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    Special Noodle

    4.4 (1.2k reviews)
    ModerateChinese, Noodles
    Open 11:00 am - 10:30 pm
    Updated 2 weeks ago

    Order Special Noodle Takeout or Delivery

    Special Noodle Photos

    Business Info

    SPECIAL NOODLE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Classy
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Special Noodle

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    Plate is very Chinese style
    Temple H.

    Food is great. Reasonable price. Been here since it was open years ago No. 1 dumping in Newark area May be even Bay Area Lovely Good portion in noodle

    Pan fried soup dumplings
    Andre C.

    Despite opening in 2024, the Newark location of Special Noodle feels like they are still getting things down: there is furniture that has not been set (outdoor furniture were crammed inside) and very limited staffing. That said, the food is very decent. The XLB and pan fried dumplings were great and their broths were balanced well, though they are a little pricey for their portions. The dan dan noodles were a much better deal and I would recommend for bigger eaters.

    Green beans
    Gloria F.

    My favorite items here were the chili oil wontons, green beans, and beef chow fun! Quick service and very attentive.

    Amazing taste! This is the first time that I have been in this restaurant.

    Cozy restaurant delivers exactly what you want on a weeknight: no fuss, no gimmicks, just good food. The chicken arrived crisp-skinned and juicy. Service was quick and friendly without hovering. Prices sit comfortably in the mid-range, and portions are generous enough to skip dessert. It's not flashy, but it's reliable, and reliable counts for a lot. I'll be back.

    Spicy Beef Noodle Soup
    Surge C.

    Special Noodle is a no frills spot offering delicious spicy noodle dishes, baos, and a variety of dumplings. I shared the spicy beef noodle soup and spicy chicken buns with my friend. The spicy beef noodle soup was the star of the night - very flavorful broth and tender beef chunks! I wasn't a fun of the spicy chicken buns so I'd pass on that. I'll be back for their dumplings though. I love that they're open late too!

    Soup Pan Fried Pork Buns Snow Flake Pan Fried Dumpling Spicy Beef Mixed Noodles and Rice
    JoAnn D.

    Was hopeful for an alternative to din tai fung and din din dumpling, but nope. Everything tasted like five spice. Nice inside and fast service but won't be returning.

    Spicy Beef Noodle Soup
    Stephanie A.

    Food is hot and fresh to order. Really enjoyed the chicken and veggies and bokchoy with mushrooms the most, tbh. Next would be the shrimp XLB. The fried pork buns could have more pork in them. The spicy noodle soup would be a 8/10 spicy, just FYI! The pork potstickers were pretty standard. Service was fast and courteous. Ambiance gives a pure family setting. Sounds Ike it's a new place, it's spacious enough inside and the wallpaper is gorgeous. I'd likely come back again if I was in the area.

    Spicy wonton, Soup Pan Fried Pork Buns and XLB Pork
    Jo C.

    Ordering online is quick and easy. I got the soup dumplings, spicy wontons and pan fried buns. The wait wasn't too long either. The staff brought my items to me as I waited at the bench. Customer service is really good here compared to Milpitas location. The restaurant was also clean. All the items I got were delicious and portion sizes were decent. The spicy wonton wasn't spicy, add some chili oil to make it spicy.

    Mayra R.

    This is a very tasty place, the dumplings and the buns are the best as the price, and the service, excellent! The ambiance is relaxing and calm and is very organized, one of my favorites places to eat dumplings.

    Pan fried dumplings
    Deb W.

    I think Special Noodles is my favorite place for XLBs and pan fried dumplings. The service is good. Ordering on the phone is easy. There are lots of tables. The only down side of this location is there is no air conditioning thus not really inviting to go there in the summer time. The food is good. I tried a lot of the menu. I think the only dish I've tried and could pass are the pork buns and cheesy fried shrimp balls. The prices are ok. Service is good. Solid place.

    Soupy pork buns
    Sintu R.

    I have been wanting to go there, seeing their high ratings. Their crispy dumplings/buns are really good but rest seemed okay ish. Their woodear mushroom salad was a little too sour for my taste. Dumpling time woodear salad is twice better. And the kung pao chicken was sweet, is it supposed to be sweet? Service was quick and ambience was good too. But just the food didn't feel very authentic Chinese.

    Jonathan L.

    Absolutely love this chain of restaurants, they deliver on comforting Chinese dishes. I always order the pan fried dumplings, the best in the bay. They really know how to get a good crisp. The flavor is impeccable inside and you pair it with the vinegar, it becomes chef kiss amazing. I like ordering the eggplant too, it has great flavor and a good wok hay smokiness. Another good item is the stone soup, with literal hot stones at the bottom of the pot. The broth is light, but the Sichuan is strong and delicious. The service was great, very attentive to our needs and gave us more napkins without asking. The food comes out fairly quick and steaming hot. This location has a fair amount of seats with more in the back in you have larger parities. You can see them making the food through their glass window area. Overall, I really enjoy this restaurant, in particular this location too. It's very centralized with a large parking and right next door is a feng cha too!

