read more

Northern Cafe - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

Northern Cafe is a great spot, and I honestly wish it was here earlier! The location is clean and spacious. It's located in the University Town Center, so it's very convenient if you're at UC Irvine or if you're shopping in the area. One thing I love about Northern Cafe is that it is truly cafe style. You sit down anywhere you'd like and order up at the front. You get your water and to go containers yourself if needed, and these stations are kept very clean and organized. It's perfect for a quick meal or if you like an eating experience that's convenient. The condiments on the table looked clean and replaced regularly, and there were all the sauces that I want to accompany my food like chili oil, soy sauce, and vinegar. As for the taste, I personally loved it! I had ordered to go food from Northern Cafe in the past and it was good, but the hot pot dishes in person really hit the spot. The Mala hot pot was spicy enough to enjoy, but not too spicy that it was painful and there was a good amount of meat and things inside the soup. I really enjoyed the beef slices with chili oil because the portion was generous and it was a well done version of a dish that I love. I think the value overall was good because I had leftovers after my meal, so you can definitely make your one dish into two meals if you aren't too hungry. I am definitely going to go back to Northern Cafe to try the other dishes! It seems like a great place to get Chinese dishes in the area, and I'm really glad it opened up in such a convenient location. read more

Northern Cafe - Mala hot pot, Golden Soup hot pot, and cold beef slices in chili oil - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

Recently dined at Northern Cafe for the first time and had the best experience! the space was clean with tons of indoor and outdoor seating and the menu had a great range. Although this is more or a fast casual spot, the service was still amazing! Food came out fast and hot and everything was so flavorful and cooked to perfection. Highly recommend checking them out, especially if you are dining with a group because the portions are BIG and the prices are so affordable. Definitely a new go to spot! read more

Northern Cafe - orange chicken, dan dan noodle, spicy shrimp dumpling, juicy pork and crab dumpling, bok choy, scallion pancake - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

There was NOTHING Chinese about this food here! We ordered 3 dishes & each dish was worse than the previous 1. Has anyone ever had BBQ pork ribs that looked like this 1st picture? Anyone? I've never had dry as a bone Orange chicken! There's always a sweet orange-ish sauce that covers the battered chicken. But not this place here, theirs was mostly batter & no sweet sauce (proof is in the 2nd pic) I can't remember what the 3rd dish was except it was just as gross as the last 2 dishes. I couldn't believe what I was looking @ I had to take pix. We ended up throwing it all in the trash. Because that's exactly where it belonged. The worst Chinese food EVER!!! read more

Northern Cafe - Pork short ribs? WTH ‍ - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

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My new favorite kung pao chicken. The wings were hot and crispy. Loved the green beans. I can't wait to came back. I want to try new items, but I want everything we had this time again. read more

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I love Northern Cafe. There is one where I live that I frequent often and I just discovered there is one near my work! The last time I had ordered Dan Dan noodles and it came out quickly and was delicious. The take out portion was quite hefty! I ate half and was able to eat the other half at home as another meal. The XLB is also a favorite along with the beef roll. Definite recommend read more

Northern Cafe - Dan Dan noodles - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

I had an amazing time dining here! My friend and I noticed how affordable their menu items are and their portions are definitely big!

My new go-to Chinese restaurant! Almost everything I've had here has been super tasty. My favorites are the scallion pancakes, garlic spare ribs, eggplant, cucumbers, green beans, fatty beef, and the rice cakes. Avoid the shrimp wontons in chili oil, it's mostly veggies and tiny tiny pieces of shrimp. Also the mapo tofu is hot or miss. Sometimes it's super delicious and sometimes it's way too fragrant. The beef roll was dry, get the scallion pancakes on their own. Also the soup dumplings aren't great, the skin is too thick. Aside from that, I love this place. The staff is super friendly and the prices are fair! read more

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The vibe of the restaurant is casual, but could be great for an office outing or lunch. Service was done at the register - you walk up to order and pay at the register, then food is delivered to your table. The food was good, and I really enjoyed the broth of the house beef noodle soup, but there was very little broth compared to what my partner ordered for their soup. Overall, I would come back for the other things I ordered - mapo tofu wasn't too spicy and the beef roll was HUGE and delicious! Great leftovers for dinner read more

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The food was really good our favorite was the Dan Dan noodles. You serve yourself water, plates, napkins, and utensils. And you go up to order by yourself. On a Tuesday night the place was pretty busy and workers were constantly cleaning. read more

Northern Cafe - C2. Scallion Pancake B12. Sauteed Bok Choy with Garlic E15. Shrimp Wontons In Spicy Chili Sauce F9. Dan Dan Noodle F2. Beef Noodle Soup - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

