Shaolin Noodle House

I really like the food here. The place isn’t exactly spotless, fairly large restaurant but I would still classify as a hole in the wall with good food. Prices are fair as is service.

I am addicted to their Dandan noodles and veggie dumplings. Really, the noodles them selves are as good as it gets. As close as I have tasted to my favorite noodles in Beijing. It is a rare treat.
I like the chili noodles too, basically anything with noodles is probably going to be a success.
The staff is friendly, service is good. Atmosphere is comfortable, but a bit utilitarian. There is a window to watch the chefs preparing the noodles.
I’ve had their noodles pretty regularly and at many different times of day, on many different days of the week. I have only had one ‘less than delicious’ order. I would hazard a guess that was a day they were short on kitchen staff because the sauce for the dandan noodles was unusually peanut butter like. Other than that, it’s all been great!
I really hope they continue their success, I don’t know what I’d do without their noodles!

Solid food. Fair prices. Good service.
Parking? There are a few free spots in the back of the building. Parking on the street is not so great, and when you do find a spot on the streets, it’s expensive meter parking. Thank goodness food arrives fairly quickly so you don’t need to put too many coins in the meter!
So as already mentioned the food is a good hearty bowl of soup noodle for a reasonable price. There is one waitress in particular who is very nice. Her English is perfect as is her Mandarin and Cantonese! She has a sunny disposition.
I love that you can see them making the noodles fresh in front of you. Definitely a lost skill. It’s so cool to watch!
I love their green onion pancake. Crispy on the outside chewy on the inside. Their beef roll is another winner with me! An order of their Shao Long Bao is also a must!
The food arrives to your table super fresh, so be careful! The soup in the Shao Long Bao is HOT HOT HOT!!!

Noodles are the only good thing here but the soup was flavourless, toppings were very minimal and service was lacking. Got the beef noodle soup for around $ 10 and I could hardly taste the beef, I would guess they use a communal soup stock for all noodles. Being basically empty on a Friday night, I should have known better but at least it fit all 10 of us. Also tried the beef roll, it was alright but not great.

Had quick lunch here today.
Ordered the special beef roll and two noodles (one soup one fried).
Beef roll came luke warm — not crispy & the sweet sauce was not evenly spread in the roll (therefore some parts had sauce some parts not so much).
Both noodles had way more noodles than toppings… soup one was kinda soggy (maybe b/​c the noodle was too thick) & fried one was oh so greasy…\
Not ‘horrible’ but if there was a line up I wouldn’t wait for it…

no line up at lunch. tables were reasonably spaced unlike at peaceful down the street. Service was that and just that. We both had the ground pork in gravy with dragging noodles with shredded cucumber. we split a dozen pork and chive dumplings. Food was fantastic. Those dragging noodles are to die for. Nice bite to them, perfectly el dente, a touch gummy and don’t be scared off by the shredded cucumber, it works for some reason. The menu is overwhelming due to so much choice but thats good right. The bill $ 26.00, and were stuffed!

DLW and I traveled all day to get to Vancouver just in time for dinner. Our hotel was close to this noodle shop, and we are both fans of authentic Chinese cuisine, which is not easy to come by in our hometown. Having handmade noodles sealed the deal for us.
It’s nothing much to look at, with haphazardly arranged tables and some hilariously amateur signs pushing various menu items. Although it was a Thursday the place was fairly busy, so the locals must think fairly well of it.
The thing to get, of course, is noodles, which are offered dry or in soup, and in four styles as the menu helpfully shows. Dragging noodles are hand-​pulled and very long. Pushing are flattened with a rolling pin and sliced. Round are extruded like pasta. Cutting are hacked off a ball of dough directly into the soup during cooking. I went for dandan noodles, which were round and perfectly chewy, but only lightly dressed with peanut sauce with a fair kick of heat. DLW had a seafood soup with cutting noodles, light in body and flavor and much to her liking. We saw soup dumplings on the menu. something we both love and can’t get back home. These were only fair, a bit too thick in the wrapper and low on liquid, but we still slurped them all down.
DLW remarked that it was the kind of place she would visit every day for a week to try more items. Some say it is second-​rate compared to other places in Vancouver, but if it were closer to us, it would get plenty of business for sure.

4 types of noodles:
Cutting (rustic thick cut short noodles)
Pushing
Dragging (thinner noodles)
—flat dragging (wide width but thin noodles)
And traditional noodles
#1 and #10 are typical flavors.
Get the tofu appetizer dish… best thing of our meal.
1 star docked for being slightly oily.

I like the food here generally but don’t order delivery from here. It took them 1 hour and 45 minutes in total from original order until it arrived. I followed up after 40 minutes and they said their computer system was down, they made it seem like it will arrive right away so I didn’t cancel my order but it took an additional hour!!! They blamed the second time in the driver who also couldn’t follow buzzer instructions.
The noodles came stuck in a big ball and was inedible. Very disappointing!

