New Chinese noodle restaurant opens in CV

Another new restaurant has opened in Castro Valley. If you are in the mood for authentic Chinese food, stop by Noodle Home, located across the street from Primary Eyecare Optometrics on Castro Valley Boulevard.

After sitting down, one typically expects water to be brought to your table, but at Noodle Home, a tea kettle with hot tea comes to your table instead. The menu does not contain the typical dishes one finds in almost every Chinese restaurant. At Noodle Home, like its namesake, the focus is on noodles, especially homemade hand-pulled noodles.

For appetizers, I tried the cold potato strips in vinegar and the bok choy in hot chili oil. For entrees, I ordered the tomato and sirloin beef dry noodle, a vegetarian noodle stir fry and sauteed vegetables with a side of the hand pulled noodles instead of rice. The restaurant was decently busy for 7:30 p.m. and the decor was simple and modern.

Not long after we had been seated and grabbed our chopsticks, the bok choy came to the table. The bok choy was nice and crunchy, and mixed with lots of garlic and hot chili oil. The cold potato strip dish came a few minutes later and was very flavorful. The tomato and beef dry noodle came about ten minutes later. Despite the dish being covered in broth, the meat was tender and the vegetables were still crunchy. It was very good, but a bit hard to eat with chopsticks because of the size of the noodle. I highly recommend asking for a fork, it will certainly help with the long noodles! One additional tip would be to order extra beef, as the portion of beef in the dish was on the small side.

The vegetarian noodle dish was very well seasoned, and we opted to get the hand pulled noodles for this dish, which was an excellent choice. The sauteed vegetable dish was also very flavorful, with the right amount of crunch. A side dish of the hand pulled noodles made a good accompaniment.

As far as pricing, appetizers fell in the $5 to $8 range and main courses were between $11 to $22, which seemed a bit on the higher side compared to other Chinese restaurants. The portions were a decent size and the hand pulled noodles were definitely the highlight of the meal.

If you are looking for authentic Chinese food with uniquely prepared homemade noodles, Noodle Home is the place to go. You’ll enjoy a meal that is bursting with flavor and hand pulled noodles that steal the show.