Xi’an Famous Foods

Great addition to ten upper east side.
I had the lamb noodles which proved to be excellent, highly recommended.
Service is efficient and fast. Place is really clean and well lit. Try this place you will love it

The perfect meal for a winter day in New York. Please be advised that their recommendation to enjoy your meal in house is definitely in favor to your taste buds! The spicy beef noodles were delicious and I am literally day-​dreaming about them right now! The beef was seasoned to perfection, juicy and tender! The noodles were thick and had some linguini appeal to them. I do agree that the dish is a bit oily, but I assume this encompasses the rich flavor the meal has to offer. I wish I enjoyed lamb because most of their menu includes it in their dishes, however I am exciting to be back to try their vegetarian dumplings!

This is the 2^nd Xi’an Famous Foods that I’ve tried, although I didn’t stray from the solid N1 order of spicy lamb cumin noodles. I like that this chain is consistent through its various restaurants since the feeling of happy belly was definitely there after I finished eating. Compared to the Midtown West location that I went to, this location seems much cleaner and had much more seating which is necessary since they encourage you to eat right away so the noodles don’t expand too much. Although it wasn’t anything amazing (I’m spoiled when it comes to hand pulled noodles since my family makes them), I’m glad I know where to go if the cumin lamb craving hits!
ps. I loved watching inexperienced people trying to wrestle with the noodles! These are legit long noodles. You don’t slurp them like Italian noodles, especially since the sauce/​soup will get all over your clothes.

Really 3.5
It starts at 5 stars without a doubt, but unfortunately loses 1 star for each problem: (1) the space is clean and pleasant but cramped and uncomfortable to eat in, with limited seating. Takeout is not ideal because the restaurant itself says their noodles are less tasty if not eaten hot when served. (2) I had the beef soup with noodles. It was delicious but the amt of beef was like a garnish rather than a portion. Conclusion: Inexpensive (everything under $ 10) and fine soup with hand-​pulled noodles and tasty beef, but UES rent probably puts a limit on what can be provided at these prices. Warning: food is spicy but water not available. You must buy a beverage to douse the heat in your mouth.

Good, cheap, Chinese food.
If you’ve been to any of the other locations, you’ll already know that the noodles are the bomb. and the burgers are excellent.
This location is also quite clean compared to the others.

They’re good, but I am deducting not one but two stars for the oil. That’s right. You don’t need to put that much oil. In fact, if you put half as much oil, it would STILL be too much oil. Oil is not good for us and probably costs you money. So I see it as a win-​win if you just put less oil. I finished my oil drenched Lamb Cumin dish and there was enough oil left in the plate to fill a small baby bottle.
Other than that, they are really good. And there are dishes that are not oily. They even have something crazy called a Lamb Face Salad. It has all the parts you’d expect in a face salad. Best eyeballs I’ve had in at least three winters.

The food is sooo good ! This is truly authentic Xi’an food. The cold noodle is the best! I love spicy beef hand made noodle too ! My husband loves cumin lamb burger! This place is always busy! We went there at 2 pm and there was no seat at all.

So amazed by all the foreigners stuff worker here. And they made traditional authentic chinese food with very very good price:) I tried various kinds and all of them are all bomb! Strongly recommend you to try this one with little money and authentic xi’an food!

1. awesome inexpensive dinner
2. not too crowded (we arrived at 6:15pm on a Monday)
3. spacious seating (vs other locations)
Spicy cucumbers: MUST GET.
MOUNT QI VEGETABLES HAND-​RIPPED NOODLES IN SOUP: serious comfort food on a rainy night! Great vegetarian option. There was seitan, wood ear mushrooms and cabbage. Spicy was probably the only flavor but was good nonetheless.
SPICY & TINGLY BEEF HAND-​RIPPED NOODLES: sooo flavorful. Those peppercorns REALLY make this dish. Beef was lean and tender.
Drinks: Chrysanthemum or Herbal Tea to cool down after ingesting all that heat. Perfect.
We ordered everything at a SPICY level of heat and it really wasn’t bad at all.
Gotta say though, the guy taking orders looked a little overwhelmed– it can get pretty busy and they only have 1 person in the back preparing the meals in their open kitchen (yes, that means even making your noodles from scratch!)
Seating: We liked sitting at the back left wall– its cozy for 2. Otherwise its just communal seating and we wanted to be a bit further away from everyone else for more privacy/​serious discussions.
Service: SELF SERVICE– aka BUS AND CLEAN YOUR OWN TABLE. Please & thank you :)
15 min walk from home/​work, comfort chinese food, inexpensive, and DELICIOUS? You bet I’ll be back!
TIP: Go early for dinner. By the time we left around 7:30−8, the place was getting crowded and you can see the looks of worry from folks who already ordered but were standing wondering where they’d score a seat once their food came out of the kitchen. Don’t wanna be that person (or their date!) haha just kidding, its probably not that bad… Seats seemed to turn over relatively quickly.

