221 BCE

Such a unique flavor in every bite!!! This place knows how to grab your tastebuds and fly! The spicy tingly noodles are so well seasoned and spiced. WARNING, look people this dish is spicy but it is an incredible amount of flavor has to be my new favorite Asian style dish in Eugene! I had a taste from a friend finally got it my self will continue to come back often. Also the cumin beef was really delicious just a little on the salty side still 5 stars!

The noodles are scrumptious! The flavors are interesting and authentic from what I can tell. I had the bowl of noodles with three toppings. The toppings were room temperature, which wasn’t bad, but definitely different than I would expect. Maybe a little bitter, but I didn’t mind the flavor.
The ambiance is stark and the service was really pretty bad. There three of us, and we were the only people in the restaurant. The food came out in a strange order, (like one bowl at a time and appetizer after the entrees). When we asked for a knife to share our appetizer, she took our plate silently and came back five minutes later with the food cut into four pieces (for three people). Then she was really confused by the check, we had to explain to her what each of us was paying for multiple times, then ask for proper change.
Little things, not enough to keep me from going again, but our server was American so I can’t attribute it to being lost in translation.

It’s around 6 pm we walked in. The store front looked it’s NOT open. We were barely greeted by «waiter» while we entered. We found a table and sat down. Waiter handed us the menu without saying anything. I guess because we look like Chinese, so the service doesn’t need to be too good? Anyway, we do speak Chinese but waiter refused to speak Chinese to us for some reason which was fine. Then we waited for a whole until he slowly came over to take our orders. We ordered 2 appetizers and 2 bowels of noodles. Chinese pancake tasted just like from frozen food section and the spicy thinly sliced beef was just ok nothing special. The main problem I had was the «noodle». It’s thick cut but they failed to cook the noodles. It tasted raw and chewy. The sauce was pretty bad, maybe could fool westerners or Chinese students who missed food from their hometown but not me.

All handmade noodles and handmade «bread», I don’t know how to call the sandwich thing in English because that’s only appears in Chinese food (LOL)
And 3 in 1 noodles is quite popular. Yummy ~

Eh. Walked in and the waiter immediately assumed we were Chinese and spoke Chinese to us. Which is okay, it happens a lot. But whatever you know?
Anyways, we came in and were seated promptly considering no one was there anyways. They tossed us a couple menus and a pitcher and two cups. The menu was bland, didn’t have any pictures, everything looked the same from the description, and the prices were all the same regardless of how much or less food they put in it…
My roommate and I settled on the same thing, something with tomatoes, eggs and beef with some noodles. Sounded good enough right? Sadly no. It was just a really strange dish. I’ve never had anything like it and maybe it’s authentic and I’m used to Americanized Chinese food. But even so, I’m open to trying new things and this was just weird and a really weird flavor.
Actually, it was salty. Really salty. HOWEVER, I did love the noodles. They seemed very homemade and fresh, which I like. But other than the noodles, I didn’t like anything.
Overall, the décor is nice? I guess? The food isn’t great? Eh?
BUT. The cupcake store adjacent to this place is great!

This is one of those places where I feel fairly conflicted about reviewing on the very generous Eugene-​scale. On the one hand, hooray, hand shaved noodles and more ethnic cuisine that’s not catered to the lowest common denominator. Sadly, on the other hand, 221 BCE is just «meh» in terms of food and a jaw-​dropping, curse-​earning failure in terms of value. To the first point — the noodles themselves are quite good, but the dishes as a whole are underwhelming. They lack the rich, complex flavors I would expect of the broth and seasonings of similar dishes in other cities. As to the value — you’d pay almost half the price to eat better executions of the same dishes in SF or NYC. It hurts knowing that, and knowing that I have no alternative options.
Sigh. Eugene. Sometimes I think I love you, then you hit me and don’t buy me flowers.