Northern Cafe really makes me wonder if the cleanliness of a Chinese restaurant is inversely proportional to the tastiness of the food. Because this location is startlingly clean compared to the other Northern Cafe locations I've been to - and the service so much nicer and professional - but the food is noticeably worse. The 女肉捲餅 (beef roll) had too much cilantro and too little meat, the bok choy had insane amounts of garlic, the 鍋貼 wasn't golden or crispy at all, the hot pot was essentially budget Boiling Point, and the 奶黃包 (I forgot what this is called in English but the custard bao) was the worst I've ever had but then again this is called Northern Cafe and that's a southern Chinese dessert. The only thing that wasn't that bad was the 女肉餡餅 (beef pie). I almost miss the sticky floors and the rude servers at the Cerritos location because they DGAF but at least the food was better. Having said all that, this is not that bad for Orange County Chinese food so I would totally go back in a pinch. It just wouldn't be my first choice. read more

This place is usually very crowded, but we were out and about late on a Sunday afternoon and got to try it for the first time - and now see why it is so popular. All the food is great - fresh and hot and delicious. There is a cold food bar as well if you want to do that - good price and you get generous portions to boot. We got the xiao long bao dumplings and garlic eggplant and beef roll. All great. We've been looking for a go-to Chinese place after Sam Woo closed - and finally found it! read more

Food has improved since my previous review. It's less oily, and it feels like a return to form. The service was quick and the food came out hot. Glad to see it was bustling as well! read more

I'm so jealous of UCI students to have good Asian food like this so close to campus now. Most of the dishes we tried here were pretty good. The dumplings were not that flavorful so they were just ok. However, do yourself a favor and get the garlic pork ribs! My friends and I came back within a couple weeks just to order the same dish again and it was consistently delicious. read more

There's a lot of delicious options on the menu -- it was honestly hard to pick which items to get, but we ended up getting the beef roll because it seemed highly recommended on other people's reviews and the spicy beef pot. The roll was a little hard to eat because the filling kept falling -- it did come with a lot of green onion & cilantro, which I personally didn't mind! Overall, the flavor was great! I was surprised that it wasn't really greasy considering it was fried. The spicy beef pot was okay. There wasn't anything that necessarily stood out to me compared to other hotpots. I almost wish the flavor of the broth covered the meat more, because it just tasted like plain beef despite being in the soup. Service was really good! Both servers and the person at the cashier were nice and friendly. read more

Northern Cafe - C1. Beef Roll (bottom) 1. Spicy Beef Pot (top) - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

QR Code menu is an abomination. Please service the customers. Waiter did not know if peanuts were on menu items. Skewers were EXTREMELY small, definitely not worth the price. Also, not mentioned on the website, but certain menu items (like noodles) are not available past 9:30PM. Not sure why that is. Do not recommend! read more

I've been wanting to try this place. First time I was here was with a friend who recommended this place. It's alright, you order and pay before sitting, I think it's inconvenient. Food is not bad but over salted to my taste. Typically clean, you leave the dishes on the table when you're done but someone comes to grab them almost immediately. Overall, this place looks clean read more

The food was so delicious especially the orange chicken was probably one of the best I've had. Their beef wraps, so so good as well as their pork dumplings. !' read more

Everything was flavorful and fresh. One of the better beef rolls I have had. The cucumber salad was refreshing. Can't wait to go back and try more! read more

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Very good food and very modestly priced! Fast service. In a nice plaza with lots of shops and places to eat.

I recently visited Northern Cafe Chinese and was blown away with the delicious options. Their bok choy, beef roll, and orange chicken are TO DIE FOR! You can seat yourself and order at the front desk. Their service is quick and friendly and if you get full you can use their to go boxes. Prepare yourselves though, each dish serves about 2-3 people. The food served family style outside of their soup options. read more

Came back again and tried the other non-clear broth version of their beef noodle soup (紅燒!) and ordered the chicken in chili oil again! The beef was super tender and the noodles were springy. I honestly thought that the broth to noodle ratio could have been slightly improved, but overall some of the best beef noodles soups I've had. I usually prefer clear broth but I actually prefer the braised version! Honestly so much food for two people(we both were so stuffed!) and service was quick and efficient as usual. I definitely will be back and can comfortably say that this is one of my favorite places in UTC! read more

Northern Cafe - Mouth watering chicken/口水雞 - Chinese Near Me - Irvine, California

We came and ordered several dishes. We had the beef noodle soup which was pretty good. We also had spicy beef hotpot which was ok. We also had steam dumplings which were also ok. The orange chicken and chicken fried rice was also ok. Parking is plentiful as it is in a shopping center. Service is courteous. The place is kind of quiet. read more

Amazing variety of classic chinese dishes. The portion sizes are so big and the price is very affordable! Every single dish was so fresh and flavorful. The egg rolls were so crispy and the scallion pancakes were so buttery and flaky. If you come here you MUST try the beef roll it was so delicious. The service here is also so wonderful. You walk up to the counter to order your food and the food arrives very quickly. The restaurant is cafe style which makes it easy to come in for a quick bite. read more

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Came here for lunch with some coworkers. They've been coming here quite a bit and trying different things each time. They love it! This time in particulate we got the beef roll, some sort of noodles (oops, I wasn't the one ordering), and the kung pao chicken. Everything was very delicious (especially the beef roll!! The beef slices were perfectly thin and the flavor was great!), but it started to taste very salty after a few bites. You really need to pair the dishes here with a nice bowl of steamed rice to dilute the salt a bit. But that aside, the flavors were great, and we're definitely going back! read more

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