No. 1 Noodle House

Phone: (604) 999-1111
Address: 1 West Cordova Street, Vancouver, BC.
Hours: 11:00am-5:00pm, 6:00pm – 2:00am
Website: http://www.no1noodlehouse.ca/
Date of Visit: Apr. 30, 2013
Parking: Meter parking along street.

No. 1 Noodle House is a "pop-up” ramen restaurant. Opened by restaurateur, Mark Brand of Save-on-Meats, there has been some anticipation being built up around this restaurant recently. No. 1 Noodle House is basically a test kitchen, serving a very limited menu and aimed towards the late night crowd, closing as late as 4:00am (if they still have any food leftover). In addition to ramen, they also serve beer, wings, and a bahn mi sandwiches.

  

Ramen

Shoyu Ramen 2/10

• The noodles themselves were okay at best.
• Broth was very bland, just step up from watered-down soy sauce.
• Pork was chewy.
• Fresh greens were an interesting topping.

I ordered the shoyu ramen because their signature spicy chicken ramen was unavailable. The presentation was surprising and out of place with the overall dive atmosphere of the place. I don’t like being so critical, but taste-wise, this may be the worst bowl of ramen I’ve had. It was like someone with minimal prior experience preparing a bowl throw something together to imitate a bowl of ramen. The overall dish was bland with no redeeming aspects. Portioning was on the small side too, but I guess that wasn’t necessary a bad thing. Good thing there was a bottle of Sriracha hot sauce on the side to aid the dish.

To give the readers some more perspective, here’s a bowl of Toyo Suisan instant ramen. Compared to the ramen served at No. 1, well, simply put, it blows it out of the water.

ATMOSPHERE

• Most of the seating was available as pic-nic tables. Sit wherever there’s a spot.
• Sticky seats.
• Reminiscent of a dive bar/pub.
  

SERVICE

• Service was pretty quick.

VERDICT

I realize No. 1 Noodle house is in its initial soft opening stage at the moment, and they’re still working out the kinks, but this may be one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in a while. It’s like a dive bar experimenting with some new menu items. If they remain open past their 7-month “pop-up” period, it may be an indication things have improved. However, at the moment, for the same price, you could head over to West End and have an actual bowl of ramen. I really couldn’t recommend this place.