I got the Cumin seasoned Lamb and Noodles, as suggested by multiple reviewers, and a cold noodle dish and both were amazing. The cold noodles had pepper, cilantro, and garlic flavors that resembled West Indian Chow from Trinidad but in a mild fashion.
The Noodles in the lamb dish were neither mushy nor crunchy. The only way I can describe the texture of the noodles is they had great ‘integrity.’ Hopefully, that makes sense to some of you.
There are about 15 seats, first to order is first to sit. Prices are great. I am going back!

The best hand-​pulled noodles, now served in the UES. I was in the UES for the afternoon and decided that I was craving noodles, so I went to Xi’an. This is definitely still one of my favorite noodle places in the country. I prefer this Xi’an over some of the other ones in the city since this one is actually much less crowded and feels a little more spacious relative to the one in Midtown, for instance.
I went with the stewed pork noodles with are delicious. The stewed pork is a little on the dry side, but the noodles themselves and the sauce are absolutely delicious. A bowl of noodles is also only $ 8 which is such a bargain. Where else can you get lunch that delicious for this cheap in NY?
tldr; same xi’an goodness you find everywhere else in manhattan, just now in the UES!

Grabbed take out after wandering through the UES and craving some spicy dumplings. Unilocal loved the pork dumplings (F5) so we grabbed an order and headed home.
Broth is hella spicy but the dumplings were really tasty! We weren’t wildly hungry and three of us picked at a dumpling each and saved the rest.
Takeout is packaged in safe plastic that’s microwaveable and the dumplings were pretty good reheated /​cold.
The restaurant itself is kinda small and has limited seating but it was clean and the staff was kind!

I LOVE THIS PLACE. One of my favorite noodle places in the city. I love the fact that the noodles are so chewy and full of flavor. I typically get the Spicy Cumin Lamb because cumin is just a delicious seasoning but their oxtail and beef noodles are just as good. I want to try basically everything on their menu. Everything is freshly made as you can see them cooking your noodles right in front of you and portions are definitely not small.
I also appreciate how they give fair warning that the noodles will not be good if doing take-​out which I totally agree. I never order take out noodles anywhere because by the time you get to it, it’s all soft and soggy. I would advise that only if you live less than 5 minutes away and will eat it right away should you ever do the take-​out option.
The upper east side location is great because it isn’t as crowded and feels less cramped compared to the other locations, at least the midtown and Chinatown locations. Décor and feel is nice and simple. It’s just a great place for a casual bite to eat.

How did I not know that there’s a Xi’an at the Upper East?!? It’s my favorite Chinese restaurant in NYC!!! I used to go to the UWS location really often when I lived there, so I was really psyched to stumble upon this location over the weekend! Even though I wasn’t very hungry, my instinct led me in for my usual Spicy Hot Oil Seared Noodles.
I don’t know what it was — perhaps it was the spacious area, perhaps it was the sheer joy of rediscovering Xi’an in my neighborhood, or perhaps I had been deprived of my dearest noodles for too long. But the noodles tasted so good I almost cried tears of joy! One thing though — be wary of how you’re holding your plate if you’re transferring it from the tray to the table, because they use styrofoam plates that are not the most sturdy. In my excitement to eat, my plate bent under the weight of the noodles as I was only holding the edges of the plate, and I ended up accidentally pouring hot oil all over my pants. So yea. Please don’t do that to yourself. :)
Overall, the Spicy Hot Oil Seared noodles are hands down my favorite noodle dish here. As for their other dishes, I also really like the Spicy Cucumber Salad and Chang’an Spicy Tofu. My friends and I usually order our noodles individually, and then get those side dishes to share.
If you couldn’t already tell, a lot of the dishes here are spicy. I love it! But if you’re not that good with spice, don’t worry because they give you an option to choose how spicy you want your dishes to be. They also have a selection of asian drinks that are really cooling for your palate if the food gets too spicy (I usually get the chrysanthemum tea to go along with my meal). Also, one thing you’ll notice if you check out their website or go to their store is that there are several disclaimers stating that their noodles taste best fresh out of the kitchen. I’d definitely recommend eating the noodles at the restaurant rather than doing take out because I did take out once (at the UWS location) and the noodles sorta ended up stuck to each other by the time I got home. It still tasted good though. But why settle with good when you can get amazing?!