    Kerina P.

    Great service and amazing food! Definitely will be back! We ordered the chicken fried rice, pork soup dumpling , & spicy wonton! The cucumber was ok but we added our own little touch with some vinegar, soy sauce, and chili oil! Bomb!

    XLB Pork

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    2 months ago

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    Eric L.

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    2 days ago

    Spicy Red Oil Wontons, Gan Ban Green beans, and the Beef Chow Fun were 10/10. Sesame balls were also so delicious.

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    7 days ago

    We had dang dang spicy noodles and pan fried dumplings. They both were quite flavorful.

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    4 months ago

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    Eric L.

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    21 days ago

    Great service and a substantial menu. Many traditional northern options. Will come again

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    Special Noodle Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Special Noodle

    Can't make reservations on Yelp so do they take reservations?

    Just call and ask

    I see outdoor tables in the photos, but some answers show no outdoor dining. Can someone who has been there recently update the outdoor situation?

    I've only seen people order to go and then sit outside with their group to eat on one of those small tables. They're responsible for cleaning up after themselves. Luckily there's a trash can right next to that table.

    Does the vegetarian food come in contact with meat or fish?

    No, there are no contact between vegetarian dishes to meat or fish dishes!

    How do you order pickup/takeout without calling? There only seems to be an option to make a reservation online.

    If you click on their website you can order online through 39miles

    Are dogs allowed for outdoor dining?

    There's no outdoor dining.

    Are there any vegan options on the menu?

    Yes! Tons! 1. Any of the dumplings or buns filled with "eight veggies " (note: tofu and radish filling has egg)… 

    View All 11 Questions

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    One Piece Lamian

    4.5(354 reviews)
    1.9 mi
    $$

    One Piece Lamian specializes in Chinese noodle dishes, all with an efficient QR code ordering…read moresystem and super quick service. We started with the One Piece Mixed Salad (tofu skin, vermicelli noodles, woodear mushrooms, carrots, celery, seaweed, and peanuts, all mixed in a savory, acidic, and spicy dressed ) and the Shredded Potato Salad, both of which made for nice appetizers. We also had the Cold Skin Noodles (Liangpi), a bowl of wide, chewy noodles mixed with a savory sauce and topped with tofu puffs, shredded cucumber , bean sprouts, and a creamy sesame sauce. Hailing from Xi'an, the Braised Pork Pita Burger was fatty pieces of pork braised in a savory sauce, served in a dry round of "pita," but even better was the Spicy Cumin Lamb Pita Burger, which contained a tantalizingly spicy, flavorful filling of tender spiced lamb. The Signature Beef Bone Noodle Soup came with noodles in a simple broth, topped with three bone-in beef ribs. The meat on the ribs was rather tough and sinewy, and the soup on the bland side, but the presentation of the dish was definitely impressive. Finally, the House Special Braised Dry Noodle was a bowl of noodles topped with a savory sauce with lots of different dried ingredients including tofu, s mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and red bell peppers. For each noodle dish, you could select from a variety of noodles, but my favorite by far was the 2cm "General Wide" noodles, which had an amazing chewy texture. Overall, this was a great restaurant for authentic Northern Chinese noodle dishes and other eats. Everything came out from the kitchen in just minutes after we ordered. The tasty dishes came at a good value, and the service was super friendly too!

    Was going to another noodle place but it seems it was no longer there so we decided come here to…read moresince it is in the same plaza. This is not our first time here. There seems to have some menu change since the last time we came. We ordered 2 dry noodles and a cold spicy pig ears appetizer. The pig ears were piled up with no fillers - something hard to find these days. You can select the type of noodles so I picked the widest while my husband picked the middle one. I love the el dente texture of the noodles giving it a bit of chew. My braised pork belly dry noodles was not dry... very watery which was not to my liking. I want my dry noodles with as little gravy as possible. The flavor was light despite all the gravy, but the veggies and one egg made it up. The house special dry noodles had just the right amount of gravy for taste but not enough ingredients. I was wondering why the restaurant is called One Piece... I guess the entire bowl of noodles is one piece noodle as it was hard to eat as all the noodles are tangled. No complaints here just need to be careful with the splashes on your shirt. Overall the food was good, service was decent as we were offered actual menu instead of only using QR code to order. The place was not small with plenty of table. A bit noise as with all Chinese restaurants.