Really good place to stay, especially the cold dishes with beer, awesome, all the noodle is handmade, staff response quick on your request.

Ehhhhh. Originally wanted to go to the famed Peaceful Restaurant down the street but the line was insane even at almost 9pm so I decided to come here instead. The food here is ok at best. When I first got the menu, I was so overwhelmed. There are SO MANY noodle choices and I wished they somehow explained the difference between the different types of noodles since they all looked the same in the pictures.
I went with the seafood and vegetable noodle soup (forgot which type of noodles). It’s a very generous portion, and I think that two people could easily share. I really liked the texture of the noodles – you could tell that they were handmade. But everything else about this dish was bland. The soup was powdery and it made me incredibly thirsty, and there was absolutely NO seafood flavor in it. The seafood itself wasn’t terrible but it definitely didn’t taste fresh. The whole thing was just very bland and boring.
Prices here are pretty cheap, and the line never seems to be long (I can see why…). Thinking back now, I probably would have still preferred waiting in the crazy long line to get into Peaceful Restaurant down the street.

Love this place! comparable to Peaceful which is a few resturants down. Prices were good, we ordered 3 – 4 dishes and it came to less then $ 30 :). The Dan Dan noodles are great! just enough sauce, beef rolls are similar to Peaceful Resturant. The cumin lamb knife cut noodles were great!!! very flavourful!

Got the same thing as I did at Peaceful — just to get a fair comparison.
Seating: less crowded than Peaceful, which was nice.
Price: higher than Peaceful, if I remember correctly?
Service: mainly younger servers, not as endearing as the older ladies at Peaceful.
Taste: good, as is any blade-​sheared noodles done properly. Not as spectacular in comparison, perhaps because Peaceful was such an exciting discovery. We also got this sweet pastry thing which wasn’t really my thing…
Overall: would probably opt for Peaceful.

What can I say. The food is absolutely terrible. I was born and raised in Henan, and the food served is a complete disgrace. Servers held great attitudes, but that can not alleviate even slightly how disappointing the food was.
饭实在是太难吃了 毁招牌啊 已经无力吐槽
老板 你中不中啊

I would give the old one 5, but after they moved, and perhaps changed cooks, it just wasn’t the same. But Cutting Lamb noodle soup is like so amazing awesome. I LOVE noodles (which happen to be hand made) and I LOVE lamb.
The pan fried dumplings are so filling and doughy goodness with delicious smoking hot insides. The curry lamb cutting fried noodles are great too, but not spicy enough.
Anyway, they’re great. However, they used to be THE best and my favourite restaurant in all of Vancouver.

Shaolin Noodle House is a Chinese noodle house in Vancouver located near City Hall. It is conveniently located a few blocks west of the Commercial-​Broadway SkyTrain station.
If you like fresh noodles, you will love this place. And it is not just one variety, there are noodles in many shapes here. To the point in which the menu can be intimidating. As a first timer here, I found it difficult to discern the difference between the noodle varieties. The noodle names don’t give much help. Dragging noodles or pushing noodles? It would be nice if they could include photos of what the noodles look like in the menu.
I was looking for a beef noodle soup, so I decided to chance it and order the #45 which is cutting noodles with beef & bean sprouts in soup ($ 8.95). What I got was reminiscent of phở, except the noodles were different. They even gave me a basil and bean sprouts plate on the side.
It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I was looking for more of a Taiwanese-​style beef noodle soup, but it turned out to be a good choice since it was a chilly day. It makes me wonder why phở shops only offer just one type of noodle. Why go to a phở shop then when you can come here and have the choice to choose between many noodle varieties and toppings?
There so many things to choose from on the menu aside from the noodle dishes. They also have rice dishes, dumplings, cold appetizers and snack items. In addition to the noodle soup, I got the pork and sesame flatbread ($ 4.95). It took a while to arrive. I thought they may have forgot my order, but finally it came.
The flatbread comes two to an order. They are pretty much like a Chinese burger filled with pork inside. It is really tasty, though I felt so stuffed after eating both of the flatbread burgers and the noodle soup. Best to come here with a dining partner and share the flatbread.
As for the ambiance, this is not a hole in the wall type spot. The dining room décor is nice, but not stuffy. It is a casual spot that appeals to the masses. If you are looking for a Chinese noodle place in Vancouver, Shaolin is a good spot due to the variety of noodle styles and large menu.