I’m beyond excited to see more high-​caliber Chinese restaurants make their home in Eugene! And to find a Shaanxi-​style restaurant featuring biang biang noodles, flatbreads and thin-​sliced, chili-​and-​black-​vinegar marinated tendon and beef shank, when even larger American cities don’t experience such authentic luxury… makes me so proud of little ol’ Eugene =’)
Lunch at 221 BCE was deliciously comforting, and featured perfectly cooked hand-​shaved noodles (definitely a contender for the «best» noodles in town) and notes of salty, spicy, sour, umami richness. That being said, I ended up spending $ 44 on two noodle bowls, plus a thin-​sliced tendon/​shank appetizer. If my parents knew how much I was dropping for Chinese food, they would probably have a stress-​induced heart attack. I’m inured to Eugene pricing for quality fare, but the prices (not the noodles) are still hard to swallow. As 221 BCE is still working out its kinks, I’m optimistic that it has superstar potential– but the prices are just not right. Something about the restaurant’s formula has to change, be it food costs or irrational expectations of profit margin. The restaurateurs are, after all, in the business of transforming wheat and water into noodles, and that is not a costly enterprise.
More about the food: As is typical of a soft opening, I thought the dishes could use some fine-​tuning. The tendon and shank cold dish was heavy on the vinegar, and the pork zha jiang noodles were sparse on pork, and one-​dimensional in flavor. The simplest dish, however– and the one recommended by the owner– was amazing. Chili oil noodles. Get it! Smooth, satiny noodles were showered with spicy, numbing chilis and scallions, and set in a rich, animal broth; the dish appeared deceivingly simple, but was complex with flavor. It’s just too bad that «simple yet complex» will set you back $ 15 (albeit, tip included), as opposed to a more reasonable $ 6 (okay, maybe $ 8), which is what you would pay in a larger market– yes, even ones with very high overhead, like say, New York City, or San Francisco.
I hope 221 BCE intends on accommodating and catering to more people than just the wealthy foreign student population. I would love to see it thrive as a restaurant, but as it is, it’s just not a sustainable way to get my noodle fix. :(

This place recently opened in the apartment and retail complex called The Patterson, which itself is newly built. You can’t miss it, with the big sign right on the corner of 13^th and Patterson. They are having a soft open, no real advertising or publicity, and they don’t have a web site yet.
The name, in case you were wondering, is from the year when the first Chinese emperor established his domain and united the warring states. He is most famous these days as the one who ordered up the terra cotta warriors for his tomb. When it was discovered in 1974, the thousands of sculptures amazed everyone. BTW if you ever have the chance to see the museum exhibit that tours around the world, do it.
As for this place, they are still feeling their way around. The menu is a work in progress, but they have already decided not to do dumplings, since they are labor intensive and not appreciated so much by the college students they figure will be their main customers. Instead they have a selection of soups, noodle bowls, a few appetizers and entrees, and maybe a couple of others to be determined.
They have two levels connected by a big staircase, with about 60 seats. Ordering is at the front counter, at least for now. The woman taking orders has good English, but others seem to be limited on that score. DLW sampled a bean thread noodle soup with pork meatballs in a light clear broth, and was very pleased. We had a couple of buns to go, one with shredded pork and another with cumin spiced beef, onions, green peppers and jalapenos. Both were good, but I especially like the beef, a sort of Chinese take on Philly cheesesteak.
No liquor license, and don’t know if they have plans for one. Between this place and Tasty Chong Qing, the level of Chinese food in town just got a whole lot better.

I decided to try this place while driving by thinking it was going to be a very authentic Chinese restaurant. What I had thought was totally right. I think this is a Szechuan style restaurant but don’t quote me on that. They were not exactly fully open and had a limited menu. I tried with the person that took my order suggested with the hand shaving noodles. It was pretty darn tasty. The prices are a little bit high in my opinion, but for authentic food like this I imagine that you need to pay a good price for it. I hope that they get their full menu going, & I can try some other dishes here.