Myung Dong Noodle House
“Their signature soup noodle dish with dumplings in chicken broth comes with free noodle refills as long as everyone at the table ordered a separate entree.”
“Oh, and they are pretty quick about refilling your red and white kimchi, haha.”
“We were seated at a table without hot burners for the shabu shabu since they were all filled.”
Myung Dong Noodle House
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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My first impression of going here was "this place is packed. It has to be good!" Well, it probably has something to do with a rain this weekend but the soup for the Kal Gook Soo was on point- non spicy Kal Gook Soo was still somewhat spicy which is normal for Kal Gook Soo. I like spicy food so I had no issues. (Note that the spiciness I am referring to is not the one that lasts. It may be spicy, but you won't be looking for a cold water or milk to calm yourself down lol) So make sure you know what you're getting yourself into when you go for one. I would give Kal Gook Soo itself a 4, but side dishes (Kimchis- 2 varieties) were medicore at best.
Went for Dinner
Food – 3/5. The signature noodles were a bit lacking. The noodles didn't have that quality bite when you delve into it but a rather soft texture that reminds me of noodles that have cooked too long in the water. The broth didn't have that "this soup has been cooking for 10 hours to create this flavor" depth but a rather light flavor that tells me perhaps the soup only had half the desirable cook time. The kimchi (both white and red) had an overwhelming ginger aftertaste to it.
Service – 4/5. They are very professional and responds quick to your needs. One server seems to be on dedicated kimchi duty and goes around refilling your kimchi! Pretty cool!
Price – 3/5. The prices are fitting for a restaurant located in such a prime spot near Main Street. They have reduced lunch prices but only for their Sundubu dishes which I would imagine isn't the main reason you go to a Noodle House for.
Parking – Private Lot (Free)
I ordered the mushroom/black sesame noodles with the steam pork dumplings and shared it with one other person. The mushroom/black sesame noodles was surprisingly good and the portion is huge. Service was good as well, they bring you more kimchi without you even asking which is always a plus.
This is one of my goto places during the summer season. Oddly enough, I don't come here to eat their specialty hot kal goog soo (aka' knife cut noodles') but instead their summer special 'kong kuk soo' (cold bean & sesame broath noodles). It's so thick and good, yum! You have a choice of soba noodles or green (standard) noodles to pick from. Their other cold noodle (neng myun) is pretty good too. They launched the yook sam cold noodle combo which gets served with meat. Not too bad for the price $14.95.
Don't be fooled by the name of this establishment. Although they are called noodle house and that may be their specialty, they also offer other delicious dishes such as Shabu Shabu, meat dishes and specialty bibim bops.
Service needs improvement, atmosphere can seem hectic due to the acoustics of the place.
NOODLES & RICE CAKES MADE IN-HOUSE
Myung Dong Noodle House is best known for their KALGUKSU and DDUKBOKKI. The noodles are made in the restaurant, and the rice cakes are freshly prepared as well. The kalguksu with chicken broth and dumplings is pretty bland, which is why you need to have every bite with their garlicky kimchi so that the flavors can be well-balanced. The kimchi is very strong in garlic flavors (maybe too strong for some) and is not too fermented, making a sharp complement to the broth and soft noodles. The noodles are so fresh that they get very soft over time, so eat this quickly on a cold winter night!
The SEAFOOD DDUKBOKKI ($15.95) is really amazing. The rice cakes are probably the softest I have had; they melt in your mouth as you chew, which I haven't seen in other Korean restaurants. Because it is served in hot stone, the sauce gets crunchy after sitting out and is really great with white rice if you finished all the rice cake.
We also tried the BULGOGI ($15.95) which is softer in texture than other bulgogi I have tried. There were no pieces of fat present on the meat – the good parts of the meat must have been ground and put back together because it fell apart very easily!
The service was excellent here. Our barley tea was refilled very frequently and always put more kimchi in our banchan. I do wish there was more variety in their banchan, but I think they really wanted to concentrate on the kalguksu and other noodle dishes.
On our way back home, we stopped here for lunch. I didn't realize they had parking in the back, so street parked, but it was okay, since it was right in front of dunkin' donuts (dessert).
We walked through the front and waited few minutes got seated. The menu is on the table and they have some more taped to the wall (they were all cold noodle dishes). With "Noodle House" in their name, their focus is the kalkuksu – different types, but they do offer other dishes to provided more variety to the customers.
I went with their seafood kalkuksu and my friend went with the original kalkuksu, which is made from chicken broth. We also ordered the meat mandu (dumpling).
– Dumpling – 1 star out of 5… steamed and they provide dipping sauce, but the look and the feel of the dumpling tells me that these are not freshly made the the location. This place being this busy would not and could not have a person just dedicated to making dumplings.
– Original Kalkuksu – not bad, the broth was thick, but needed some extra love from the seasoning department. For $10.xx, it's bit on the pricey side.
– Seafood Kalkuksu – the broth was excellent, it had that kick and really enjoyed the soup, however the green noodles they put in lacked flavor. Based upon what I can tell, looks like they cooked the noodle separately to cook out the starch and at the last minute mixed it in with the soup.
As for their banchan, they only provide white and red kimchi, unlimited. The kimchi had too much ginger in it; I would recommend the white kimchi.
Not sure if I'll be back on my next visit to the area, but definitely worth trying at least once.
I've come here over ten times and it's been excellent every single time.
I have tried the original kalgooksoo, the spicy mushroom, the spicy noodles, dumplings, and
Dolsot bibimbap.
I gotta say, the original kalgooksoo and dolsot bibimbap are the winners for me.
Also, they give you generous refills for cabbage and kimchi and are always friendly. The food comes out fast too which is a nice perk
I know this place is supposedly known for the knife cut noodles, but I will forever refer to this place as the 'amazing ddukboki place'. It stole the show– hot, spicy, sizzling, overflowing with mushrooms, tiny (ADORABLE) dumplings, seafood, and rice cakes. We killed it and then went back in to mix our noodles from our kalguksu dish into the sauce. I wish there were one open in the city because this would for sure be one of my most frequented regular spots. Other than the ddukboki, the kalguksu was pretty great. I loved the yukgaejang kalguksu– a combination I've never seen before but am kicking myself for not having thought of it earlier.
I can't think of a single thing to dislike about this place– banchan was good, service was great, food literally caused us to go silent out of sheer joy, and it didn't cost too much.
Get the ddukboki.