I was looking forward to try some handmade noodles and decided to stop by this restaurant. We wanted some dumplings too so we ordered a side of soup dumplings as they were advertised as handmade as well.
My soup was a touch on the bland side but the noodles were great. The noodles had a good chewy texture. There was a decent amount of toppings. I tried my friend’s noodle dish and there was plenty of tomato sauce to go with those noodles. The soup dumplings were definitely handmade but not by a gifted dumpling chef. They were below average quality standards. There was very little soup and the wrapper was a touch thick. For those who eat these soup dumplings often, you know what I am talking about when it comes to good xiaolongbao.
Service was good. Food arrived quickly. There is free parking at the back of the restaurant.
Okay food. There are better options elsewhere so I probably will not be back anytime soon.
The ambiance is full of stereotyped Asian décor. Then you get signs hanging off the walls of their menu. It fits the hole in the wall Asian restaurant experience.

Don’t waste your time and money on this place. The service is terrible and the food bland. The menu is unnecessarily long and confusing. They list separately dragging noodles, pushing noodles, cutting noodles, and round noodles with about 15 different ingredients to add to soup. However, they can just list them all once and just say, «choice of noodles».
I had the dragging noodles with seafood and vegetables. My companion had the fried green beans and the steamed dumplings. The table next to us also ordered the same as my companion, plus a handful of other dishes about two minutes before us. They got all their food quickly. I got my soup and noodles fairly quickly. My companion waited over 20 minutes to get hers.
When questioned about her whereabouts of my friend’s food, the waitress said that dumplings take longer. When I mentioned the table next to us got theirs already, she said they ordered long before we did. I pointed out they ordered two minutes before us and she said nothing.
We also waited a long time to get a refill of tea. Again, the other table got tea refilled before us. I had to grab another waitress to get more tea. The green beans finally arrived, but still no sign of dumplings. We asked a couple more times about the dumplings and waitress number one (the bitchy one) kept saying, «Yeah, they’re coming», with no apology.
Meanwhile all kinds of food was flying out of the kitchen. Were the dumplings being made from scratch per order? Did they forget about them? No explanation. Waitress number two was a little more apologetic. Finally waitress number two arrived with the dumplings. I asked for an explanation but she did not have one, much less understand what I was saying.
My noodles and soup, on the other hand, was not any better. The soup was cloudy and tasteless. Adding hot chili oil and vinegar did not help. At $ 10.95, this was a very expensive bowl of noodles and soup. Not worth it!
Don’t bother coming here. Expensive and bland. Terrible service!

This is a solid noodle choice.
Shaolin is one of those staples in town that everyone has a story about; whether it’s dinner with the folks, or that one awkward blind date, or catch up with old friends — this place is one of those haunts that quickly becomes the old reliable go-​to.
Add the folklore around its past temporary closing and the fact that Peaceful is just around the corner and people get passionate about this little noodle haunt. Don’t believe me? Ask one of the previous reviewers and settle in for story time.
Why does this spot gain such a following?
It’s good food.
Fast.
Cheap.
Unpretentious.
Good for groups.
Like other great cheap eats staples, it’s a no brainer when you’re looking for comfort food and are taking people you don’t need to impress.
The green onion pancakes are tasty, as is the beef roll and the noodle dish in peanut sauce that I STILL can’t actually find on the menu (hint: point at the pictures on the wall). I personally pass on the fried dumplings — too doughy for my taste.
It’s not going to blow your mind. You’re not going to leave this place and think, «My gosh! That was the best meal of my life!»
But you will leave well fed with money still in your pocket. «Mind-​blowing» suddenly becomes less important after a shared meal, where you feel comfortable enough to stretch over the table to paw for dumplings mid conversation while laughing at your friend attempting to transfer slippery noodles onto his plate with chopsticks…
In short: good food + good company = good call.

Sha Lin has moved to a much bigger location recently, and there’s a reason.
Parking is best had around the City Hall area, a few blocks away.
The interior almost looks like something you’d find in a movie set, with the wood furniture and the Chinese-​style «chandeliers» up top. Even the menu uses that Chinese English font. Anyone who’s read a Chinese website will know what I’m talking about. On the side, just like the old place, you can see the chefs hard at work. This is worth a special mention — these guys are good. Anyone who has tried (and failed) to pull noodles will stare in awe. The chefs make it look so easy it’s ridiculous.
Staff were friendly, and bilingual. Yay!
The menu selection is a bit daunting — I had no idea one could make so many different dishes based on just a few types of noodles.
As I accidentally ate my friend’s dish, (the waitress swapped our dishes), I don’t know what it was called. It was some kind of beef bits (tripe and tendon) with vegetables in a soup. The soup wasn’t the clearest, but I really liked how they keep things a bit on the bland side — you know you’re getting the real deal, and they’re not trying to mask any inferior ingredients. The noodles (cut) were nice and thick, but not mushy. There’s a reason this place is famous for them.
I also had some stir-​fried thicker noodles with broccoli. The one seemed a bit more for Western tastes, but had the all-​important «wok air» that is so essential for good Asian cooking. I thought the broccoli added a cheesiness factor, but the ingredients were good.
I will definitely be back. Recommended.