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    Ox 9 Lanzhou Hand Pulled Noodles - Features on San Francisco Chronicles in 2022- Best Day Ever in San Mateo

    Ox 9 Lanzhou Hand Pulled Noodles

    4.3(323 reviews)
    2.1 mi
    $$
    6 years in business
    Family-owned & operated

    I can't wait to go back! I thought there would be a wait like the Campbell location, but we were…read moreable to get a table immediately. We ordered by scanning a QR code and chose the noodles with pickles and spicy dumplings. The dumplings were so good when doused in the chili oil! The soup was comforting also. I don't want to keep talking about how delicious it was because I'm going to start craving for it again and I live over an hour away. Definitely recommended!

    I found myself in Fremont recently and, in classic Angela fashion, had a violent craving for noodle…read moresoup. I actually have one of Ox 9's other locations bookmarked but when I found out there was a branch in Fremont, I detoured to try them out. I came on a weekend for early lunch, and the restaurant was quite empty and spacious. There is a window that allows you to see where the sausage (noodles) get made (pulled). Located in a strip mall, there is ample parking. Two friendly women told me to sit wherever and order via QR code. I deliberated for a hilariously long time over the width of my noodles but ultimately decided on the beef and pickled veggie noodle soup with the thin flat noodles, as well as an order of the lamb skewers. The food came out reasonably fast, given that the noodles are hand-pulled, and the portions were HUGE. The lamb skewers were highly rated online and I can see why. They are perfectly spiced and so flavorful, without being so coated that the texture changes, and they have the PERFECT fat to lean ratio so they were unbelievably succulent, but not cloying. An order is 3 decent-sized skewers and I absolutely housed those. Next I was served a huge bowl of steaming, fresh noodles. The small flat noodle was the perfect size for me, as they were already quite wide. I was not looking to chew through literal dough sheets so I am glad I didn't opt for any wider noodle size. The texture of the noodles was sublime, so QQ so springy, you can really tell that they are hand-pulled. The slight imperfections and difference in thickness between noodles gave each bite a unique chew that was so addicting. I wish the physical dimensions of the bowl were a bit bigger because the noodles were a bit tangled and clumpy and I would have liked a bit more room to mix and spread them out. The beef noodle soup broth was just ok, I think the flavor could have been a bit deeper and stronger, but I could appreciate a savory beefy flavor. The pairing of pickled vegetables and tender beef is a classic though, and I do appreciate the clean, soothing taste. There is chili oil, soy sauce, and vinegar at every table so I added a bit more salt and spice to mine. Portions were HUGE and I was already getting full from the lamb skewers, so I took a good amount home. I packed the noodles and soup separately, and the superior gluten formation of fresh noodles held up to a day in the fridge, and were still quite tasty when reheated on stovetop. I loved this place and would absolutely return to try the other noodle dishes and noodle dimensions, as well as get more of their fabulous skewers.

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    Hinodeya - Newark - ZEN Ramen (Vegan)

    Hinodeya - Newark

    4.4(439 reviews)
    1.3 mi
    $$

    The HAMAGURI "Clam" Ramen is definitely a huge standout on the menu! A light but punchy broth. So…read moreflavorful and tastes super clammy (in a good way). They even have a cold version during the summer. How refreshing!! We also really loved the appetizers here. I love how reasonably priced everything was. I recommend the Umami Brussel Sprouts and Takowasa especially.

    We came here with some friends, the decor looked nice inside. You can tell they've definitely used…read morean interior designer for the store. We were led to our seats and once we were given the menu, we started studying it meticulously. I got the HINODEYA "House" Ramen, my wife got the Beef Bowl "Gyudon", and our friend got a ramen with katsu in it. They asked me if I wanted my ramen mild, medium or hot in spiciness. I went with the medium option. I enjoyed my ramen. The broth was well made but I didn't notice much difference between the wheat noodle they've used versus normal noodle used in other shops. The portion was not big for its price and I was about 80% full from the bowl. When I tasted a bite of my wife's beef bowl, boy was I disappointed. They added way too much sauce and honestly I can't say this dish is good. The beef wasn't cut in the traditional way in how a gyudon should be and it turned out a little bit thicker which is a little weird for me. I would compared it to a Yoshinoya and the irony is that I actually like the beef bowl from Yoshinoya better at half the price? lol. Our friend shared a little bit of her katsu with us and we thought it was way too dry. Perhaps it's been sitting at the heat lamp for way too long... Overall, what I feel about Hinodeya is that they've definitely have some unique ideas in their dishes but the execution and consistency still needs to be worked on. I noticed that there were 4 different spicy level and I was a little curious as to what they were. It wasn't until I asked the waiter that they explained them to us. I was a little puzzled because this seems to be what they wanted to push but we just weren't told to us in our visit until way later... It's a 50/50 whether I'll come back or not. I think there are definitely improvements for a good ramen spot that people would crowd upon in the bay area for sure.

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    Very nice presentation for the sake

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