Pretty consistent with their other locations and actually not as crowded, so that’s a huge plus.
The guys working here are Chinese. so if you can speak even a little bit of Mandarin, they’ll be super nice to you :)
I did deduct a star cause they just put way too much oil in their food. I understand restaurants need to add more fats into their food than we would at home, but after I was done with my food, I had almost ¼ cup of oil leftover. Didn’t make me feel too great.
No water served at this location so either bring your own or buy a bottle. You’ll need it.

A solid 4 stars for authentic Chinese food on the UES. They offer varying spice levels — including no spice at all for weaklings like myself — and deliver them very consistently. The buns are the best deals for filling you up, but beware the lamb in the bun is pre-​spiced — though not too much so. The noodles are chewy and unmistakably authentic. The soups are loaded with noodles and perfect for a cold rainy day.
I only wish there were more meat in the dishes — the protein-​to-​carb ratio is a tad low for my liking. :P

I was thrilled to be having lunch at Xi’an for the first time after hearing so many good things about their noodles. I knew I had to try the spicy cumin lamb hand-​ripped noodles and spicy & sour lamb dumplings. I placed an order at the counter, waited for about 5 – 10 minutes or so and the foods were ready.
I enjoyed spicy cumin lamb noodles, but after finished eating half a plate. it just got a bit stale for me so I had to grab hot chili oil and went to town with it. Dumplings were too tangy for my liking, but they weren’t bad. I guess I had such high hope for the food, but when it turned out to be just ‘okay’ … it was kind of a let down. Needless to say, I love noodles in general, I will be returning to Xi’an for some other dishes … perhaps I will find a new love that’s not ‘N1’.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Xi’an and at the time, I hadn’t tried Northern Chinese cuisine. I figured this was a good place to start.
Stir-​Fried Liang Pi «Cold Skin Noodles» ($ 6.25): Chewy wheat noodles, bean sprouts, pickled cucumbers, cilantro, and spongy gluten in a blend of soy sauce, black vinegar, and chili oil. The noodles were good and the flavor of the dish was okay. I mean, it was interesting and not at all bad, but I don’t know if I’d go for this particular dish again.
Spicy Cumin Lamb Burger ($ 3.50): This isn’t really a «burger» but you get why it’s called that. The cumin lamb is amazing. I love the flavor of the cumin and that spice. This has to be one of my new favorite dishes. The bun was pretty good, but I could have done without it. I wouldn’t mind this cumin lamb on everything.

I’ve been here twice in a week. Is this what noodle love feels like? because it feels good…
My first visit I had the cold skin noodles and Chrysanthemum tea. The noodles were perfection. I wasn’t a fan of the protein choice but the noodles make on forget everything else. The tea was a bit weak but refreshing.
Second visit I took the nephew along after checking out the Met and we got a pork burger and oxtail noodle soup. The burger was good. He really liked it but started digging into my noodles., and then didn’t stop. We both loved the broth. The ox tail was fatty but good. The noodles were too wide/​heavy for my taste. I don’t think I will get this again.
Nonetheless I’m looking forward to my next visit. So’s the nephew.

What an amazing find thru Unilocal!Deliciously different food than the Chinese fast food we are used to. Place is small, but most people take out so there was a decent amount of seating on a Friday night.
We ordered the spicy cumin lamb noodles, cucumber salad, lamb dumplings in broth, lamb bun, and the cold pulled noodles with tofu. I ordered my noodles spicy, and I found it to be a bit too oily. However, that’s just the way this cuisine is and I surprisingly did not feel awful and greasy afterwards LOL yay!
What a great value. Each dish ranges from $ 5-​$ 9 depending on what type of meat you get.