The Noodle Shop

Our go to noodles in Asheville. Lots of great flavors. Perfect for those cold, drizzly days or when you just need some Asian comfort food. Hunan hotpot is my standard. Our daughter loves the fried dumplings.
Note that this place is tiny, so don’t expect to sit right down, but you can listen to the buskers while you wait.

Last night, may 17^th, I was with a party of six for dinner. We were from out of town and relied on Unilocal ratings. It was some of the worst food ever. My son had curry chicken and his best description was «mush». Several of us had the crispy chicken, on the establishment request. It was barely edible. The rice was hard and appeared to not be fully cooked. I would definitely recommend anything but this!

I love the Chinese food, and they do it justice here. Great noodles and broth.

So good. Its the closest thing to Phở in this town. Big olé bowls of broth, fresh meat and veggies, and noodles (you can choose from like 4 different types). Everything Ive tried here is great! My favorite is the Asheville noodle bowl with mung bean noodles (gluten free!)

Awesome hold-​in-​the-​wall place. We were actually planning on going to Bomba next door but their hours were different than usual so they were closed. Lucky for us, The Noodle Shop was next door and quite inviting! We decided to go in. The server that we had was extremely friendly and helpful (can’t remember his name… but I believe he had a goatee!) He gave great recommendations including the crispy tofu as an appetizer. So delicious! For our entrees, we ordered tofu noodle bowls. Very filling, healthy and yummy! Thanks for offering so many vegan options. We’ll be back next time we come to Asheville!

Four stars for creativity! The SPINACH PANCAKE is one of the most unique things we’ve eaten in a while. It has a large amount of fresh spinach leaves held together by a thin batter and pan fried until pretty crispy. The liquid dipping sauce is perfectly balanced in flavor, and a great accompaniment.
The SILVER POTATO shreds are lacking in flavor, but have an interesting crunch to them (they’re raw).
SPRING ROLLS are crispy and greasy, but good. And the noodle dishes are pretty good but standard fare.
I recommend the spinach pancake!

Oh my! Fantastic little dive!
We had noodle soup bowls. They are very reasonable priced and tons of food! They are super tasty… Full of flavor and amazing use of basil and chives.
Sit outside, as the street performers on the corner make the experience even better, and the view of pack square is great.

I used to frequent the noodle shop very often, but they have sadly disappointed me the last few visits. My go-​to dish of sesame tofu used to be well coated with seasoning, but the last several times, the tofu has been very dry– with very little flavor at all. At over $ 10 for a dish, I expect better than plain tofu and white rice.
:(

I’ll keep this review relatively short. I’ve never had a Won ton dish that I actually liked, but this place hit it spot on. What I really enjoyed about this place however was the service. I had a terrible cold and wasn’t feeling well. I asked the waiter for some hot water to go and he brought it to me in a microwaveable safe container and didn’t act at all annoyed. He was extremely kind and polite the entire time. Sometimes it’s the simple things that can make or break a restaurant experience.

Great on a cold winter day. Delicious and plentiful bowls of soup, served up promptly. I had the Asheville Noodle soup, my 10yr old had Spring Noodle soup with shrimp. I was able to just about finish mine, she finished 1/3−½ of hers, got the rest to go. Staff was pleasant and just the right amount of attentive. Small place, about 12 tables seating 2 – 4 people each. Clean. Nice Asian music playing. Would definitely come back.

The food was good. Not overwhelmingly great but good on a chilly night. I ordered the Beijing chicken and shrimp on the hefen. Hefen is a is supposed to be a thick rice noodle. It was a little thin for my preference .
The plum wine was very smooth. Probably one of the best ones I have ever had. It was sweet as it should be. I was also grateful that I did not have to ask for chopsticks.
The bathroom was a bit awkward to get to. Not dirty, but not the cleanest I have been to, not a bad experience.
The staff were very nice people. It is worth a shot.

The Noodle Shop was a bit disappointing. The food was ok, the service was ok. The whole table kinda felt like all the food needed a little help. We used the chili oil pretty liberally and it helped, but I wouldn’t recommend this place.

I found this great lilt toe spot while wandering the streets of downtown Asheville and boy was I amazed!!! This little hole in the wall noodle shop served some of the best authentic Chinese food… I started off with some crispy tofu which was the perfect balance in texture and taste. As for the main I decided to go with the Hunan hot pot which was an explosion of flavor. This steaming pot of goodness is the perfect answer to a cold day!!! The broth is packed with some deep and complex flavors that make your taste buds take a spin and bend over backwards!!! It had a balance of perfect heat as well as it was packed with all types of goodies like broccoli, tofu, baby, and Bok choy. I am glad we decided to take a chance on this place I surely will be back in the future…

Solid noodle house with good dishes to warm your soul. But it is oh so small it feels as your eating in a large closet. But having said that the spicy chicken and Chinese vinegar broth warmed us up on a cold and windy day.

