Mecha Noodle - New Haven

The place is closed I tried to eat at this nice place but it's closed. It feature some Indonesian food last week, but to a surprise it's closed.

I used to work around the block and was a perfect place for a quiet lunch. I love their soups. Great service

So. SO. Mid day post the lunch hour on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon. No patrons were inside. I was literally the only customer for about 15min, until 3 more patron parties (two of two, and one by themselves) entered. It also looked like the chef was hanging out at the back of the restaurant, bored, twiddling his thumbs, until we sat down, he went to the back. I'm assuming this is the chef. The wait staff (population of one, apparently) that greeted me at the door was quite robotic and shallow. There was no personality behind them at all. Very blunt/direct, non personable. Basically threw the menu down on the table and didn't respond to me saying thank you for anything (seating me, bringing the water, taking my order, etc) which is a huge red flag to me. The menus are also quite... weird. Like they're in plastic inserts, and it looks as if there is moisture stuck inside that has been there for ages. Definitely sanitize your hands after touching the menu. Timing from when we ordered to when the dishes arrived to our table was maybe 10 12min or so, so not bad. What perplexes me is, that this is a VERY attractive establishment. The styling is nice, the music is nice, it is mostly apparently clean, and so on. I'm giving a significant bit of credit to the restaurant for persisting through these uncertain times in our country, and the fact that it is 3pm on a normal Wednesday... and the fact that there is a noodle bar across the street BUT, anyway. Oh there's some super loud mechanical noise that comes about from the wall every few minutes; like a drill or something. Might be the other tenant (next door or upstairs) doing some construction. My Pad Thai was good. It was surely missing carrots and scallions (and egg, but I don't eat egg with my Pad Thai). Nice portion, tasted good, blah blah. My other half had Miso Ramen with Chicken and got what looked and tasted like Miso Ramen with Pork. When we told the waiter/server, she/they were extremely adamant in arguing the point that it IS chicken, but is deep fried. If you look at the photos... it is clearly not at all chicken. *I* had chicken. It might even have been Tonkatsu Ramen (which comes with pork by default). Just look at the photos lol. On another note, the Shack's Wings (or whatever) were super good. Cooked nice and thoroughly, nice and crispy. The sauce isn't my favorite but it was good. Could use a bit more depth, but I was thoroughly satisfied with the wings overall. Just be careful. The food IS good. But... you have to own what you order. Also, have a low expectation set for the quality of service here for the time being. I doubt that the pandemic has anything to do with shitty attitudes, especially at this point. They also had none of the Japanese sodas I was expecting to have. They had diet coke, orange Fanta, and tea. And water, shockingly enough. Will I be coming back? Maybe. But also... maybe not.

I enjoyed eating at Noodle Shack. They offer a large menu with a variety of soups, rice dishes, noodle dishes. I got the shio ramen, kfc bao, and chili oil dumplings. The shio ramen has a wonderful broth and the noodles tasted great. I would recommend the chili oil dumplings to anyone looking for a good appetizer. They were bursting with flavor and had just the right amount of heat IMO. The pricing of all their food looked affordable as well, I just thought the baos were a bit pricy. In terms of drinks, they had a good selection of beer, wine, or sake. I got a Thai tea that was yummy. Didn't get any pictures of the decor, but I love the vibe of the restaurant. All the simple wood made for an awesome casual experience. Service was very friendly too

Noodle Shack used to be decent but recently, we just got two of the tonkotsu Ramens and they were not fresh. Very oily. It was not like the Ramen we used to get there so the lack of consistency is unfortunate. We both felt ill part way through the Ramen so we threw it out. Very disappointing. I will stick with Mecha Noodles. They are right across the street and have been consistent with their flavor and quality.