Oh Noodle Shop, my apologies for discounting your potential due to your close proximity to the tourist epicenter of Asheville. Next, I scoffed at you because of your distal location from any convenient parking. Well, parking at Aloft is never too bad, and with that taken care of, I’m on my way to Noodle Shop with some friends. They were fans, and all raved about the Peking Meat Sauce Noodle. And wow was it delicious. It had the perfect blend of savory and spicy flavors, and perfectly well prepared thin rice noodles. Add some great service to that dish and the result is Noodle Shop making my weekday lunch list.

The location, the kitchen window, the outside seating… The Noodle Shop really looks like it could be authentic.
Looks can be so deceiving :(
TBH my spring noodle soup wasn’t bad. It wasn’t authentic by any means of the word but it wasn’t horrible. I probably wouldn’t show up with visiting friends to eat here, simply because there is nothing that is amazing. Out of the 5 of us, I was only one who was okay with my dish, and that may have also been because it was super cheap compared to everyone else’s as well. I’d avoid the pan fried noodles dish b/​c it’s not worth the money nor are they like actual pan fried noodles, as well as the pad thai b/​c apparently it was overbearingly sweet. And the kimchi — just one look at the Unilocal photo and I was already yelling «NOOO» internally.
I think The Noodle Shop will be a good quick stop kind of place if you’re just tryna pick something up before you go home but ⁴⁄₅ of us in my party said it was a miss — and we all got different dishes. So be wary of what you get! Or just play it safe and get the spring noodle soup.

Managed to visit the Noodle Shop while visiting Asheville looking for a place to live for the first time and have been a huge fan ever since, if you love traditional Chinese then this place has it as well as a few other varieties. Personally, I tend to stick to the more traditional dishes and must say there it doesn’t get much better than a hot pot on a cold evening, otherwise I can’t get enough of there various noodle dishes. Great appetizers as well, especially the pot stickers (steamed). There is also a great selection of sake to choose from and I highly recommend the lychee flavored served cold.
It’s not all just great food, the location is prime downtown Asheville and it is a great place to grab dinner out on the patio. Being able to sit down on Pack’s square and watch downtown go with some great food and drinks is a nice treat.
Last but not least the great service, every time they are there to make sure you have a great experience. All in all a place I will continue to visit on a regular basis because this place is it.

I won’t lie. The plan was to eat at Doc Chey’s but the night escaped me, I neglected to call ahead, and by the time we arrived, a 40 minute wait was just too long.
The TVP & vegetables with white rice was surprisingly delicious. Textured vegetable protein stir-​fried with green and red bell peppers, bamboo shoots, tofu, broccoli, onions, cilantro, and jalapeño with a side of white rice for good measure. I’ve eaten my share of TVP over the years but this was some of the best. Though my entrée was a few bucks more than I’d typically spend for something similar, you can’t argue with the results. Richly seasoned, flavorful, and served up hot.
All things being equal, next time I’ll try Doc Chey’s. If they disappoint me, back to The Noodle Shop.

This is my favorite place to eat in Asheville. The menu is easy to understand, the food is served in heaping portions, and the yang zhou fried rice is my favorite dish. I take all of my out of towner friends and family to The Noodle Shop whenever they are in town. The staff has always been extremely friendly and informative. Seating is tight and space is limited. If you are there on a warm weather day sitting outside is recommended — because The Noodle Shop faces Pack Square there is always something entertaining going on. Generally there will be at least one street busker playing music.
Did I mention how amazing the prices are? It’s 10.50 for my favorite dish, which is so much food I can easily spread it over 2, perhaps 3 meals. The white sauce they offer is a wonderful addition. I can’t say enough positive things about this place!

Noodle shop is really sweet and lovable and I like to go there a lot. For a long time, it was really the only Chinese food choice in town. A lot of locals go there loyally, even though there’s a few more options for Chinese these days.
It has a prime location on Pack Square and a nice homey vibe with excellent service. It’s just a few doors down from a decent Atlanta-​based restaurant that also specializes in noodles: Doc Chey’s. Of the two, I prefer Noodle Shop because it just feels warmer and cuddlier somehow. But it took me several years to figure out what food to order at Noodle Shop. Hopefully I’ll cut out that frustration for you with this review.
The trouble with Noodle Shop is they have a heavily over-​extended menu full of clunkers that attempt to cater to every hair-​brained fancy of fusion cuisine, and every outlandish dietary restriction one could imagine in this fair city.
But. Hidden in this minefield of nondescript and unreliable dishes are some real treasures that earn this little café every single one of the solid 3 stars I’m giving it. Order these 3 dishes and you’ll be happy and well-​fed. Deviate off-​course at your own peril.
Without further ado, here’s a complete list of what’s always delicious at Noodle Shop
Appetizers: Spinach Pancake. crispy, gooey, fresh wilted garden spinach, a little soy sauce, marvelous stuff.
Soup: Hot and Sour. It’s exactly what you think of when you close your eyes and imagine really good hot and sour soup. No surprises here, just real competence at soupmaking.
Entrée: House Sizzling Platter: pan fried noodles served on an iron sizzle plate with a shiney, gooey cornstarchy sauce full of delicious goodies, protein of your choice. Not a challenging or interesting dish, not particularly authentic, just legitimately tasty as hell. And super fun to slurp up with chopsticks.
Happy eatin’, y’all!